Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) released the following statement today regarding Melissa’s Bill, which is currently under review by Governor Patrick:
“Melissa’s Bill contains many important provisions that respond to the threat to public safety posed by violent repeat offenders, and the signing of these provisions into law should not be jeopardized by those provisions that did not make it into the final bill. It is more important to act upon the things we agree on than to impede progress based on things that have not yet come to fruition. Governor Patrick should act on these important provisions by signing Melissa’s Bill and allowing the Legislature to begin the next session focused on issues that it has not yet addressed, rather than revisiting those issues that have already been acted upon this session.
Melissa’s Bill provides a solid foundation on which we can build. The Commonwealth’s district attorneys and other law enforcement officials can be assured that I will not yield in the fight for public safety, and to that end, I will be filing one or more bills in the next legislative session to:
• expand wiretapping authority for law enforcement;
• require DNA collection at arraignment for felony arrests;
• create in statute the crime of strangulation; and
• codify the crime of solicitation to commit murder.”
