AUGUSTA — Following a heated floor debate, the Maine Senate on Thursday narrowly defeated a bill that would allow some towns to increase the distance between sex offenders’ homes and schools.

The bill was sponsored by Jonathan Courtney, R-Springvale, and had the support of Republican leaders. But four GOP lawmakers voted with the Democratic minority to defeat an amended version of the proposal, 19-16.

The measure would have allowed towns without police departments to increase the minimum distance between a school and a registered sex offender’s home from 750 feet to 2,500 feet.

The original bill would have allowed all municipalities the option of increasing the distance to 2,500 feet.

The emotional debate was witnessed by students from Mountain Valley High School in Rumford who watched from the Senate balcony.

Some lawmakers recounted horrific crimes as proponents argued that the bill would keep sex offenders farther from potential victims.

Sen. Debra Plowman, R-Hampden, said Maine’s current laws were not enough to deter sex offenders, adding that in other societies such crimes against children “can cost you your life.”

“Social indignation doesn’t seem to be enough,” she said. “Treatment doesn’t seem to be enough. This is not a run-of-the-mill crime and it does not cause run-of-the-mill damage.”

Opponents argued that the bill would do little to deter sex offenders from committing crimes and could potentially drive perpetrators farther from police scrutiny.

Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, said the proposal was “extremely bad” because it could give some people the false impression that it would help prevent sexual predators from getting access to children. Gerzofsky, his voice rising to a near yell, said the bill would force sex offenders to rural areas.

“These people need to know that they’re being watched and they can’t go hide in the woods somewhere,” Gerzofsky thundered.

Courtney said his bill was motivated by several communities that had attempted to supersede Maine’s distance law by adopting their own sex offender notices. Courtney said those towns’ efforts, and ongoing crimes against children, showed that the current law wasn’t working.

Law enforcement agencies and district attorneys who testified during the public hearing for LD 8 said increasing the distance could be a problem. Several DAs said the legislation could drive sex offenders underground or complicate enforcement because towns could have different distance rules.

All of the county DAs who testified were opposed to the bill.

The Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault testified neither for nor against. However, the organization noted that there was no research to suggest that safety from sex offenders correlated with longer distance. According to its written testimony, “Offenders committed to accessing children will find ways to do so, regardless of residency restrictions.”

Courtney said his bill was common sense, regardless of “expert opinions.” The Senate majority leader recounted the brutal 1989 attack on 10-year-old Michelle Tardiff in Limerick. Joseph Tellier assaulted Tardiff after abducting her in a department store parking lot and left her for dead.

Tardiff lived and went public with her ordeal.

She became the impetus for the Legislature to update its 1992 sex offender registry and notification law. Tellier, who served 15 years for his crime, would have been exempted from the registry because his conviction came six months before the original law took effect.

Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, said he interviewed Tardiff. He told lawmakers that Tardiff’s issue with the state’s law was timing, “not distance.”

The bill goes to the House for a vote next week.

smistler@sunjournal.com