Pennsylvania

including Pittsburg, Philadelphia

From the 50 state visitor guide :

42 Pa.C.S.2019 §§9799.10 through 9799.9

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Within 3 business days of establishing residence, becoming employed, or attending school.  3 business days for updates.  If fails to establish residence but nevertheless resides in state, shall register as transient. §9799.19.

Visitors: “Residence” means place where domiciled for 30 days or more w/in a calendar year.  “Transient” means no residence but nevertheless resides in state in a temporary place or dwelling, including a homeless shelter or park. §9799.12. Per the Lancaster State Police office, PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. Updated June 2021.

List of registration sites: www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us/VerificationSites

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

None.  Registry website supposedly only shows:  Sexually violent offenders, Sexually violent predators, Sexually violent delinquent children.

Duration & updates:

15 years to life.  Updates: T1 – annual, T2 – 6 mo., T3 & SVP – quarterly, Transient – monthly

A Pennsylvania Update: April 2025

In theory, Pennsylvania should be a pretty easy state to get along with as a registered visitor.  Their SOR statute states that “Residence” means a place where a registrant is domiciled for 30 days or more within a calendar year.  Also, there are no statewide or local residency or presence requirements.  Thank you to PARSOL for providing me with the citations for 2 court cases that ensure this - Fross v. County of Allegheny, 20 A.3d 1193 and Lake Naomi Club, Inc. v. Rosado, 285 A.3d 1 (Pa. Cmmw. Ct. 2022).  They also have pointed out that the state SOR office is back to answering the phone these days which is also a help.  These updates are significant enough – and Pennsylvania is a significant enough state – that I am updating and re-posting the 50 State Visitors Guide chart on this site to include them.

Unfortunately “Transient” means the registrant has no residence but nevertheless “resides in the state,” but while the word “residence” is defined, the word “resides” is not, so … if you’re traveling through Pennsylvania, how long do you have to be there before you “reside” without having a “residence” …?    To the average traveler this may seem like a ridiculous question, but as registered citizens you and I know it’s far from academic.  You can’t count on the state police officer who pulls you over for having a blown tail light to give you the interpretation you wanted.

I resolved to resolve this uncertainty on a trip I made to the Northeast May 2021. After staying overnight at a PA state park campground I visited the Lancaster State Police office (which is also a Registration Verification Site) and was referred there to speak to an officer who admitted he was “not the sex offender expert” (then why was he assigned to answer this question? Was the “expert” out of the office?). 

After going back to his office and reading the statute he nevertheless opined that PA has no specific time limit for visiting registrants but staying more than 30 days per calendar year or becoming employed or attending school establishes residency and would trigger a requirement to register. That confirmed the same conclusion I reached after reading the statute.

Most recent visit: Pittsburg, May 2025

See the sights, skip the downtown

Downtown Pittsburg as seen from the Duquesne Incline.  It looks good from a distance.

As part of my 2025 Northeast road trip I passed through Pennsylvania both coming and going from Iowa.  I had, as noted above, no fear of overstaying my visitor’s grace period or of violating any state or local restriction because there are none. 

It so happened I first entered from West Virginia on the morning of the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.  My goal for that day was to visit my first Big City – Pittsburg.  Should be pretty busy on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, right?  Answer – Nope!  Not unless you count all that traffic trying to get out of town on their way to someplace other than Pittsburg for a holiday weekend!

My plan was to see the sights during the day, then go downtown to see their famous riverfront and have dinner before retiring to my waiting motel room.  My first stop, however, was the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum near Washington, PA which was on my way to Pittsburg.  If you love train museums like I do you’ll love this one.

In Pittsburg, I rode the Duquesne Incline, visited the Andy Warhol Museum (Wow!) and it wasn’t until after 4 pm that I got to the Carnegie Museums, of which there are several, and which at least on that holiday Friday were closing at 5 pm so all I had time for was art – which was great art but now I know you have to set aside at least half a day for these museums.  Next time I’m in the region I’ll do that.

Andy Warhol Museum. Notice how his training as a commercial artist (left) influenced his later work.

I didn’t go see any sports facilities or events because I’m not interested and you couldn’t get tickets for Barry Manalow that night anyway.  Instead I went downtown to experience what I had always heard was a very successful riverfront and downtown renewal.

Wow what a disappointment!  Point State Park (at the confluence of Pittsburg’s “Three Rivers”) was still undergoing renovations and was lifeless on that unseasonably cold and grey afternoon.  The keynote downtown redevelopment project, Gateway Center, is a high-rise office complex that becomes a dark and scary place as soon as all the employees escape to the burbs at 5:00 pm, and that effect was accentuated by everyone having fled to the mountains that weekend.

