The Need For, and Results From “Calls to Action”
(Weekly Update #196)
Dear Members and Advocates,
We dodged a bullet. Or, to make a more proportionate reference, we dodged a missile. Senate Bill 1932 went nowhere this legislative session and is officially dead. SB 1932 would have made some incredibly burdensome changes to the registry, the worst of which would have amended the definition of day to be any “part” of a calendar day. For purposes of how many “days” constitute a residence, this would have been an absolute disaster, since anywhere you spent “part of a day” three or more times during a calendar year would have become registrable. Thankfully, the bill died in the criminal justice committee.
We will never know whether it was the immediate and significant responses to our calls to action that made the difference or some legislators simply read the proposed changes and said, “come on!”. We believe that our efforts in raising the objection to all legislators, pointing out the absurdity of the changes is what made the difference. It was our efforts in educating the legislators on the potential impact of the bill that made the difference. Otherwise and ordinarily, any bill seeking to make “sex offender laws” tougher would have sailed through without thought. Bottom line, we’re getting a lot better at this.
Also dying on the vine were HB 725 (which would have meant no restoration of civil rights, ever, for registrants), SB 512 and HB 325 (which would have required stays of as little as 24 hours at a vacation rental require registration), and SB 1732 (landlords can be held liable for renting to a registrant).
We owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to our legislative committee who identified the bills, researched their effect on our population, tracked the status as they proceeded through committees, prepared calls to action, assembled contact lists for legislators, and provided us with talking points to help guide our emails and phone calls. We also owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to all of those who stepped up and did something. Whether you made phone calls, sent emails or mailed letters, you certainly made a difference!
While we can breathe a sigh of relief over 2022. Now is not the time to relax. Now is the time to work on our mission for the next legislative session, and that is to propose legislation! It might seem like a long-shot, but other states have been successful in proposing bills and FAC is a large enough, informed enough, and knowledgeable enough organization to prepare the draft of a bill and see if we can find a sponsor. It might seem ambitious and aggressive, but we are ambitious and aggressive!
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
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Thank everyone for our efforts !
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Have said it before and will say it again..if not for the leadership of FAC and the efforts of all that get involved we would be in a worse hell.
Huge thanks to all you warriors!!! Inspiring
G
Thank you
Every once in a great while, I get inspired. Other times I am a sloth LOL
We as a collective will take any win we can get. Together we stand, divided we fall. All of us may not always agree on things but when we get any kind of win, it is a miracle.
Seems there are more pressing issues in the World than coming up with more severe sanctions on register citizens every single meeting of the powers that be. Let’s take the win and keeping on the good fight. Not to steal a line from Doctor King, so I will improvise.
“We have a dream”.
The man who said that line, like us, was discriminated against based not on facts, but ignorance. On gut feelings. On incorrect assumptions. On ignorance passed down by generations. So I feel the similarities are there Cherokee. Amen, brother.
We need to start lobbying now to stop bills like this in the future. Are we ever going to get to Florida State supreme Court?
Does this mean i can attend a wedding in VT for 24 hours and not register? i want to make sure i am not breaking any laws i will leave FL and fly to MA and drive to VT then the reverse the next day.
can anyone help me with this?
If you can, check Vermont registry laws. Go see, unfortunately, the registry office in Florida. Give them a departure and return date. I would give Florida only the information that required.
I don’t know other who have read this news but from my humble point of view this is HUGE wins!!! Did you read how many bills are dead or going down? Is about 5 and each was suppose to make it harder for us. Guys and ladies this is HUGE wins.. this means legislator are changing their mind when this bills arrive to their desk .. they might go like .. this again!! They are changing how they view things and that is huge to our future success. And indeed it has been FAC playing an enormous role in representing us, putting a face for us. I’m very appreciative of what FAC does for us. My most sincere appreciation to you!! We go for more!!
Johandy
Bills can go either way. So much pork and add ons are included in bills that one of two scenarios play out. Either they want something to pass so badly that they do not care if part of the stipulations say no dogs allowed in the entire city limits.
On the other scenario, they hate something added in so bad they do not want to vote until that part is removed. If the other side doesn’t budge, often the entire bill just dies. Both of those can be a good or a bad thing, a win or a lose, depending on what side you are on. And occasionally everyone loses because both sides lost something in the dead proposal.
Of course there is a rare third option. That is where they bicker back and forth and negotiate adding or removing items to make the bill passable. But even then, there is no guarantees a bill with pass or be squashed either way.
Compromise is not a word that both sides always agree on. Like a bunch of playground kids who don’t get their way, retribution in any future bills is sure to follow. It is a miracle that anything gets passed.
Thank You All That Participated in These Efforts……
A Big KUDDOS to ALL OF YOU!
AS Part of my appreciation and continued support, FAC will receive a reasonable donation on my behalf through, Joseph, a Member and Contributor of FAC….I prefer to remain anonymous…
This donation is to continue to Foster a Sense of Reality, Truth and Science….Based on Empirical Data and Codified Numerical Statutory Laws, …. and That We Will Never Stop to Apply Justice TO ALL!
Thank You for Those Who Get-It…Those That have figured out the Legislative Morasses That Exist in our Democratic Societies!
-..it is No Easy Task, as you got to Follow The Dots and Connect Them Simultaneously!
Truth
First of all, well said. Secondly, many (Including myself) bad mouth the law makers. God reminding me that those of us who are believers, that in faith, we need to pray for those same lawmakers. Pray that God will open not only their eyes, but also their hearts. Compassion and forgiveness are two major themes throughout the bible.
Whenever the officer comes to our door to do “the”(I say the instead of “MY” as I do not claim it) compliance check, I always ask him if I can pray for him to be safe, to treat everyone with respect and for him to deserve respect.
I’m glad we have people like the FAC helping. Far too often with RCs, it seems like those who want to help can’t, and those who can (and should) help don’t want to. I’m glad to see those who both want to help and can.