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Major Concerns About This Bill:
- HB 833 is of great concern as it would require reporting stays of 24 hours or longer at vacation rentals. A vacation rental is defined to be any unit or group of units in a condominium or cooperative or any individually or collectively owned single-family, two-family, three-family, or four-family house or dwelling unit that is also a transient public lodging establishment but that is not a timeshare project.
- This bill is now in the House Ways & Means Committee with no meeting scheduled at this time, but we are working on the assumption that there will eventually be a meeting.
- In the bill analysis for 2023 (page 15), the FDLE has warned that the 24-hour reporting for vacation rentals will require an increase in registration staff to accommodate the growth in registrants who must appear in person to register.
- FDLE has also warned that this bill may require increased hours of availability for sheriffs’ offices as only four registration offices in Florida are open for registration 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- In the analyses for this same bill that was introduced in 2021 and 2022, the FDLE warned that lawsuits could ensue as a result of this 24-hour reporting for vacation rentals that would make traveling in Florida more difficult for people on the registry.
- The Florida Legislators are choosing to ignore the warnings from FDLE.
- There are three companion bills, but at the present time none contains this onerous verbiage.
PLEASE Do the Following:
- Call all members of the House Ways & Means Committee.
- Whether you talk to a person or voicemail, you must give your name and contact information (phone numbers work). Remember that all voicemails are checked, so you can call after hours.
- State that you OPPOSE the part of the bill that would require the reporting of the 24-hour stay in a vacation rental.
- Mention that you are a constituent if you happen to live in the representative’s district.
- Give two brief reasons why you oppose the reporting of the 24-hour stays at vacation rentals.
- Ask family members and friends to also call to oppose this reporting.
TALKING POINTS:
- The shortened time for required registration will make it impossible for registered citizens to comply if they check in on a weekend.
- According to FDLE in the 2023 committee analysis, most registration offices are not open 7 days a week, which would be necessary to accommodate the 24-hour reporting.
- Because this part of the bill could make it nearly impossible for registered citizens to travel throughout the state of Florida, FDLE warned in their 2022 analysis (pages 15-16) of lawsuits.
- In the same 2022 analysis, FDLE said that if the intent is to provide updated information on registrants in vacation rentals, this is not attainable for persons coming into Florida that have not previously registered in the state (which is expected to be a large proportion of registrations received under this bill). Registrants coming to Florida from other states require research from other state registries which are normally only open on weekdays, making dissemination to the public impossible.
- FDLE has said this change will lead to a “substantial increase” in the number of registered citizens required to complete a registration. This will potentially increase the workload of the FDLE and require programming changes to FDLE’s technology systems and incur increased costs.
- FDLE warns in the 2023 analysis that this bill could potentially require an increase in registration staff to accommodate the growth in registrants who must appear in person to register.
- This additional restriction would be punitive for registered citizens, making it unconstitutional.
- What is the purpose of requiring this 24-hour registration? What is the research that is being used to justify this part of the bill?
- Florida already has 52 registry requirements for people on the sex offense registry, where noncompliance for any one of them could result in 5 years of prison. Why is the legislature trying to further punish the tens of thousands of registrants on the Florida registry who are now law-abiding citizens?
We strongly suggest you DO NOT THREATEN LAWSUITS AS THE THREATS DO NOT DETER THE LEGISLATORS. IT DOES TEND TO ANTAGONIZE THEM AND DISMISSES THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE REST OF YOUR MESSAGE.
Phone Numbers for the Ways & Means Committee:
- Stan McClain (Chair – R): (850) 717-5027 [email protected]
- James Buchanan (Vice Chair – R): (850) 717-5074 [email protected]
- Chip LaMarca (Republican Committee Whip – R): (850) 717-5100 [email protected]
- Anna Eskamani (Democratic Ranking Member – D): (850) 717-5042 [email protected]
- Douglas Bankson (R): (850) 717-5039 [email protected]
- Webster Barnaby (R): (850) 717-5029 [email protected]
- Kimberly Berfield (R): (850) 717-5058 [email protected]
- Daryl Campbell (D): (850) 717-5099 [email protected]
- Michael Caruso (R): (850) 717-5087 [email protected]
- Joe Casello (D): (850) 717-5090 [email protected]
- Dan Daley (D): (850) 717-5096 [email protected]
- Wyman Duggan (R): (850) 717-5012 [email protected]
- Tom Fabricio (R): (850) 717-5110 [email protected]
- Juan Fernandez-Barquin (R): (850) 717-5118 [email protected]
- Dianne Hart (D): (850) 717-5063 [email protected]
- Sam Killebrew (R): (850) 717-5048 [email protected]
- Michele Rayner-Goolsby (D): (850) 717-5062 [email protected]
- Spencer Roach (R): (850) 717-5076 [email protected]
- William Robinson, Jr. (R): (850) 717-5071 [email protected]
- Rick Roth (R): (850) 717-5094 [email protected]
- Tyler Sirois (R): (850) 717-5031 [email protected]
- David Smith (R): (850) 717-5038 [email protected]
- Allison Tant (D): (850) 717-5009 [email protected]
- Susan Valdes (D): (850) 717-5064 [email protected]
Every call gets heard and tallied. Every respectful conversation with a staffer is an excellent opportunity to change a mind about our community with someone who has direct contact with a lawmaker. YOUR EFFORTS DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
This Call To Action has been SUPERSEDED.
