Florida Update #3 - A legislative and judicial update

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Fla. Stat. 2019; Fla. Stat. §§775.21, 775.215; Fla. Stat. §§943.043 through 943.0435; Fla. Stat. §§944.606 through 944.607;  Fla. Stat. §947.1405, §985.481

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

“Residence” means either (1) a place where one spends 3 or more consecutive days, (2) a place where one spends 3 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or (3) a county in which one is present for 3 or more aggregate days in a calendar year.  In all cases, 3rd day triggers registry obligation.

Registrants must appear to register with law enforcement w/in 48 hours of establishing a residence, and must appear to provide any updates within 48 hours.

Transient registrants update every 30 days.

NOTE: "Day" will now be defined in Florida's SOR law to mean "any part of a day" except that your day of arrival doesn't count. Updated 3/2024.

Registrants must also appear to register with the driver’s license office of the FL DMV within 48 hours of registration to obtain a driver’s license or ID card labeled either “SEXUAL PREDATOR” or “943.0435, F.S.”

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  May not reside within 1,000 ft. of school, child care facility, park, or playground under certain circumstances. §775.215.  NOTE: Individual cities and counties often have additional more burdensome requirements upwards of 3000 feet.

Presence restriction: Registrants with conviction involving a minor cannot be within 300 feet “of place where children are congregating,” and face restrictions on ability to be present in schools and parks.  NOTE: Individual cities and counties often have additional more burdensome requirements.  Fla. Stat. §856.022

Visiting Registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Duration & updates:

Lifetime.  Petition: 25 years.  “Predators” and certain others update quarterly.  All others update every 6 months

Florida’s restrictions on registrants are particularly onerous and should be carefully consulted before visiting the state. 

Every major national or state registrant advocacy group – including NARSOL, ACSOL, Florida Action Committee (FAC) – strongly recommends that you avoid visiting Florida if at all possible.  To this I add my own voice.  Florida’s registry is lifetime for all offenses, no matter how minor.  Florida has no tiered registry – only “sex offenders” and “sexual predators.”  Furthermore, Florida is one of about 15 states where there is no procedure for removal from the registry upon returning to your home state. 

Because of that, of the about 75,000 Florida registrants less than 30,000 actually live in Florida (not counting incarcerated registrants)! All the rest – which is to say the majority of Florida registrants – DO NOT actually live in Florida. Because I recently moved my primary residence to Iowa, I am now included in that number.

A slight improvement for visitors in the definition of the word "day"

Every year the Florida legislature meets, seemingly with the objective of pursuing culture wars instead of solving our state’s many problems.  This year, with LGBTQ rights, library books, voting rights, DEI studies and abortion all on the chopping block, it should not be surprising that an FDLE-sponsored “registry clarifications” bill sailed through to approval despite FAC’s best efforts.

The most egregious part of this bill is the so-called “clarification” that, oh, actually, when our law says that EVERY paperwork error made by a registrant is a felony, whether intentional or not … it actually means that every occasion that you fail to correct that paperwork error – or even every day that you fail to correct that paperwork error because you don’t even know it’s there – can be charged as a SEPARATE COUNT when they arrest you, with each count being punishable by up to 5 years in prison. 

This is just another example of why every state and national advocacy organization urges you NOT to visit Florida so that you will never find yourself running afoul of our cruel and unconstitutional registry.

However … if you find that you must visit Florida for whatever reason, these FDLE “clarifications” have a small silver lining for you.  In the course of “clarifying” that – as I have been warning my readers about Florida and most other states – partial days really do count towards your allowable three days aggregate per calendar year (where the third day triggers your obligation to register), now FDLE has “clarified” that actually, your day of arrival does NOT count toward your three day total.

So what does this mean for visitors?  Previously, because we registered travelers must always assume that partial days always count and the third day in Florida always triggers your obligation to register, that meant visitors really only get two partial days – the partial day when you arrive, and the very next partial day when you must leave because any third day per calendar year would trigger your obligation to register.

FDLE’s new “clarification” says that your day of arrival in Florida actually does not count toward the three days aggregate per calendar year.  Only if you stay overnight will the following morning start Day 1 of your visit.

In practice this means registered visitors get an additional precious day to wallow in Florida’s beauty before hurrying out of state by the end of Day 2 so as to avoid being here for any part of a third day.

Another “clarification” which unfortunately wasn’t in the bill but has been provided in response to FAC questions is that repeated visits to a given location – like your ailing mom’s house, or in my case my ex-wife and family – DO NOT count toward the three day total unless and until you stay overnight. Otherwise you can visit as much as you like.

Another consequence that might interest a small number of people is that out-of-state registrants who may have either one time or daily business in Florida but do not stay overnight can do so without fear of triggering a requirement to register in Florida.  For example, suppose you are a construction worker living in Valdosta and you get assigned to a job building a Hardee’s just over the state line in Lake City.  As long as you never have to spend the night in Florida you’ll never start the time clock toward a requirement to register.