Downtown Pittsburg

As for Pittsburg’s anemic little downtown strip, few people were there to party that evening but I did find a good little Mediterranean restaurant for dinner.

Most recent visit: Allegheny Mountains, May-June 2025

Saturday of Memorial Day weekend my goal was no more ambitious than to explore the Allegheny Mountains of western PA on my way to a waiting bungled reservation at a Motel 6 near Wilkes-Barre.  There are two big federal and state forests – Allegheny National Forest and a cluster of connected state forests – and it’s all quite beautiful.  The only problem is there aren’t many significant destinations, either natural or man-made, so I spent most of that day pleasure driving and looking at small towns.  The next morning I was on to New Jersey.

On the return leg of my Northeastern US road trip I entered Pennsylvania from New York State.  Again my goal was only to explore a different part of the Alleghenies on my way to a campground near Sharon, PA.  The next morning I was on my way to Cleveland.

Small Town Notes:

New Bethlehem – Good.  Local industry – Smuckers.

Ridgway – The whole downtown is a National Register District.  It’s not fair to the other towns.

Johnsonburg – Good.  Local industry – paper mill.

St. Mary’s – good.

Renovo – An old company town composed mainly of row houses.  The crumbling downtown runs alongside the old railroad.

Bradford – Nice downtown but otherwise just okay.

Kane – Good.  Had lunch at a “garbage cuisine” storefront.

Greenville – No judgement.  Has a lot of brick streets.  Growth over time has created small town sprawl without benefiting the town itself.

Previous visits: Philadelphia, 2023-24

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.  We had decided ahead of time to reserve a hotel room one night in Philadelphia so we could take in a few sights the next morning before continuing on to New Jersey.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia

As with our previous stops in Virginia, my ex-wife had never been to Philadelphia’s historic sites before and she was very impressed with Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  I was too even though I’d seen them before.  At lunchtime we asked one of the sales ladies at the Liberty Bell gift shop where to get a good Philly Cheesesteak and she suggested the Reading Terminal Marketplace.  Wow!  It’s like other downtown markets such as Faneuil Hall or Charleston Market, but even bigger with all kinds of stuff – including several Philly Cheesesteak options.  I also bought baked goods at one of the semi-authentic looking Amish stalls.

We spent a couple of hours just at the Reading Market but after that it was time to get moving – we had a hotel reservation that night in far northern New Jersey.

You MUST have a Philly cheese steak sub!

In April 2024 my bff & I were again traveling from New Jersey and decided to stop in Philadelphia again to see a few sites we had missed on the previous trip, specifically Betsey Ross’s house and Benjamin Franklin’s Museum.  Then we visited Valley Forge on our way to the same hotel in “downtown” Intercourse where she had stayed two years before (see below).  Although she enjoyed all the stops we made, she was disappointed that left no time for touring Pennsylvania Dutch country, neither that afternoon nor the next morning on the way out of state.

Previous visits: 2022-23

In July 2022 I traveled thru Pennsylvania while tagging along with my family on their trip to the Northeast.  My ex-wife likes Pennsylvania Dutch Country very much.  I find it to be hopelessly commercialized.  What must it be like to be an actual Amish or Mennonite person trying to go about your life surrounded by billboards and tacky trinket shops and fake buggy rides? You have my sympathy, folks.

So-called "historic train ride" in Strasburg, PA

Nevertheless she had reserved a hotel room right in “downtown” Intercourse.  I stayed at the very same state park I had the year before, about 40 miles away.  We spent way too much time at that tacky tourist village in Intercourse, but the upside to that place is that trapping all the tourists there keeps us away from the locals.

Later that day we were all rushing eastbound on I-78.  They spent the night at a hotel in Stroudsburg while I had reserved a campground in nearby Hickory Run State Park.  We were splitting up after that – they were on their way to Long Island to spend four days with my ex-inlaws, while I was headed for Maine to go whale watching. 

On the southbound leg of our Northeast trip we came back thru Pennsylvania, this time to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World and Hersheypark.  I was roped into this part of the trip because our granddaughter wanted more than anything to ride on some of the scariest rollercoasters in that theme park, and although Mom insisted that she be accompanied by an adult neither she nor Grandma were willing to do the accompanying.

American Antique Car Assn. Museum, Hershey PA

Wow, some of those rides were truly terrifying!  I told my granddaughter that going on them was something I would consider to be an item on my bucket list, but don’t expect me to do that again!

