FAC Requests Clarification from FDLE on Vehicle Registration
The following letter was sent from FAC to the FDLE.
———-
To Whom It May Concern:
Last year, the Florida legislature passed a series of laws governing sex offenders. Included in these laws are additional requirements concerning “Vehicles Owned”. These additions included a change in the definition of “Vehicles Owned” in F.S. 320.01.
FDLE had circulated an advisory to registrants informing them that they would be required to, “report in person to the sheriff’s office WITHIN 48 HOURS after any change in “vehicles owned” to report those vehicle information changes. {F.S. 943.0435(2)(b)3; 775.21(6)(a)1.c}”
The change in definition apparently required a registrant to report in person, within 48 Hours of any change in “Vehicles Owned”, which now includes the following:
Any vehicle:
- Registered
- Coregistered
- Leased
- Titled, or
- Rented to YOU
AND
- A rented vehicle that you are authorized to drive, or
- A vehicle for which you are insured as a driver.
ALSO included are all vehicles
- Registered
- Coregistered
- Leased
- Titled, or
- Rented
By a person or persons residing at your permanent residence for 5 or more consecutive days.
The Florida Action Committee (FAC) is a non-profit advocacy group. Our members are predominantly comprised of registered citizens and their family members. Part of FACs function is to provide information to our members in an effort to help them navigate the complex and confusing requirements of the registry.
The changes to the “Vehicles Owned” requirement has created significant confusion and the purpose of this letter is to solicit your guidance as to what would trigger an event that would require registration.
Below are some questions or scenarios and we would appreciate if you could advise whether registration would be required under these scenarios.
For ease of reference, I will outline and number these questions/scenarios so that you can respond referencing the number.
- Registrant receives a houseguest who plans to stay for a week and has a vehicle. Registrant will not drive the houseguest’s vehicle. Is Registrant required to report to the sheriff’s office in person to register the guest’s car?
- Under 1; would the 48 hour requirement be triggered within 48 hours of the guest’s arrival or within 48 hours of the guest’s staying 5 or more consecutive days
- Under 1; would the Registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person again within 48 hours to report the change when the houseguest leaves, in order to remove the vehicle from the registry?
- Registrant lives with a non-familial roommate. That roommate receives a houseguest and has a vehicle. Registrant has no clue how long the roommate’s guest plans to stay. Is Registrant required to report to the sheriff’s office in person to register the roommate’s guest’s car?
- Under 4; would the Registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person within 48 hours every time the non-familial roommate changes cars or receives a houseguest?
- Many Registrants are destitute or have difficulty finding housing and live in a shared living environment (ie: group home, halfway-house, transient living facility, etc.). Is Registrant required to report to the sheriff’s office in person to register every vehicle belonging to an individual staying in that shared living environment?
- Under 6; would the Registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person every time a new individual owning/leasing/renting a vehicles moves into or out of the shared living environment?
- Since “Permanent Residence” can include a transient address and many Registrants live homeless at encampments throughout Florida, would the definition of “person or persons residing at your permanent residence” include other registrants registered as transient at the same location?
- Vehicles “rented to” a Registrant are now required to be registered. Registrant from Miami travels to Jacksonville for business. Registrant will be in Jacksonville for three days. While in Jacksonville Registrant will rent a car. Is Registrant required to report to the sheriff’s office in person to register the rented car?
- Under 9; would the Registrant be able to report, in person, to the sheriff’s office in Jacksonville to register the rented car, or would they need to return to Miami within 48 hours to register the rented car?
- Under 9; would the Registrant also be required to report, in person, to the sheriff’s office to report that the rental car has been returned and, if so, would the Registrant be required to report to the sheriff in Jacksonville or in Miami to report that the rental car has been returned?
- Registrant from Orlando travels to Tallahassee for business. Registrant will only be in Tallahassee for one day and plans to rent a car for the day. Is Registrant required to report to the sheriff’s office in person within 48 hours to register the rental car, even though the car had already been returned?
- Registrant lives with a spouse/relative/roommate. The spouse/relative/roommate is a “person residing at [Registrant’s] permanent residence for 5 or more consecutive days”. Would registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person within 48 hours to register a vehicle rented to the spouse/relative/roommate?
- Registrant lives with a spouse/relative/roommate in Miami. The spouse/relative/roommate is a “person residing at [Registrant’s] permanent residence for 5 or more consecutive days”. Spouse/relative/roommate travels to Jacksonville (without Registrant) for work and rents a vehicle. Would registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person within 48 hours to register a vehicle rented to the spouse/relative/roommate?