One last interesting factoid about non-resident employment in Florida:  Many states SOR laws include a separate duty to register if you enter the state for employment purposes for more than some specified number of days but don’t “reside” in-state.  Well guess what?  Florida does not!  Therefore, according to this new “clarification,” if it takes longer than anybody thought to build that new Lake City Hardee’s – and even if you then get a gig building tract homes in Live Oak or Jacksonville – you can enter the state every workday without fear as long as you skedaddle when each day is done and !!NEVER!! stay overnight.

Judge calls Florida SOR law idiotic

Well … not exactly …

But there is this from the Florida Action Committee website:

Mar 27, 2024

On March 25, 2024, Federal District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, of the Northern District of Florida, ruled that the requirement under Section 943.0435(4)(a) that people registered as sex offenders report in-person travel within the state of Florida to the FDHSMV [Florida’s DMV] violates substantive due process, and is thus unconstitutional. His order declared that this requirement is irrational and very burdensome for registrants. His order makes clear that the requirement under Section 943.0435(4)(a) to make an in-person report within 48 hours to the FDHSMV applies only to a change of home address (where one lives), and not to a temporary in-state residence. For in-state temporary residences, instead of going in-person to the DHSMV, people registered as sex offenders must report only to the sheriff’s office. Furthermore, they will be able to do so online, not in person. The order directed FDLE to make online access for in-state travel reporting available within 60 days.

It is unclear from the order if in-state travel reporting is required, not only after establishing the temporary residence, but also upon return from the temporary residence. We will seek clarification of this point.

Please be aware that the order does NOT change the requirement under Section 943.0435(7) that registrants report in-person at least 48 hours before establishing an out-of-state residence. Judge Hinkle’s order makes clear that out-of-state travel is governed only by subsection (7) of Section 943.0435, and not subsection (4)(a). Because subsection 7 is silent about reporting upon return from out-of-state travel, it appears that return reporting from out-of-state is not required.

 North Carolina

Folk Art Center, Blue Ridge Parkway near Ashville

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.C. Gen. Stat. 2019 Art. 27A, §§14-208.5 through 14-208.45

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

3 business days for initial reg. and updates.  §§14-207, 14-208.9. New residents: w/in 3 business days of establishing residence, or whenever present in the state for 15 days, whichever comes first (“residence” not defined). §14-208.7.  “Employed” means more than 14 days or more than 30 days in a calendar year.  §14-208.6

Per Rolfe Survey, visiting registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: 1,000 ft. of school or child care center, with exceptions.  §14-208.16.  NC law includes a very expansive definition of “child care” that includes e.g. Boys & Girls Clubs. §110-86. However, “school” does not include “institutions of higher education” or “home schools” as defined in §115C-563.

Presence restrictions:  For offenses involving a victim under 16 and other offenses, may not be present on “place intended primarily for the use, care, or supervision of minors,” or w/in 300 ft. of such a place if it is located on another property such as a mall. Also may not be present “where minors gather regularly for scheduled educational, recreational, or social programs.”  Various exceptions for parents on school business, or in need of medical care. §14-208.18.  

Duration & updates:

30 years to life. Petition to remove – 10 years. Tier III updates every 90 days; all others every six months. §§14-208.7A, 14-209A

North Carolina Arboretum, Ashville

Most recent visit: March 2024

North North Carolina has a lot of onerous residence and presence restrictions which you should be concerned about.  However, according to state law (§14-208.16) these restrictions apply to “an offender who is required to register,” and therefore apparently not to a visitor who is not required to register because you’re in the state for less than 15 days.

Just to be safe, however, I would certainly suggest staying away from schools, child care centers and “places where minors gather regularly.”  You can, however, attend your college reunion because “institutions of higher education” are excluded by definition from the term “school.”

On a previous trip through North Carolina I traveled the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is administered by the National Parks Service which makes it a park.  That was no problem in North Carolina because they have no law against registered people visiting parks, whether local, state or national parks.  You can also visit Smokey Mountains National Park, national forests or any state park in North Carolina without fear.  You can also visit historic sites, museums and monuments of which the state has many.

In March 2024 I joined my family for their Spring Break vacation in the mountains of North Carolina.  They came from Florida.  I came from Iowa, but afterwards traveled with my family to Florida, all of which I properly reported at my local Iowa sheriff’s department as a 6 1/2 week trip with multiple destinations in multiple states.  I even told them that in the middle of this trip I’d be inserting another trip with my ex from Florida to New Jersey and back before returning to Iowa. 

The view from Chimney Rock State Park, NC

Iowa had no problem entering this level of travel complexity into my registry sheet – which just goes to show that you shouldn’t worry about complex travel plans.  I like to think that having my sheet with the answers to any suspicious police officer’s questions sitting right in my glove compartment protects me during my travels.

During my NC family vacation we visited the usual attractions – museums, quaint small towns, Chimney Rock State Park, drove the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at the Folk Art Center, etc.  We arrived on Monday and left on Friday, so even including partial days that makes five days, well within the 14 days allowed by North Carolina without triggering an obligation to register.

