A package of three bills aimed at keeping child molesters out of schools and punishing adults who use their authority positions to force sex on youngsters passed the House Monday.
One bill would disallow expungement of sexual offenses against a child.Sponsor Jerrold Jensen, R-Salt Lake, in referring to children being molested by teachers, "This is not a prevalent problem, not something parents should be horrified about. But we need to tighten the laws."
The Office of Education will have access to criminal records, and since a child molester/teacher couldn't get his crime hidden through expungement, the office would be able to find him.
Another of Jensen's bills would require that a teacher convicted of a child sexual abuse lose his or her teaching certificate and also prevents a convicted child molester from getting a teacher's certificate in the first place.
The third bill makes it a felony for someone in a position of "special trust" to have consensual sex with minors ages 14 to 17. Jensen wants teachers, Scout leaders, baby sitters and others in authority over a youngster to have higher penalties if they have sex with that minor.