In May 2023 I again passed through Pennsylvania on my way from West Virginia to New Jersey.  This time I could skip Pennsylvania Dutch Country, and would have skipped Hershey too until I saw a sign for the American Antique Car Association Museum.  Wow – way cool!

From there it was on to Hickory Run State Park to stay the night before proceeding to New Jersey.  It also so happened that on the return leg of my journey, which took me through Upstate New York, I made a little side trip into Upstate PA to see the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  Yes there is such a thing and it’s really spectacular!

The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, in Leonard Harrison St. Pk.

 

Florida update #4 – Yes you can visit Florida, but just make it quick!

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. 

And it just so happens that in May 2025 I found myself in a position similar to what I have heard many times: I was an out of state registrant who needed to go to Florida to attend to family business but did not want to be there long enough to trigger any registry obligation in Florida – in my case because I had enough to do in a short time and no time to go down and screw around with registry office.

 Using my state’s registry software “Comments” field to overcome a thorny registry concern

Although my most recent road trip was mainly to the US Northeast, it began with a quick trip to Tallahassee, FL to attend my granddaughter’s high school graduation.  In that way this leg of the trip was much like the stories I hear from people who need to go to Florida for family reasons.  Also, there was other business for me to take care of while I was in Tallahassee and that was much like others whose family obligations pile on when you go to your mom’s funeral and there’s nobody else to take care of those things.

So for this trip I was bound, just like other out of state visitors, to Florida’s three-days-aggregate-per-year-but-your-day-of-arrival-doesn’t-count visitor rule.

However, I also faced a problem in reporting this travel at my local Iowa sheriff’s office.  Iowa’s registry reporting software is so crappy, and whoever developed this software was so inept and ignorant of either the state’s or it’s registrants’ likely reporting needs that they included no box for providing an end date for travel.  That meant that when I went to report my travel the lady behind the bulletproof glass could only enter the start date for my Florida visit, NOT the end date.

Graduation

Iowa registry offices have a work-around for this where they enter the end date somewhere when you get back, and that has always served well enough in the past, but on this trip I was concerned that Iowa might report my travel to Florida with no end date, and then try to report an end date after I got back two weeks later.  I was concerned that Florida might misinterpret Iowa’s report as a permanent move to Florida, and whether I did or didn’t go try to fix that while I was in Florida they might consider it a registry violation.

I didn’t want to risk that, but I also wanted my travel intentions to be clear on my registry sheet in case any little question came up while I was traveling (or afterward).  So I briefly explained my concern to the lady behind the bulletproof glass who I deal with frequently, and asked her if, instead of listing Tallahassee in the destination field where it would be reported to the state of Florida, would she please describe my trip to Florida in the Comments field (some states might call this the Notes field) including the start and end dates, where it would NOT be reported to Florida? 

She went along with that, and I gave her my brother’s address in Rhode Island as the official destination for my road trip (which in fact it was).  By doing this I properly reported everything without ever letting Florida know I was coming.  Even if any question had come up while I was in Florida, all the answers were there on my Iowa sheet in my glove compartment.

Just get everything done in three days (including partial days)

Florida is among the stingiest states when it comes to its visitors’ grace period.  You get just three days aggregate per calendar year, partial days count and the third aggregate day triggers your obligation to register.  However, in an uncommon act of generosity, last year they decided your day of arrival doesn’t count.  That means you could zoom in and out in a single calendar day with no penalty, or it means that if you are staying you get three actual days (including partial days).  After that you’d better be gone.

My granddaughter’s graduation was on a Tuesday evening, and I decided to drive into Tallahassee as early on Monday (Day 1) as possible (mid-afternoon).  That way I could check on the status of my latest project there – I have purchased a duplex that I intend to convert into an Assisted Living Facility that meets every registry and zoning requirement and will allow PFR’s as clients (including me of course). 

Then I’d have all of Tuesday (Day 2) free to pick my brother up at the airport and run errands for my family etc. and be the proudest grandpa ever that evening.  After dropping my brother off at the airport Wednesday morning (Day 3) I’d continue on my road trip, surely leaving Florida by mid-morning.

Unfortunately, a few days before arriving I learned that a very important property regrading project which the sellers were required to pay for but only if it gets done by July 31, 2025 … that project was completely stalled and I was going to have to somehow rescue it while I was in town.  So this aspect of my visit became like what I have heard from other PFR’s who find that once they get roped into whatever family obligation brings them to Florida other obligations and duties begin to pile on. 