In June 2022 on my way to the NARSOL National Conference in Raleigh I entered North Carolina from Virginia on I-77, stopping at the Welcome Station to pick up a few brochures.  This was pretty close to Mt. Airy which is very touristy and bills itself as the home of TV’s Mayberry RFD.  I skipped that in favor of the authentic historic town of Bethania, just outside Winston-Salem.  It’s the real thing, folks.  After grabbing some lunch and moving on to Raleigh I visited the NC Museum of Natural Sciences which was having a special exhibition called “Life Before Dinosaurs: The Permian Monsters.”  I’m such a sucker for that kind of stuff!

But then it was time to head for the conference hotel and settle in for the NARSOL conference which was great and informative! Three days later I was on my way to a Pisgah National Forest campground near the entrance to Great Smokey Mtns. National Park, which I decided to report on in a separate blog post because more than half of it is in Tennessee.

 In-state Florida travel for Florida registrants: My secret mission to attend a funeral in enemy territory

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Fla. Stat. 2019; Fla. Stat. §§775.21, 775.215; Fla. Stat. §§943.043 through 943.0435; Fla. Stat. §§944.606 through 944.607;  Fla. Stat. §947.1405, §985.481

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

“Residence” means either (1) a place where one spends 3 or more consecutive days, (2) a place where one spends 3 or more aggregate days in a calendar year, or (3) a county in which one is present for 3 or more aggregate days in a calendar year.  In all cases, 3rd day triggers registry obligation.

Registrants must appear to register with law enforcement w/in 48 hours of establishing a residence, and must appear to provide any updates within 48 hours.

Transient registrants update every 30 days.

NOTE: "Day" will now be defined in Florida's SOR law to mean "any part of a day" except that your day of arrival doesn't count. Updated 3/2024.

Registrants must also appear to register with the driver’s license office of the FL DMV within 48 hours of registration to obtain a driver’s license or ID card labeled either “SEXUAL PREDATOR” or “943.0435, F.S.”

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction:  May not reside within 1,000 ft. of school, child care facility, park, or playground under certain circumstances. §775.215.  NOTE: Individual cities and counties often have additional more burdensome requirements upwards of 3000 feet.

Presence restriction: Registrants with conviction involving a minor cannot be within 300 feet “of place where children are congregating,” and face restrictions on ability to be present in schools and parks.  NOTE: Individual cities and counties often have additional more burdensome requirements.  Fla. Stat. §856.022

Visiting Registrants once placed on state’s registry ARE NOT REMOVED.

Duration & updates:

Lifetime.  Petition: 25 years.  “Predators” and certain others update quarterly.  All others update every 6 months

Florida’s restrictions on registrants are particularly onerous and should be carefully consulted before visiting the state. 

Every major national or state registrant advocacy group – including NARSOL, ACSOL, Florida Action Committee (FAC) – strongly recommends that you avoid visiting Florida if at all possible.  To this I add my own voice.  Florida’s registry is lifetime for all offenses, no matter how minor.  Florida has no tiered registry – only “sex offenders” and “sexual predators.”  Furthermore, Florida is one of about 15 states where there is no procedure for removal from the registry upon returning to your home state. 

Because of that, of the about 75,000 Florida registrants less than 30,000 actually live in Florida (not counting incarcerated registrants)! All the rest – which is to say the majority of Florida registrants – DO NOT actually live in Florida. Because I recently moved my primary residence to Iowa, I am now included in that number.

However … as with any other state, once you are registered here the deed is done and you are “free” to come and go without suffering and further consequences – as long as you are careful not to run afoul of any of Florida’s many cruel and clearly unconstitutional registration laws.  This is the story of how I snuck into one county’s infamous “exclusion zones” to attend a funeral.

My secret mission to Brevard County

On January 28, 2024 the scourge of gun violence came to Brevard County, Florida in a mass murder of the kind that has become so common in America that this one made nary a blip on anybody’s radar screen.  The previous evening a retired Catholic priest allowed a troubled young man whom he had been counseling for several years to stay overnight at his house. 

The next morning that troubled young man murdered his priest, and the priest’s sister, in a gruesome and senseless shooting.  He then stole the priest’s car, drove it to his own grandfather’s birthday party and shot him to death.  Some other party-goers were injured in that incident.  When the police showed up more shooting broke out, at least one officer was wounded and the troubled young man was shot to death.  The police noticed that the car was stolen and traced it back to the priest, went to his house and found the two bodies.

It so happens that retired Catholic priest was my family’s parish priest for the entire time we raised our kids in Orlando.  I myself am not religious but my (now ex-) wife and children are and they were all exceptionally close to their priest and regarded him as a true mentor.  I also held him in high regard. 

So from the moment I learned of his death it was clear that I and my family would be attending a funeral in Brevard County.  A big deal funeral at the largest Catholic church in the county, located on a giant campus along with a K-12 Catholic school, daycare and after-school care center, etc.  In other words, the usual list of places that, in Brevard County, I am not even allowed to “be present” within 1000 feet of.

