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A plan to keep predators at least 300 feet from children cleared its first committee hurdle in Tallahassee today.

The legislation, which initially was drafted to set a statewide standard on where sex predators could live, now includes no such limitation, but Sponsor Rich Glorioso from Plant City says he doesn’t care where predators sleep, it’s what they do when they are awake that concerns him.

“What we’re trying to do is create a circle of safety around these kids, to protect our children,” Glorioso said. “As we said earlier, where they’re sleeping at night, residential restrictions have been proven they don’t work. Where they’re sleeping is not the important part, it’s what they are doing when they are awake. And so we want to create that circle of safety, that 300 foot circle of safety, around the kids. So if the kids are in a field playing soccer, that predator can’t loiter within 300 feet of those kids.”

Current restrictions on predators have resulted in uneven treatment from county to county, and has forced some predators to live under bridges because there is no suitable housing far enough away from children.