Sure enough, when I arrived on that afternoon of Day 1 the situation seemed hopeless.  In addition to any family obligations I had, I would have to fire the grading crew, find and hire a new grading crew, and ensure that the work was actually underway and wouldn’t stall again as soon as I left town … all before the end of Day 3.

My purpose here is not to bore you with the details but to illustrate what I have heard many times, that isn’t there some way to work around the three day limit so you can take care of all of your obligations there?  Answer – No.  And remember – because it’s 3 days aggregate per calendar year, no you cannot leave the state and return to restart the clock.

Very fortunately, by the afternoon of Day 2 I was able to find a new grading crew and told them the deal wasn’t final until I saw a big pile of dirt in my yard no later than the morning of Day 3.  Then I took off for the graduation, cheered and yelled my head off and had a great time (see me beaming with pride).

Dirt

After congratulating my granddaughter one more time the next morning and saying goodbye for now to my family, I dropped my brother off at the airport the morning of Day 3 and scurried over to my house … only to discover the dirt was delayed!  Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!  It finally arrived at about 2:00 pm, and as I write this I am happy to report the dirt is nicely smoothed out across my property, but things could have gone south very easily and this whole episode just shows how carefully you have to choreograph your quick visit to Florida.

Regional restaurant chain you should know about:

Sonny’s BBQ

Tips on how to identify a scam call

I recently received a scam call, and I have to say I went along with it longer than I should have.  In my defense, this scam call involved two purported sheriff’s officers and took a while to get going, but as soon as they started demanding money I knew it was a scam.  Also, I definitely had my radar up the whole time and as a result I can clearly remember most of the telltale signs that this was a scam. 

I feel that it is now my civic duty to walk you through this phone call, telltale sign by telltale sign, so you can have them all in mind if you ever suspect you’re being scammed:

1.  The scammers did not call me directly at first.  No, instead they scammed my ex-wife!  As I tried hard to explain to her later, they must’ve looked me up on some peoplesearch site and figured out there was some connection between us.  Then they left a voicemail message on her phone “trying to locate Mr. Zee.”

2.  “If you know of his whereabouts please have him call Sgt. Shithead at [##].”  Think about that for a minute.  The Leon County sheriff’s department doesn’t have my phone number and doesn’t know my whereabouts ??

As you can imagine, my ex-wife was very upset when she called me to forward the voice message to me.  It didn’t seem right, but when your ex-wife is that upset you can’t just tell her later on, “Oh no, I didn’t call them back …” and you can’t lie about it either because she’s likely to have some questions about how the call went and it would be nice to have some legit answers, right?

3.  No Caller ID.  You should know right there, right?  But they were a little clever – the phone number they asked me to call was a legit number, but I could only leave a message there.  When they called me back that was No Caller ID and I made a mental note of it.

4.  He seemed pretty unfamiliar with my registry sheet. I had to correct him several times.

5.  He referred to my address as my “primary address.”  That’s a red flag because in Florida’s registry it’s called a “permanent address.”

6.  He didn’t know what a “snowbird” is.  Wait a minute – this guy is supposedly calling from Florida, the snowbird capitol of the world, yet he don’t even know what that word means …?

This was a DNA and fingerprint scam, with a dash of COVID-19.  The premise is that the Florida Department of Corrections is updating all of the DNA and fingerprint evidence for every sex offender in the state.  The updates were to have been done within the first 90 days of 2025 but apparently I and quite a few others didn’t get notified.  We all have to get our asses down there right away to avoid getting arrested.  But if we do, all is forgiven. 

I am currently at my summer home in Iowa (as I said, he didn’t know what a snowbird is).  So what I have to do is arrange with the Johnson County IA sheriff’s department and provide this shit so they can send it down to Florida.

I will speak of the preposterousness of all this in a moment, but let’s start with this:

7.  All the time he’s feeding me this I’m thinking, “Wait.  I’m this big active member of the Florida Action Committee.  If this was really going on it would be all anybody would be talking about.  Instead I’ve never heard of this.” 

8.  I even said at one point, “Are you really telling me that Florida is doing this to all 86,000+ of its registrants?”  “Yes, we are.”  Knowing as I do that “only” about 32,000 of us are even in Florida, the rest are out of state or international, that’s gonna be a pretty tall order, especially when you don’t have any of their phone numbers.

9.  If anybody was actually doing this it wouldn’t be DOC, it would be FDLE.

10.  Apparently we were all supposed to have been notified by mail.  Imagine the bureaucratic nightmare and budget-busting cost of this.

