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Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996

Public Law 104-236 · S. 1675 · 104th Congress · began in the Senate

Signed by Bill Clinton (D) on Oct 3, 1996 · Crime and Law Enforcement

Sponsor: Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX)

Cosponsors (14): Sen. Joseph Biden,

Passage votes

  • HouseUnanimous consent
  • SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996 - Amends the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act (the Act) to direct the Attorney General to establish a national database at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to track each person who: (1) has been convicted of a criminal offense against a minor or a sexually violent offense; or (2) is a sexually violent predator.

Requires each such person who resides in a State that has not established a minimally sufficient sexual offender registration program to register a current address, fingerprints, and a current photograph with the FBI for inclusion in such database, except during ensuing periods of incarceration: (1) until ten years after the date on which the person was released from prison or placed on parole, supervised release, or probation; or (2) for the life of the person if that person has two or more convictions for any such offense, has been convicted of aggravated sexual abuse under Federal law or comparable State law, or has been determined to be a sexually violent predator.

Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) verification procedures; (2) notification of the FBI of changes in residence; (3) release of information by the FBI; and (4) penalties for knowingly failing to register.

Requires disclosure of the information collected by the FBI to Federal, State, and local: (1) criminal justice agencies for law enforcement and community notification purposes; and (2) governmental agencies responsible for conducting employment-related background checks under the National Child Protection Act.

Requires any State not having established a program under the Act to notify: (1) specified sexually violent offenders of their duty to register with the FBI upon release from prison, or placement on parole, supervised release, or probation; and (2) the FBI of the release of such offenders.

(Sec. 3) Amends the Act to: (1) mandate that a person required to register continue to comply with requirements of the Act, except during ensuing periods of incarceration, until ten years after release, or for life under specified circumstances; (2) include victim rights advocates and representatives from law enforcement agencies (LEAs) on the State board that reports to the court regarding determinations that a person is or is no longer a sexually violent predator; (3) provide that each requirement to register also requires the submission of a set of fingerprints; and (4) require such person to include with the verification fingerprints and a photograph.

(Sec. 7) Modifies the Act to require the State LEA to transmit specified information, including identifying factors, anticipated future residence, offense history, and treatment received for the person's mental abnormality or personality disorder, to the FBI for inclusion in its database. (Current law only requires transmission of conviction data and fingerprints.)

(Sec. 8) Makes: (1) State and Federal LEAs, their employees, and State and Federal officials immune from liability for good faith conduct regarding the database; and (2) States failing to implement the program described in this Act ineligible to receive ten percent of funds that would otherwise be allocated to them under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.

Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 15 actions.

  1. Oct 3, 1996Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 104-236.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Sep 28, 1996PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
  4. Sep 26, 1996FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  5. FloorFloor · A similar measure H.R. 3456 was laid on the table without objection.
  6. FloorFloor · On passage Passed without objection.
  7. FloorFloor · Mr. McCollum asked unanimous consent to discharge from committee and consider.
  8. FloorFloor · Considered by unanimous consent.
  9. CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from House Judiciary Committee
  10. Sep 4, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee
  11. Jul 26, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to House Judiciary Committee
  12. Jul 25, 1996FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  13. CommitteeCommittee · Discharged from Senate Judiciary Committee
  14. Apr 16, 1996CommitteeCommittee · Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee
  15. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes

Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.

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Official record

The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.