CALL TO ACTION #2 for HB 1085 – Wording has been changed in HB 1085 and NOT for the better
This Call To Action has been superseded. Comments are now disabled.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW CTA
UPDATE: You can watch the session live HERE.
HB 1085 is in the House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee where the wording has been changed.
The original bill stated: “shall have all personal information printed on the front of the license or identification card in the color red.”
The revised bill states: “shall have printed in the color red all information otherwise required to be printed on the front of the license or identification card.”
This Wednesday (March 15) at 3:00 pm this proposed committee substitute (PCS) will be considered. Make your calls today or leave messages after hours.
This change in HB 1085 occurs in lines 805-814.
Of the Utmost Importance: Aides for members of the House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee are NOT receiving many calls on this bill. The aides say that calls are more effective. Emails are not always read in time.
PLEASE do the following:
- Call all members of the House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee.
- Whether you talk to a person or voicemail, you must give your name and contact information (phone numbers work). Remember that all voicemails are checked, so you can call after hours.
- State that you oppose the part of the bill that would require the red lettering on driver’s licenses for people on the registry
- Mention that you are a constituent if you happen to live in the representative’s district.
- Give two brief reasons why you oppose the red lettering on the licenses. (Refer to the previously posted Call to Action for HB 1085 at the FAC website for talking points.)
- Ask family members and friends to also call to oppose the red lettering.
House Transportation & Modals Subcommittee for HB 1085:
| 1. Fiona McFarland (Chair) | (850) 717-5073 |
| 2. Tom Fabricio (Vice Chair) | (850) 717-5110 |
| 3. Yvonne Hayes Hinson | 850-717-5021 |
| 4. Robert Alexander Andrade | (850) 717-5002 |
| 5. Kristen Aston Arrington | (850) 717-5046 |
| 6. Douglas Michael Bankson | (850) 717-5039 |
| 7. Fabian Basabe | (850) 717-5106 |
| 8. Jervonte Edmonds | (850) 717-5088 |
| 9. Anna Eskamani | (850) 717-5042 |
| 10. Tiffany Esposito | (850) 717-5077 |
| 11. Jennifer Harris | (850) 717-5044 |
| 12. Vicki L. Lopez | (850) 717-5043 |
| 13. Lauren Melo | (239) 417-6270 |
| 14. Kiyan Michael | (850) 717-5016 |
| 15. Angela Nixon | (850) 717-5013 |
| 16. Juan Carlos Porras | (850) 717-5119 |
| 17. David Smith | (850) 717-5038 |
| 18. Paula A. Stark | (850) 717-5047 |
Talking points – These are Facts that can be supported by evidence, studies and research
- There are currently 52 registry requirements for people on the sex offense registry. Every Florida legislator should have received a copy of the timeline of these registry requirements that started off with 3 in 1997 and have grown to 52 by 2020. Failure to fulfill any of these requirements could lead up to 5 years of imprisonment, even for the thousands of Florida registrants who are now law-abiding citizens.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Louisiana’s appeal of a decision against its 2006 law requiring that people on the sex offense registry have their driver’s license or identification card marked with “SEX OFFENDER” in orange letters. The Louisiana Supreme Court said the marking was compelled speech and could not be justified by the state’s interest in protecting public safety.
- In 2019, a federal judge struck down Alabama’s sex offense registration law that required registrants to carry a driver’s license or official ID with “CRIMINAL SEX OFFENDER” emblazoned in red.
- While there is no research showing a need for this bill (lines 116-144), there is an abundance of research showing that the sexual recidivism rate for people with a past sex offense is lower than that for all other crimes, with the exception of murder.
- Research has shown that at least 90% of FUTURE sex crimes will be committed by people NOT on the registry.
- The first-of-its-kind meta-analysis study of 25 years of findings of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) evaluations and their effects on recidivism was published in 2021. Eighteen research articles including 474,640 formerly incarcerated individuals were used. (Journal of Experimental Criminology, “The effectiveness of Sex Offender Registration and Notification: A meta-analysis of 25 years of findings”, Kristen M. Zgoba and Meghan M. Mitchell, September 2021)
- Some of the findings of the above-mentioned study: (1) The sex offense registries have had no effect on sexual and non-sexual crime commission over their periods of existence, thereby failing to deliver on the intention of increasing public safety; (2) Public safety could likely be maximized by focusing limited resources on the highest-risk individuals, rather than utilizing a one-size-fits-all law; and (3) It is time that we work as an empirically informed community, unhindered by emotion, to find a solution to reining the “horse back into the barn”, i. e., reining in the numerous sex offense registry statutes.
Talking points – Personal Opinions
If you choose to state a personal opinion, use respect when delivering what you intend to be a common sense remark and that is not intended to be received as an attack on the legislator(s). The intent is to get them to think through their bill and the consequences, giving them scenarios that they may not have considered.
