Attorney General Josh Stein has had since 2017 to address sex offender issues and sheltering during hurricanes, yet hasn’t produced one memo or suggestion on how to resolve the issue. According to Mr. Stein’s election website promoting priorities of public safety, “To live our lives to the fullest, we must first be safe and secure at home and in our communities.” Mr. Stein doesn’t intend to live up to addressing safety for all since registrants are still banned from all hurricane shelters primarily because they are facilitated on school properties.

Mr. Stein should be reminded that people on the registry have been adjudicated in court for their past wrongdoings. Mr. Stein shouldn’t use the registry as punishment and banishment from basic essential needs and accesses to safety. However, this is exactly what the Attorney General continues to do each hurricane season.

But let’s not put the Attorney General in front of the bus just yet. Our legislative leadership should share some blame in this issue. The N.C. legislature has had nearly a decade to fix the law banning registrants from shelters on school properties. Since 2011, not one bill has been introduced on the house or senate floor to address the state of emergency conditions for registrants and their families.

But while N.C. Governor Roy Cooper stands in front of microphones requesting federal funding to mitigate an approaching hurricane, he also shares a tremendous responsibility of not addressing registrants at emergency shelter issues during his long tenure as Attorney General before he became elected to the states highest office.

It is time for state leaders to take a moment and think of the bigger picture. People on the registry are human beings that paid their price in court. However, people on the registry continue to be the “fear selling modern-day boogie man” used as pawns during elections. Enough is enough! Either we address the most challenging task today, or we will never address the issue at all. Registrants are humans and deserve the same benefits of safety as other humans. Registrants should have the right to unrestricted safety, security, and emergency shelter needs. Now is the time to call your state leaders and make your voice heard. Also, make your voice heard on election day. Vote, and vote for those that listen to your needs and concerns.

The bottom line is that the Governor, Legislature, and Attorney General since elected in 2017 could have addressed this issue, but didn’t. By the looks of things doesn’t seem interested in working hard for the people of North Carolina.

House Bill 593 goes into law effective August 1, 2020. The new law is in direct conflict with the Grabarczyk v. Stein lawsuit that was decided in favor of Mr. Grabarczyk. Now that the Grabarczyk case is on appeal, many unanswered questions remain about how the matter will be disposed of. NCRSOL will continue to monitor results from the case and make updates whenever possible. 

But what the N.C. legislature failed to do was address how registrants are to seek shelter during a hurricane. Most of all, how do registrants get tested for COVID, especially when all the testing locations are on school grounds? You see, N.C. lawmakers do not want to understand the collateral consequences of the sex offender registry they created. They have been sold nothing more than tissues of lies that registrants are the most dangerous people in society. The facts are that registrants are perhaps the most compliant and least likely to be recidivists. Yet, lawmakers do not read scholarly journals nor listen to reason. Collectively, they perhaps represent the facilitation of “fake news” by ignoring data proven results by academics that remain neutral in registry issues. Instead, elected leaders continue to be persuaded by cash from lobbyists selling fear, lies, and deceit. Politicians don’t care about the people or crafting good laws. They only care about being reelected. 

Typically, elected officials are under the impression that during a state of emergency or pandemic that laws are magically suspended or waived. At least this is what a few lawmakers conveyed to me during conversations at the legislative building. Despite my best attempt at educating lawmakers, the reasoning always falls on deaf ears. Registrants are generally rounded up and arrested for seeking shelter during a state of emergency or criminally charged at a school because that is the only place where COVID testing takes place. Then the orchestrated attempt by police comes when the camera crews are summoned by a police press release splattering the image of “sex offender caught at school” all over the headlines for days. Nevermind that registrants are people that require COVID testing or shelter during a violent hurricane. But, your lawmakers don’t want to fix the laws that keep registrants and their families alive and safe from harm. Moreover, most media outlets fail to report the truth about the collateral consequences of the sex offender registries by falling into the trap of only reporting a constructive narrative to paint any registrant as the worst-of-the-worst. Police, politicians, and the media should address the moral issue rather than painting a false narrative. 

