Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I would like to briefly describe one item I was very pleased to see included in this legislation. The item to which I refer is a proposal of mine, the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act. I would like to thank Chairman HATCH and Senator BIDEN for their cooperation in getting this proposal included in the Violence Against Women Act, which has now been incorporated into the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

   The purpose of this provision is to guarantee that, when a convicted sex offender enrolls or begins employment at a college or university, members of the campus community will have the information they need to protect themselves. Put another way, my legislation ensures the availability to students and parents of the information they would already receive--under Megan's Law and related statutes--if a registered sex offender were to move into their own neighborhood.

   Current law requires that those convicted of crimes against minors or sexually violent offenses to register with law enforcement agencies upon their release from prison and that communities receive notification when a sex offender takes up residence. The Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act provides that offenders must register the name of any higher education institution where they enroll as a student or commence employment. It also requires that this information be promptly made available to law enforcement agencies in the jurisdictions where the institutions of higher education are located.

   Here is how this should work. Once information about an offender's enrollment at, or employment by, an institution of higher education has been provided to a state's sex offender registration program, that information should be shared with that school's law enforcement unit as soon as possible.

   The reason for this is simple. An institution's law enforcement unit will have the most direct responsibility for protecting that school's community and daily contact with those that should be informed about the presence of the convicted offender.

   If an institution does not have a campus police department, or other form of state recognized law enforcement agency, the sex offender information could then be shared with a local law enforcement agency having primary jurisdiction for the campus.

   In order to ensure that the information is readily accessible to the campus community, the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act requires colleges and universities to provide the campus community with clear guidance as to where this information can be found, and clarifies that federal laws governing the privacy of education records do not prevent campus security agencies or other administrators from disclosing such information.

   The need for such a clarification was illustrated by an incident that occurred last year at Arizona State University when a convicted child molester secured a work furlough to pursue research on campus. University officials believed that the federal privacy law barred any disclosure of that fact.

   Without a clear statement that schools are free to make this information available, questions will remain about the legality of releasing sex offender information. The security unit at Arizona State and its counterparts at a number of other colleges asked for this authority, and we should give it to them.

   The House of Representatives passed a similar provision--authored by Congressman MATT SALMON--earlier this year. Since then, I--along with Congressman SALMON--have worked to address the concerns that some in the higher education community had about possible unintended consequences of this legislation. I am pleased to report that, in the course of those negotiations, we were able to reach agreement on language that achieved our vital objectives without exposing colleges to excessive legal risks.

   For the helpful role they played in those discussions, I must thank not only Senator HATCH, Senator BIDEN, and Congressman SALMON, but Senators JEFFORDS and KENNEDY, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

   I appreciate the opportunity briefly to describe what I have tried to accomplish with this amendment.