- The changes in HB 1235 apply to ALL people on the registry, whether they are forced to register as a sex offender or sexual predator.
- For the purpose of calculating a temporary residence, the first day that a person abides, lodges, or resides at a place is excluded (meaning the first day of your in-state travel does NOT count) and each subsequent day is counted. A DAY NOW INCLUDES ANY PART OF A CALENDAR DAY.
- Example: What if you are in your sister’s wedding which involves being at a temporary residence for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights? Since Friday is the first day, it would not count, but you would technically have to leave before 12:00 a.m. on Monday as any part of Monday would count as a “day.” So, if you leave at 8 a.m. Monday (or any time after 12:00 a.m. on Monday), the statute kicks in requiring you to register your temporary residence with the local registration office and at your home-county registration office, both within 48 hours. (Because of the Harper v. Glass Order, hopefully people will be able to report these in-state temporary residences online, but only for PFRs as sex offenders, not as sexual predators.)
- A PFR who intends to establish a permanent, temporary, or transient residence in another state or jurisdiction other than the State of Florida shall report IN PERSON to the sheriff of the county of current residence AT LEAST 48 hours before the date he or she intends to leave this state to establish residence in another state or jurisdiction. (The old wording was “within 48 hours”.) Any travel that is not known by the PFR 48 hours before he or she intends to establish a residence in another state or jurisdiction must be reported to the sheriff’s office as soon as possible before departure.
- Any duration of travel outside the USA is reportable meaning ALL travel outside the USA must be reported. The previous requirement only involved international travel of 5 days or more, but that has been removed from the statutes. Travel outside of the United States continues to require notifying the sheriff’s office at least 21 days before the date you intend to travel outside the United States. If the travel outside the United States is not known by the PFR at least 21 days before the departure date, then he or she must report it to the sheriff’s office as soon as possible before departure.
- Beginning October 1, 2024, PFR’s will be able to report online (within 48 hours) any changes to their “vehicles owned.”
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT FLORIDA ACTION COMMITTEE IS NOT A LAW FIRM AND SHOULD NOT TAKE THE PLACE OF AN ATTORNEY IN INTERPRETING COURT ORDERS AND STATUTES.
Ok – so for a Florida case. withheld adjudication – at 25 years after the sentence was completed, a petition for removal is still allowed ?
Of course, if no other convictions have taken place? And is the petition for removal only for Romeo and Juliet cases?
As of today, what has changed for the removal process? I am having a hard time understanding the bill. Thank you.
If the offense occurred in the State of Florida, nothing has changed. The change only impacts those whose only conviction requiring registration occurred in another state or jurisdiction. In my opinion, this is a very small number of persons forced to register in Florida because the changes are only relevant to those who are forced to register in Florida due to a conviction in another state or jurisdiction that requires registration in that jurisdiction but would not otherwise require registration in Florida, which is a tiny number of offenses given how broadly Florida’s registration laws are written.
To clarify RM’s point…Are we saying that those registered in Florida for a registrable offense committed outside of Florida, are now permanently barred from seeking removal?
In other words, if you committed a registrable offense in Florida, then you are eligible 25 years after end of sanctions; but if you committed same offense outside Florida, you are eligible never?
Is that what the new law is saying?
Because that sounds as though it would affect a LOT of members and their families.
Many former onetime offenders are registered in Florida by virtue of having relocated here or simply having come here on vacation.
And Florida requires longer registration periods than some other states. What if the offense was classified by the original state as low-tier, requiring less than 25 years’ registration? Does Florida law now say they cannot ever petition for removal unless the offense was committed in Florida?
I recall during our Call to Action against this language, many of us disagreed on what it meant, and we were close to getting it struck.
This is a big deal if so. My cousin committed the offense 21 years ago in the army. Registered after less than honorable discharge for 10 years. It came back to bite him when he moved to Florida in 2017 so he registered.
His wife is banking on the fact that he could petition for removal- given he got “bit” and had to re-register AFTER they got married.
Are they barred or no?! This is huge.
@Jacob: No, that’s not at all what the provision added by the Legislature this year says. This provision only affects those with out-of-state convictions that require (or required) registration in the state of conviction but would not otherwise require registration in the state of Florida. These are typically misdemeanors in the state of conviction without an equivalent Florida offense. This is completely unrelated to the 25-year removal provision.
Ok, this is comforting. Thanks!
It occurred in another state. So, he cannot petition for removal anymore?
I’m quite confused about the language in this bill about vehicles “owned”. Prior to this, my phone was always told that it was any vehicle that was at his residence? So it included mine, our other roommate, etc. Is it now only vehicles that are owned by the person on the registry?
Hello, I just got a notice about hb 1235 in the mail from fdle. I don’t understand the mass of it but does that mean now I have to register the sheriff’s office,grocery stores,gas stations,restaurants and family I don’t spend the night at but visit for a couple hours a month.
@Robert
Tldr… It says permanent and temp addresses start to count the day AFTER you get there/move in/check in/etc
You can report vehicles residing at your home for 5 or more consecutive days (guests, roomies, etc) or your own online
The rest is basically the same ALTHOUGH… I love the part about out of state travel being mandatory to report. If you have no intentions of staying anywhere long enough to establish a temp address why would you need to report it? Know and understand your laws people! (No, I am not a lawyer btw, take this info as you will)
Confused, thought out of state applies for the 3days or more at an address
Ok, thank you for breaking it down for me. I swear the government needs to break down what they tell people so they can understand it better.
Robert
I got mine today 9/24/24
Looked it over and then put it in my file folder for all my registration papers. I won’t be doing the online reporting because as far as I can tell, you get no proof or receipt. They could turn around and say you didn’t register the new car, the new address etc.
Funny if we fail to register a car, we end up in the same cell possibly as someone who murdered someone.
You can save the webpage as a PDF and also take a screenshot as evidence that you registered the information online.
RM
Thanks, guess I’m just old fashion. Took me years to embrace online bill pay. Now I pay all my bills online.
Having said that, if you miss a payment, they just add on more interest, if you miss something concerning the registry, you could end up in the place we don’t speak about, possibly for life.
Case in point, the FDLE tried to tell me I have missed a registration. I said I have all of my paperwork all the way back since they started giving paperwork. I faxed over the paperwork and they were satisfied. Paper evidence usually won’t disappear in my locked safe. Digital proof can be gone in a flash.
Who knows though, with so many people being added to the registry for life, there may come a point where in person no longer is sustainable, that or they would have to be more open to long timers being removed from registration to make way for newbies.
Upon reading HB1235, lines 126-128 reads that regardless of adjucation withheld, now it’s “convicted”. Did this close the registry removal loophole?
No, that loophole was closed in a prior year’s change. See top line of:
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/2021-legislation/
Go to lines 126–138 in the link below. Only underlines and strikeouts denote changes.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1235/BillText/er/PDF
(Thank you to our member who shared this information with me.)
what loophole….I’m adjudication withheld and it’s been written into the removal law for the better part of two decades. no lawyer will even try for me bc of it.
I don’t see the changes to removal from the registry thereby making removal harder
@ Iservedmytyme
Attorney Ron advised me the new rule that begins in October will have a Florida department of Law enforcement officer appear in person at your hearing for removal to argue you should not be released from the registry.
To me that seems unnecessary, due to the fact the prosecutor will always tell the judge the state objects to the removals from the registry. So, with two authorities stating that, it makes it an even harder uphill battle. Also seems they will have to hire new officers as that would be taking an FDLE agent out of duty to go to these hearings all over the state of Florida.
We fought long and hard to prevent those provisions from becoming law. In the end we persuaded them to remove that paragraph from the bill.
In an effort to alleviate some of the confusion surrounding HB 1235, here is a link to the final summary analysis of the bill:
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1235/Analyses/h1235z1.CRJ.PDF
Read page 1, then start reading at “Effect of the Bill,” mid-way down on page 7, stop mid-way down on page 9, just before “II. FISCAL ANALYSIS & ECONOMIC IMPACT STATEMENT.”
Because of the vague new removal language in this bill affecting out-of-staters’ ability to file for removal, people are wanting to know how this bill will affect those not living in Florida. Any time there is vagueness in a state law, no one can say for sure how the courts will interpret it. Our opinion follows:
For those who would not otherwise be required to register in Florida, there should be no change. For those whose out-of-state offense is comparable to a Florida offense, this bill possibly could change things for them. Only time will tell.
Sooooooooooooo, seems im confused too! (Doesnt take much) I was out of state for my issues (federal) only probation, off paper for 20plus years released from my need to register there ( was level 0 then level 1 due to change there in NY but NEVER published)
Got taken in on a FTR but had a plane ticket home for that very next morning. The CORRECTIONS captain literally put me on the list that very night in the center when i got there. (Always troubled me) The whole case was set to no information a while later, but guess it was too late. Figured i might as well stay in fl since i was ruined by this. 20 years no issues until i get to floridA. Never saw a judge or anything on that ftr thing. They just did not press charges nor did i even get an indictment. How do i even fit in. Really just stuck here and guess because of the FTR even though they did not pursue, guess i cant get off list here but already off on my
Home state….. how does that make sense……
@Whyme
Do not feel to bad, there are dead people still on the registry in Florida. How does an expired person pose a threat to anyone? Well the answer is easy, #1 they don’t but #2, the state gets funding for each person on the registry so you can guess why dead people are still on the list.
Also, every time we get a victory, the state of Florida fires back at us. We won the removal from registry at 20 years case, then the Governor signed new laws making it harder to get removed. Lots of things I would really like to say about that but FAC would ban me from here for life.
A cop literally input me on the list when i got taken in. Is that even a thing? Never got a day in court but they dropped everything but kept me on. I do t get it…. dont even understand the due process here. Oh well
@Whyme
You do not understand the due process because apparently, there is no due process. Most of the time the powers that be do what they want, and it is up to us to challenge them.
For every win we gain, we seem to backslide with new laws, rules, regulations, legislation, ordinances and anything else they can throw at us and keep us down. I think dogs get treated better than us. (No disrespect to dogs)
Wasn t a judge, no order issued it was the actual corrections cop? Just doesnt feel right.
Sorry folks, I still don’t understand the reporting requirements for out-of-state travel. If I fly into Chicago for a two night stay, do I have to tell me local Sheriff’s Office in Florida about that short trip?
Two-night stays are generally not considered long enough to be considered residences as defined in the statute. It must be three or more days.
So, I could travel the country while only staying 2 nights in separate hotels and wouldn’t have to register anywhere?
A small number of states (including Alaska and Utah) require registering if you are there for any amount of time, but most states require at least 3 days and many require substantially more, such as Maryland and Virginia, which both require 14 consecutive days or 30 or more days in a calendar year.
Also, if you are still subject to the requirements of Federal SORNA, you may have an independent duty to register certain information related to interstate travel separate and apart from the requirements of any U.S. state or territory.
Here is the actual House bill from the state of Florida final documents but even on it I cannot find what was deleted and what remained.
https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2024/1235/?Tab=BillHistory
I thought that all states have there own laws. I was told floridas laws is for Florida only how can they involve other states?
Does this mean we should register our local Sheriff’s Office since many of us must be there at least 3 times per year to register? We are there for any part of a day, and they have a record of our presence!
They have confused the law even more, IMHO. If I go to my sister’s wedding (as in the example) and arrive on Friday, that first day is excluded in the calculation. But if I leave at the stroke of midnight on Monday (as in the example) and go somewhere else, I wouldn’t have to register? What if I return at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday? Does a new clock then begin? The law appears to say it does.