My attendance at this funeral was mandatory.  More than that, I truly wanted to go and honor the life of a man I held in high esteem.  But doing so meant violating Brevard County’s draconian, clearly unconstitutional and frankly un-Christian “presence” rules. 

Question:  Should I tell my family – or anybody else – about this problem ahead of time?

Answer:  No.  My family was under enough stress as it was.  I didn’t want to burden them with my problem.  They might even urge me not to go, a sentiment which I was in no mood to hear.

I also knew I was under no obligation to report this foray into enemy territory to my local sheriff’s department in Orlando.  The trip was too brief to require "reporting travel."  The funeral was less than an hour’s drive from my house.  I’d be in and out of Brevard County in about three hours – even with a stop for lunch at a BBQ restaurant almost across the street from the Catholic school campus which meant I wasn’t allowed to be “present” there either.  I certainly wouldn’t be there overnight.

The biggest risk was that something might happen that could expose me to arrest while I was in the wrong place at the right time.  I judged that risk to be small, so on the day of the funeral I just got in my car and went.  My foray into enemy territory must’ve gone well because here I am writing about it.

When I am asked to speak on domestic travel or set up my travel information table at a conference or event, I meet registered people who say some version of “The entire travel reporting system is a violation of my rights and I refuse to cooperate with it.  I travel when I want, where I want.”  I respond by saying I agree completely with that sentiment but my job is to advise you how to travel safely.

To all of you with whom I have had this exchange … you’ll be happy to know that when push came to shove I followed your way, not mine.  If Brevard County wants to arrest me for the crime of attending the funeral of my family’s pastor who was murdered by my state’s abject failure to keep guns out of the hands of a troubled young man, let them come.  I will humiliate them in court.

 Iowa

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

Iowa Code 2019  §§692A.101 through 692A.130.  441 I.A.C. §103.3(692A)  661 I.A.C. §§83.1(692A) through 83.5 (692A)

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

5 business days for initial registration, updates, and visitors who enter the state. §§692A.104, 692A.105.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restrictions: Registrants with convictions involving minors for “aggravated sexual abuse” in the 1st or 2nd degree, or in the 3rd degree except for a conviction under I.C. §709.4(2)(c)(4), may not reside w/in 2,000 ft. of daycare center.

Presence restriction:  Registrants with convictions involving minors may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present at, any school, day care center, public library, or any place intended primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained.  No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be employed at residence facility for dependent adults.

Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements.  §692A.127.

Procedure for removal from registry after departure is set forth in §692A.106.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life.  Updates depend on tier level: TI – annually, TII – every 6 mo. TIII – quarterly. §§692A.104

Local Amish-made foods purchased at an Iowa small town festival

January 2024 – Traveling to my “primary residence” state as a visitor

Iowa allows five business days for initial registration, updates, and visitors who enter the state. That’s a fairly short time period. However, there appears to be no limit per month or year.

While in-state as a visitor you may need to be a little careful if your offense involved a minor because if so you may not loiter within 300 ft. of, or be present at a school, day care center, public library, or any place intended primarily for the use of minors, unless certain permissions are obtained.  No registrant may loiter, volunteer, or be employed at residence facility for dependent adults.

Here’s a piece of good news: Local governments are pre-empted from adopting more restrictive requirements.  §692A.127.  Therefore, wherever you go in Iowa at least you know what the rules are.

Also, you may have noticed that there is no prohibition against being at or loitering near a public park, museum, or historic site – unless of course it includes a “place intended primarily for the use of minors,” like a playground, in which case you just need to stay 300 feet away from that place. Outside Iowa City there is a shopping mall that includes the Iowa Children’s Museum.  The food court is right next door.  If you ever find yourself in this shopping mall, you can’t go to the children’s museum or loiter within 300 feet of it, but the rest of the mall is okay and no one has ever accused me of "loitering" just because I had lunch at the food court.

So you may be wondering – why I would want to leave the warmth of Florida and travel to Iowa in January in the middle of a blizzard and below zero temperatures?  Also, for those of you who, like me, have moved away from the state where you offended, are there any lessons to be learned from my experience traveling as a visitor to my new “primary residence” state?  Did I have to “check in” even though I was there for fewer than five business days? etc.

As to the first question, it turns out that there is an interesting difference between Florida and Iowa (aside from the obvious weather difference).  Florida doesn’t let anyone with a prior sexual offense vote, whereas Iowa does.  And as I always say, no one can appreciate their right to vote more than someone who’s had that right taken away.  One of my first acts as an Iowan was to register to vote.

Furthermore, as a Iowa voter I am eligible to do something very few Americans can do, which is to participate in the Iowa Caucuses.  And another thing I am fond of saying is that my recent life experience has brought me to a point where if there is something I am allowed to do – that the cops can’t stop me from doing – that is a thing I will definitely do. 

