Watch: Testimony before the Senate Committee in Opposition of SB 212
Even though Senate Bill 212 sailed through the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice (no surprises there), several individuals, including FAC members, showed up in Tallahassee to speak out against Senate Bill 212.
You can watch the testimony here (SB 212 starts at timestamp 20:04 and ends at 39:48)
https://www.flsenate.gov/media/VideoPlayer/5977
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So, as I read the added provisions to the loitering law, it looks as though there is no exception to permit me to take my kids to a park or playground. Is that correct?
I’m so sick of seeing Barney Bishop’s ugly mug at these events. Is he homeless and just sleeps at the State House?
I own a boat and me and my wife fish. Also go shrimping at night with friends on the intercoastal. Is this going to ban me from fishing period in all bodies of water?
That is an interesting question as you use the fish, etc to feed yourself and your family while also possibly in commercial ways to support you and your family financially which should be asked of the elected official(s) for your district who will be debating this bill upstate.
FAC, I have a several local springs that I go to with my family. One has a splash pad. Would this SB 212 not allow me to go to any spring period or not allow me to visit that particular spring with the splash pad. I know I heard that senator say something about being within 200 ft of a pool or splash pad.
So is it a law now?
No, that was one committee. It still has a ways to go.
Ok good thank you
Did I hear the senator correct? That not only is this bill for residency restrictions but for restrictions of us not even being allowed to go to a public pool? So if I was to stay at a hotel that had a “public” pool I could be arrested? Can someone, please explain this?
Sounds about right.
If the Senate version of the bill that passed the Committee 7-1 becomes law, most PFRs with victims under 16 years of age will no longer be able to lawfully visit or otherwise be present within 200 feet of any school, park, playground, daycare center, public pool, or public bathing place. Each violation will carry one year in jail. This includes all beaches, lakes, swimming pools in apartment and condo buildings, and of course any hotel with a swimming pool.
If this version becomes law, the practical effect would be almost complete banishment from the coasts and municipalities of the State of Florida for over 20,000 registrants. The Senate’s own staff analyst told the Committee that the retroactive nature of the bill makes it an unconstitutional ex post facto law, yet the Committee voted in favor of the bill 7-1 without debate. So this tells us that most Senators don’t care about voting for unconstitutional laws even when their own lawyers urge them not to.
Legislators don’t have to care whether the law they are about to pass is constitutional or not. They can be advised by those who know it won’t pass legal muster until they are blue in the face. They want the political cred that goes along with trying to make the world a better place in their minds regardless of the ex post facto matter involved. The law can be passed, signed by the gov, and then be restricted through a lawsuit upon being signed by the gov but they tried anyway which works for them when it comes to election season.
The AG and staff are on the state payroll so give them more work to do at taxpayer expense which in the end only delays real work for the taxpayer that needs to be done by the AG’s office. Since legislators are not impacted by the legal matter dealing with the new law, they’re immune from their lack of full considerations.
There have been enough legal challenges of laws passed that there should be enough accounting data to present showing the waste of time and money that those in the full Senate should see when deliberating the bill on the floor. Legislators will not be held financially accountable for their legislative and legal missteps like this, but they and the full Senate need to be made aware of their errors before they’re voted on by everyone. This is where the people need to demand the accounting data to present to their elected officials for their consideration in bringing to deliberations on the floor. Even AGs don’t like to lose cases unnecessarily that could’ve been avoided in the first place.
Hotel pools are private pools meaning they are reserved for their guests, not the public at large.
CS/SB 212 explicitly includes a prohibition on visiting or being within 200 feet of swimming pools at hotels and motels (see lines 72-73).
RM is correct. So, no sex offender will be able to stay at any hotel in Florida that has a swimming pool unless your room is more than 200 feet away as the crow flies.