CALL TO ACTION: Oppose HB 987: Public Lodging Establishments
On April 10th, The Florida House of Representatives amended House Bill 987: Public Lodging Establishments, to require Persons required to register as sex offenders report to the Sheriff’s office where they will be staying, 48 hours before an intended stay at a Public Lodging Establishment, regardless of how long they will stay at the location!
In addition, operators of a Public Lodging Establishment who have a Person required to register as a sex offender staying at or within 1000 feet of their establishment, must notify all guests staying there.
Not only will this be impossible to comply with (you will need to report to the local Sheriff 48 hours before even arriving!), but burdens the travel rights of persons who have served their time and without any individualized assessment of their risk to the community.
It is IMPORTANT that you contact your legislator to tell them to OPPOSE this bill! NOW!
A copy of the Amendment can be found here: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/987/Amendment/348655/PDF
A copy of the Bill can be found here: https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2019/987/BillText/c2/PDF
You can find House Committees and Representatives serving here:Ā https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/committees.aspx
You can find all Representatives here:Ā Florida House of Representatives Complete List
You can find all Senators here:Ā Florida Senate Complete List
You can find your specific State and US Representatives here: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
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Reading the ‘current version’ of the bill as on the internet it only mentions statute 775.21 for the registration.
Reviewing 775.21 it seems to only speak to Predators. Am I missing something? Because in addition the bill encompasses both predators and offenders as if covered by the same statute sub section.
What a sloppily written bill/amendment. 48 hours BEFORE, oh yeah!!
I have mentioned this before on a forum concerning the out of state requirements in FL. I think NARSOL, WAR and any other sex offender advocacy group that could, should hold a joint conference in FL. Let’s hold it at a small town near a large city just over the county line.
Maybe only 500-1000 people show up. What hotels could turn down that kind of business? But the registrations would crush local law enforcement. Not to mention it would bloat the registry in that area. It would cause panic in the local populace for 48 hrs. Can you imagine the impact to the sheriff department there. How many deputies would it take to “Warn” the populace? Then the impact to tourism, real estate value, or other economic impacts.
Then the lasting effects regarding statistics on sex offenders. 18% of “xyz” county are registered sex offenders. And of course this would be a permanent effect since no one is removed from the registry.
Do you think that may get someone’s attention? Then do it again next year..
once you go on FL’s registry you never come off. I seriously don’t recommend it.
Sounds like a way to cripple the registrants financially who live in Florida so they canāt sue and win cases anymore. Also, a way to get more out of state offenders on their offender list so they can up their numbers. You contact the Sheriffs office tell them your coming and you will be on Floridaās list until you die, even if you get off the offender list where you live. Itās a fact and thousands have visited and are now stuck on Floridaās registry.
I want this law to pass.
Before you call me a nitwit, let me explain:
This is SOOOOOO OUTRAGEOUS that even the worst die-hard SO haters will have to admit that their treatment of us is ridiculous.
I want it to pass! It’ll be great advertising for our plight. It’ll gain a HUGE amount of sympathy for our cause! (like a publicity stunt)
For those of us whose employment depends on our ability to travel, the years it would take to litigate this thing to resolution would cause a lot of us to lose employment.
I hope it doesn’t pass.
When will we know if it passes?
There are several more weeks in the legislative session. Sometime before then.
Thank you for the info I appreciate it and I also appreciate everything you all do (FAC)
I have no intent to comply even if it does pass. There comes a time when we have to decide that enough is enough. The ‘sexoffendernistas’ we be chasing their tails anyway trying to keep up with it.
FAC i agree. It will take them 3 to 6 months to prosecute someone on This bill, but 2 to 3 years to overturn it. I hope that the ACLU is standing by with an injunction in case it passes they attempt a stay until it can be heard in court. If it passes that will be our only hope.
I hope this passes too. Sorry for the people who have to travel, but look at it this way….
You go to a Hilton, say on Ft Laud beach, 5-6-700 rooms. You check in and now staff have to form a “vigilante ‘Hogans Heroes squad'”. Running from room to room to “notify” the others of your presence. Half of the 5-6-700 are NOW calling down to the front desk and “CHECKING OUT”…..?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hows that going to play out??? (and dont the hotels have to notify neighboring hotels/restaurants???
IF (and its a BIG IF) this passes, it will be overturned before it gets printed.
REMEMBER— TOURISM IS FLORIDA’S BIGGEST SOURCE OF INCOME— (Is the State REALLY going to let that flounder and die?)
The hotel only needs to notify its guests if it is made aware that a registered citizen (RC) is coming. So, if the local sheriff doesn’t contact them with the news, they have no worries. If the sheriff does contact them, or if the RC tells them, they just refuse to check that RC into the hotel. I don’t ever see an occasion when a smart hotelier has to be bothered by any of this. BTW, is the sex offender issue in this bill an issue for just one legislator (Ms. Goff-Marcil)? Have the legal committee guys reviewed it yet?
It’s within 1000 feet of the hotel. A hotel can’t prevent a RC from staying within 1000 feet of it.
So wrong. You say this will get overturned before it gets printed yet every year almost since 1998 they have passed more and more laws to regulate, control, and confine us. Please let me know what law in Florida has been overturned not county ordinances but Florida law.
Not being argumentative but once they pass them they stick.
How about the Internet Identifier URL requirements? That didn’t stick.
That is true. However the over all reporting of identifiers has stuck. But yes I stand corrected. I will rephrase, the majority of the laws they pass stick
I’m getting frustrated with those who are saying they hope this bill passes just because it won’t affect them personally since they don’t need to travel within the state for work and they believe passage will help the greater cause, which it most certainly will not. In fact, passage of the bill would deal a mighty blow against our cause and it would take up valuable financial resources fighting it in court, resources which are badly needed elsewhere (such as sustaining the Ex Post Facto Plus challenge).
Passage of this bill would make intrastate business travel a practical impossibility for those of us whom it affects, including me. We need to band together and support each other any time one of these draconian laws is proposed. State and local residency restrictions don’t happen to affect me (by the grace of God), but I fight them anyway — including having given money to FAC to support legal challenges — because taking away rights from one of us hurts all of us, whether or not the specific right being eroded affects me personally. It’s about the bigger picture, people.
AGREED and WELL STATED! Thanks RM.
For those who didn’t read last week’s member update, “Another reminder that came from this Call to Action is the importance of stepping up and pitching in for ALL of our efforts. Some of you might have received the email with the alert and thought, āI wonāt bother responding to this one because I donāt travel that much.ā Keep in mind, when an issue that does impact you personally comes around, you will want to know you have our entire organization behind you.”
Excellent statement
I guess writing letters is better than doing nothing at all. But we know as well as anyone that these lawmakers aren’t doing the work of the public. They are doing the work for themselves. So unless we can get over 50% of Floridians to write a letter, spend your time doing something else. Like watching this video from Princeton about how laws are really written and what to do about the corruption of it all. A MUST WATCH:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfQij4aQq1k
Let me get this straight. If I come to Florida from Ohio, I have to come 48 hours prior to my stay at a hotel to the sheriff office to notify them where I will be staying?
If thatās the case, where would I be allowed to sleep in the 48 hours prior to me going to the hotel? Pretty dumb idea if you ask me