11.  When he told me to go down to Johnson County I said, “Wait.  Johnson County already has my DNA and fingerprints on file.  Why can’t you just call them up and have them send it to you?”  “Oh no no this all has to be done over.”  I think this was when I said to him, “All this makes no sense – but then neither does anything else about the registry.”

But to be fair, nobody had said anything about money yet.  But soon it was time for Sgt. Shithead to put me on hold, presumably to call the Johnson County sheriff’s dept. and get someone on the line to arrange my indignities.  A couple of minutes later he comes back and says Lt. Penis will call in momentarily.  “Here he is now, just take that call and hang up on me.”  Duhhh … okay.

12.  Another No Caller ID.

That’s when things took a dark turn.  I said, “Okay Lt. Penis, I’m free tomorrow so why don’t we just set a time and get it over with?”

13.  “No no – there is a warrant out for your arrest …”  If there is one thing y’all have beat into this thick skull of mine it is that if there is a warrant for your arrest the cops will NEVER tell you about it.  They just come and snatch you like Death Eaters.

14.  “… and if you go to the sheriff’s department you WILL be arrested for a registry violation!  You have to pay the bond now before you go to give the DNA. The total bond is $50,000 and you ‘only’ have to pay 10% ($5000)!”

Okay that’s it.  “This is a scam !!  You are a scammer !!  Tomorrow morning I’m going down to the REAL Johnson County sheriff’s department and straighten this out and report you!”

“No you won’t! If you don’t do as I say right now I’ll have you arrested TODAY!”

I hung up.  He tried calling me back but I didn’t answer.  He left no message.

And I’m sitting here the next morning writing this up.

Where are the Death Eaters?

When you keep poking the bear you get Florida

Let me tell you an allegorical true story.  As people are tired of hearing me say by now, I am a retired city planner.  For over 30 years my specialty was writing zoning regulations for a rapidly growing Medium-sized City in Florida.  That’s why I can say I know something about lawmaking although I’m not an attorney.

In 1982 Medium City put me in charge of a multi-year total re-write of their zoning ordinance.  It had become hopelessly out of date since it was adopted in 1924, and they’d been tinkering with it to fix problems over the years and it had become a heavy tome that everyone hated.  My orders were: Simplify!  Simplify!

Unfortunately that project was when I came up one of my mantras that my fellow bureaucrats always hated to hear: “Every time you set out to simplify the zoning ordinance it ends up more complicated than ever.”  The new simplified ordinance was more than twice as long as the old one. 

That’s because every little provision of the code has a constituency – homeowners (i.e. voters) who hate it when their yuppie neighbors plant corn in their front yard, for example.  Over time new problems arose and our reaction as bureaucrats was to fix the problems without doing any violence to the underlying failed system that was so popular among our citizens (i.e. voters). 

Doing so wasn’t evil or purposeful – it was nothing more than human nature applied to a bureaucratic setting.  But the result is a big mess.

We who struggle against America’s registries are running into this same problem I experienced throughout my career.  Reform often makes things worse.

Last year when Florida conducted its annual sledgehammer campaign against its 86,000+ registrants they included a few crumbs.  Florida Action Committee (FAC) had recently won a court battle that centered on in-state travel and the definition of the word day.  Part of our argument, as in every other state, was that the law was confusing and vague. 

FDLE’s reaction was to propose “clarifications” that (at least in their minds) fixed the problems without doing any violence to the underlying failed system that is so popular among our voters.  I personally like the new definition of “Day,” but while they were at it they also “clarified” that oh yes they really like the idea that every single little registry paperwork error should be charged as a separate felony count punishable by up to five years imprisonment.  Yikes!

This year ACSOL has been trying hard to change California’s tiered registry to move CP cases from Tier 3 to, well, anywhere else.  This CP Tier 3 status was a poison pill left over from when they adopted their tiered registry a few years ago.  This time California’s reaction has been, okay, but only if we can force over 30,000 new people onto the state’s already 100,000+ registry.  Thanks for nothing!

Finally there is Michigan, where after a protracted legal battle the MI Supreme Court found the state’s registry unconstitutional.  Why was everybody surprised when the legislature just fixed the specific problems the Court had identified and re-adopted the same underlying failed system that is so popular among their voters?

This is not a fight against a specific law.  It’s a fight against human nature.  Reform often makes things worse.

   Oklahoma

From the 50 State Visitor Guide:

Oklahoma Statutes 2021; 21 Okl. Stat. §1125;57 Okl. Stat. §§581 through 590.2

AWA Compliant

Registration Triggers and Deadlines:

Three days for initial registration.  Three business days for address change and other.

