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Call to action from Florida Action Committee

AMENDED CALL TO ACTION #3 FOR SB 1230 and HB 1235:

SB 1230 has been referred to Senate Fiscal Policy Committee and HB 1235 added to Second Reading Calendar.

We have met with some success because of the emails, calls, and in-person visits with legislators.  Both bills (SB 1230 and HB 1235) have removed the language that could have made it impossible for anyone to ever petition to be removed from the registry.  Our teamwork is showing some positive results, and now is not the time to quit as we have more work to do.

What you need to know about SB 1230 and HB 1235:

  • At the time of posting/emailing this Call to Action, no dates or times for future votes have been published, but we assume that they will be coming.
  • SB 1230 and HB 1235 are an attempt by FDLE and our legislators to amend the Sexual Predators Act (FS 775.21) and the Sexual Offenders Act (943.0435).
  • The sponsor of SB 1230 is Senator Jennifer Bradley, representing District 6 (Columbia, Baker, Union, Bradford, Clay, Gilchrist, and Northern Alachua Counties).  The sponsor of HB 1235 is Representative Jessica Baker, representing District 17 (part of Duval County).
  • The verbiage “a day includes any part of a calendar day” is back in these bills.  “For the purpose of calculating a temporary residence under this paragraph, the first day that a person abides, lodges, or resides at a place is excluded and each subsequent day is counted.  A DAY INCLUDES ANY PART OF A CALENDAR DAY.”
  • ANY duration of travel outside the USA is reportable (previously 5 days or more).  The line “5 days” has been struck out.
  • Lines 1034-1036 and 1600-1602 in SB 1230 and lines 1034-1036 and 1601-1602 in HB 1235 state that EACH instance of a failure to register or report changes of the required information constitutes a SEPARATE offense.  A single misstep carries a maximum sentence of 5 years.  Someone on the registry could be facing decades in prison for one unintentional, paperwork violation, as it would be unreported each time you register. 
  • These entire bills are retroactive in the sense that they will apply to all people on the registry regardless of when they were convicted.  However, they are not retroactive in the sense that someone who did NOT register 4 cars a month before the law passed (if it passes) could be charged with 4 separate offenses.  That part would only apply to registration violations committed after the bills’ effective date.

Please do the following:

  • Email or call members of the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee first.  Then contact as many of the 120 House Representatives as you can.  Paul Renner is the Speaker of the House.
  • You will need to give your name.
  • IF YOU DO NOT LIVE IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA, YOU COULD MENTION THAT AS IDEAL AS FLORIDA IS FOR VACATIONING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO VISIT A STATE THAT PASSES UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VAGUE LAWS AS THESE TWO BILLS ARE.
  • If you are a constituent for any of the senators you are contacting, make sure you mention that you are.  You can click on these links to find your senator and representative.
  • Let the legislators know the reasons you OPPOSE a particular part of these bills.  Tell them what could happen to you and your family if these bills are not amended.  TELL YOUR STORY.
  • If you call in the evening or on a weekend, voicemail will pick up.  Leave a message.  Aides say that voicemails are counted.
  • Always be cordial in your communications with the legislators as they are more likely to listen to us.

Talking points:

The legislators are asking that we let them know how SB 1230 and HB 1235 will impact our lives.  TELL YOUR STORIES.  If you do not have a story to tell, then give a hypothetical story that could happen to you if the above-mentioned concerns we have with these bills are NOT removed.  More than one story would be great to share.

We also need for family members, friends, or anyone who would be negatively impacted by the changes being proposed in these bills to tell our legislators what will happen to them if the language is not removed from SB 1230 and HB 1235.

Do not try to use every suggestion or piece of information given in this Call to Action.  Pick out what is most important to you.  If you have time to write more than one email or make more than one call, then you could include additional information.

PERTAINING TO THE DEFINITION OF A DAY:

  • Representative Baker (the sponsor of HB 1235) recently gave the following example of how the definition “part of a day” is intended to be used in HB 1235:
  • 1st day at temporary residence counts as Day 0.  Does not count.
  • 2nd day at temporary residence counts as Day 1.
  • 3rd day at temporary residence counts as Day 2.
  • 4th day at temporary residence counts as Day 3.  Triggers obligation to register.
  • Representative Baker continued with her interpretation of HB 1235: Let’s say that you check out on the 4th day (also referred to as Day 3) at 8 am and return home.  Because you have stayed “any part” of Day 3, you have now triggered the obligation to register.  Had you left before midnight on the 3rd day (also referred to as Day 2), you would NOT have triggered the obligation to register.
  • Representative Baker said that the “day includes any part of a calendar day” would only apply to Day 3, but these bills do NOT say that.  Some in law enforcement are saying there will be chaos in their departments if this passes.
  • Nowhere in these bills does it state that Days 1 and 2 cannot be considered as “parts of a calendar day.” 
  • Baker told the FAC members who met with her that the intent of this bill was NOT to keep people from visiting places or going to a barber shop, but the bill does not say that.  It says that a day includes “any part of a calendar day,” with a possible implication being that any PARTS of Days 1 and 2 would be considered a day in these bills.
  • One possible scenario: You are in your sister’s wedding which involves being at a temporary residence for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.  Since Friday is the first day, it would not count, but you would technically have to leave by 12:00 am (midnight) on Sunday as any part of Monday would count as a “day.”  What if your flight is canceled?  Use other scenarios that you can think of that would apply to your life if this part of these bills is not amended.  TELL YOUR STORY.
  • What do you do if it is a 3-day holiday weekend and your registration office is not open?  And your car breaks down late Friday afternoon, causing you to have to rent a car?  This is one reason we need for these bills to use the words “business day” rather than “day.”  TELL YOUR STORY.  If you do not have one, then describe hypothetically how such a situation could be disastrous for you.  Include family members’ stories.
  • If Florida legislators want people on the registry to remain compliant, then change the word “day” to “business day.”  In lines 571-575 of SB 1230 and HB 1235, “If the sexual predator is in the custody of a local jail, the custodian of the local jail shall register the sexual predator within 3 BUSINESS DAYS after intake of the sexual predator…”  If the custodian of a jail is given 3 business days, then why aren’t people on the registry, who are trying to remain compliant, also given 3 business days?  TELL YOUR STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU OR A FAMILY MEMBER WHO COULD NOT RE-REGISTER OR REGISTER A CHANGE BECAUSE THE OFFICE WAS CLOSED.

PERTAINING TO HAVING EACH INCIDENCE OF FAILURE TO REGISTER OR REPORT CHANGES COUNTING AS A SEPARATE OFFENSE:

  • These are paperwork felonies with each offense coming with a maximum of 5 years in prison.
  • One possible scenario: Your wife receives a new license plate with her renewed car registration and forgets to tell you.  You re-register 3 times, not knowing that her car has a new license plate.  Law enforcement comes to your home and sees the license plate that you have not registered at any of your 3 previous re-registrations.  You have now committed 3 paperwork felonies that could land you in prison for 15 years.  TELL YOUR OWN STORY ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU OR COULD HAPPEN TO YOU IN THE FUTURE IF THIS LANGUAGE STAYS IN THESE BILLS.
  • Other benign violations that could land someone on the registry in prison for years if there is more than one occurrence:
  • Failure to maintain a driver’s license or identification card;
  • Failure to provide an email address or an internet identifier;
  • Failure to provide a phone number.
  • If the wording “each incident is counted as a separate offense” remains in these bills, some people on the registry who are not sexually re-offending could end up with longer prison sentences than that for some violent offenders.  How is sending people on the registry to prison for years for these paperwork felonies making society safer?
  • If this language in SB 1230 and HB 1235 is not deleted, it is conceivable that someone could end up with a lifetime sentence for failure-to-register violations.  The Georgia State Supreme Court ruled that a lifetime sentence for failure to register is unconstitutional.  Decisions of state supreme courts, especially those of adjacent or nearby states, are persuasive authority, especially for matters of first impression, in another state.
  • FDLE has expressed significant concerns in previous years: “…sexual offender and predator registration is a civil and regulatory process, not punishment…If the impact on sexual predator and offender registration is viewed as punishment…, the FDLE advises that these concerns may lead to significant litigation…Such litigation may jeopardize constitutionality, and therefore the viability, of Florida sexual offender and predator registration laws.”  (Florida Department of Law Enforcement, 2022 Agency Legislative Bill Analysis for SB 512, at 3 (Nov. 15, 2021))
  • The “every mistake is a separate offense” shows that even the intent of the law is to be punitive.
  • There are already lawsuits in Florida against the registry, and more are coming if the Florida Legislature is not reined in concerning passing even more punitive laws that affect the thousands upon thousands of law-abiding citizens on the Florida registry.
  • FDLE is asking for the proposed changes in current statutes (943.0435 and 775.21).  They are focusing only on the small minority of people on the registry who have sexually re-offended after release from prison for a previous sex crime.  Focus on this minority of sexual re-offenders only, but why continue to punish the tens of thousands of people on the Florida registry who are NOT sexually re-offending and never will?
  • It is time for Florida to begin using empirically-validated risk assessments (not the offense) to remove the thousands of people on the Florida registry who are now law-abiding citizens.  Then law enforcement could focus all resources on the small minority that continue to sexually re-offend.  Then and only then will society become safer.  (Florida is one of only three states in the United States where placement on the registry is for life.)

Contact information for members of the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee for SB 1230:

For your individual representatives, click here.

someone outside of NARSOL

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One Thought to “Call to action from Florida Action Committee”

  1. Tim in WI
    February 13, 2024 at 7:06 am

    Rounding up people to put them permanently on a state property, and for maintenance purposes. Sound historically familiar? How is it in the 2+ decades since the Smith V Doe decision not one educated attorney has confronted the gaping absence of the words enshrined in the 13th amendment in the balance? Somebody needs involuntary servants to maintain their properties or they will go broke. Remember you’re competing against big tech donor dollars. People who want nothing less than unfettered use of a computers database. That’s where the story began.

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