“This week, I voted to pass certain bills to protect the rights of crime victims as part of a larger package of legislation submitted by the Assembly Majority. While some important steps have been taken this week to enhance victims’ rights, this package was far from comprehensive. Conspicuously absent was Brittany’s Law, legislation to create a public registry of domestic violence offenders, similar to the sex offender registry which serves as an important safety measure to protect our children from sexual predators.

“This legislation has passed the state Senate five consecutive years and will likely pass a sixth time this year, but it has never come up for a vote in the Assembly. My Assembly Minority colleagues are calling for Brittany’s Law be added to this package and voted on immediately, but the Majority seems to be in no rush to do so. There is no valid reason not to approve such important legislation. The Assembly Majority is all that stands in the way of informing residents of dangerous felons and protecting them from the fate suffered by Brittany Passalacqua and her mother, Helen Buchel.”

Brittany’s Law is named after Brittany Passalacqua who was murdered, along with her mother, in Geneva in 2009. The man convicted of the crime was her mother’s boyfriend, John Brown, who had a previous conviction for assaulting his infant daughter.