So a couple of months before the caucuses I booked non-refundable plane reservations from Orlando to Eastern Iowa Airport (lay-over in Chicago), departing Friday January 12 and returning Tuesday the 16th.  Because Monday Jan. 15 was a holiday, I would be in Iowa for only two partial business days, far fewer than the five business days that would have triggered an obligation on my part to “check in” at my local sheriff’s department.  Instead, all I needed to do was report my travel as required by the state of Florida, where I was traveling from.

My neighborhood near Iowa City after the January 2024 blizzard.

Temperature at the time: -10 F

Little did I know that when the time came for me to go to Iowa it would be in the middle of a blizzard with a foot of snow on the ground, drifts blowing everywhere and temperatures below zero.  My Friday flights were canceled and I got rebooked onto the same flights the following day – with one big difference, to wit my 1:00 flight from Chicago was stand-by and they booked me on a back-up flight that didn’t leave Chicago until 7:00 pm.

So here’s a question:  I told Florida I was definitely leaving on Friday, but I didn’t do that.  I left on Saturday instead.  Was I required to go back down to the Orange County sheriff’s department and redo my travel report?  Answer – I couldn’t do it anyway because the sheriff’s department was closed for the holiday weekend and Florida requires this change to be reported in person.  So I just did everything I could to get myself to my travel destination as fast as possible.

Sure enough I didn’t get on the 1:00 flight, which meant my Cedar Rapids car rental crashed.  The airline offered to re-book me to a 2:15 flight to Moline IL, which is “sort of” close to Iowa City, so I gave up my 7:00 ticket.  Unfortunately that flight was unable to land in Moline and got re-directed right back to Chicago!  So at 6:00 pm I rented a car in Chicago and set out for Iowa City in a blinding blizzard.

Wow that was scary!  When I arrived at my home it was midnight and -15 degrees.  But now I want to point out that by crossing the Iowa state line at about 10:30 pm I had spent less than one day in Illinois and had not spent the night there.  In doing so I had avoided using up any of my precious allowable three days per calendar year in Illinois (see my Illinois blog).  I certainly didn’t want to do that in the first month of the 2024 calendar year!

Also, by arriving in Iowa late Saturday night instead of Friday afternoon I would now be there only one partial business day – Tuesday – when I’d have to get back on the road at 7:00 am (temperature -13) if I had any hope of returning the rental car in Chicago at noon.  I’d be out of state before my Iowa sheriff’s department even opened that day.  I also had to totally blow off my non-refundable flight from Cedar Rapids.

Now I will say a few words about the Iowa Caucuses, my reason for spending hundreds of dollars to fly into a blizzard.  It was actually pretty interesting.  Even though my party wasn’t holding a presidential preference vote because they have an actual incumbent president instead of an insurrectionist ex-president, they conducted other party business like selecting delegates to the party’s state convention (in March) and formulating party platform statements.

So the following morning I left early, I did get to Chicago on time, and my flight arrived back in Orlando on time.  Tadahhhh!

Previous travel to Iowa as a visitor – February and March 2021

Czech & Slovak Museum, Cedar Rapids

In February & March 2021 I flew into Eastern Iowa Airport and stayed each time at a motel from Thursday afternoon thru the following Tuesday morning.  That makes four business days (including two partial days) and a weekend each time, deliberately less than Iowa’s registration trigger of five business days.

I had a specific purpose for visiting Iowa that cold winter.  I had decided that Iowa was a good location to establish a summer home to serve as a base for my future summer travel.  Florida, after all, isn’t at all centrally located with respect to cross-country travel – but Iowa is.  And yes, I did purchase a home in Iowa, and have registered it as my new “primary residence” in Florida’s registry. 

That means my Iowa home is my residence for more than 50% of each calendar year.  However I still flee to Florida for the winter, so I changed all three of my registered addresses in Florida to “open-ended temporary residences” which means I can stay there any time I want as long as I report to the local sheriff’s department within 48 hours of my arrival.

As far as my cross-country travel is concerned, my move just transfers the problem of getting permission to leave town to my new local sheriff’s department in Iowa.  And in the case of Iowa this introduces a new complication because unlike Florida and many other states, Iowa’s registry law explicitly, but clumsily, addresses out-of-state travel.  It says:

“[A] sex offender, within five business days of a change, shall also appear in person to notify the sheriff of the county of principal residence [i.e. the principle residence in Iowa], of any location in which the offender is staying when away from the principal residence of the offender for more than five days, by identifying the location and the period of time the offender is staying in such location.”  692A.105  IS.

While I was at my new Iowa sheriff’s department registering, getting photographed, fingerprinted and providing a DNA sample, I took the opportunity to ask how travel was going to work.  I pointed out that although I can always provide a destination when traveling, there is no way I’ll be able provide locations and addresses ahead of time for every campground or motel room I might be staying at along the way. 

