Would you be affected by House Bill 45 and Senate Bill 212? We break it down.
After posting yesterday’s Call to Action, we received a lot of comments (on our posts, in phone calls, and in email) from members who are confused as to whether House Bill 45 and Senate Bill 212 will apply to them. To try to simplify things, here’s how it breaks down:
HB 45 and Senate Bill 212 would ban certain people convicted of specified sexual offenses from living within 1,000 feet of public swimming pools or public bathing places. Whether the rule applies depends on when the underlying conviction happened and when the person moved into the house (or when the pool/bathing place was built).
Point 1: The bill targets (a) people convicted in Florida of qualifying offenses on or after October 1, 2004, and (b) people convicted in other jurisdictions of similar offenses on or after October 1, 2010. These people would now be prevented from residing within 1000 feet of a public swimming pool or public bathing places.
Point 2: The bill contains a key legal carve-out (which is the confusing part). If a person already lives somewhere and a new public pool/bathing place is built after they moved in, the bill says they would not be required to move. But if the person moved into a residence that was already within 1,000 feet of a pool/bathing place, the bill (as written) could put them in violation and force them to move or face penalties — even if they moved in years ago.
Here are a few hypothetical examples that will help you understand the bill:
“John” was convicted of a qualifying offense in 2003. John moved into his house in 2011. John’s house is within 1,000 ft of a public pool. John would not be in violation.
“Sam” was convicted of a qualifying offense in Florida in 2006. Sam moved into his house in 2011. Sam’s house is within 1,000 ft of an existing public pool built in 2009. Under the bills as written, Sam would be in violation and could be forced to move.
“Tom” was convicted of a qualifying offense in Florida in 2008. Tom moved into his house in 2011. A public pool was built next door in 2015. Under the bills as written, Tom would not be required to move, because the pool was built after he established residence.
“Louis” was convicted in another state in 2009 (a qualifying offense). Out-of-state convictions count only if after October 1, 2010, so Louis would be excluded from the bills’ restrictions.
“Fred” was convicted in another state in 2011 (a qualifying offense). Fred moved into his house in 2020. Fred’s house is within 1,000 ft of an existing public pool built in 2009. Under the bills as written, Fred would be in violation and could be forced to move.
“Ted” was convicted in another state in 2011 (a qualifying offense). Ted moved into his house in 2020. Ted’s house is within 1,000 ft of an existing public pool built in 2021. Under the bills as written, Ted would not be required to move, because the pool was built after he established residence.
The bills treat the timing of both the conviction and the pool/bathing-place as crucial. This creates two very different results depending on those two dates.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This is a FAR BIGGER issue than you may realize. Think about this — Florida is almost completely surrounded by water. The land area of state itself is 18.5% covered by water. The bill includes not just public pools covering everyhing from hotel pools to pools in a subdivision or apartment complex, but streams, rivers, ponds, etc. See below:
(4) “Public bathing place” means a body of water, natural or modified by humans, for swimming, diving, and recreational bathing used by consent of the owner or owners and held out to the public by any person or public body, irrespective of whether a fee is charged for the use thereof. The bathing water areas of public bathing places include, but are not limited to, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, artificial impoundments, and waters along the coastal and intracoastal beaches and shores of the state.
A public swimming pool or public pool shall mean a conventional pool, spa-type pool, wading pool, special purpose pool, spray pool, splash pad, or water recreation attraction, to which admission may be gained with or without payment of a fee and includes, but is not limited to, pools operated by or serving camps, churches, cities, counties, child care facilities day care centers, group home facilities for eight or more clients, health spas, institutions, parks, state agencies, schools, subdivisions, or the cooperative living-type projects of five or more living units, such as apartments, boardinghouses, hotels, mobile home parks, motels, recreational vehicle parks, and townhouses.
This has the potential to make the mess in Miami look like a gentle breeze compared to a statewiode Cat 5 hurricane.
Its seems not much different than my situation was. A park was built prior to me buying my house. I offended did my time to find out when I got out I could not live with my wife because of the park and I had lived there for 25 yrs. I was even told by my city I could not live anywhere in the city even if I was far enough away.
So, what’s the legal reason why they did not make this retroactive and other things they did make retroactive?
Bob,
How about we not give them any Ideas. But I believe it is because the whole Residency Restrictions started in 2004. But IDK.
There are probably NUMEROUS people to worry about who frequent public pools and bathhouses; it’s just that 99.9% of them that John Q. Public should be concerned about are currently NOT on a sex-offender registry!!
FAC can you guys move the reply button to the left side if the screen? It’s in the way of scrolling and reading. Thanks
Lol I’m always accidentally hitting it 😂
My son lives in a condo with a pool that residents can use. Would this be considered private or public. The apartment part of the bill has me wondering if he would have to move in this situation.
Edited for clarification: The way the bill currently reads, if an offense was with a minor less than 16 years old, and the offense was in Florida after Oct 1, 2004, or if on probation and an offense was with a person less than 18 years old, then you may be required to move. HOWEVER, there is a good chance that the bill will be amended, or possibly stopped.
We do not know, yet, that this is true and I caution anyone against taking radical steps at this time.
There is still a decent chance that this bill will not pass. There is still a good chance that this bill will be amended before we know whether it will be passed. Even if, in the worst case, it is passed, there will be time before the effective dates to make this decision.
Nobody should be making statements such as these.