Educate Your Legislator – Letter with Timeline
In the Weekly Update for October 30, 2021 we suggested that you choose one or more Florida Legislators that you personally want to educate on the issues related to the FL Registry. You can start by sending them a copy of the timeline provided by our legal committee. The Timeline shows the Registry requirements added year after year that do not protect society but have increased the punishment on law-abiding citizens who are forced to remain on the registry. Click Here to Download the Timeline or this shorter version of the timeline.
PLEASE volunteer to participate in the Letter Campaign and share this timeline with some of our legislators before the next session that runs from January 11, 2022 through March 11, 2022. Links to the Contact information for each Senator and House Representative can be found at the end of this post.
- Choose one or more Legislators and/or Senators that represent your district or surrounding districts
- Let the Media Committee know who you intend to educate so we can minimize duplications and ensure all Legislators are receiving the information. Add it to the comments on this post, or email [email protected] or leave message at 833-273-7325, Option 2
- Write your letter explaining how the state of Florida has gone from 3 to over 50 requirements, which were passed without the support of research-based data, forcing the requirements on thousands of law-abiding citizens, and their families. Use your name when corresponding with your Legislator, and be respectful. YOUR LETTER WILL BECOME PUBLIC RECORD.
- Print a copy of the Timeline, hand-write the address to the Representative on a regular envelope and enclose the Timeline with your letter.
Keep your personal letter short, no more than one typed page, and stay focused on one topic/concern. Other points you may want to include in your letter that explain the Timeline:
- You are sharing with them the history of the statutes that Florida has passed almost yearly to further punish people on the Sex Offense Registry who are now law-abiding citizens, many with families that are also impacted by the restrictions.
- Mention that the timeline shows how the number of statutes has grown from three in 1997 to fifty-two this past year, with no change in public safety. The registry is no longer a help to law enforcement, but rather a continuing punishment for thousands of people in the state of Florida who are trying to remain compliant. The additional requirements, if failed to report, carry stiff penalties.
- Acknowledge that there are some dangerous people on the registry who need to be closely monitored, but they are in the minority. Since FL does not use Risk Assessments to determine status, and lumps all persons into the same categories, then monitoring high risk persons is not possible.
- Unlike other crimes, all research shows a low sexual recidivism rate for people who have been caught committing a sex crime and have served their time. Risks are further reduced by the number of years that a person has been offense-free.
- Encourage the legislator to support having the state use empirically validated risk assessments (and not the offense) to focus only on the truly dangerous people on the registry. Stop wasting tax dollars and Law enforcement resources monitoring persons who are law-abiding.
Our goal is to reach all Florida legislators, and if sending duplicate copies to some legislators occurs, well, so be it. At least they will not be able to say that no one ever told them what is happening to law-abiding registrants in our state.
If you are unable to list the legislators to whom you will be sending the timeline or do not want to list them, that is okay – just please send the timeline to as many legislators as you can, whether it be one legislator or many.
Use the links below for a list of Florida legislators and their contact information, or request a copy of the list from your FAC County Coordinator:
Click here for the 40 FL Senators
Click here for the 120 FL House Representatives
For those people who are interested in targeting specific committees, they can be found at:
https://www.flsenate.gov/committees
https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/sections/committees/committees.aspx
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We have a member who has sent the timeline to: Representatives Botana, Giallombardo, Melo, Persons-Mulicka, Roach, and Tuck.
On a related subject, I’m a bit surprised that FAC is not leaning hard into getting people to write/call/email the U.S. Attorney General. ACSOL is pushing to swamp the DOJ with opposition to the proposed SORNA rules that are literally on the way to Merrick Garland’s desk for signature. These will affect all registrants in the country.
Veritas.
We reposted ACSOL’s letter in order to garner support for the effort. There’s no reason to reformat something that was already so well put together.
FAC did give a detailed post on Oct. 28 on how to contact the U.S. Attorney General. I am currently working on my own letter to mail through email and regular mail along with calling the number given by ACSOL. I hope you and others are doing the same.
We also need to be mailing Florida legislators the FAC timeline on the history of passing laws in Florida that affect anyone forced to register.
FAC board members, who are UNPAID volunteers, cannot do everything. Most people are willing to sit back and be satisfied with the status quo. If all registrants, friends, and family members in the state of Florida would ever unite and show their strength in numbers, we would get more done.
I hope you and others are also sending out the timeline with a letter of explanation to our legislators.
Sorry if I misrepresented your efforts. I appreciate the work that you FAC volunteers do. I for one am calling, writing and emailing. I hope this little exchange reminds everyone that each voice counts.
Thank you, Ed C, for what you are doing to help our cause.
Hi guys, I got my letters and timelines done for Hendry, Glades and Lee (while I was at it). Let me know if you need other Counties done.
I’d appreciate it if you notified us of more details about this Senator and the what retaliation people have experienced?