- The proposed bill states: “A sexual offender or sexual predator who is asked by a law enforcement officer, school resource officer, school official, day care operator, or government official to present his or her driver’s license or identification card must completely remove the license or identification card from the place in which it is stored or contained and present the license or identification card to the law enforcement officer, school resource officer, school official, day care operator, or government official without any of the colors or markings required under subsection (3) being obscured or hidden.”
- Doesn’t law enforcement require EVERYONE to remove their license from its holder and hand it to them?
- Why is this specific to a law enforcement officer, school resource officer, school official, day care operator, or government official when the DL/ID is used for much more like cashing a check, boarding a plane, visiting in a hospital, buying a car and much more?
- Is it only law enforcement officer, school resource officer, school official, day care operator, or government official that are unable to read the markings in black?
- What if the reader is color-blind, will this matter to them, will they be less safe?
- How many draconian registry requirements does it take for Florida Legislators who are using these simply to get votes?
- This was all done by Louisiana to impose additional punishment on registered citizens under the guise of “regulation”.
- Lawsuits are sure to follow if lines 116-144 are kept in HB 1085.
- Where is the research to show that this bill will make society safer? There is no such research.
- What has happened that would cause a Florida house member to propose such an additional restriction on the thousands of registrants on our state registry who are now law-abiding restrictions?
- Being on the registry is for life in Florida, which is one of only three states that have such a requirement. If this bill passes, there are people who “mooned” their high school classmates, juveniles who texted nude photos to other juveniles, 22-year-olds who had consensual sex with their 17-year-old girlfriend/boyfriend and married them after release from prison, people with dementia or autism who unknowingly committed a sex offense, and the list goes on and on, who will be punished the rest of their lives because of this bill if it passes.
SPEAK UP – Make the phone calls and let them hear from you, a Florida Taxpayer, that the action in the lines we oppose are a waste of our tax dollars and have no impact on public safety. STOP the shaming tactics.
Every call gets heard and tallied. Every respectful conversation with a staffer is an opportunity to spread the truth about our community. YOUR EFFORTS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
This Call To Action has been superseded. Comments are now disabled.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW CTA
Just made all the calls. One legislator office who I did reach already knew I was commenting on HB1085, said he’s gotten lots of calls in this bill today. So we seem to be getting the message out!
I called everybody as well. One office I spoke to had not heard about Alabama’s 2019 attempt and they would look into it.
I called Fiona. Left a voicemail. Please Please Please everyone do this. Call them!
I also just called Fiona’s office and it went to voicemail. I stated my name and number, the fact that I’m a long-time Florida resident, and calmly asked Representative McFarland to not support the provision of HB 1085 requiring red lettering because it was dangerous to the individuals forced to present those licenses/ID cards and unconstitutional.
BIG RED letters equals compelled speech as far as I am, and hopefully, the supreme court and the constitution are concerned.
This is literally the definition of the Scarlet letter.
That’s exactly what I told the Committee members in my email, along with the fact that the Supreme Court of Louisiana and a Federal District Court in Alabama both recently struck down similar provisions as being unconstitutional. Both courts noted that the government must use the least restrictive means in conveying the message to law enforcement that the identification card/license holder is a sexual offender. Making the entire license red is not the least restrictive means; using a code the public would not notice but law enforcement would, is, according to both courts.
Rm
Thanks for that. Every advance we make moving forward, something like proposal sets us back several steps. Reminds me of the board game called risk. You get some wins and advances, then on the next move you are worse off than you started.
Wasn’t there a case in Ohio recently where they wanted to do similar punitive things? If I’m not mistaken, it was deemed unconstitutional……
Richard
But if it passes, how many years would that appeal on that basis take? If it gets overturned after an amount of time, the damage is already done. For example, if I get off the registry in August, I know not much will change since all my neighbors know about my charges from the registry so getting removed will just keep me from having to look over my shoulder all the time.
The law makers know there is always a chance of getting challenged but will pass them anyway and let the lawyers take care of the mess they made. And at the citizens expense.
This is why if it passes we need to already have a temporary job injunction ready to go. If passes in April we then have two months to get a stay with an injunction. It is clearly carrying the governments message. Voices are not the only type speech so is writing and this also falls under compelled speech. I would gladly sell if my stock portfolio to get the injunction going.
Well a judge somewhere ruled the Halloween signs were illegal and shot them down so how could this bill pass without a legal challenge? I mean what is next, having to put a bumper sticker on our car stating “Driving will being on the registry”?
I did not renew my passport when everyone stated they were getting denied everywhere they went. I never ever got hassled in the past until I returned to the U.S and would be held so long I would always miss my connecting flight.
How embarrassing to get pulled aside as a security threat, miss your flight, once I had to do strip search and once my bag was purposely destroyed and cut open with a razor blade instead of asking me to unlock it. And yet they call us sick.
