The 2013 Legislative Session has officially started. I was honored to be sworn in as your 9th State House District Representative on Monday morning.

It is a humbling experience to sit in the House Chamber where so many great leaders have served before me.

I plan to work hard to bring the conservative and common sense values of our area to the Gold Dome.

Numerous bills will be introduced and debated over the next few months that would have an impact on Georgians if they become law.

I will review each of them carefully and will ask for your input as the session progresses.

I plan to introduce a bill early in the session that, if passed, will help keep our children and each of us safe from sexual offenders.

Currently in Georgia, the Sex Offender Registration Review Board reviews each convicted sex offender to determine their level of classification.

The classification will determine how they are supervised during their release from prison.

Under Georgia Law there are three levels of classifications that the offenders can be placed in. The most severe being a sexual predator which results in the offender being monitored electronically for the rest of their life in addition to many other restrictions.

The Georgia Parole Board does an outstanding job collecting information on all of our state inmates prior to their release.

They do an in-depth analysis of each offender and determine their propensity to commit another crime.

Under current Georgia law the information they gather is not allowed to be accessed by other state agencies except for the State Probation Department. This prevents the Sex Offender Registration Review Board from reviewing this critical information prior to classifying sex offenders.

I have worked closely with the chairman of the Sex Offender Registration Review Board, the executive director of the parole board and the governor's office over the past few months to draft legislation to change this law.

Under my proposal the Sex Offender Registration Review Board would have access to the information, but because of the personal nature of the information it could not be released to anyone else.

I am looking forward to using my experience to work on this bill and others to protect our children from these dangerous offenders.

I look forward to hearing what your thoughts are on this bill and others that will be discussed during this year's Legislative Session.

I am honored to sit in your seat and to represent you in the General Assembly.

I will be holding a breakfast meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Ryan's in Dawsonville and again the following Saturday at 9 a.m. in Dahlonega at the Wagon Wheel.

I will also be providing a weekly e-mail update during the session.

Rep. Kevin Tanner can be reached at kevinktanner@gmail.com, or call (678) 776-5059.