Rep. Nancy Mace unveiled legislation Thursday aimed at protecting women and children from registered sex offenders in emergency shelters during natural disasters.
Mace’s (R-SC) legislation, the Safe Shelters Act, is modeled after the policy in Florida, where the government designates specific buildings or shelters for sex offenders to keep everyone else safe.
“Except for the purpose of seeking information on designated shelters, a covered sex offender may not enter or use the services of an undesignated shelter,” the bill stipulates.
Under the Safe Shelters Act, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator would be tasked with determining suitable emergency spaces for registered sex offenders.
FEMA can look to federal buildings or prisons deemed suitable by the General Services Administration for sex offender spaces, according to the bill.
The congresswoman had teased the bill earlier this week.
“Why stop there? All sex offenders should be banned from all shelters also. I’ve got a bill for this,” she wrote on X in response to a post about keeping men out of women’s shelters.
Her legislation specifically applies to individuals who are in the national sex offender registry. Individuals who knowingly violate the policy could face fines and up to five years behind bars.
Florida has had a similar policy in effect for almost two decades, which it pursued to handle hurricane season.
Mace’s legislation pitch also modeled itself after ordinances in Florida that implement that policy.
The Palmetto State Republican, who has come forward as a rape survivor, previously introduced legislation targeting sex offenders. Back in April, for instance, she furnished an amendment to border legislation to automatically deport sex offenders.
On Tuesday, the congresswoman announced that she was “physically accosted” in the Capitol complex “over my fight to protect women” and later posted a picture on social media of her donning a sling.
Her office explained that she was in pain Wednesday and noted that it was limited in the details it could share due to the ongoing investigation.
The suspect, James McIntyre, 33, from Illinois, was later detained by Capitol Police in the Rayburn House Office Building over the incident.
McIntyre pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a charge for assaulting a government official.
A police report later revealed Mace’s version of events, in which she alleged that the suspect “began to aggressively and in an exaggerated manner shake her arm up and down.”
“The victim stated that she attempted to pull her hand away from the subject but was held in place by the subject,” the report added.
Last month, Mace introduced legislation requiring transgenders to utilize the bathroom in federal buildings that correspond with their biological sex at birth.
She had also backed a similar measure that was limited to the Capitol Complex, which preempted Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) getting sworn into Congress next month.
McBride is the first openly transgender lawmaker elected to the House of Representatives.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) later announced a policy restricting transgender women from utilizing bathrooms intended for biological women.
Mace later had a call with President-elect Donald Trump over the alleged altercation in the Capitol complex on Tuesday.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for checking in on me and for standing up for women. We cannot wait to see you back in the White House,” she wrote on X.
