Under the new law, the public will have immediate access on the Internet to the personal information of those convicted of the worst sex crimes. That information will include a convicted sex offender's photo, address and eventually additional information on the vehicle each offender drives.

"This information ... will allow our citizens, our parents, our children to afford themselves the kind of protection from sex offenders that until today was lacking," said state Attorney General Mark Bennett, among the state and local law enforcement officials who joined Lingle at the bill signing.

The state has also launched a new Web site for the online database at sexoffenders.hawaii.gov/.

There are a total of 2,100 registered sex offenders in Hawai'i. Information on 300 other convicted sex offenders, primarily from out-of-state, is still being confirmed, Bennett said.

The public will be able to access information on another 300 convicted of less serious offenses only at police stations. And the names another 100 who were convicted of a single misdemeanor offense will not be publicly accessible.

Both Bennett and legislators have described the process of developing the new law — which passed unanimously in both houses — as collaborative and bipartisan.

Gaylene Chun of Honolulu, who was among those who testified on behalf of the law as it made its way through the Legislature, stood behind the governor as she signed the bill.

Chun was molested by a neighbor when she was 12 years old. She said she felt it was her duty now as a mother to testify on the measure.

"As a mother of three, soon to be four children, I feel safer knowing that there are additional resources to protect the citizens and the keiki of Hawai'i," Chun said.

The new law implements a 2004 constitutional amendment and ends a state requirement for a separate hearing to be held before a sex offender's information can be posted publicly.

In November, voters approved a constitutional amendment that gave the public the right to access registry information of those convicted of certain sex offenses and crimes against children. The amendment charged the Legislature with deciding the conditions of public access.

The push for the amendment followed a 2001 state Supreme Court ruling prohibiting public access to the information of any sex offender until the offender was given a separate hearing.

The new measure also amends current law, which requires all sex offenders to register for life.

The worst sex offenders will be required to register for life and have their personal information automatically placed online.

Less serious offenders, however, will have the chance to end their registration and public access to their information on the Internet after a certain period of time.

All sex offenders can petition within 10 to 40 years — depending on their crime — to end public access to their personal information. But no sex offenders' information will be removed without a hearing.

Hawai'i's sex offender registration law, as with many other states, is known as "Megan's Law." It is named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was murdered in 1994 by a convicted pedophile living in her New Jersey neighborhood.