A new and potentially important bill was filed last week in the Florida House of Representatives.
House Bill 1055, sponsored by Rep. Chuck Brannon III proposes the following changes to Florida’s registration laws:
- Provide financial support to Law Enforcement to find missing and exploited children (WE SUPPORT)
- Afford reporting of vehicle information through the online portal (WHILE WE STILL STRONGLY OPPOSE REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES NOT OWNED, WE SUPPORT THE ABILITY TO REPORT THIS IMMATERIAL INFORMATION ONLINE INSTEAD OF IN PERSON)
- Clarifies a point of huge ambiguity by replacing the word “within” with “at least”, requiring at least 48 hours notice before domestic and intrastate travel (ie: establishing residence of 3 or more days) any unknown travel must be reported as soon as possible. (WE SUPPORT THE CLARIFICATION OF THE LANGUAGE – IT SEEMS COMPLETELY CONTRARY TO PRIOR DEFINITION, WE STILL STRONGLY OPPOSE REGISTRATION OF SHORT-TERM VACATION OR BUSINESS TRAVEL AND STRONGLY OPPOSE HAVING TO DO THIS IN PERSON).
- For international travel they changed certain words to the plural instead of the singular, (presumably requiring both the itinerary of both the departure and return) (THIS IS SOMETHING THEY WERE ALREADY COLLECTING SO NO DIFFERENCE)
- If the jurisdiction in which a registrant was convicted orders that the registration is non-public/confidential and the person no longer meets the criteria for registration in Florida, they can petition for removal (STILL UNCLEAR OF THE IMPACT OF THIS ONE – FLORIDA IS FOR LIFE).
Stay tuned for more information.
HB 1055 update:
1/30/2020- PCS on Committee agenda– Criminal Justice Subcommittee, 02/03/20, 2:00 pm, Sumner Hall
The only reason this bill is going thru is because of the rso lawsuits in progress
If that’s true then it’s a small victory for FAC and its lawyers.
My offense took place totally in Virginia. Virginia released me from probation eleven years early. I went to the Virginia registry web site and I am no longer on the Virginia registry. Yet, here in Florida, where I have never committed an offense of any nature, including sexual, I am on the registry. Go Figure!! It must be the bucks they get for their ‘monitoring efforts’. The more they have to monitor that are non-threats, the more money they get and the less time they can spend on the real problems. Makes perfectly good sense…’Florida sense’.
‘ no longer meets the criteria for registration in Florida, they can petition for removal’. You rightly point out registration in Florida is for life. We know politicians use word trickery to accomplish what they want…..more registrants, more money, irregardless if their state of conviction lets them off the registry. I try to give to the Out of State challenge when I can. Thank you FAC for all you do!
I know this isnt directly involved with this post, but I have a very important question that I see no information here about.
I was speaking with my registry agent (she’s actually very nice and helpfull) she told me that a recent law that was enacted on the federal level starting January 1st stating that registered persons can no longer enter any federal parks. (i.e. Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, as well as local federal parks in each state. (This includes in Pensacola the Fort Pickens National Park and Gulf Island National Seashore.)
Does ANYONE have any information on this? I cant find it anywhere and this is a HUGE impact on me as the Gulf Island National Seashore is the only beach area in our county that I can go to!
We know of no such law at all. You should ask her to reference the law she is speaking about because if a new federal law (impacts everyone in the nation) came out, other advocacy groups would have been talking about it even if we completely missed it (unlikely).
Thank you. That is why I asked. I figured someone would be talking about it here. I’ll call her again.
Is there something in your county that prevents you from going to state parks it federal parks. I’m confused.
We are prevented from entering any city or county park. I heard just recently that a new federal bill came out that prevented us from entering any federal parks, but had not been able to confirm this. That is why I asked.
Im a bit at a loss: rso s arent allowed in parks At all? Thought it was not a blanket but certain conditions (Probation etc) and date of offenses.
This is not a fact. Pay attention to the thread and lets not perpetuate information that’s not backed by a citation to a legitimate source.
I guess some confusion on this and I do apologize for this. It has derailed this main thread. But in answer to the specific question, in Santa Rosa County, FL, it is illegal for any registered person, be they on parole, probation, or not, to enter a city or county park.
My apologies to FAC for the derailment. It wasnt my intention to do so.
I don’t understand. Is there such a thing as non-public/confidential convictions? When would a registrant ever no longer meet criteria for registration in Florida?
Candidly, we’ve run this past 5 lawyers and nobody has been able to figure out what this section of the Bill is trying to accomplish. Our legislative team is reaching out to the sponsor’s aide to see if they can explain it. If all this bill does is eliminate the need to report vehicles IN PERSON, at least it’s a step in the right direction, but otherwise, it requires a better explanation for us to opine on the last part.
