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ANNAPOLIS — The push to pass sex offender laws is gathering momentum, but the head of one committee is questioning whether lawmakers have too many proposals before them.

"When you're trying to do 16 things on one subject you run the risk of screwing it up," Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian E. Frosh said. "Because one thing conflicts with another or makes it unclear. So there is that danger."

The package of bills, including legislation backed by Gov. Martin O'Malley, is being pushed along by the political pressure of an election year and a renewed awareness of the state's sex offender statutes prompted by the Christmastime murder of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell on the Eastern Shore.

Foxwell's body was found on Christmas Day in Salisbury. Police believe she was abducted and murdered by a registered sex offender.

Frosh said Thursday that the Senate would pass at least some of the more than 30 bills introduced by lawmakers this year to reform sex offender laws.

"I'm guessing it's going to be quite far-reaching," said Frosh (D-Dist. 16) of Bethesda.

The House on Wednesday gave preliminary approval to bills that eliminate good behavior credits and establish lifetime supervision for violent and repeat offenders.

But with so many bills being considered, Frosh and others have expressed concerns about acting in haste and possibly complicating the criminal statutes.

"I think there are too many bills," said Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Vice Chairwoman Lisa A. Gladden on Wednesday, after the panel held hearings on more than 20 bills over two days.

"I think that we have got to manage, and we've got to deal with sex offenders," said Gladden (D-Dist. 41) of Baltimore. "I just don't think we have the right answers quite yet."

Gladden, an assistant public defender in Baltimore city, plans to vote against the measures.

"None of them necessarily deal with protection and prevention," she said. "And that's what bothers me about the bills."

She expects a political backlash.

"I'm going to get some calls and people are going to yell at me, I understand that. But I'm going to explain to them, ‘Look, I want to do the right thing. I mean, I represent these guys and I don't like them either.'"

In other states, restrictions on where sex offenders can live — an issue addressed by some of the legislation — has so severely limited housing options that some offenders have become homeless, Gladden said.

"You don't want that either, because then you can't track them," she said.

O'Malley (D) has offered bills to increase the types of crimes that would require convicts to register as sex offenders, would require lifetime supervision of serious and repeat offenders and would reconstitute the state's Sex Offender Advisory Board.

The legislature needs to pass laws that have teeth to them, said Del. Michael D. Smigiel Sr. (R-Dist. 36) of Elkton.

"It's important to actually do something and not just give the impression that we did something," Smigiel said.

He cited legislation passed in recent years that the state has failed to fully implement, including the creation in 2006 of the advisory board, which has never met.

Meanwhile, the bipartisan Eastern Shore delegation has crafted an omnibus bill that combines a number of proposals used around the country in a single bill. That bill will be heard Tuesday in the House Judiciary Committee.

Del. James N. Mathias Jr. (D-Dist. 38B) of Ocean City, who represents the district where Foxwell lived, said he feels "a moral responsibility" to move the legislation forward.

Frosh said that while he appreciates the aim, an omnibus bill is not needed.

"I find it hard to believe they've come up with something new," he said. "We've had 30 bills on sex offenders. What have they got that we haven't already heard?"

Frosh said the bills could have unintended consequences.

"Many of the bills sweep what could be less serious offenses into the big net," he said.

For example, under proposed legislation, indecent exposure is an offense that could require years of supervision.

While some people indecently exposing themselves could be a threat as sexual predators, others, such as people seen relieving themselves in public, might not be, Frosh said.

Gladden said she worries that the legislature could act in haste and pass bills with unforeseen consequences that will take years to undo.

"I think it's unfair to the system to do something because you have to for political reasons," she said.

So why is this the year for such comprehensive legislation?

"Because we've got all these bills before us," Frosh said. "Because Sarah Foxwell was murdered in December and because it's an election year. There's just a confluence of circumstances that put it on the front burner," he said.