FAC Weekly Update 2026-03-03-Another Florida Failure by Lawmakers

Weekly update for March 3, 2026. This is recording number 357

Dear Members and Advocates,

This week, Brevard County rolled out the red carpet for the latest human trafficking awareness summit, held in Viera and featuring local and state law enforcement, community leaders, and of course Sheriff Wayne Ivey speaking earnestly about a scourge that painfully persists in his community. In case you missed the part where irony was the keynote speaker, allow us to explain…

Let’s start with the big Florida Stat exposed in the summit: Florida ranks third worst in the entire United States for human trafficking cases.‌ Reports to state agencies and hotlines show thousands of cases each year, and that only scratches the surface of what researchers believe is a vastly under-reported problem.‌ And yet… ask yourself this: how does the state, which for decades has had the harshest and most restrictive sex offender laws end up third worst in the nation?

Brevard County – yes, Brevard – the same place that passed one of the state’s first proximity ordinances in 2006 banning registered sex offenders from coming within 1,000 feet of “child locations,” and in 2020 even empowered private businesses to declare themselves a “child location”, hosted the summit and talked about the growing problem in their county. Wait a second here… when Commissioner John Tobias proposed expanding the ordinance more than 5 years ago, wasn’t his pitch that this was supposed to improve things? That this would make the public safer? What happened?

I guess it’s too bad drawing more or bigger circles on a map didn’t curtail human trafficking. After all, if Brevard’s measures worked as intended, wouldn’t they be touting the elimination or reduction of this problem?  Wouldn’t this summit be all about teaching others to learn from their successful ordinance? One resident quoted in Florida Today said, “it’s too hard to hear that these kinds of things are happening right here in Brevard County.” Hard to hear?!? Indeed, it is very hard for us to hear, because “here in Brevard County” is where our liberty to move about the community has been restricted for years through their stupid 1000-foot exclusion zones. Now, after not being able to shop in certain stores and traveling to the next county to get a haircut you announce that statistics didn’t magically decline? That sure is hard to hear.

So what’s next? More seminars? More laws? More housing restrictions? More invisible circles people can’t step inside? How about acknowledging that decades of trying the same thing didn’t work and it’s time to try something else instead of locking up people for eating at the wrong Burger King? The reality is; if any of these idiotic laws genuinely enhanced public safety, we would not still be grappling with the same issues, year after year after year. Next year will be the 30^th anniversary of Florida’s sex offender registry. Some of us have been living under it for that entire time or nearly that long. We’ve watched more than 24 amendments, always making it harsher. Always restricting our liberties more and more. And it has not worked! Lawmakers, instead of layering on even more rules and restrictions – which often come at the cost of civil liberties without achieving their intended benefits – it’s time for you to step back and examine what actually works.

So here’s our open invitation to the members of the Florida Legislature: The Florida Action Committee invites you to convene a bipartisan, independent workgroup charged with examining the full landscape of sex offender management laws in Florida — including residency restrictions, proximity ordinances, and other constraints imposed on registrants who have already served their time and are trying to live productively in the community. This workgroup should include all relevant stakeholders, from law enforcement and victim advocacy organizations to mental health professionals, researchers, civil liberties advocates, and community representatives. The goal is to review and analyze all available empirical research, assess the real-world effects and unintended consequences of existing laws, and produce evidence-based recommendations that will meaningfully improve public safety.

Florida has some of the nation’s strictest sex offender policies, yet our state continues to rank among the highest for reports of human trafficking and child exploitation. Florida lawmakers are so misguided and naïve. Their symbolic gestures, punitive restrictions, and rules layered atop rules, layered atop more rules have not solved or demonstrably reduced the problem. It is time to move beyond assumptions and take a data-driven, collaborative approach to ensure that our policies truly protect children, families, and communities.

We urge our lawmakers to act decisively and create a forum where research, expertise, and stakeholder perspectives guide legislative action. That’s the summit they need to be hosting! Florida deserves policies grounded in evidence, effectiveness, and fairness – not just tradition or fear.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee