Florida’s Legislative Onslaught of Proposed Useless and Punitive Laws Affecting Registrants
(Weekly Update #188)
Dear Members and Advocates,
Every few years, the Florida legislature enacts sweeping changes to its sex offender registry. Remember 2014, which Don Gaetz called the “scorched earth” year for registrants? How about 2018 when Lauren Book reduced the reporting period from 5 days to three? Well 2022 is shaping up to offer another huge kick in the face, as SB 1932 and a few other pieces of legislation have been introduced to squeeze us even further. It seems this happens in Florida every four years.
Does anybody know what else happens every four years in Florida? If you guessed Senate elections, you were right! Give yourself a point! In Florida, senators are elected for four year terms and if you guessed that the sponsor of SB 1932, Ed Hooper, is running for re-election this November, you get two points. The two main problems with SB 1932 are the change in definition of the word “day” to “part of a day”, and that it makes petitioning for removal from the registry effectively impossible. The problems with having to register where you go for “part of a day” 4 or more times per year are obvious and the topic for multiple other posts and calls to action, which we strongly encourage everyone to monitor our website closely for, because we will need your help to defeat this horrible bill.
Another bill which would also cause an increase in in person registration is CSHB 325, titled “Vacation Rentals”. This would make stays of 24 hours in a vacation rental considered to be a “temporary residence” and registrable in person (The bill amends s. 775.21, F.S., to require sexual offenders and sexual predators to register with the local sheriff’s office if they stay in a vacation rental for 24 hours or more (currently set at stays of 3 days or more)). So to summarize, we went from 14 days, to 5 days, to 3 days and now they are proposing 24 hours and 4 “parts of a day” in the aggregate per year? And for what? Nothing has ever suggested that there was a problem with 5 days or even 14 days. The only purpose for this is to tighten the screws on registrants. When you consider the sponsor of HB 325, Rep. Fischer from Duval County, is running for the office of County Property Appraiser, he now gets double points from the ignorant for this do-nothing piece of legislation, all at the expense of our rights and liberties. And, if you guessed that this lawmaker was also running for office, you get double points too!
One very interesting point in the legislative analysis on HB 325 is that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opposes the 24 hour “temporary residence”. They write, “FDLE has indicated concerns as follows: The amended language of “temporary residence” in s. 775.21(2)(n), FS, as it will have a significant impact on the Florida Sexual Offender and Predator Registry and will certainly lead to litigation challenging the statutes (and registry).” Oh really? You were sued over the three day requirement, so it’s a no-brainer you will be sued over 24 hours, huh? The FDLE also points out that it will lead to a “substantial” increase in the number of registrations and, for the first time apparently, they realize that registration offices are not open 24/7, so it will be IMPOSSIBLE to register in many cases. Wait… isn’t it already impossible to register in many cases?
Much appreciation to our legislative committee, who has been holding frequent meetings to strategize and plan. Also, tremendous appreciation to our volunteer who has been tracking the bills on a daily basis. If you have access to email or a telephone, please look out for the forthcoming Calls-to Action we will be issuing. It is important we oppose these bills. We were successful last year and we hope to be successful this year also. Follow the updates on the 2022 Legislation link at the top of the FAC website and find the contact information for each Legislator on the FAC Legislative Committee page.
2022 is also shaping up to be an important year on the litigation front as we await decisions from the 11th Circuit and Northern District of Florida on Ex Post Facto I and II. We also await Brevard County’s response in the lawsuit challenging their proximity ordinance. What we don’t have to wait for is the recently decided decision out of the 11th Circuit on Butts County (Georgia)’s Halloween Signs, which was a very good victory for the registrant plaintiffs who opposed having signs placed in front of their yards for Halloween. Between that case and Does v. Marshall (which challenged Alabama’s driver’s license branding), we have two strong victories on First Amendment compelled speech grounds and two strong victories in our federal circuit!
Now, if you earned four points for guessing correctly at the start of this weekly update when you guessed that Ed Hooper is running to retain his Florida senate seat and Jason Fischer is running for office in Duval, here is your chance to get even more points… Can you guess what state has branded driver’s licenses and which county has Halloween sign requirements?
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
Announcements
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- Meet and Greet in Orange County (Apopka) Sat Feb 5th from noon-3:00pm
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- Fearless Group (by Phone) Monday Feb 21st at 7pm
SOME HEADLINES FROM THE WEEK
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“Nothing has ever suggested that there was a problem with 5 days or even 14 days.”
The thing is, none of these laws/restrictions have ever been supported by rationale thought or Legitimate statistical data… but that’s why the “Screws are being Tightened… infinitely”… bc if these laws can target offenders for “Existing” and ensure their rearrests or ostracism from society, that will “Bolster” but inevitably “cook” the data these politicians want to justify their profound ignorance in creating these laws/restrictions.
Its never been about safety or justice… these politicians are enacting “Purge” laws to either kill, ostracize or imprison ANY offenders from existing within ANY jurisdiction. IMO, those pursuing those type of laws should be imprisoned themselves.
But one thing is for certain… all these draconian politicians need to be removed bc the one evident statistic is, they have ZERO respect for life
“Nothing has ever suggested that there was a problem with 5 days or even 14 days. The only purpose for this is to tighten the screws on registrants.”
Exactly right. There is no excuse for it. It just shows how pathetic the legislators and their terrorist supporters are. Grasping for any tiny straw they can get. And yet, that’s the best they can do. They are pathetic, little scumbags.
What is the shortening of the timeframe doing for public safety? I defy anyone to tell me it helps anyone. You’d have to be a seriously dumb person to believe that. So what it is accomplishing. It is making a lot of people really, really, really angry. I’d say it is seriously radicalizing people. It will lead to less people bothering to Register. But meh, what do they care? They certainly aren’t trying to improve public safety or protect anyone.
As I said before, if Floriduh actually thought it was important that visitors to the state Register then they would make it as easy as possible for a person to do so. AND not attach a whole bunch of extra, illegal nonsense onto it. But they haven’t done that. Because they don’t care about public safety. They care about being jackass Karens.
Florida’s voters need to wise and rise up because all of your freedoms will be gone soon. Registrants were the scapegoat and voters/judges are allowing them to pass unconstitutional laws.
Staying 24 hrs at a vacation rental comes with going to register that address. What’s next go to the DMV to get that address on a license? Oh Florida can’t get anymore strange. My hat goes out to the legislature committee and I hope they have plenty of Tylenol, Advil, and company for exploding headaches.
if it’s within Florida you do need to go to the DHSMV for a temporary address.
“Florida can’t get any more strange?” Florida is the “hold my beer” state when it comes to strange stupid behavior. The terms “bath salt zombie” and “hanging chad” were coined here, after all. Any bizarre news story becomes instantly believable if you say it happened in Florida. Don’t jinx us by saying it can’t get worse. That’s a “challenge accepted” statement if I ever heard one.
Everyone knows that all these laws and changes are only to make us not want to travel, to make our live impossible so we can take a gun a shot ourselves. Someone need to show judges the real reason behind all this changes. In plain language we need to show them what this really is.