Visitors NOTE: Oklahoma is a “dual registry state.” Per OK Notice of Duty.pdf: 

(1) ODOC registration required within 2 days of entry into Oklahoma if intending to remain in state for 5 consecutive days or longer (includes arrival day), employed more than 5 cumulative days in any 60 day period, and/or enrolled as a student.

(2) local law enforcement registration required within 3 days of entering jurisdiction with intent to reside for more than 7 consecutive days or 14 days in a 60-day period (includes arrival day), employed full or part-time, and/or enrolled as a full or part-time student. 

See sexoffenderregistration@DOC.OK.gov “Notice of Duty”

Shorter registration periods apply to out-of-state registrants with spouses residing in state.

Residency/Presence and Other Restrictions:

Residence restriction: 2,000 ft. from school, “educational institution,” campsite used for children, parks, and day care facilities.  §57-590.  Registrants are also banned from living in the same dwelling.  §57-590.1. 

Per OK Notice of Duty.pdf, residence restriction applies to persons “subject to registration due to an Oklahoma sentence or due to entry into Oklahoma,” 

implying that this restriction does not apply to visitors not yet required to register. See sexoffenderregistration@DOC.OK.gov “Notice of Duty”

Presence restriction: may not loiter w/in 500 ft. of school, child care center, playground, or park if convicted for offense involving a minor.  “Habitual or aggravated sex offenders” may not enter park.  §21-1125.  Certain exceptions exist to loitering restriction.

Duration & updates:

15 years to life. §57-583(C). Petition to remove – 10 years.

Most recent visit: May 2025

Before you visit Oklahoma please read the Visitors Note above.  Oklahoma is unique among all states in that it is a “dual registry state.”  And what exactly does that mean?  It means that if you enter Oklahoma you will be subject not just to the statewide registries that apply in all other states but also to a “local registry” in the city or county in which you find yourself.  Any failure to follow the many requirements of either of these two registries is a violation that could land you in prison.  Therefore you should be careful not to exceed the number of days that would trigger a requirement to register in either of these two registries.  

Per OK Notice of Duty.pdf:

(1) ODOC registration required within 2 days of entry into Oklahoma if intending to remain in the state for 5 consecutive days or longer (includes arrival day), employed more than 5 cumulative days in any 60 day period, and/or enrolled as a student.

(2) Local law enforcement registration required within 3 days of entering jurisdiction with intent to reside for more than 7 consecutive days or 14 days in a 60-day period (includes arrival day), employed full or part-time, and/or enrolled as a full or part-time student.

Therefore the two most important numbers to keep in mind are:  Five, which is the number of consecutive days (including partial days) in Oklahoma which would trigger an obligation to register with the state; and seven, which is the number of consecutive days (including partial days) in any locality which would trigger an obligation to register with that locality.  Note that the five day limit reads “five days or more” which means you can only really stay four days, whereas the local registry limit reads “more than 7 days,” for what it’s worth.

However, as horrible as those numbers are, Oklahoma’s statewide registry sets no limit on number of days per month or year, so in theory if you need more time there you could leave the state after four days, stay out for one day and two nights, then return and restart the clock – as long as you stay in a different locality the second time (unless you don’t intend to stay in that first locality more than 14 days in a 60-day period).  Confused yet?

In very early May 2025 I was on the return leg of my South Central US + Texas tour and entered Oklahoma near Wichita Falls (TX).  On a previous visit (see below) I had traveled mostly up the I-35 corridor and around parts the west half of the state, and like my previous visit I was planning to spend two partial days and one night, and it was mid-afternoon so I decided to follow rural highways like US 81, SR 29 and SR 76 before hopping onto I-35, zooming through OK City and setting myself up (at a motel) to see some of northeastern Oklahoma on my way to Missouri.

I was less cautious about what I did and where I went than I had been on my previous tour (see below), but I think that’s because I have generally become more comfortable with myself over the years.  Still I kept my guard and followed the rules.

One thing I could not do is go to any state or local park, because my offense was an internet offense involving minors.  But even if it wasn’t I still would not be allowed to “reside” within 2000 feet of any “campsite used for children” (whatever that means) or park.  As noted above, per the publication OK Notice of Duty.pdf, residence restrictions only apply to persons “subject to registration due to an Oklahoma sentence or due to entry into Oklahoma,” implying that this restriction does not apply to visitors not yet required to register. 

Small town notes – Day 1

Comanche – Another town named Comanche, another disappointment

Duncan – Much better.  Kids playing in a culvert after a Spring rain just like it was 1957.

Partial Day 2 began with a stop at the Jim Thorpe home in in Yale, OK.  He was a famous early 20th Century Native American athlete.  It’s very small and wasn’t open but appears to be well-maintained which is more than I can say for the town. 

Next stop – Pawnee Bill’s Ranch Historic Site and Museum in the eponymously named town.  Wow! – This time in a good way!  Plus it’s a private attraction so you can go to it!  Unfortunately it was so early in the season that the museum was closed on weekdays but I could still go see a big buffalo heard.

Buffalo herd at Pawnee Bill's Ranch

Then I came upon something I thought did not exist – an actual Indian reservation in Oklahoma, specifically the Osage Nation.  Naturally I wanted to see what that was like so I proceeded east on SR 20 and north on SR 99 to Pawhuska (see notes below).  Rand McNally promised points of interest but I either couldn’t find them or they were closed.  The agricultural economy seemed adequate but the towns were downscale.  And as elsewhere in Oklahoma, the “reservation” has been so polluted by european immigration that it’s hard to tell the difference between here and anywhere else.

Will Rogers home and Will Rogers Museum are two different things 15 miles apart.  The home is in Ooologah but it was closed “for maintenance.”  The museum is right on Will Rogers Turnpike (toll road).  Good museum but tends to rely on dioramas a lot.

According to my phone photos, before leaving Oklahoma late that afternoon I stopped at a rest area slash Native visitors center.  Then it was on to Missouri.

Small town notes – Day 2

Cushing, Hominy and Pawnee – Okay I guess.

Yale – see Jim Thorpe home above.

Pawhuska – The streetscape project is a good try but it takes more than a streetscape to save a downtown.  You have to get businesses willing to locate there.

Barnsdall and Afton – Nope.

Skiatook – Good.  Contrary to stereotype, the better part of this town is inside the reservation boundary, and things go downscale when you leave.

Previous visit: June 2023

In June 2023 I traveled through Oklahoma for my very first time, on the return leg of my trip to the NARSOL national conference in Houston, TX.  Entering from the south on I-35 I stopped at the Visitors Center to pick up brochures and maps.  I figured, as many of you might, that this must be a good state to do Reservation Tourism.  

I was surprised to learn that there are absolutely no reservations in Oklahoma – not one!  However, each tribe has a fairly meaningless “designated area” and many tribes own big tracts of land in their own names – and that of course has more meaning than anything else here in America.  There are also a lot of tribal visitor centers, cultural centers and museums to visit, so I made it a point to stop at those.  

My favorite art at the Southern Plains Indian Museum, called "Our Monsoon Dazzler"

One thing I could not do is go to any state or local park, because my offense was an internet offense involving minors.  But even if it wasn’t I still would not be allowed to “reside” within 2000 feet of any “campsite used for children” (whatever that means) or park.  Now, as noted above, per the publication OK Notice of Duty.pdf, residence restrictions only apply to persons “subject to registration due to an Oklahoma sentence or due to entry into Oklahoma,” implying that this restriction does not apply to visitors not yet required to register.  

I was feeling pretty cautious about testing any of these laws out, I was only planning to spend two (partial) days and one night in Oklahoma, and the temperature was over 100 degrees and thus completely unsuitable for camping, so I didn’t have to anyway.  Out of an abundance of caution I did not visit Turner Falls State Park, “home of Oklahoma’s largest waterfall.”

Stafford Air & Space Museum, Weatherford OK

Places I did visit included:  Chickasaw Nation Welcome Center, Anadarko National Hall of Fame for Famous American Indians, Southern Plains Indian Museum (very cool), Chisolm Trail Museum, and Cherokee Strip Museum.  I also visited the Stafford Air & Space Museum in Weatherford, OK, dedicated to local boy and Apollo moon-landing astronaut Tom Stafford, home to all his personal papers and space memorabilia as well as a whole lot of really neat air and space exhibits.

By the time I left the Cherokee Strip Museum it was late in the afternoon of (partial) Day 2.  I crossed over into Kansas, where it was still over 90 degrees and way too hot for camping.

  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.

Most recent visit: April 2025

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. Partial days count.  If you move on to some other county or municipality before your six days are up (because as I always say, you should avoid using that last day), the clock starts again.

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. At the 2023 NARSOL Conference (in Houston) one conference participant pointed out that San Antonio has a presence restriction applying to parks.  This means if the conference had been in San Antonio none of us registrants would have able to set foot in the Riverwalk during our visit.