In Ohio, the license plate is colorized yellow with red lettering for those who have DUI consequences still and has been used for years. They do have a DUI registry as well (but takes a lot to get onto it).
IMO, colorized DL text is least restrictive. I am not saying I like it but facing the reality of it and recent cases. Would love the legislature to drop it altogether before it gets challenged if it passes to becoing law.
Ts
I think everyone should watch the movie Minority report where people get arrested for crimes they “May” commit in the future.
I Really just want to tell them “red is my favorite color.”
I am not worried about showing it to law enforcement since they harass me every opportunity they can get. My concern is other places that get your I.D. The library, when cashing a check, when we have to go into the driver’s license place to get this new red i.d and the clerk yells “We got another red card loser”, Buying beer and everywhere else we can scream to the World that we wear the Scarlet letter.
My Neighbors already hate me so why not those who do not know I am on the registry but will when they wonder why Satan red is blasted all over our I.D.
I am waiting for a new bill from the Florida legislature to drop proposing changing the title of “Governor” to “Chancellor.”
Just left voice mails for everyone on the list. Somehow these people think these things only affect the person who is on the registry, nevermind their families and friends. These things are not just a matter of safety for the registered person but any person or child who may be with them when they have to show their license. This is a negative move on behalf of public safety.
made 18 calls only Rep Melo was short because i believe that’s her cell (begins with 239 instead of 850)i hope it worked in changing some of their minds. I would ask my fellow RSO’s that still attend church to ask the leader of the church if they can ask the congregation to make calls also . If they are truly god fearing people i am sure a lot of them would be happy to.
I just called every number on this list and had great interactions with staffers and left voicemails where necessary.
WE ARE BEING HEARD!!!
Huge praise, thanks and deep gratitude for our Tallahassee person putting all of this together for us!
So inspiring to hear!! Thanks for also doing this!! If we do not , no one will
Calls matter. They really do.
Did my part. Now let’s hope and pray that we are successful.
Now if they will only follow this verse from Sirach 8: in my Bible.
[5] Do not reproach a man who is turning away from sin;
remember that we all deserve punishment
I had my wife call them and express her displeasure with the bill. So some calls are being made.
If this passes…
Please contact me as I will gladly be part of any lawsuit and be a named party.
Over it!
Got a call back from rep Eskamani’s office they said that they feel the same way we do an plan to vote against it
we will see if this is true when it comes to the vote
Yep, Eskamani’s office is the only office that called back and left me a voicemail. I have seen her in many interviews and conference calls with different organizations. She seems like a very level headed and sensible rep. It’s unfortunate her office seemed like the only one to show an interest in constituent views.
Always good to see our voted representatives doing us justice – ooops my mistake we did not vote any of these people to speak or vote on our behalf did we? NO! But our wonderful tax dollars sure keep them in place – oh wait taxation without representation (wasn’t that our Bill of Rights our forefathers fought for) but that’s another can of worms for another debate.
Kudos to the 2 wonderful women who actually saw through this as nothing more than extended punishment. Thank you ladies for at least letting us see that not all of government is failing. Thank you for the hope you gave that is there is possible voice for the voiceless.
I did have a question on this as it doesnt seem to say who is footing the bill for when the require us to do this? I just did my already.
Yes, if anyone is interested in actually seeing the committee from yesterday, HB 1085 discussion starts at approx 59:30 of the recording: https://thefloridachannel.org/videos/3-15-23-house-transportation-modals-subcommittee/
There are quite a few takeaways regarding the position of some of the members when they get into the “debate” section of the meeting.
One must remember that this country was founded by a horde of day-drinking slave owners. Hate, oppression and subjugation was normalized by these people we often deem “visionaries.”
America is currently experiencing a new age of facism and othering. We’re being relentlessly targeted with regulatory capture and retaliation tactics. We’re in the political kill box being scapegoated for votes.
Looks like the committee voted Favorable, including the proposed committee substitute.
Now assigned to Tourism & Infrastructure Appropriations Subcommittee (chair: Rep Alex Andrade), no meeting scheduled.
LOL!!!!!! Great one! May as well get some last comments in because if the “blogger” bills goes thru we may not be able to do this without getting sued. Media and public comment censorship are the first things dictators impose and have seen this happen in so many other countries. Who would have imagined here in ours? Welcome to America!!! Land of the free!!!
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Everytime something like this happens it feels like the one step forward two steps back cliche. I can’t live with the “things will get worse before they get better” life I’m forced to live in Florida. I moved but due to a parent having cancer I was going to move back. I can’t do it, I can’t go back to these nonsense laws. I don’t even care about extended family judging me for not being there because I’m going to live my life as free as I can. I’m so heart broken, but I can’t live like that.