14 governors, including Sebelius, have signed bills this year requiring harsher punishments for sex offenders.

But both advocates of the law, and those who must keep track of the offenders, say these bills are just the first step.

"It takes money, it takes prisons, it takes well-trained probation and parole officers to ensure our safety," says Lisa Hecht, of the Topeka Battered Women's Task Force and supporter of the new penalties.

And for the Kansas Department of Corrections, it means being accountable for thousands more offenders, requiring increased staff and prison space.

While the legislature has yet to allocate money for those projects, earlier this session, lawmakers did approve funding to meet the GPS monitoring requirement just signed into law.

Now, second time child sex offenders will be required to wear a GPS tracking device once they've served their prison time.

Representatives from the Department of Corrections say it also means training additional staff.

And Hecht says it should be treated as a tool, not a solution.

"Any tool that's going to offer a measure of protection for the citizens of Kansas is a good thing, as long as we don't enter into into a false sense of security," Hecht says.

With Congress considering a nationwide database, similar to the KBI offender registry, and with numerous states passing Jessica's Law and similar measures, Hecht says things are headed in the right direction.

"Those that seek to harm, children in this case, will be subject to the harshest penalties," says Hecht, "this has to be something that we're vigilant about, everyday, every year."

While the law does direct stricter penalties to sex offenders, individual judges may use their own discretion to increase or decrease sentences.

In 2005, Kansas reported 3,757 registered sex offenders.