The Senate Judiciary Committee gave quick, unanimous approval to Hatch's bill Thursday, clearing its way for consideration by the full Senate.

But Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said he plans to try to attach language to a bill that would require tougher sentences, provide federal assistance and offer grants to prosecute hate crimes - those motivated by hatred for a race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

The White House has indicated it will veto the sex-offender registry bill if Kennedy's hate crimes legislation is included, Hatch said. The White House did not return phone calls seeking its position on the hate crimes legislation.

“It would really interfere with what we're trying to do with the sex offender bill,” said Hatch. “It looks almost like they don't want the sex offender bill at all.”

The Hatch bill would require sexual predators to register with a registry before they are released from prison and notify authorities when they move or change jobs. Offenders also would have to re-register twice a year in person, rather than through the mail.

States would be given money to buy sex offender tracking devices and would be able to share offender information in a nationwide network. The bill also would impose tougher mandatory minimum sentences for a wider range of sex crimes.

Ed Smart, the father of Salt Lake City kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart and proponent of the registry legislation, was on hand for the committee's approval.

“This is an issue that needs to be faced right now,” Smart said. “I hope at the end of the day our children are safer.”

The bill would not have made a difference in the Smart case because the prosecutors say those who allegedly kidnapped Elizabeth Smart had no record of sexual offenses, but Ed Smart said it could make a difference for others.

There are nearly 550,000 offenders registered nationwide, including about 8,000 in the Utah database.

A similar bill, sponsored by Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley, has already passed the House.

Despite some changes in the Senate bill, Kennedy said he still has reservations.

Kennedy said the bill would override existing state registry programs, like those in his state, that do most of what is required by the bill. And he objected to placing new, unfunded mandates on local governments and imposing the new mandatory minimum sentences that “aren't justified by empirical data.”

“The victims' families deserve . . . laws that really work and not just paper tigers,” Kennedy said.

Smart said he has met families who say the judges in their case imposed unreasonably lenient penalties.

“In certain heinous crimes, you've got to have a harsh penalty and there should be no leeway,” he said.