Earlier in the General Assembly session, Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) sponsored a bill, Alicia’s Law (HB1189), that would have appropriated $32 million towards catching the worst child pornography offenders. Alicia’s Law, named for Alicia Kozkeiwicz, who at the age of 13 was abducted from her home and transported to Herndon, VA, where she was found four days later in the basement of a man who had repeatedly assaulted her while video was streamed online. Virginia already has stiff penalties for child pornography distributors and creators–but penalties are not enough. It takes funding to catch these predators.

Law enforcement knows where they are–they simply don’t have the bodies on the ground to catch them. Over 20,000 computers are estimated to contain child pornography in Virginia, and law enforcement can pinpoint their locations.

HB1189 (and its Senate companion, SB37 by Senator Deeds) did not make it out of House Appropriations in time for crossover. However, a budget amendment providing funding for anti-child pornography efforts was attached to the House budget in committee with the help of Delegate Phil Hamilton (R) and a bipartisan coalition. Amendment 397 #2h to the House Budget Bill provides over the next two years $1.25 million to the Southern and Northern Virginia divisions of Internet Crimes against Children, the leading organization fighting this crime. While a far cry from Moran’s original proposals, each dime counts. Law enforcement already knows the location of over 20,000 hard drives containing the worst child pornography, yet lacks the forensic lab space or funding to adequately build their case. Watch a brief clip below from a California police officer testifying before Congress about the scale of the problem, and what can be done–is truly chilling to watch (warning, strong language):

The Senate budget bill provides no such funding. However, it is not too late to act. Budget conferees are meeting next week to hammer out a compromise between the two that will be up for final passage before the session adjourns next week. If this amendment survives the conference committee, it will live to see final passage. The $1.25 million is earmarked from existing funding going towards law enforcement, so the fiscal impact will be minimal. For this small investment, though, Virginia police will be able to double the number of investigations.

Tell the budget conferees that you support not only talking about stopping child pornography, but funding its eradication. Urge them to support Amendment 397 #2h. 5 Democrats, 6 Republicans, and 1 Independent sit on the budget conference committee. Call or email the Senators and Delegates below who have the fate of this budget amendment in their hands:

House

• Putney (I) 804-698-1019 DelLPutney@house.state.va.us
• Hamiltion (R) 804-698-1093 DelPHamiltion@house.state.va.us
• Sherwood (R) 804-698-1029 DelBSherwood@house.state.va.us
• Cox (R) 804-698-1066 DelKCox@house.state.va.us
• Hogan (R) 804-690-1060 DelCHogan@house.state.va.us
• Joannou (D) 804-690-1079 (no email)

Senate

• Colgan (D) 804-698-7529 district29@sov.state.va.us
• Howell (D) 804-698-7532 district32@sov.state.va.us
• Houck (D) 804-698-7517 district17@sov.state.va.us
• Saslaw (D) 804-698-7535 district35@sov.state.va.us
• Wampler (R) 804-698-7540 district40@sov.state.va.us
• Stosch (R) 804-698-7512 district12@sov.state.va.us