The lady behind the bullet-proof glass stated that their policy for this type of travel is that I will need to keep a travel log for each trip, which I will need to turn in upon my return.  As you know from reading elsewhere on this blog, I recommend you always keep a travel log as well as all receipts just in case you need to prove your whereabouts, so this sheriff’s department requirement, while ridiculous, turns out not to be a problem for me or anyone following my recommendations.

 Rhode Island

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

R.I. Gen. Laws 2019  §§11-37.1-1 through 11-37.1-20

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

24 hours for initial reg. and updates for all registrants who are moving to state, working in state, or are students.  §11-37.1-4. 

Statutes make no specific provision for visitors.  However, RI SOR office states thatvisitors in state for not more that 10 bus. days or two weeks (whichever comes first) must “check in” at local police department within 24 hours for “temporary registration” which does not go on the registry. Return to “check out” when departing the state.Also, there appears to be no limit on number of repeat visits per year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Level 3 offenders barred from schools and parks. Level 3 also can’t reside within 1000 feet of a K-12 school. Note: this restriction was enjoined in 2015 pending a trial on the merits. Lawsuit still pending in 2020 & injunction still in place.

Other registrants including visitors – can’t reside within 300 feet of K-12 school.

Only Level 2&3 offenders are placed on the public website. §11-37.1-12.

Duration & updates:

10 years to life.  Updates: SVPs – quarterly.  All others – quarterly for first 2 years,then annual. §11-37.1-4.

 

Rhode Island - small but mighty cool to visit

Most recent visit: December 2023

I have been participating in (at least listening in on) the ACSOL monthly call-in meetings since they started having them a few years ago.  Interstate travel has been one of the most requested topics of discussion at every one of those call-in meetings.  Each time, the meeting hosts provide the very good advice that registrants should be keenly aware of the amount of time allowed in any state you visit before registration is required because some states’ deadlines are very short and you do not want to end up on any state’s registry (aside from your home state) if you can possibly avoid it.

At most of the ACSOL call-in meetings I have attended, Rhode Island has been given as an example of a state to be avoided because their registration deadline is among the shortest of all – just 24 hours!  Another short-deadline state they often mention is Nevada (48 hours) which makes sense because ACSOL is based next door in California.  They have a lot of California members that need to be warned about this.

However, when I conducted my first research for this travel blog in the summer of 2020 I called as many state SOR offices as would answer the phone to clarify what their policies actually were, and I found that Rhode Island (along with Nevada) is one of a handful of states that, by policy, claimed to treat a statutory very short visitor registration requirement as a “duty to check in” but holds registrant visitor information pending a commitment to depart within a specified time – the friendly RI SOR office lady said 10 business days or two weeks, whichever comes first.  At departure she claimed it is discarded or filed without ever going on the registry.

Dear friends: I agree with everyone who keeps cautioning me that you can’t take at face value anything that some random SOR office lady tells you on the phone.  I’m just reporting the news here.  And I can also tell you that when I called the RI SOR office back in the Spring of 2021 they gave me the same answer.

Although Rhode Island is a tiny state, the question of what their registration policy is concerns me more than it might the average registrant because I have a brother and sister-in-law living there.  I have visited them several times since I’ve been off probation but, oddly, never spent more than 24 hours in Rhode Island on any one visit.

In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  My brother and sister-in-law were of course on the list of relatives to be visited, but the plan all along was to just go to lunch together, stay a few hours and be on our way. 

We had stayed the previous night at a hotel near Hartford, CT, then entered Rhode Island late morning the next day.  Lunch.  Visit. Leave.  By 4 pm we were back in Connecticut on our way to our next hotel in New London.  I was never in RI long enough for anyone to be concerned about it.

Downtown Providence

Previous visit: July 2022

In July 2022 my Rhode Island side trip was a little more complicated but still didn’t test Rhode Island’s visitor registration policy. 

I was there to visit my brother & sister-in-law and to meet up with my own family who had spent the previous four days with my ex-inlaws on Long Island while I was having an epic fail trying to go whale watching in Maine.  We all met up at a very nice restaurant and had a family dinner and visited together.  Then I stayed the night at my brother’s house while the rest of the family stayed at a hotel (my ex-wife is allergic to cats).

The next morning my brother (but not my sister-in-law) accompanied me to Boston, where all of us met up again and spent the day being tourists (see my MA blog post).  Once that was over my brother got on a train to go back home to Rhode Island while the rest of us continued on to New Hampshire (my second time there, see my NH blog post).

As you can see, on this trip I also spent less than 24 hours in Rhode Island.  If I’m going to test this state’s “visitor registry” policy I want to do it when I have more time available AND have the option of skedaddling out of state if the local police department gives me a different answer than the SOR office did.

 Connecticut

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

Conn. Gen. Stat. 2019 §§54-250 through 54-261

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Registration for all is required “without undue delay,” but probably 3 days. 

Visitors who “travel in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” shall “notify” law enforcement of “temporary residence.” §54-253(d). 

Per Conn. SOR Unit, FAX to “SOR” – 860-685-8349 – name, DOB, conviction info, state, cell #, dates in state, location.

