Legislative Updates on Florida’s Sex Offender Laws

Weekly Update 2017-04-27

Dear Members and Advocates,

This week the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the homeless registrants another round of relief in denying Miami-Dade County’s request for a rehearing. The Order, which came out last week, offered little more than what we were hoping for; the words ‘Denied’, which means our challenge to the Miami-Dade County residency restriction will continue.

In other court news, the Florida Supreme Court approved a constitutional amendment proposed by the legislators that would automatically restore civil rights to convicted felons… other than Murderers and Sex Offenders! This is not the doing of the Court, it’s the doing of the legislators that proposed the language with that exception in it. It’ll be our doing to challenge that. It’s clear that not all “sex offenders” are the same and it’s our job to make sure people get that.

This current week (yesterday, actually) marked the end of legislative committee meetings and next week marks the end of the legislative Regular Session. So far, the one bill we were particularly concerned about; Senator Lauren Book’s SB 1558, which could have potentially removed parental rights from registrants who have a Child Pornography conviction in their past, appears to be dead. That’s a significant relief. In the meantime, SB 684, which is Senator Baxley’s bill to enact a new Internet Identifier registration requirement, was placed on the Special Order Calendar for today and will likely pass. This Bill is a horrible bill, but one that will hopefully be knocked out through our challenge that is currently proceeding through the Federal District Court in Tallahassee. We are still waiting on an order from the hearing that took place two weeks ago.

If you are currently affiliated with any national sex offender reform group, please let them know that we are organizing a challenge on behalf of individuals on the Florida registry who are no longer in the State. Since the overwhelming majority of our members are in Florida, this suit will not benefit them, but it’s important that we get this news out to other state affiliates. Any opportunity to chip away at this broken registration scheme in Florida is an opportunity.

Another opportunity that we have is the ability to host screenings of David Feige’s documentary, Untouchable, which is one of the best films made on this subject and really opens people’s eyes and causes them to question whether these laws are just or even effective. If you are a member of a religious, academic, social or other group and would like to arrange a screening of the film, please contact info@floridaactioncommittee.org once you have secured a location that can accommodate at least 25 people.

Since we are waiting on decisions from the court and to see if legislation passes, please keep monitoring our website, www.floridaactioncommittee.org for updates as they come in.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee

SOME HEADLINES FROM THIS WEEK

Royal Caribbean checks passenger manifests against FBI<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/royal-caribbean-checks-passenger-manifests-fbi/>

According to the following article, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and another cruise line check their passenger manifests against the Sex Offender registry and deny access to registrants….

CA: New Bill Could Change the Way Sex Offenders are Registered<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/ca-new-bill-change-way-sex-offenders-registered/>

Some sex offenders could soon lose their lifelong registration in the state of California. That’s if a new bill headed to the California Senate is signed into law. “It really changes it drastically, which is not fair to us as parents and our community and keeping us…

No Voting for Sex Offenders or Murderers Says Florida<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/no-voting-sex-offenders-murderers-says-florida/>

Florida’s state Supreme Court on Thursday approved language for a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would restore voting rights to felons after they complete their sentences. If the measure makes it on the ballot and receives a 60% favorable vote, the…

Sex offender residency laws: There are no easy answers: Editorial<https://floridaactioncommittee.org/sex-offender-residency-laws-no-easy-answers-editorial/>

If you read the following editorial as being sympathetic toward sex offenders, you are missing the point. We are not being sympathetic. We simply want to state that it’s not always possible to legislate our way to safety. Dawn Knull wants a change in state law that…