Texas
From the 50 State Visitor Guide:
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. 2020 §62.001 through 62.408
Registration Triggers and Deadlines:
Registration required for residence of “more than 7 days,” and must register by the 7th day. Updates after 7 days. §§62.051, 62.055.
Transient registrants must report every 30 days. §62.051. Resident registrants making three or more visits of 48 consecutive hours duration to a TX municipality or county other than place of permanent registration must report to local law enforcement. §62.059.
Visitors must register by “the 7th day after the person’s arrival in the municipality or county.” §62.051(a). Per the Texas SOR office, this means a visiting registrant who never remains in any one locality more than six consecutive days isn’t required to register. This SOR office info confirmed April 2021.
Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:
No state-wide restrictions, but local residence and presence restrictions, where applicable, do apply to not-yet-registered visiting offenders. For example, San Antonio has a presence restriction applying to parks. This means you will not be able to set foot in the Riverwalk during your visit.
Duration & updates:
10 years to life. Annual updates.
An eclipse epic fail: April 2024
If you read about my June 2023 visit (below) you might notice I mentioned an old friend who lives in Houston. Well one thing we agreed upon while having lunch was that we should go together to see the solar eclipse the following April. I let my old friend take charge of finding a hotel room for the night before and the viewing site itself – which turned out to be Uvalde, TX.
On this trip I flew from Orlando to Houston, and while in Texas my friend did all the drive (he is a terrible driver but I’m relieved to say I’m still alive). NO, I was not required to give my sheriff’s department in Florida any flight info at all. That only applies to international travel. Also NO, I was not required to give them any information about my friend’s name or his car. It’s out of state so it’s none of their business.
However, YES I had to register my friend’s Texas address as a “temporary address” and destination. Some registrants I speak to are concerned about the consequences of registering this information. In the case of Florida’s registry, his address temporarily appeared on the FL SOR public website on my day of arrival, and them magically disappeared when I left. The good news was my old friend didn’t freak out about that.
The bad news was that on eclipse day it was cloudy and threatening rain all over Texas! Where we were in downtown Uvalde the sun peaked out momentarily just about 30 seconds before totality. It was impressive but not total, and then it was gone and a few seconds later it got dark but we couldn’t see anything. Uggh!
Previous visit: June 2023
June 2023 was my second trip to Texas since I have been a registered citizen, and both times I was there for the same reason – to attend the annual NARSOL national conference being held in Houston. This was my third conference and second in Houston, and by this time all the conference organizers and NARSOL board members know who I am. I set up my display table near the registration desk to distribute handouts and advertise this travel blog and answer the travel questions of conference attendees. I was also the featured speaker at a breakout session on travel. And as always I learned a lot at the conference and had the opportunity to meet some of the most prominent registry reform advocates in the U.S.
Oh well! You can't visit Riverwalk while you're in San Antonio.
Texas has no statewide presence or residency restrictions, but like so many other states it has local residence and presence restrictions, and where applicable they do apply to not-yet-registered visiting offenders. For example, one conference participant pointed out that San Antonio has a presence restriction applying to parks. This means if the NARSOL conference had been in San Antonio none of us registrants would have able to set foot in the Riverwalk during our visit.
I assume the conference organizers did their research into Texas’ laws applying to visiting registrants to assure that no one would be precluded from attending. The conference lasted from Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon, so four days total including partial days which as I have said many times you should always assume are included. Fortunately Texas law allows up to six days in any municipality or county without triggering registration (the seventh day triggers).
There is a quirk in the way Texas (or at least the Texas state SOR office) interprets its law that registered travelers should be aware of. Texas is one of quite a few states whose registry laws are written to say that visitors must register by “the [insert # of days here] day after the person’s arrival in the municipality or county.” §62.051(a). Quite a few states have this type of language because, as you can imagine, state legislators don’t invent their own statutes out of whole cloth when writing registry laws. No, they look at what some other states are doing and copy what they like best.
In reading this language you might feel justified in believing that what starts the clock ticking towards your obligation to register would be your arrival in a specific municipality or county, rather than the simple act of crossing the state line. But NO. Every state (other than Texas) that has this type of language interprets it to mean the clock starts ticking when you arrive in their state, and continues to tick for as long as you are in the state no matter what municipality or county you happen to be in. That’s why, for every other state, my advice to you is to assume that the number of days stated in the statute applies statewide.
However, I have called the Texas SOR office to ask this specific question twice, nine months apart, and spoken to two different people (I know they were different people because one was a man and the other was a woman) who both gave me the same answer: Texas interprets its statutory language exactly as written. The clock starts when you arrive in any given county or municipality. If you move on to some other county or municipality before your six days are up, the clock starts again.
On this trip I entered Texas (from Arkansas) on Wednesday afternoon and that started the six day clock. Texas was in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave and it was way too hot to camp, so after visiting Dinosaur Valley State Park I stayed at a cheap motel in Kilgore. The next day I had a lunch date with an old friend of mine (we first met in 6th grade) who now lives in Houston before proceeding to the conference hotel. According to the information from the SOR office, my Kilgore clock had stopped at two (partial) days, and my Houston clock now started.
The NARSOL conference lasted until Sunday morning, so that was four days on my Houston clock, but five days (including partial days) since entering the state of Texas. Upon leaving the conference I hooked up with my old friend again for lunch, this time meeting his wife for the first time, before heading off into the Texas countryside. Because of the broiling heat wave I again stayed at on off-brand motel, this time in the little town of Lampasas.
According to the information from the SOR office, my Houston clock had stopped at four days (including partials) and my Lampasas clock now started. However, when I woke up the next morning from my restful night’s sleep I was starting Day 6 since entering the state, and the question still arises whether you or I should believe anything two random people at the Texas state SOR office told me. Do you or I really want to be the first registrant to test these statements and risk getting a much different interpretation from the next Lampasas County sheriff’s deputy that pulls you over for having a blown taillight?
My answer to that question is definitely not. That’s why, after stopping near Fort Worth to have lunch with my son and his new wife (who I was also meeting for the first time) I zoomed north on I-35, jumping from the frying pan of Texas into the fire of Oklahoma before the afternoon was over.
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