SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon state agency responsible for classifying sex offenders will miss its fourth deadline to classify every offender unless lawmakers give them money and staff, a KATU News investigation has found.

In 2013, the legislature gave the state parole board 3 years to classify sex offenders already in the registry, but a decade later, a KATU investigation found that has not been done as thousands of sex offenders remain without a classification level.

The Board of Parole is responsible for classifying sex offenders by their risk to re-offend on a scale from 1 to 3. Our investigation uncovered thousands who have no level which means they could live on your street, and the state has no idea of their risk to commit a new crime.

The agency confirmed again this month that it will miss its new deadline, December 1, 2026, with its current staffing.

“It's a huge problem,” Danielle Tudor said.

The pain and passion from Danielle Tudor and Tiffany Edens come from an experience no teenager should have. Richard Gillmore spent nearly 40 years in prison for raping Tiffany in 1986. Detectives said he admitted to Danielle’s rape and more than a half dozen others.

For the better part of two decades - Tiffany and Danielle have been advocating publicly for victims of sexual assault - first, fighting to keep their rapist in prison and then lobbying for changes to Oregon law to protect victims.

“I feel like it's very backwards right now. The victims and/or those that could be potential victims should be the concern of our legislators,” Edens said.

Now, their sights are focused on getting lawmakers to spend the necessary money to classify the risk level of every convicted sex offender in Oregon.

“[The legislature has] the funds to put towards this, and they need to do it, and they need to do it this session. I am so sick and tired of having to fight back on this, and it is absolutely unreasonable what they're doing,” Tudor said.

Here’s a snapshot of the backlog of unclassified sex offenders, according to a budget document filed with the legislature last month. There were 20,825 unclassified offenders last July. The agency said it classifies 170 offenders a month. At that pace, it would take more than 10 years to get rid of the backlog.

There are 32,790 sex offenders in Oregon according to the Oregon State Police website.

“How can the state agency just simply, it seems, ignore a deadline that the legislature gives them in law,” KATU asked State Senator Cedric Hayden.

“What’s really disappointing to me is they have the opportunity in this budget process to ask for a policy option package. We call it a POP, but it's a policy option package where they're telling us we probably need 30 [full-time positions] to accomplish this by the deadline, but they're not even asking for funding for it,” Hayden, a Lane County Republican, said. “We're actually working on amending their budget so that we can drive an additional $6 million for personnel to catch this up.”

It’s up to Oregon lawmakers to give the parole board more money to hit this deadline if that’s what it takes. Hayden said the funding is important because Oregonians have a right to know just how dangerous a sex offender is when they decide where to live.

He voted three times against extending the deadline in prior sessions.

“Is it acceptable for the parole board to miss their deadline again?” KATU asked Hayden.

“No, I don't find that acceptable,” Hayden said. “Really, our only avenue is to go out and talk to Oregonians and say, ‘contact your lawmaker. Don't let them extend that anymore. Stand up to this and say, ‘this is important for our communities.’”

Governor Tina Kotek’s office said Kotek is “frustrated” the Board did not share a plan to address the backlog in their budget this session.

“Governor Kotek believes that Oregonians should be safe and feel safe. She is committed to ensuring accountability for those who commit harm in our communities. This backlog is clearly unacceptable,” Kotek’s office said in a statement. “[Governor Kotek] is now requesting that the board reevaluate what funding and/or statutory changes it needs to fulfill its obligation to classify all sex offenders and will urge the legislature to support those changes in this legislative session.”

The Parole Board’s executive director said it has classified every offender who was designated as predatory or sexually violent dangerous offenders, and it keeps up with those who come out of prison or who move into Oregon. However, thousands of other offenders remain unclassified under the current system.

Tudor has a simple message for lawmakers.

“You should have the right to know that that individual is in your area so you can take precautions for yourself, for your family, for your children. That is all this is for. We're not trying to harass sex offenders. It's not about that at all,” Tudor said. “Oregon state legislature, fix this now."