NARSOL sues West Virginia’s over $125 Annual Registry Fee
On October 14, 2025, the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL) filed a federal class-action lawsuit in the Southern District of West Virginia, challenging a recently enacted West Virginia law that would impose a $125 annual registry fee on individuals required to register as sex offenders.
The suit, Kaso, et al. v. Mitchell, contends that the fee is not a legitimate administrative cost, but in effect a punitive fine — one that is imposed regardless of a registrant’s ability to pay — and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
Under the new West Virginia statute, registrants who fail to pay the fee may face property liens. NARSOL’s attorneys have asked the court to issue a declaratory judgment that the statute is facially unconstitutional and to enjoin its enforcement.
Although Florida does not have a uniform, state-mandated registration fee for sex offenders, many Florida counties have already imposed local fees in practice. Florida registrants in certain jurisdictions already face financial burdens akin to those challenged in West Virginia.
Duval County, for example, charges a $25 fee each time a registrant must update or re-register, and failure to pay is penalized by criminal sanction — turning a financial burden into a criminal offense.
If NARSOL prevails in West Virginia, it could provide persuasive authority (though not binding outside the Fourth or lower courts) for challenges in Florida courts. The core arguments in Kaso v. Mitchell — that the fee is punitive rather than administrative, and that enforcing it without regard to ability to pay violates due process and equal protection — mirror arguments that would apply to many local Florida fee ordinances.
If enforcement penalties (e.g. making nonpayment a crime, revoking registration, triggering liens) are part of the scheme, that bolsters the claim that the fee is punitive in nature. Moreover, the structure of Florida’s registry system, with its frequent reporting and update obligations, heightens the burden on registrants and intensifies arguments about fairness and proportionality.
You can read the complaint here: Kaso, et al. v. Mitchell
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Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits for the lawsuit. So, it is NOT punishment, but they have to pay for a registry they were forced into? That sounds about like probation to me? When is punishment not punishment? Hint: When the law makers say so.
Call it what you want, punitive, punishment, or retribution but we all know the truth because we live it every single day we wake up alive and remember that we are still on the registry.
Is not placing a lien against one’s property akin to Debtor’s Prison which is outlawed in this country? You could be forcing one into homelessness should they not be able to pay said fee.
Having to pay a registration fee is akin to being on probation with the fee paid every month. In this case, unless you are not a transient, which would have to pay just like probation. Still twice or four times a year is pushing this registry closer and closer to probation
Before John Rutherford retired, he enacted a law making the $25 fee mandatory for us or be thrown in jail, but the fee is optional for everyone else who’s doing felony registration. Now a congressman, the only time you see him on the news is when he’s whining about red snapper season.
Guess we know where his priorities are!🙄
Michigan started that as well. retroactively of course.. started small and got larger and more frequent the more they realized nobody was going to challenge them .
I live and have to register in Duval County.. It seems to me if you are ” Court Ordered ” to register , why do you also have to pay what they call a ” registry Fee”.