- If the answer to 14 is yes; if the spouse/relative/roommate is unable to recall the VIN and License Tag Number of the rental car or unwilling to provide that information, is there an exception that would enable the Registrant avoid committing a third degree felony?
- Registrant is employed by a company that operates a fleet of vehicles (ex: landscaping company, construction, etc.) and is insured through an umbrella policy that covers the entire fleet. Under the requirement of registering “a vehicle for which [the Registrant] are insured as a driver”, would Registrant be required to report to the sheriff’s office in person within 48 hours to register every vehicle in the fleet or anytime a vehicle is added to the fleet?
- F.S. 943.0435(2)(b)3/775.21(6)(a)1.c specifies the requirement to report in person to the sheriff’s office WITHIN 48 HOURS after any change in “vehicles owned” (emphasis taken from FDLE’s 2014 Registration Updates). May a Registrant report to their local sheriff’s office or are they required to report to the designated “registration office” for the county, which might be far, inconvenient, only open designated hours, require a substantial wait and could require a Registrant to take additional time off work?
- If the answer to 17 requires the Registrant to report to the county’s registration location, many registration offices require appointments or have set registration days that would make compliance with this requirement impossible. Is there any exception in the statute that would accommodate this situation?
Kindly respond to the scenarios/questions referencing the number your answer corresponds to. If the answer to any of the scenarios/questions is no, kindly provide the statutory reference to the exception so that we can share it with our membership.
I greatly appreciate your anticipated cooperation in providing this clarification.
Sincerely,
Gail Colletta, President
Florida Action Committee, Inc.
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I guess FDLE never clarified this. Just had to give the local yocals info on my son’s car….doesn’t live with me, not registered to me, but co-registered to my estranged wife.
This is amazing in two respects— amazing in how clearly it’s laid out, and amazing that we have to ask in the first place.
One question I have is, what if FDLE simply is unable to come up with a response?
On # 16
I am employed as a dumptruck driver by a company with 11 dump trucks and 3 pickup i am currently homeless and sleep in the truck I drive. This morning my boss needed my truck to do a job that started at 5:30 so he left the pickup with me. Wouldn’t you know it probation shows up at 5:45 !!! I explained the situation and asked if I needed to have this truck registered since it belongs to the company. He said he didn’t know and that I needed to ask my po. But the way he understands it ANY vehicle I have access to I have to register that adds a whole new situation if I go to my moms house to visit I technically have access to her vehicles or anywhere else I go would be the same ! If you go so.where and someone leaves they’re keys in they’re car you would again technically be able to have access to they’re car where does it stop?
I believe not: if youre homeless the car doesnt act as the address its the closest or intersection address. Also if i remember if the veh is at your registered address for more than a certain time thrn you need to list it even if not yourso
Very good! here is another scenario for you – my son a registered citizen does not drive – he never has – he has a FL ID card but has never been a licensed driver in any state. But if his roommate gets a car he has to report it. One thing that has bothered me about this law also is that although the info is not public right now I can completely imagine the scorched earth of FL eventually adding it to the flyers.
Also, question – I keep hearing about this proximity law in Seminole (is that the City of or the county of?) and if it is the county what the heck is that law? I have searched for info on it since I first heard of it and cannot find anything about it? What is it and what does it say?
Seminole County
Sec. 228.2. – Restriction of certain activities of sexual offenders and sexual predators.
No sexual offender or sexual predator shall travel through or remain within the 1,000 foot buffer zone surrounding any school, daycare center, park or playground except to:
(a)
Attend a scheduled meeting with an attorney who is recognized as a licensed member of the Bar of the State of Florida;
(b)
Attend a scheduled interview with a social service provider licensed by the State of Florida;
(c)
Comply with a request or court order from the judiciary, a correctional facility or a law enforcement entity;
(d)
Contact criminal justice personnel at a criminal justice facility;
(e)
Attend a church service or function;
(f)
Attend a bona fide educational institution as a registered student;
(g)
Attend to medical or health care needs with a licensed physician;
(h)
Attend to familial or parental obligations;
(i)
Be gainfully employed or as part of duties imposed by gainful employment;
(j)
Seek refuge during times of impending natural disasters or acts of terrorism, if such schools have been designated by Seminole County or the State of Florida as a place of refuge.
A law enforcement officer shall, prior to any arrest for an offense under this Section 228.2, afford the person an opportunity to explain his or her presence in the area and the purpose thereof. No person shall be convicted of an offense under this section if the law enforcement officer did not comply with this procedure or if it appears at trial that the explanation given by the person is true and, if believed by the officer at the time, would have authorized the person to be in the area pursuant to one of the exceptions listed above.
thank you – unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!
