Gov. Rick Scott signs sexual predator laws JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Gov. Rick Scott signed four landmark bills Tuesday designed to better protect children in Florida from sexual predator. "Today I am proud to sign this legislation for all the children who have been terribly affected," he said. "I hope these measures and the awareness that we are bringing today will make a difference for generations to come." Diena Thompson, mother of 8-year-old murder victim Somer Thompson, was in Tallahassee to witness the signing. She lobbied for the bill and promised she would be there when the law was signed. Members of Jacksonville's Justice Coalition and sexual abuse survivors were also in attendance. The bill signing coincides with the first day of both National Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Thompson knows all too well the pain sexual predators can cause. Somer Thompson was abducted and killed by 26-year-old Jarred Harrell while walking home from school in Orange Park. "One of the things I said at the beginning about this is that if I could have anything out of this, I would have Somer's story essentially go down in history," Thompson said. She turned her pain into progress, and has lobbied for stricter laws in Florida since she lost her daughter. On Tuesday she got to watch some of her hard work pay off as Scott signs new sexually violent predator legislation. "I absolutely think it is going to work. I do not believe that we can just stop here and not do anything else," Thompson said. "We need to keep looking at our laws and going over things and seeing what loopholes there are available to people to get through. We also need to partner with people for prevention and educating the adults and our children." State lawmakers were also prompted into action by another Jacksonville case: the abduction and murder of Cherish Perrywinkle. Investigators said she died at the hands of Donald Smith, who has a long history o