This is an issue that we plan on discussing with FDLE and legislators this year, including the sponsor of HB 1235.
What about if you leave at 6 AM, or any time before the Sheriff’s office opens that day? Or if the Sheriff’s office isn’t open that Monday for, say, a federal holiday? Or if the officer there called in sick that morning? Or if you couldn’t get an appointment in the larger counties that require them?
Also, if vehicles can now be updated online, then why can’t all registration updates be done online? Why exactly is it so critical that these things be done in person? Seems that the sole purpose of in-person registration is to increase the likelihood of FTR. Not to mention simple inconvenience.
According to the bill’s sponsor, if you were to leave at 6 a.m. on Monday morning, the requirement to register has now kicked in and you would have to do so. Concerning the sheriff’s office being closed, this type of thing is a problem in all the statutes that apply to PFR’s. When a legislator is presented with issues such as what you are acquiring about, they have no answer and vote yea on the bill anyway. I would like to see some of them have to follow some of the laws they have passed.
Reporting changes and re-registration is done in person because the statutes say it must be done in person.
Has DeSantis signed this bill into law?
Yes he has.
How would this Bill apply to out of state residents who go to Florida for a vacation?
This is also my concern. I haven’t visited my mother in years.
It appears to be the same as for in-state residents, but we are not attorneys. Even attorneys have difficulty interpreting the statutes.
I recently did my biyearly in alachua county. The new person at the registry office admitted she has received no training for her new position, yet she said there were several things I had to register that are not in the current administrative policies. Such as an RV my wife owns. It is not my primary residence, and is not a vehicle. It just amazes me how someone can be put in a position that puts your future in their hands without a care in the world. There should be some type of requirement that states if you are enforcing the law or “ordinance” you should know what it says. That’s their job, if I didn’t know my job I would get fired.
My nephew lives in NY and kept his boat here to avoid pulling it back and forth for vacation time. Because it was here on my property I had to make sure it was registered with the Sheriff’s department. It’s been at least 18 months to 2 years since I had to do it but when here it was required. According to the SORT office the boat and trailer had to be registered separately.
Humorous thing about it was that there was no plate on the trailer (it was a NY plate and had been lost on of the trips to the boat ramp here) and no serial number either. The boat was registered with all the required information but the trailer had to be registered as “gray boat trailer”…. 🤣
I have a friend who just got out of Jail for not registering an RV. If your wife owns it and it’s on your property. I would add it.
We have a new sheriff and a new head of registration now. Everything is changing and not for the better here.
The next election for sheriff in our county will be this year.
So if I go to Publix I’m registering that address?
According to Representative Baker, sponsor of HB 1235, no, you would not.
It seems suspect. I used to spend time working with 12 step programs. I would attend multiple meetings in a day. I don’t know if I trust law enforcement in Florida to not arrest me because I failed to register a meeting place with them. I especially wouldn’t trust Volusia or Flagler County Sheriffs.
I understand.
I did not see the part where they stated it will also make it harder to be removed from the registry. Where is that part?
It is gone.
Anyone looked at the signed bill to see whether they deleted the offending language regarding removal?
And/or, has anyone asked Ron Kleiner whether HB 1235 has affected the law on removal?
I recently registered in Hillsborough County and asked about the change of vehicle online. They told me that part of the petition was denied.
Hopefully someone will let them know otherwise.
They don’t know what they’re talking about. It was passed in the bill. FDLE has until October 1, 2024 to get the online reporting of “vehicles owned” operational. I’m sure that most sheriff’s office employees don’t closely follow the Florida legislative process.
I’m curious about your post… are you saying that the law has changed and that it only is vehicles owned by the person on the registry? Also, is FDLE supposed to have online reporting because my son just reported several cars, none of which belong to him.