Exclusive | Rep. Nancy Mace introduces bill to block sex offenders from entering emergency shelters
Rep.Nancy Mace unveiled legislation Thursday aimed at protecting women and children from registered sex offenders in emergency shelters during natural disasters.
Mace’s (R-SC) legislation, the Safe Shelters Act, is modeled after the policy in Florida, where the government designates specific buildings or shelters for sex offenders to keep everyone else safe.“Except for the purpose of seeking information on designated shelters, a covered sex offender may not enter or use the services of an undesignated shelter,” the bill stipulates.
Under the Safe Shelters Act, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator would be tasked with determining suitable emergency spaces for registered sex offenders.FEMA can look to federal buildings or prisons deemed suitable by the General Services Administration for sex offender spaces, according to the bill.
The congresswoman had teased the bill earlier this week.“Why stop there? All sex offenders should be banned from all shelters also.I’ve got a bill for this,” she wrote on X in response to a post about keeping men out of women’s shelters.
Her legislation specifically applies to individuals who are in the national sex offender registry.Individuals who knowingly violate the policy could face fines and up to five years behind bars.
Florida has had a similar policy in effect for almost two decades, which it pursued to handle hurricane season.Mace’s legislation pitch also modeled itself after ordinances in Florida that implement that policy.The Palmetto State Republican, who has come forward as a rape survivor, previously introduced legislation targeting sex offenders.
Back in April, for instance, she furnished an amendment to border legislation to automatically deport sex offenders.On Tuesday, the congresswoman announced that she was “physically accosted” in the Capitol complex “over my fight to protect women” and later posted a picture on social media of her donning a sling.Her office expla...