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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Well, I have been off probation and Judge stated I wasn’t a threat when he terminated me early of 2005 and have been WHAT I THOUGHT in compliance with the registry for over 19 yrs going twice a year just to get pulled over a tag light and find out the SAME DAY there was an active warrant for my arrest for 2 counts of not registering my sons car that I co-signed in October until he was able to refinance it- 2 counts 3rd degree felony, one for not doing it in 48 hours and the other not doing it on my birthday and there is nothing more scarier than this! I’m out on pretrial release and needless to say many sleepless nights when I thought I finally put as much behind me that I could and living a pretty normal life with a loving family and now grandbabies. To make it worse the investigator worded it on the affidavit I KNOWINGLY did this as if… and then he even said it’s registered to my MIDDLE NAME that I NEVER sign to ANYTHING to make it look even more sneaky! I’m glad I can at least prove that’s not true, what do you do other then pray for mercy and grace at this point? I really was looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel of removal being that I’ve stayed out of trouble all these years, got married and moved on
Prob offer you 30 days. Id fight it. Still resets clock for removal.
Hopefully, the car was not kept at your residence
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This BS really pisses me off. All that BS talk from FLDE about not wanting to bust PFR’s for this kind of crap, and saying that we should only get busted if intentionally non-compliant after a verbal warning. This is just a matter of pure hatred from law enforcement.
Sorry, that other reply was supposed to be to your comment about the investigator,
If a sex offender resides on property in a separate dwelling from another person on same property does the other persons vehicle have to be registered with law enforcement
I really hope this question is answered because I have the same question. But also that the landlord wrote a statement that all the vehicles were hers. And stated that she would testify to it.
A SO is being released next month and living with a sibling who is an Uber driver. Will this most likely cause a loss of employment with the sibling through Uber? Once his car is registered to a SO. (Uber does not employ SO)
Does Uber not have a written policy? Like, is Uber’s policy a secret?
You do not need to register a houseguest’s vehicle, if that houseguest leaves their vehicle at their home and takes the bus to see you. Even if they are staying with you five or more consecutive days.
You do NOT need to register that houseguest’s vehicle, even though registration is the letter of the law here.
FAC/anyone disagree?
That’s not what the statute says. It says that you have to register any vehicle owned, leased, rented, etc. by anyone who resides at your residence for 5 more more days. Nothing in the statute actually says the vehicle has to be parked at your home:
“Vehicles owned” means any motor vehicle as defined in s. 320.01, which is registered, coregistered, leased, titled, or rented by a sexual predator or sexual offender; a rented vehicle that a sexual predator or sexual offender is authorized to drive; or a vehicle for which a sexual predator or sexual offender is insured as a driver. The term also includes any motor vehicle as defined in s. 320.01, which is registered, coregistered, leased, titled, or rented by a person or persons residing at a sexual predator’s or sexual offender’s permanent residence for 5 or more consecutive days.
As you can see, the law doesn’t state that the vehicle has to be anywhere near your home, which actually makes the law absurd.
Hello I thought maybe you have to register a Boat or Watercraft but under further review of the Florida Definition of Vehicle it seems it would need to be on the “Road”. I have a Family member who is buying a water craft that is in their name and stored at a different address. That person lives with me at my Registered address. Would I actually have to register the Vehicle and Trailer? Thanks
Yes, you must register all boats and trailers. The statute includes watercraft or as they say “vessels”
Hello Jed I tried and they said No and. Would not take my info so all I can do is document.
Thanks
Why would you risk 5 years in prison (and if you are eligible for eventual removal after 20/25 years post expiration of probation or sentence, ruin that chance too) just to not have to give them that little bit of extra information?
Just give them everything. It takes almost no extra effort to add internet identifiers, employment addresses, etc. I realize that right now, vehicle information has to be done in person, but soon that will be done online too. I don’t really think they even do anything with the information. I have at least 30 internet identifiers once you add up all the email addresses, websites, apps, games, etc., 4 telephone numbers, 4 work addresses, 1 institution of higher education where I take online classes, 2 vehicles, etc., and as far as I know, neither FDLE nor the Miami-Dade County Police have ever contacted anybody or checked the information other than the 20 seconds they’re on my property during semi-annual address verifications. Just give them everything they want. Especially in North and Central Florida, they just LOVE to trap people with unregistered vehicles. I don’t know why that’s such a big thing up there. I guess it’s the low-hanging fruit. Don’t risk 5 years in prison over something so silly.
Hello Rm,
They refused to take the info said its not needed. Can this be added on the porta? Havent seen it before
BE CAREFUL!!!! Its the trailer that needs to be registered
OK if u work for someone do u have to register there vehicles if u drive them
My landlord’s parked a vehicle in my driveway for over two years. I reported the vehicle to the sheriff and that in the near future I might by the car. The car had issues and needed to be fixed. I did odd jobs to pay off the car through my landlords and paid off the car. I signed the title and in June of 2020, my registration month, I called to tell them that I had gotten an appointment at the dmv on July. 7 to get in it registered. Yet my regular officer was on vacation and this is covid time, so I was told to just call in the new tag number when I got it registered. Yet, the belts on the car broke and the registration never happened. The car never got registered in my name. All I did was sign the title. Being on disability, I did not have the money to get it fixed, so I donated the car to charity. Yet, I never registered the car in my name, the tile was still in my landlord’s name. So. The car has always say in my driveway, the sheriff has always known about it, it did not run and I left it be. But after 2 years of stting, I felt that it was time to get rid of it and so I donated it. I got another vehicle, called and told them of the new one. And told them I donated the old one. My question being: because I bought the first car, never had it registered, and the always knew about the car, and then I donated it, did I do something wrong?
If you live in Florida, more than likely. I can’t say what, and odds are the arresting officer probably won’t be able to either. But if you’re a registrant in Florida, you always do something wrong.
FAC is a good place to compare notes on how best to remain in compliance with the law.
But if you suspect that you have ALREADY exceeded the law, then that should be shared only with an attorney and not on this forum.