Today, the Assembly Majority blocked an effort by Assembly Minority to bring three major anti-crime measures to the Floor for a vote by the full House. The Majority-led Assembly Codes Committee refused to allow action on any of the bills, all of which deal with the sexual abuse of children.

"Today, the Assembly Majority has opted to quash legislation that would combat one of the most horrific forms of crime. I find the timing of this decision particularly insensitive given that today marks the beginning of National Crime Victims’ Week," said Assembly Minority Leader Charles H. Nesbitt (R,C,I-Albion).

The Assembly Minority effort began last week when they filed Motions to Discharge for each of these measures. The Motion to Discharge procedure is used to move legislation out of a Standing Committee to the Assembly floor, and is one of the Assembly Minority’s avenues for getting important legislation out of committee. Today, the Codes Committee’s first action on these measures was to block them from an up-or-down vote on the floor by the full Assembly.

"At the start of this year’s Legislative Session, hopes ran high that this would be the year for real reform in Albany, yet we still find important legislation bottled up in committee," said Assemblyman Nesbitt. "Assembly Minority members have also filed Motions to Discharge for measures that would ’fix’ the state’s death penalty law and impose civil confinement for dangerous sex offenders, among other legislation. If those proposals meet the same fate as the ones we put forth today, it is a clear indication that the Motion to Discharge system needs additional reform to be effective."

The measures rejected today include:

• A.1703, increases penalties for sex crimes against children and creates the new crimes of endangering the welfare of a child and use or promotion of a child in a sexual or obscene sexual performance;

• A.1704, gives parents the legal right to protect their children from sexual predators by allowing them or legal guardians of minors to legally tape record conversations between their children and a third party if the parent is suspicious of an illegal sexual relationship or an attempted luring, and

• A.1708, establishing the crimes of attempting to lure or entice a minor for sexual purposes.