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I will never go to Florida and will tell everyone I know to to the same . The politicians there are out of control. One in particular is even butting heads with Disney . Well that could be good for someone in another state. We would welcome them with open arms. If they make it too difficult for them they will move. Florida is not same as it used to be.
Bill is confusing to me. I thought we don’t have to report unless it is 3 or more days. Secondly does this apply to hotels and motels or just places like Arbnb
It’s only for STR short term rentals….does not affect the hotel industry.
So does that mean checking in on each end ?
I want to go to the races and it is usually a two day event.
Staying in a campground in an RV.
Reporting this to my local Sheriff. So does that mean reporting to the Sheriff in the County I am going to for that 24 hour period?
I don’t think Jerry’s example of RV in campground qualifies as a vacation rental as defined in statute. Correct me if I am wrong.
This doesn’t add any protection but does add more punishment to and SE. my HOA has day trips I will have to register if I want to go. Probable not now.
This is why FDLE is warning of lawsuits to come. Travel will become almost impossible for people on the registry. The first committee that this bill went through did not seem to care about lawsuits which would involve OUR taxpayer money.
In fact, my takeaway from watching various committee meetings, even those for bills that have nothing to do with registered citizens, is that our Florida legislators do not care if the bills they pass bring on lawsuits. This is surprising since these same legislators are saying that there are too many lawsuits in the state of Florida, and they have already passed one bill this year trying to reign in the ever-expanding number of lawsuits we are experiencing in our state.
FDLE talking points are best. Many reps on this committee aren’t too concerned about the fate of registrants, but they do respect and trust FDLE and are comfortable deferring to them.
So far, though, our legislators do not seem to be listening to the FDLE, or maybe they are not taking the time to read the analysis for the bill.
They obviously have a group of politicians that dislike any of the people on the registry and they are passing every law/ordinance that they can while they are in office
Thank God for the internet so i can do my job in another country and not have to worry about being arrested for breathing the wrong way years after i paid my debt to society
Which county may I ask was thinking of germany
there are many countries that will accept and even defend us especially if you have served your sentence and your only crime is being on a lifetime registry. Top 3 are Portugal/Georgia/Croatia [moderator: citation(s) needed] there are many countries throughout Europe that we can eventually get citizenship from like Germany/Poland/Czech republic/Romania [moderator: citation(s) needed] all of which you can work remotely if your job is internet based all you need is a voip phone with a U.S. number and no one will know your abroad. If your young enough you can go to school in another country and work a local job and retire from that country without worrying about violating one of the 52 restrictions we have as RSO’s in Florida here alone not to mention live anywhere you want and visit anywhere you want
Some moderation was taken in your post would love to chat more directly with you. Money I get monthly for i collect retirement clear and free.
If you have free and clear money coming in each month then it will be far easier for you to re-locate in a foreign country as long as the U.S. Dollar remains strong. I don’t know why there was moderation to my last post i didn’t put anything in it that would require that. i wonder if F.A.C. is limiting our speech
Right on man
I support the current Legislative Acts as written. Our community needs to come 1st as far as the RIGHT to Live without fear of not knowing who they’re living next to.
EVERYONE in the community has the right to live without fear.
Including those who make you uncomfortable.
I will not allow the state to make me fearful of my harmless neighbor.
Darrick
If you want to know who you live next to , go talk to them. How many of your neighbors have you ask to see their driver license. Even if you did it’s not going to tell you what were the circumstances of the offense , even if they were guilty or falsely accused and convicted. My attorney told me 20% of convictions are actually innocent. What if you lived next to a murder or thief. The driver’s license won’t tell you that.
Those on the registry have the lowest recidivism rate of any crime except murder. Do your research buddy.
Darrick, so you are saying you support registries for all crimes then? How else will you know who your living next to? And then what… a registry for those in mental health treatment who own a firearm, because they MIGHT commit a crime… how about a registry of firearms owners who live near schools because they MIGHT commit a school shooting…before you know it Darrick you’re on a registry because of some predictive possible crime. People who have served their sentence and paid their debt to society, should absolutely be free to demonstrate they can positively contribute to their communities.
Anyone who has served their time, deserves to live without fear, the same way you do. Do the research, registered people have among the lowest recividism rate of any criminal category, yes, they made mistakes but so have drug pushers, domestic abusers, murderers. Just because they’re not on a registry doesn’t mean they can’t be dangerous.
The thing is Darrick you will never know who you are living next door to because 90 plus percent of the crimes against children that get people placed on the registry for are committed by people who are not on the registry already(maybe you). Also if you want to know who your living next to as far as RSO’s all you have to do is a simple internet search because they are all listed on the FDLE site and others like it
Why does FAC publish comments [moderated]?
There are plenty of places where [moderated]. Why allow them among decent people?
Really?