Topeka ? Legislation imposing harsher penalties on sex offenders, including life behind bars for the third conviction, is on the Senate fast track, and the get-tough bill could be made even tougher before it hits the chamber floor.

The Judiciary Committee considered the bill Tuesday, hearing from supporters who offered suggestions for making it stronger. Chairman John Vratil plans to rework the bill Thursday, with an eye toward having it ready for Senate debate in next week or two.

“This is an important bill, and we need to keep things moving,” said Vratil, R-Leawood. “There’s no reason to delay.”

Supporters told the committee the bill should be made even tougher, but that could cost money.

“The problem is that it’s easy to recommend more stringent criminal penalties when the people have no responsibility to come up with the money for incarceration,” Vratil said.

One estimate placed the number of additional inmates under the bill at around 1,000 over the next 10 years. With an average daily cost of $50 per prisoner, the projected increase could be around $1.8 million.

“We would have to build additional space,” Vratil said.

Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, who helped draft the bill, said longer prison terms for sex offenders might save the state money. When released, offenders often face civil commitment to the Kansas Sexual Predator Treatment Program at Larned State Hospital, which costs three times more than keeping them in prison.

The 25-year minimum sentence applies in cases of rape and aggravated sodomy where the victim is under 14 and the offender is 18 or older. There were suggestions during the hearing that additional crimes, such as indecent liberties with a child and sexual exploitation of a child, be added to that list.

“The question is: How big do you make the universe?” said Schmidt, R-Independence.

After serving the 25-year minimum, the person would be subject to a lifetime of parole and wearing a bracelet that would allow officials to keep track of movements.

Currently, the penalty for rape of a child is about 12 to 14 years and nine to 10 years for aggravated sodomy.

Under the bill, those convicted a third time of a violent sex crime would be imprisoned with no chance of release, but all three convictions would have to happen after July 1.

Rep. Patricia Kilpatrick, sponsoring a similar bill in the House, said convictions before July 1 should count toward the total. Schmidt said that’s one change that likely will happen.

“Predators are everywhere and they can strike at any time – and they come in all shapes and sizes,” said Kilpatrick, R-Overland Park.

Both bills are modeled after Florida’s “Jessica’s Law,” named for Jessica Lunsford, a 9-year-old girl killed last year by a convicted sex offender. Kansas is poised to become the fifth state to put such a law on the books.

Kilpatrick said she will push for passage of her bill because it’s closer to the Florida law. But, she added, “It’s not whose version it is, it’s whatever the toughest language we can get passed.”

All other sex offenders would face lifetime parole when released. Those who violate parole would have to wear the tracking bracelet for life. Currently, such offenders face about five years parole and aren’t monitored after that.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has nearly 4,000 registered sex offenders in its public database dating to 1994. Children were victims in 80 percent of the cases.

“We’re looking at hard time for hard crimes,” said KBI Deputy Director Kyle Smith. “While such incarceration isn’t cheap, it is a bargain compared to letting these criminals out earlier.”