Connecticut’s “travel in this state on a recurring basis” language is unique. CT SOR Unit says it means visitors staying less than 5 days should “notify” but need not register, even if such short term “traveling” occurs multiple occasions per month or year.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

No state restrictions but watch out for local regulations.

Duration & updates:

10 years - life. §§54-251, 54-252. Confirm address quarterly by return of mailing from state. §54-257.

Most recent visit: December 2023

Leaving New London on the Long Island Ferry

Connecticut’s SOR law states that visitors who “travel in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” shall “notify” law enforcement of “temporary residence.” §54-253(d).  This statutory language is unique among the 50 states. Connecticut’s SOR Unit staff says it means visitors staying less than 5 days “should notify” but need not register, even if such short term “traveling” occurs on multiple occasions per month or year.

In December 2023 I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  Because my siblings live in New Jersey and Rhode Island, while her cousins live on Long Island, we decided to visit my siblings first, then take an early morning Long Island Ferry from New London, CT.

This meant we we’d be “travel[ing] in this state on a recurring basis for less than five days” (three partial days) but in my estimation never established a “temporary residence” (an undefined term in CT statutes) because we stayed at two different hotels in two different parts of the state (Hartford and New London) and spent most of Partial Day 2 in Rhode Island with my brother.  Therefore I decided no notification was necessary on this trip.  

Connecticut law has no residency, presence or loitering restrictions for registrants, so we could have visited any of its cities, historic sites or attractions.  Maybe we will on our next visit.  First thing in the morning of Day 3 my BFF and I boarded the Long Island Ferry and were off to Long Island.

Mystic

 New York

Arriving at Orient Point from CT on the Long Island Ferry

From the 50 State Visitor Guide :

N.Y. C.L.S. 2019 Corrections §§168

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

10 calendar days for initial reg., after “establishing residency” (not defined), and for updates. §§168-f, 168-k.  In-state workers required to register if present for more than 14 consecutive days or an aggregate period exceeding 30 days in a calendar year. §168-a.

Visitors: Per NY SOR office, 10 consecutive days or 14 per month. NOTE: Partial days count (except just passing through).  Procedure available for removal from registry after departure.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Certain laws may impose a 1,000 ft. residency restriction from schools and child care facilities for registrants on parole or probation.   

Duration & updates:

20 years to life.  Updates: L3 & “sexual predators” 90 days; all others annually.  §168-h.

Most recent visit: December 2023

As I pointed out on my Main Page (above), the “Summary of State and Territorial Registration Laws Concerning Visiting and Temporary Residence by Adults” chart available on the Association for Constitutional Sex Offender Laws (ACSOL) website hasn’t been updated since 2018.  Furthermore, when it comes to New York State that chart relies on the so-called “Rolfe Survey” which dates from 2017. 

Therefore, if you refer to the New York entry on the ACSOL chart which says, “The Rolfe Survey reports that NY does not require visitors to register,” be advised – that information is quite stale by now.

I called the New York State SOR office in June 2020 (updated in August 2023) and here’s what they told me: visitors get 10 consecutive days or 14 per month before being required to register. Translation: like many other states, New York’s SOR office is simply applying their requirements for new residents and in-state workers to visitors too.  It also follows that if, like hundreds of thousands of others, you’re a New Jersey or Connecticut resident commuting daily to your job in New York, you’ll also have to register in New York.

The nice lady at the SOR office also said that partial days do count (except just passing through); e.g. if you’re staying in NJ or CT and making daily trips into NYC to see the sights or to work, each one of those trips will count toward your allowable total.

In May and December 2023 I made trips to the Northeast that illustrates how these counting rules work.  In December I traveled from Florida with my now ex-wife but still Best Friend Forever to visit relatives and participate in a Wreaths Across America event on Long Island.  We first stopped in New Jersey to visit with my sister-in-law, but she lives so close to the New York state line that when we took her out for lunch the restaurant was in New York State. 

That was a destination, right? – so that lunch trip counted toward my allowable 14 days per month.  That may seem like an idiotic way to apply their registry rules, but it’s not my job here to defend any state’s rules.  Instead my job is to explain how I navigated those idiotic rules while in New York so you can do so too.  Still, that was just one day, so it didn’t make a big difference toward my 14 day total.  By the end of the day we were on our way to our reserved hotel room in Connecticut.

Frank & Sons - Everybody's favorite bakery in Mastic, LI

Two days later we returned to New York State, this time on the Long Island Ferry from Connecticut.  We spent the entire day visiting my BFF’s relatives, so that was a destination and that made this Day 2 of my allowable 14 days. 

I want to interject here that unlike many of my BFF’s friends and relatives, who hate me to the point where they aren’t even allowed to know we spend any time together, this particular group has a family member who has now served 10 years of a life sentence for what as you can imagine must be a very serious crime.  Although there are many differences between his offense and mine, including the fact that they all believe he’s innocent, an I’m not, still they now have a life experience that makes them more understanding of my situation and I was welcome in their home.

