TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The newest effort in Florida to get tough on child molesters is making it tough for motorcoach carriers to do business with public elementary and middle schools.

The cause of the upset is the Jessica Lunsford Act, which state legislators rushed into law this spring in response to the kidnapping and murder of a nine-year-old in Homosassa, Fla., in March.

The legislation - named after the victim - requires a 25-year minimum prison term for people convicted of certain sex crimes involving children under the age of 13, and lifetime tracking by global positioning satellite once they're out of prison.

However, the measure also contains a requirement that people who have professional contact with school children be fingerprinted and pass FBI background checks in each county where the business is conducted.

"The spirit and the intent of the law are good, but the fingerprinting and background should not have to be done separately by each county," said Brian Scott of Escot Bus Lines in Largo and a member of the Florida Motorcoach Association. "It should be done by the state or the counties should be able to share the information so we do not have to go to each county."

He said the counties charge from $61 to $120 for each bus driver to go through the procedure and obtain a permit to be allowed to work with school children.

Many motorcoach operators in Florida have school transportation contracts in several counties and are facing the prospect of having to have their drivers processed in each of them.

"For me that means taking 50 to 60 drivers to each county, paying their salaries while they are at it and then paying the fee for the fingerprinting and background checks," explained Scott. "In addition to the cost, that would be logistically impossible and it just can't happen."

The Florida Motorcoach Association this month formed its first-ever legislative and regulatory committee to push for a change in the legislation that would allow bus drivers to go through the process only once and for the counties to share the information with each other.

Scott said there appears to be support from Gov. Jeb Bush and some legislators to make the changes, possibly as early as next month when state lawmakers are expected to be called into special session. If it is not corrected then, the motorcoach carriers would have to wait until next March when the legislature opens its 2006 regular session.

"You can see that we may have to live with this for a while," Scott observes.

Lawmakers passed the legislation at the urging of Jessica's father, Mark Lunsford, who was on hand in April when Bush signed it into law. John E. Couey, a convicted sex offender who was living near the Lunsfords, is charged with kidnapping her from her bedroom and murdering her.