If someone from a Tiered state moves into Florida, where they were NOT on a public list, they should equally NOT be on a public list in Florida. That’s what I’m hearing, or at least any common sense would show. Could anyone clarify?
Thank you for the info. I’ll be honest everyone I see an article here about a bill my anxiety spikes. This is reasonable I think. I believe the more I can do through there online portal the better. Also I can go camping for the weekend and not have to worry about notifying anyone.
Dear FAC and all concerned: I think this Bill puts a pressing issue up for review that seems to have been largely ignored in the past. For example, in my case a federal judge ordered me to register to both federal and state authorities because of a porn offense when I was adjudicated guilty in federal court. Such an order is unconstitutional because I have never been adjudicated guilty of committing any sex offense (illegal porn or otherwise) in any state. It has never been expressly decided in my case, just the judge saying he makes all defendants register in both Florida and federal jurisdictions to keep us out of more trouble for failing to register.
There is no Federal Registry to register to. The National registry is taken from the states.
Hence part of the issue that needs to be addressed because they are combining state and federal sovereignties into one, which runs afoul our constitutional Framers’ system of authority between federal and state governments with each sovereign checking the other. The purpose of that check is to shield citizens from concentrations of power. Federalism is first and foremost a device to safeguard personal freedom. Thanks for hoping make my point and all your help with our causes.
My jurisdiction was federal: that mean anything in regards? There was only the stipulation to register in the juristiction and i was a level 1 no publish and off it altogether last year: but ended up on the florida trap: seems a bit unclear how this affects that if at all. Maybe they didnt think it through?
Jm, how did you end up on FL’s registry?
Here’s the problem that needs to be addressed…
When a person is completely done with their full punishment (and registration IS punishment) we THINK we finally have our lives back and can finally go out and enjoy a new life in our “great country”. Then suddenly a state we go to or move to decides they’re not satisfied with the time you’ve done on the registry and makes you go through it all over again. This HAS to be STOPPED. Period! And not just in FL.
I wanted to donate but all I see anyone who advocates for us doing is trying to fight the retroactive side of the registry for people who have a conviction pre-dating Megan’s Law. Sorry but that’s not going to help those of us who have done the time and want to move on. Or am I missing something?
How is the retroactive argument going to help people who move to another state and get put BACK on the registry?
Came to florida on some real estate deals and ended up on the registry. Figured wed stay as theyd ruined our lives anyway
Most states require residents with a sex offense in their background, to register.
I have never heard of someone appealing a Federal court order to comply with state registration laws, but it would be interesting to see such a motion.
Imagine being convicted of stealing a car in Florida, a felony. And the state judge sentenced you to federal punishment instead of state. Obviously this would be a reversal as unconstitutional because a state judge has no jurisdiction in federal court. Well, neither does a federal judge have jurisdiction to mandate state requirements such as this because he couldn’t sentence a defendant to serve time in state prison in a federal case. See United States v. Gamble, 694 F. App’x 750 (11th Cir. 2017); cert. granted, 138 S. Ct. 2707 (2018)
Thanks FAC, for the clarification in the post concerning travel.
You do an amazing job!!
Some changes, most of them to either try and clarify the statute better, or close any grey area. The being able to register Vehicles online is at least something good.
“ If the jurisdiction in which a registrant was convicted orders that the registration is non-public/confidential and the person no longer meets the criteria for registration in Florida, they can petition for removal (STILL UNCLEAR OF THE IMPACT OF THIS ONE – FLORIDA IS FOR LIFE).”
That is VERY unclear. If a person comes from another state and the crime took place in that other state and registration obligations have ended for that person, Florida has no business to make that person RE/register. Punishment over. Period.
I’ve said this before; If someone did 5 yrs for armed robbery in Connecticut and then moved to FL and FL’s minimum for armed robbery is 10 yrs (hypothetical), does FL have the right to put the person back in prison for remaining 5 yrs? No. Ok then.
” requiring at least 48 hours notice before domestic and intrastate travel any unknown travel must be reported as soon as possible.”
Please clarify this. I may be mistaken, but I thought that if a person was not going to be in a place, more that two (2) days domestic/interstate that reporting travel was not required. – Is this now a possible change to the law, and we will be required to report all travel?
It seems every time I think I have this travel figured out , “I don’t” There is a quoit “You can’t know what you don’t know” for us that is a real problem.
Thanks in advance for the clarification.
Sorry – this has been clarified in the post. it’s establishing a permanent, temporary or transient residence.
what is considered a transient residence?
“… requiring at least 48 hours notice before domestic and intrastate travel any unknown travel must be reported as soon as possible.”
This. Wtf is this? I keep asking myself why this is a thing. There is no statute requiring a person to notify anyone or any organization when traveling within the state, out of the state, planned or unplanned, when the trip will place you at any one residence for 2 (3?) days or less.
Did I miss something here?
I’ll edit the post to clarify.