So, what do we do about it? There are many solutions, but it takes an army of registrants unafraid and undeterred to satisfy this mission. A solution begins with calling your lawmaker. Let them know that hurricane season is upon us. Every emergency shelter is at a school which is off-limits to sex offenders and their family. Demand that the law be changed during times of emergency proclaimed by the governor or town leaders. Additionally, speak about COVID-19 testing sites that are every school parking lot all across North Carolina. That means people on the sex offender registry cannot be tested on school grounds for a test that may save their life. Talk candidly about voting where nearly 96% of polling places are at school properties. Sure, there may be provisions within the law. But this isn’t the time to negotiate for what we should or shouldn’t bargain with when it comes to voting rights. This should be a time to exclaim registrants are people that deserve the same rights as any other person during times of emergency, pandemic crisis, and the ability to vote like any other American without special accommodation. Hold your elected officials accountable—otherwise, vote for another person to replace the voice that is supposed to represent you and second chances. Maybe, just maybe, registrants, registry family members, and allies of the anti-registry movement should consider running for public office to make our voice and concerns publically known? 

I don’t encourage people to get arrested to prove a point, especially when COVID in jails/prisons could equate to a potential death sentence. But perhaps that may be the next chapter in the anti-registry movement towards creating change. It will take brave people on the sex offender registry to be arrested for standing upon principle to reclaim his/her civil rights. No other person in America has to ask permission from a school to vote. No other person in America is excluded from seeking shelter at a school during a mandatory hurricane evacuation. No person in American must ask permission to buy or move to a new home or apartment. No person in America must ask permission to must ask the police for permission to go on vacation. No person in America is excluded from getting a COVID test based on where they may have the procedure performed. Sure, it is a huge gamble. But to have a civil rights case, we must find registrants willing to stand up and demand equality within their civil rights. Enough is enough! 

Now is the time to become vocal and make changes to draconian and Jim Crow styled laws penned by the elected leadership entrusted to represent your interests. Now is the time for registrants to fight back and reclaim his/her civil rights. Now is the time for action. I encourage you to contact your state representative and put your concerns in front of them. Demand change! Demand it now! Otherwise, lawmakers will continue to think we don’t put up a fight.  The clock is ticking to save the over 25,000 registrants in our state. 

Now is the time for action. Be a part of that action and become an advocate of change. 

While registered sex offenders in Wyoming are generally prohibited from coming onto school grounds or loitering within 1,000 feet, some exceptions in Wyoming law exist if people’s own children are attending schools or if registered sex offenders are themselves students.

Under the previous law, registered sex offenders could access schools to attend their children’s extracurricular activities or conferences. Wyoming House Bill 68 modifies this law so that permission is required before registered sex offenders can access schools for this purpose.

The new law will allow such access “with the written permission of the school principal, vice‑principal or person with equivalent authority.”

Registered sex offenders will still be allowed to access school grounds to drop off or pick up their own children without permission from principals.

With the signing of the bill into law, people who are registered sex offenders are barred from entering school facilities or loitering within 1,000 feet of school grounds unless the registered sex offender:

• Is a student in attendance at the school
• With the written permission of the school principal, vice‑principal or person with equivalent authority, is attending an academic conference or other scheduled extracurricular school event with school officials present when the registered offender is a parent or legal guardian of a child who is participating in the conference or extracurricular event
• Resides at a state licensed or certified facility for incarceration, health or convalescent care that is within one thousand (1,000) feet from the property on which a school is located
• Is dropping off or picking up a child and the registered offender is the child’s parent or legal guardian
• Is temporarily on school grounds during school hours for the purpose of making a mail, food or other delivery
• Is exercising his right to vote in a public election
• Is taking delivery of his mail through an official post office located on school grounds
• Has written permission from the school principal, vice-principal, or person with equivalent authority, to be on the school grounds or upon other property that is used by a school
• Stays at a homeless shelter or resides at a recovery facility that is within one thousand (1,000) feet from the property on which a school is located if such shelter or facility has been approved for sex offenders by the sheriff or police chief

Perhaps North Carolina lawmakers can learn from our fellow Americans in Wyoming how to amend our draconian state school statute. A significant number of registrants in North Carolina are parents. These parents must be engaged with his/her child at every opportunity to provide a roadmap towards parental and academic success. Wyoming gets it and puts it in the hands of school leaders. North Carolina is lagging far behind and puts it in the hands of sheriffs that have no business in managing school affairs.