How can this be applied to non-residents of $emenh0le County? If I drive down I-4 to Orlando, I am probably passing through a “no-go” zone. I-4 is a federal highway, how can they have jurisdiction?
Thank you Gail and FAC,
I have had this same discussion with the sheriff officer in my area. Although he is accommodating and helpful his “help” in this matter will not shield me from arrest for “failure to register by omission.”
We can discuss the common sense of each of these points, however, has legal counsel considered attacking the conditionality of law abiding, non registered citizens being required to have their vehicle information on a a sex offense registry?
Of course I’ve been told the information is “not public or searchable” but does this override the constitutional question?
Citizens who have committed no crime are now forced to register.
JR
Divide and conquer? It would seem that laws like these have the un/intended effect of driving away what remaining friends, family, and living options a registrant has. If you are lucky enough to be able to stay with friends or family, but now they are forced to further get wrapped up in this registration process, will some not tire? Increase the burden on those who care about a registrant and eventually some will cave in and distance themselves. It certainly makes group-home situations more difficult, and employment as well as exposed with the fleet vehicles example.
RSO laws approach Catch-22 insanity and almost guarantee that every registrant will, by absolutely no intentions whatsoever, be guilty of a felony at any given moment. Convenient status-quo when you have prison beds to fill, need to squelch dissent, or simply need a nice red herring to put on the headlines.
We question the constitutionality of these laws. As if we need to. What’s to question?? Cruel and unusual, ex post facto, freedom of speech, unreasonable search, debtors prison, the list goes on when it comes to sex offender laws. The presumption of constitutionality needs to be a thing of the past, and these laws are some of the most shining examples of why. When I was young I naively believed so much in our system that I joined the military. I’m sad to say I’d have had to given that decision much more deliberation had I known then what I know now. I want to believe we are leading the way to world peace and betterment of humanity, but those nagging facts keep destroying my delusions. We send our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, neighbors, etc. to war to “battle extremism and defend freedom” when we are arguably as extreme in our own ways and, when you boil it all down, not much more at liberty than the citizens of our enemy states. The American citizen need only focus a slightly beyond the crimes of the registrant to see the horrid criminality of these statutes. But thus far, the powers that be have successfully kept our populace in a state of painful myopia.
Great commentary! Unfortunately so true.
These vehicle requirements (which are unfortunately already law) only cause further ostracism.
There are registrants in Seminole who are FORCED to break the law daily. They have a proximity ordinance there and some registrants live completely encapsulated inside a no-go zone. For them to simply leave their house they would be breaking the law!
The way I see it, the only thing left to do is to simply NOT follow any of these laws and just stand up for your rights. The more we bow down to these idiots and try to appease them, the more tyranny they will just throw on us and we just fall further down the slippery slope. They keep adding layer upon layer of law after law, year after year, legislative session after legislative session. I’m sick and tired of seeing their squirelly little faces on TV talking about how much safer they’re making Florida because they jumped on the sex offender bandwagon to pad their political careers. Enough is enough. That is the answer…..resistance!
Don’t go doing that. Nobody wants to be saddled with a THIRD DEGREE FELONY.
Fight first!
Inevitably someone WILL get popped for this stupidity (if not already) and then the PD will have standing to get involved and hopefully challenge the law on the taxpayer’s dime.
If anyone’s up to it, do a public information request to find out if anyone was arrested for a violation of the vehicle registration laws.
I was arrested recently on not registering a vehicle that isnt mine and I dont drive or have a drivers license
FAC admin is correct. A 3rd degree felony on top of original SO charges will get you A LOT of time.
Additionally, in Florida you can petition to be removed from the requirement to register after 25 years UNLESS you’ve been arrested for ANY reason following completion of sentence and probation.
It’s a small light at the end of a long tunnel… but it exists.
I appreciate your frustration but playing smart is better than playing hard in our cases.
Does ANYONE know of ANYBODY who successfully petitioned to be removed?
Absent some very defined cases, R&J and PRE-Jessica Lunsford Act cases, I know of nobody who successfully petitioned.
I understand there may be no successful petition. But the statutory option is stated. To play by the rules in regard to receiving these punishments then to not attempt the relief under the same laws due to lack of previous success is allowing these archaic laws to win in their punitive goals.
Well all I can say is, the police in Baltimore are on guard right now. Imagine if all 70,000 SO’s and their families converged on Tallahassee demanding change! Things would change.
This is excellent Gail. Thank you for doing that. My guess is that you will not get a response. Or if you do, it will be a generic one without any answers to any of the numbered questions.
If no answer – Public Information Request