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ANNAPOLIS — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario said Jan. 28 that he met with leading judges last week to discuss why mental health evaluations have not been ordered in cases involving child sex offenders.

Robert M. Bell, chief judge of the Court of Appeals, and Diane O. Leasure, chairwoman of the Conference of Circuit Judges, met privately with Vallario as criticism mounted over why the state had ignored a law designed to increase penalties for child sex offenders.

Vallario (D-Dist. 27A) of Upper Marlboro said meetings have been planned with John McCarthy, the Montgomery County prosecutor and president of the Maryland State's Attorneys Association, as well as officials with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

The evaluations, contained in a law passed in 2007, were meant to give judges information that could be used to incarcerate offenders for longer.

An Ehrlich administration bill passed in 2006 would have seated a commission to study sex offender laws and present recommendations. The commission never met.

Del. Luiz R.S. Simmons, a sponsor of the bill, said that of 300 prosecutions, only two defendants were evaluated.

"It's as if the bill was put it in a drawer, we closed the drawer and forgot that it ever happened," said Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville.

"What we have here is a basic systemic failure of dramatic proportions by two branches of government," said House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank (R-Dist. 2B) of Hagerstown.

"It's extremely frustrating to me. We pass these laws, we have these press conferences, we thump our chests, we put them in our campaign brochures, and we tell the public that the public is safe, but yet the bureaucracy at these branches of government aren't enforcing these laws."

Legislation involving sex offenders draws lawmaker and media attention every General Assembly session. The issue is getting more visibility during the 2010 session after the December murder of a Wicomico County 11-year-old, allegedly at the hands of a repeat sex offender.

Vallario said his committee would consider as many as 40 bills designed to strengthen laws on sex offenders. He said it could take three days of hearings, possibly starting Feb. 23.

Among the bills are ones proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), including a proposal to require lifetime supervision for certain offenders.

Vallario would not place blame on why the evaluations were not done, although he did say a probation officer should order the evaluations at sentencing.

The evaluations might not be needed if the prosecution ends with an agreed-upon sentence, he said.