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Committee backs expansion of voyeurism registration to cover felony convictions against adults and minors
Summary
Senate File 122 would require people convicted of felony voyeurism to register on the state's sex‑offender registry regardless of the victim’s age; the Judiciary Committee advanced the bill after testimony from a victim and the attorney general’s victim services division, voting 4–0 with one excused.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to report Senate File 122 to the floor after hearing testimony that the current law inadvertently limited sex‑offender‑registration requirements for felony voyeurism to offenses involving minors.
Senator Cooper, the bill sponsor, said the 2021 statutory update that created a felony voyeurism offense had tied registration to incidents involving minors. The proposed amendment would restore the original intent, the sponsor said, by requiring registration for anyone convicted of felony voyeurism whether the victim was a minor or an adult.
Former Senator Acosta, who helped draft the 2021 revisions, described advances in recording technology and the resulting scope of the crime. “Technology has advanced to the point where a camera with video capabilities can be as small as the eraser on the head of a pencil,” Acosta told the committee, and said the felony classification reflected that risk.
Cara Chambers of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, Division of Victim Services, told the committee her office administers the registry through the Division of Criminal Investigation and stood ready to answer implementation questions. The committee also heard victim testimony from Melanie, who described a workplace case in which investigators recovered more than a year’s worth of recordings — “over 100,000 captured images” — and said the perpetrator was later convicted on four felony voyeurism counts. Melanie told the committee the offender served two years in prison and two years of supervised probation and that she was not notified of his workplace or address following release; she urged the committee to require registration for felony voyeurism convictions regardless of victim age. “This was not an accidental crime. This was premeditated and malicious,” Melanie said.
Committee members asked several procedural and implementation questions, including whether registry obligations ever can be removed; Chambers explained that while expungement is generally not available, courts in some circumstances can relieve registry duties depending on level and statutory framework.
With no state agencies opposing, and with Melanie and the Attorney General’s Division of Victim Services participating, the committee moved the bill. The roll call recorded four ayes, one excused; Senators identified in the roll call were recorded as voting aye and Chairman Olsen announced the committee’s action to report the bill to the floor.
