A couple of travel clarifications …

Dear Janice and Chance:

I am writing to offer clarifications to a couple of things you have been saying about domestic travel on your monthly ACSOL zoom meetings, most recently on August 20, 2022.  

My first clarification has to do with what you sometimes call the “coffee rule,” the idea that if a state has a maximum number of consecutive days you can be in-state before triggering an obligation to register, you can leave the state one day early, buy a cup of coffee (being sure to keep the date & time stamped receipt), then return to re-start the time clock.

In concept this is true, but with one very important clarification.  Most states SOR laws specify consecutive days (as opposed to hours) a registrant can be in the state, AND most states count any PARTIAL DAY as a day.  Some states (Kansas, Nebraska, Indiana … ) have this fact spelled out in their statutes.  Other states (Florida, Georgia …) do this by SOR office policy.  

Either way, what this means for a registered traveler is that you can’t just leave the state for coffee, or even stay out of state over one night, because if you do so both days (i.e. the day you leave and the following day when you return) will be counted against you as consecutive partial days.  Instead you will need to stay out of state for one full day and two nights, all supported by date and time stamped receipts, in order to return to the state in question and re-start the clock.

Fortunately for Californians wanting to visit Las Vegas, Nevada’s SOR statute specifies not two days but 48 hours (Tennessee is another example of this; Rhode Island is 24 hours).  In this situation the coffee rule really works as long as you stay out of state for at least one hour and support that with time stamped receipts.

My other clarification has to do with the oft-asked question, once I get myself off the registry in my state of offense (using California as an example), am I free to travel to another state without tripping over their registry laws?  Chance, on August 20 you correctly urged great caution on this point.  

My clarification is this: MOST state & territorial SOR laws tie your obligation to register NOT to whether your home state registry status, but to if you have EVER been convicted of a registrable offense in any state or territory.  For any of that majority of states you will still need to keep track of your days and not overstay their grace period, even after you get yourself off your home state’s registry.  Only ten states have SOR laws that specifically say that if you are off the registry in your state of offense you don’t have to register with them.

In case you’re wondering, those eight states are: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin.