The Tiered Registry Law (formerly Senate Bill 384), passed by the California state legislature four years ago, is now effective. