I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1205
To prohibit certain sex offenders from entering or using the services of
certain emergency shelters, to authorize the Administrator of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to designate emergency shelters for such
sex offenders, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY11, 2025
Ms. M
ACE(for herself, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. VANDREW,
and Mrs. L
UNA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit certain sex offenders from entering or using
the services of certain emergency shelters, to authorize
the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency to designate emergency shelters for such
sex offenders, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Shelters Act of 4
2025’’. 5
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•HR 1205 IH
SEC. 2. EMERGENCY SHELTERS FOR SEX OFFENDERS. 1
(a) P
ROHIBITION ONUSE OFUNDESIGNATEDSHEL-2
TERS.— 3
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except for the purpose of 4
seeking information on designated shelters, a cov-5
ered sex offender may not enter or use the services 6
of an undesignated shelter. 7
(2) N
OTIFICATION.—A covered sex offender 8
who enters an undesignated shelter shall, imme-9
diately upon entering such shelter, notify any indi-10
vidual operating such shelter that such offender is 11
required to register on the National Sex Offender 12
Registry. 13
(3) P
ROVISION OF INFORMATION .—Upon re-14
ceiving a notification from a covered sex offender 15
under paragraph (2), the individual so notified shall 16
inform such offender of— 17
(A) any designated shelter; and 18
(B) the prohibition in paragraph (1). 19
(4) P
ENALTY.—Whoever, in or affecting inter-20
state commerce, being a covered sex offender, know-21
ingly fails to comply with paragraph (1) or (2) shall 22
be fined under title 18, United States Code, impris-23
oned not more than 5 years, or both. 24
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•HR 1205 IH
(5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 1
take effect 180 days after the date of enactment of 2
this Act. 3
(b) D
ESIGNATEDSHELTERS FOR SEXOFFEND-4
ERS.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 6
Federal Emergency Management Agency may, as 7
necessary, designate a Federal building or Federal 8
prison from the lists created pursuant to paragraph 9
(2) as a designated shelter for the duration, as de-10
termined by the Administrator, of a disaster de-11
scribed in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Dis-12
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 13
U.S.C. 5122). 14
(2) L
ISTS OF BUILDINGS AND PRISONS .—Not 15
later than 180 days after the date of enactment of 16
this Act and on an ongoing basis thereafter, the Ad-17
ministrator of the General Services Administration 18
and Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall each 19
make available to the Administrator of the Federal 20
Emergency Management Agency a list of available 21
Federal buildings or Federal prisons, as appropriate, 22
that the Administrator of the Federal Emergency 23
Management Agency may designate pursuant to 24
paragraph (1). 25
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•HR 1205 IH
(3) DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION .—The Ad-1
ministrator of the Federal Emergency Management 2
Agency shall make available to each individual oper-3
ating an undesignated shelter information on each 4
designated shelter. 5
(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
(1) C
OVERED SEX OFFENDER .—The term ‘‘cov-7
ered sex offender’’ means a sex offender who is re-8
quired to register on the National Sex Offender Reg-9
istry under section 113 of the Adam Walsh Child 10
Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (34 U.S.C. 11
20913). 12
(2) D
ESIGNATED SHELTER .—The term ‘‘des-13
ignated shelter’’ means an emergency shelter that is 14
designated for use under this section by covered sex 15
offenders only. 16
(3) E
MERGENCY SHELTER .—The term ‘‘emer-17
gency shelter’’ means a shelter run by the Federal 18
Emergency Management Agency or a State or local 19
government in response to a disaster described in 20
section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief 21
and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122). 22
(4) N
ATIONAL SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY .—The 23
term ‘‘National Sex Offender Registry’’ means the 24
national database established under section 119 of 25
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•HR 1205 IH
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 1
2006 (34 U.S.C. 20921). 2
(5) S
EX OFFENDER.—The term ‘‘sex offender’’ 3
has the meaning given such term in section 111 of 4
the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 5
2006 (34 U.S.C. 20911). 6
(6) U
NDESIGNATED SHELTER .—The term ‘‘un-7
designated shelter’’ means an emergency shelter 8
other than a designated shelter. 9
Æ
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