After our day-long visit my ex and I retired to our reserved hotel room.  Our intention was to participate in a Wreaths Across America event the next day at Long Island Cemetery where her father is buried. 

However, overnight my BFF became very seriously ill.  I had become similarly ill two days earlier – at the restaurant where we took my sister-in-law to lunch.  At the time I wondered if it was food poisoning, but now that my ex was also ill it was obviously some kind of 24 hour bug.  The bad news was that due to a pre-existing medical condition she became much more seriously ill than I had.  We were unable to attend the Wreaths Across America event which had been the primary purpose of our trip!  Instead she spent the entire day either in bed or running back and forth to the bathroom, and I spent my Day 3 of my allowable 14 days in New York caring for my best friend.

Here I would like to use this story of an unexpected major change to our travel plan to illustrate how such a change could affect you as a registered traveler.  The silver lining to our experience was that her illness happened on a day we were already intending to spend in New York State, at a hotel where we already had the next night reserved.  Although it took my ex several days to fully recover, she was feeling well enough to travel as planned by the following day.

Suppose that hadn’t been the case?  Suppose I had ended up having to take my BFF to a hospital for several days – as has happened in the past.  Not only would that have been super expensive, it would have extended our stay in New York State by several days AND extended my travel for several days beyond what I had reported in Florida. 

Suppose also that instead of New York we had been in a state with super-short grace periods for visiting registrants, where I had only hours to leave before an obligation to register would take affect?  Tennessee (48 hours), Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas (all 3 business days), Illinois and Florida (3 days aggregate per calendar year) come to mind.  My registry status could have been called into question just when my ex-wife needed me most.  This is why you must be very careful about the rules of your destination state while traveling.

Nevertheless, on the morning of Day 4 of my allowable 14 days in New York my BFF and I set off early – we had to be home in Tallahassee by the end of the next day because each one of us had family obligations starting the day after that.  And we made it! *Whew!* 

 Previous visit: May 2023

Fort William Henry near Lake Champlain

In May 2023 I was staying at my brother’s house in New Jersey for four consecutive days to attend his interment and celebration of life.  His house is so close to the New York state line that the closest town is in New York.  I was helping my sister-in-law out with the preparations and clean-up and that took me on daily trips into New York State, each with a destination e.g. the Shop Rite supermarket. 

Presumably every time I went with her to town to pick up food or gasoline that was a “partial day” trip that counted toward my allotted 10 consecutive days or 14 per month, because technically I wasn’t “just passing through.”  I had a specific destination in New York State.

On the fourth day it was time to say goodbye to my sister-in-law and travel north up the New York Thruway on my way to Vermont and Maine.  If I had done no sight-seeing in New York State that day it would have been considered “just passing through” and according to the SOR office would not have counted toward my total. But instead I stopped to see Fort William Henry, a French & Indian War site, and that meant I had a “destination” in New York State.

Not to worry – that’s a total of four consecutive partial days, well below my allowable total of ten consecutive days.  Fine.

 The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY

Then I returned to New York two days later to continue my journey.  Because I had spent one full day and two nights outside New York, that meant I was able to re-start the ten consecutive day clock.  The 14 day aggregate days per month clock, however, continued at Day 5.  Confused yet?

On this pass through New York I entered from Massachusetts, spent two leisurely days traveling across Upstate New York before exiting on I-90 into PA and Ohio.  That’s two days on the consecutive day clock and two additional days on the aggregate day clock for a total of six days.  Again, not to worry – it’s still well below the 14 aggregate days you and I are allowed to be in New York without triggering an obligation to register.

Among the stops I made on this second pass through New York State were: Erie Canal; Cherry Valley Museum, which wasn’t scheduled to open until Memorial Day but there were people getting the place ready who invited me in for a tour; Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame; Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark, and if you don’t know who Gerrit Smith was you should look him up; Seneca Nations Onohsagweide Cultural Center; and two privately operated rock outcroppings – one called Rock City Park and the other called Panama Rocks.  Both really impressive.

Is this a dinosaur at the Museum of Natural History?

No! It's The Oculus across the street from Ground Zero!

On another previous trip to my brother’s house in New Jersey I wanted to spend a day visiting a few sights in Manhattan.  It had been years, meaning since before I got arrested and went to prison.  I commuted to Hoboken on one of New Jersey’s many rail lines and took a PATH train to Lower Manhattan.  After disembarking at the World Trade Center I visited Ground Zero.  Then took a subway uptown to Times Square, which I took in while having a chili dog and a pretzel for lunch.  Hey, what else would you have in New York, right? 

I spent most of that afternoon at the Museum of Natural History, but also had time to walk the length of Manhattan’s Hi Line linear park.  Then it was back to Hoboken, where I ate dinner at a Cuban restaurant (again, what else, right?).  Then boarded my commuter train back to my brother’s house.

All together a great day in New York City and only used up one partial day with destinations.