FAC Weekly Update 2025-10-22-Do Not Walk Away
Weekly update for October 22, 2025. This is recording number 334.
Dear Members and Advocates,
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor spoke at the University of Vermont this week, and her message could not be more relevant to the work we do. “We are in a difficult part of American history,” she said, warning that “we have great risk right now of our republic government changing in some fundamental ways.” Yet, she reminded us that “what you shouldn’t do is walk away from the fight… we lose the war when you walk away.” Those words resonate deeply as we reflect on the increasingly hostile political and legal climate we face in this country.
Every week, we see new evidence that our democracy is strained — laws and policies once thought settled are being reopened, civil rights are being reinterpreted, and human dignity is too often treated as expendable. For those of us engaged in advocacy for the marginalized and stigmatized, it can feel as though the system itself is growing more entrenched, less compassionate, and more punitive. But as Justice Sotomayor reminds us, this is precisely when engagement matters most. Walking away in moments of difficulty only ensures that the loudest and most extreme voices prevail.
For FAC, this means doubling down on our commitment to defend constitutional rights, to challenge unjust laws, and to remind our lawmakers and communities that fairness and humanity are not negotiable. The temptation to disengage is real. Fatigue and frustration are natural when progress feels slow, but the moral imperative to persist is greater still. The more our legal system bends away from justice, the more vital our voice becomes in pulling it back toward balance and truth.
Justice Sotomayor’s warning is also a call to hope. It reminds us that endurance is itself a form of resistance. Every meeting we attend, every story we tell, every case we challenge is an act of faith that America can still live up to its promise.
This past weekend, several of our members attended the annual NARSOL conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This year’s conference was a rescheduled event — one that had originally been disrupted by a hate group, forcing organizers to postpone and relocate it to a new venue in a different state. Despite those challenges, the conference went forward with tremendous spirit and resolve, a testament to the resilience of this movement and the dedication of advocates nationwide. Attendees heard from legal experts, reform leaders, and directly impacted individuals, all united by a shared mission to challenge misinformation, promote evidence-based policy, and restore humanity to those affected by registry laws. The energy in the room reflected both determination and hope — a powerful reminder that even in the face of hostility and hate, our community refuses to be silenced.
So, as we navigate this difficult chapter of history, let’s take the advice of Justice Sotomayor to heart: do not walk away. Keep showing up, standing firm, and speaking truth. The moment we stop, the cause of justice loses its defenders. And that, we cannot allow to happen!
In closing, we want to alert our members that this week we will be posting an important Call to Action regarding HB 45 / SB 212. These bills represent yet another attempt to expand the reach and burden of Florida’s already excessive registry system, adding unnecessary restrictions that do nothing to enhance public safety but further punish individuals long after they’ve served their time. We urge every member to stay tuned, read the upcoming alert carefully, and make your voice heard. Contact your legislators, share the message, and stand with us in strong opposition to these harmful measures. Now, more than ever, we must speak out — because silence allows bad policy to win.
Sincerely,
The Florida Action Committee
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This may be a bigger problem than folks realize.
FS Sec. 514.011
“Public swimming pool” or “public pool” means a watertight structure of concrete, masonry, or other approved materials which is located either indoors or outdoors, used for bathing or swimming by humans, and filled with a filtered and disinfected water supply, together with buildings, appurtenances, and equipment used in connection therewith. A public swimming pool or public pool shall mean a conventional pool, spa-type pool, wading pool, special purpose pool, or water recreation attraction, to which admission may be gained with or without payment of a fee and includes, but is not limited to, pools operated by or serving camps, churches, cities, counties, day care centers, group home facilities for eight or more clients, health spas, institutions, parks, state agencies, schools, subdivisions, or the cooperative living-type projects of five or more living units, such as apartments, boardinghouses, hotels, mobile home parks, motels, recreational vehicle parks, and townhouses.
(4) “Public bathing place” means a body of water, natural or modified by humans, for swimming, diving, and recreational bathing used by consent of the owner or owners and held out to the public by any person or public body, irrespective of whether a fee is charged for the use thereof. The bathing water areas of public bathing places include, but are not limited to, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, artificial impoundments, and waters along the coastal and intracoastal beaches and shores of the state.
Absolutely ludicrous!
I do maintenance on 3 different hotels. So do this mean I have to quit my job?
IF this passes and that is a Massive IF, it will only effect people moving to a new location. Nothing in the bill do i see being in a place where the pools are its residence. however this would make almost all of Florida unlivable with all the lakes, steams, rivers and Gulf of America and The Atlantic on either side. Not even counting all the hotels, Gyms, etc littered across this “Retirement” State. would like to see a map on the livable space.
@tearfuleagle, I work in hotels doing maintenance, IF this bill passes would I have to quit my job?
I have no Idea No end. I am far from being a lawyer but imho, it you just look at the state of Florida, there are lakes, streams, rivers, gulf of America, Atlantic Ocean It would basically make 1000 foot off limits to reside in across our whole state. Some of the Florida Keys are not even 1000 feet across. think of all the inlets across the state of Florida.
There are 1,700 Rivers and streams in the state of Florida, 50,000 miles that is 246,000,000 feet of rivers and streams. Now if you double that for 1000 feet on each side that would be 492,000,000 feet of unlivable land in Florida or 93,181 miles.
Florida has @ 7,000 hotels. If they have a pool that is 1000 feet circle around each one of those.
For all the above, I really dont see how this passes. Especially if someone smarter than me can create of map of Florida and all the off limit area of Florida.
Yea I get it, it’s not feasible at all. Thank you for your insight brother 👍
No problem, been doing these 28 years. I make sure I put my identifiers online. Right when it gets created. I also check once a month to make sure everything is right on there. I report first day of my two months. Also thank you FAC for the texts. I would encourage everyone to sign up for that. I have “find my phone” activated and shared with my dad, 3 daughters and wife. When I report in. I am polite, ask them how their day is, usually I am 2nd or 3rd in. When my guy comes to do the 2 times a year address verification he comes before the sun comes up. I thank him for that every time. If you don’t know the answer, be safe and call Tally, they are helpful, or your person at the local office. DO NOT TAKE CHANCES. I would also advise to find a good Bible believing church to plug into. Mine has two services with 1500 at the early service of 3500 in the second one. Talk to people, shake hands, smile, etc. Never go near the youth area not even to pick up your own shorties. I am not perfect but if in doubt make sure you are right or don’t do it.
God has been really really good to me during this. My wife doesn’t like to talk about it and has moved on (we were married 2 years when our life changed forever, she didn’t leave) My daughters know and treat me the same as before they knew. I am surely blessed. Friends I made who found out afterwards never changed our friendship.
Sorry for the long post but maybe this encourages someone.