Repeat Violent Felon Registry: National Tracking System
The Karly Rain Wood Act is currently in the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. It has not moved since August 5, 2026, and the committee must decide whether to hold a vote on the bill. Most bills do not receive a committee vote, so this proposal is not actively moving forward.
While public safety bills often get attention, creating a massive new national registry is expensive and faces pushback over privacy and state costs. Most bills introduced without broad bipartisan support struggle to pass.
Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works
Anyone with two or more qualifying violent convictions, or one violent conviction plus one serious drug conviction, must register for life, submit DNA and fingerprints, check in with police every 90 days, and have their name, photo, and address posted on a public website searchable by zip code. This creates permanent, highly visible tracking and reporting obligations that go far beyond current supervision requirements for most offenders.
“A repeat violent felon shall keep the registration required under this Act current for the life of the repeat violent felon (excluding any time the repeat violent felon is in custody or civilly committed).”
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.
Introduced in Senate
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts introduced the Karly Rain Wood Act to establish a national registry for repeat violent offenders, modeled after the sex offender registry. The bill defines repeat offenders as those with two violent convictions or one violent and one serious drug offense.
The Karly Rain Wood Act aims to establish a publicly searchable Department of Justice database tracking individuals with multiple violent convictions. The legislation is named after an Omaha woman killed in 2022 by a repeat offender who had been released despite prior felonies.
Senator Pete Ricketts and the mother of a 2022 shooting victim are advocating for a new federal law to track repeat violent felons. The bill would require lifetime registration for those convicted of two or more serious crimes, including murder, arson, or kidnapping.
No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
Karly Rain Wood Act
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