Oh well! You can't visit Riverwalk while you're in San Antonio.

Near the end of April 2025 I entered Texas from Louisiana where I’d just finished my Mardi Gras reconnaissance mission to New Orleans (see Louisiana blog post below).  I had two destinations – Houston, where I would spend a day with an old friend of mine (we first met in 6th grade) who now lives in its northwest suburbs; and Mineral Wells (west of Ft. Worth) to have lunch with my son (Note: He neither lives nor works in Mineral Wells, that’s where the restaurant was).

Houston, we have a problem

At my old friend’s suggestion I had made campsite reservations are a local county park and began my Houston time clock there.  I went out to dinner with my old friend but when I got back they kicked me out of the park – NOT because of a registry issue, they had a “no car-camping” rule and as always I had no tent.  I have only run into a rule like this once or twice in the past, and always at a local park, never at a state or national park.  Nevertheless I had to check in at a local Motel 6.

As a courtesy to my old friend I had turned Day 2 of my Houston clock over to him and said, “Show me something in Houston.”  But I knew in advance he’d squander that opportunity because he really hates Houston.  Instead (believe it or not!) he took me to Padre Island National Seashore which is way down past Corpus Christi, which meant we spent the entire day in the car driving back and forth and saw nothing (he is a terrible driver but I’m relieved to say I’m still alive). 

Padre Island National Seashore. I was there just long enough to take this photo. 

A whole lotta seaweed, eh?

My old friend had his chance and he wasted it.  Next time I will visit Houston the way I have started to visit other cities this year – reserve a (reliable) motel room in advance, arrive to spend an afternoon and evening seeing the real Houston, then go out to lunch with him as I’m leaving town.  I’ll invite him to tag along with me on that day before but there’s way he’ll go.

Comanche, TX – The town that made me go Hmmm

The following morning, Day 3, was the last (partial) day of my Houston clock.  Lunch with my son wasn’t until the following day so I decided to strike out across Central Texas for a day and get myself someplace close to Mineral Wells by that evening.  From Houston I followed US 190 northwest until it became SR 36 which is a country highway. Eventually that would take me to SR 16 north to Possum Kingdom State Park fairly close to Mineral Wells.

I’m going to say this and I don’t care you think – Central Texas is not an inspiring place.  Many of the ranches do not seem prosperous.  Instead I drove though mile after mile of rolling hills and overgrown prairie.  There are no points of interest here, neither on my Rand McNally map nor in reality.  I drove through the downscale towns of Gatesville and Hamilton.

And then I came to Comanche, TX, at the junction of SR 36 & 16, where I needed to gas up and get supplies.  I actually had some trouble finding these basic things there which caused me to drive around this little town for a while in search of my needs.

Wow! – and not in a good way.  Still, as a retired city planner I couldn’t help being impressed by this example of how a failing agricultural economy can kill a small town.  As I have said before about Indian reservations, where the agricultural economy is good the towns will usually prosper too.  Otherwise they’re in trouble.

Comanche, TX's empty downtown. Why do they even bother with a traffic signal?

For some reason I took a photo of Comanche’s stark and lifeless downtown before heading north on SR 16, all the while pondering what I had seen.  I forgot all about this photo until I was downloading the rest of them for this blog entry.  De Leon was the first time I said to myself, hey, I wonder how bad off this town is? (BTW I took no notes and can’t remember so there’s no judgement here) and took a little spin around town that has become my new small town calling card (see my “Big Cities and Small Towns” blog entry below).

I will say this – the further north I went the better things got and by the time I crossed I-10 it was much better.  Yes I mean you, Breckenridge and Mineral Wells (there’s an actual mineral spring with a big health spa there but I didn’t go).

According to the information from the TX SOR office, my Houston clock had stopped at three days (including partials) and my Stephens County clock now started.  However, when I woke up the next morning from my restful night’s sleep I was starting (partial) Day 5 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 Stephens 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 having lunch with my son I wandered northwest toward Wichita Falls before leaving Texas that day.  They say there’s an actual falls there but I didn’t see it – the observation point was flooded due to heavy rains!  Then I headed northeast on SR 79, jumping from the frying pan of Texas into the fire of Oklahoma before the afternoon was over.

An Eclipse Epic Fail: April 2024

One thing I and my old friend agreed upon was that we should go together to see the solar eclipse in April 2024.  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 driving (see comments about his driving above).  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 then magically disappeared when I left.  The good news is 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!