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.

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.