The law bars them from kid-friendly activities such as giving out candy and dressing up as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law today a bill toughening laws against child molesters that, among other things, bars them from kid-friendly activities such as giving out candy and dressing up as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.

The new law prohibits convicted child molesters from hanging out within 300 feet of places where children congregate, like parks or schools, or go to a child care facility or school without prior notification or approval.

Sen. Dave Aronberg, a Greenacres Democrat running for attorney general, co-sponsored the senate version of the measure. Crist signed the bill (HB 119) into law today at Timber Lakes Elementary School in Orlando.

Florida no longer has a statute of limitations on sex crimes committed on victims between the ages of 12 and 16.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed into law HB 525, ending the three-year statute of limitations that Palm Beach County lawyer Michael Dolce – raped repeatedly by his Maryland neighbor when he was seven years old – has spent six years trying to undo. Studies show that it is often 15 years before victims go public with their accusations.

Powerful Miami lobbyist Ron Book and his daughter Lauren Book-Lim joined Dolce’s crusade this year, taking on the Catholic Church that effectively quashed the effort in the past. Book-Lim was sexually abused and molested by the Book’s nanny over a period of years.

The House and Senate unanimously approved the measure before sending it to Crist, who signed it into law today without comment along with nearly three dozen other bills. The law, which goes into effect immediately, will apply only to new cases.

Greenacres Democrat Dave Aronberg sponsored the bill in the Senate.