HOMOSASSA, Fla. -- With the grieving family of Jessica Lunsford standing nearby, U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said Monday she is proposing tighter federal guidelines for how sex offenders are tracked and a national registry for parents to check.

The Jessica Lunsford Act would require states to make more frequent checks on the whereabouts of sexual offenders, tell probation officers that an offender has a sex offense in his background and create a national registry of offenders similar to one that is maintained by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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The Story In Pictures: John Couey Arraigned
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Search: Broward County Sex Predators
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Web Site: FDLE Sex Offender/Predator Database
Web Site: Sign A Petition To Keep Kids Safe With 'Jessica's Law'

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The efforts would be aimed at giving law enforcement and parents more information on the whereabouts of sex offenders, even those who try to escape detection by crossing state lines.

Jessica, 9, disappeared Feb. 24 from her Homosassa home after her grandmother put her to bed. Her body was found buried March 19 near a mobile home less than a quarter mile from her house.

John Evander Couey, a registered sex offender who was on probation for DUI, has been charged in the slaying. He was illegally living in the home instead of at the address he was registered to live.

A local chapter of the Salvation Army, which oversees misdemeanor probationers in Citrus County, didn't know of Couey's sex offender status and wasn't alarmed when Couey didn't appear to be living at his registered address.

The federal legislation would double the number of times states checked on the whereabouts of registered sex offenders from yearly to random checks performed twice a year, Brown-Waite said. Offenders who are not where they are supposed to be would be placed on electronic surveillance for the first offense and then sent to prison for 10 years for a second offense.

"That's one of the ways we can catch them in their lies," said Brown-Waite, R-Crystal River.

Officials estimate there are more than 400,000 convicted sex offenders in the United States.

As many as one-fourth of sex offenders have moved and eluded law enforcement despite laws requiring them to report their home addresses, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a Washington-based advocacy organization.

There is no official estimate on how many offenders nationwide might be placed on tighter supervision under the bill's provisions, the congresswoman said. States which did not comply would risk losing money from federal criminal justice grants.

The girl's father, Mark Lunsford, choked back tears as he encouraged support for the federal legislation, introduced on Wednesday. It is joined by a proposed state law that also would increase the supervision of sex offenders and make it a crime to knowingly harbor a sex offender who has left his registered address.

Lunsford said he, like most parents, believed that the criminal justice system kept better track of sex offenders than it does and is angry to discover the shortcomings in the system. But he said what's important now is to take steps to prevent another child from falling victim.

"I'm about going forward," Lunsford said. "I can complain and I can whine, but that's not going to save other children."

Capt. Chris Farrell of the Citrus County chapter of the Salvation Army said all his office knew was that Couey was on probation for DUI. Had it known he was a sex offender, Couey's probation officer would have alerted law enforcement to keep a closer eye on Couey.

Farrell said the proposed legislation would give his office more information and more tools to better supervise offenders.

"If all this can make it easier to deal with these people, then she didn't die in vain," Farrell said.