New York State sends residents e-mail alerts when severe thunderstorms loom in an area but not when a registered sex offender moves into a community.
Two Queens lawmakers want that to change.
"It wouldn't cost the taxpayers a dime," said City Councilman Joseph Addabbo.
Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) joined with Assemblyman Rory Lancman (D-Fresh Meadows) last week to call for passage of a stalled bill that would notify parents when a sex offender moves into an area, over the same system used for thunderstorms or potential flooding.
State Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) introduced a bill two years ago to use the state emergency communications network to update residents via e-mail or text message when a registered sex offender moves into their zip code.
Lancman, sponsor of an Assembly version of the bill, said Klein's legislation has been "bottled up" in committee by the Senate's Republican leadership.
Addabbo, who is challenging veteran GOP state Sen. Serphin Maltese this fall, said the need for such "real-time" alerts is great in Queens, which is home to almost a third of the city's 3,260 known sex offenders, state records show.
The highest concentrations are in East Elmhurst, Far Rockaway and Ridgewood, where Addabbo and Lancman held a news conference Friday.
In a push brimming with campaign undertones, Lancman and Addabbo want the Senate to take up the bill when it returns to Albany for a special session today.
"Either we are going to get the Republican Senate to respond to the concerns of communities like [Ridgewood], or we are going to have to get a different Senate," Lancman said.
Gov. Paterson could launch the system even if the legislation does not pass, Lancman said.
"We are very supportive of efforts to strengthen Megan's Law," which created the state's sex offender registry, said Senate Republican Party spokesman Scott Reif. But he added that the Legislature's focus in today's special session will be on addressing the state's fiscal challenges.
