Sex offender fee advances to NC Senate
In summer of 2017, the NC General Assembly House overwhelmingly passed the Sex Offender Registry Fee bill advancing it to the Senate. House Bill 684 sponsored by N.C. Representatives Kelly Hastings (R-District 110) and Rena Turner (R-District 84) heads to the state Senate where the bill passed its first reading and currently lies in the Rules and Operations of the Senate committee.
If passed into law the bill would require all registered sex offenders residing in North Carolina to pay an initial registration fee of ninety dollars and additional ninety dollars thereafter on the offender’s annual registration date. A provision in the bill allows county sheriffs to report delinquent accounts to the State Attorney General for civil collection actions. Additionally, requests for termination from the registry would be contingent upon registration fees are paid in full on time.
House Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill while six Republican voted against. House Democrats added a substantial majority of support while eighteen Democrats voted no. If passed by the state Senate and onto the Governors desk for approval will undoubtedly create insufferable conditions for many registered sex offenders that are unemployed.
HB 684 Registration Fees
This Bill adds $90 annually to any person on the registry to what they already have to pay for probation fees and everything else. If you read only section 14-208.7A(a) and the last bit of section 14-208.7A(b) most people will freak out. Keep reading until the very end. On page 4 of that Bill Section 14-208.12A(a1)(4) you will read that if you have had to registered before October 1, 2017 no registration fees can be held against you. I also suspect that when this Bill gets it’s final pass the date will change to the date of it’s final passing.
That would take care of any constitutional issues. North Carolina does not have a great track record in federal court when it comes to constitutional challenges. Keep in mind that NC legislators will try to get what they want passed and deal with any blow-back later. Constitutional challenges of laws in federal court will take at least two years. In those two years a lot of people on the registry will have paid that $90 and will never get that money back even if a challenge wins all the way to the SCOTUS.
If someone filed a challenge in federal court the day this law passes (we all know it’s going to pass), maybe a federal judge will put an injunction to prevent any money from being collected until the court makes a decision. Fighting this $90 fee wont win. The SCOTUS has already said that fees for registry is acceptable. The only thing that can or would be fightable would be the ex post facto part. Federal courts all over the country are putting stops to ex post facto laws so that much is good.
Is this not an ex post facto law? Will those of us on the registry now have to pay here fees? Sounds like a good lawsuit.
This law is stupid and in turn for people that are not working won’t be able to pay it. Then when it is time to get off the registry. The person won’t be able to until he pays the amount owed. This a bad bill.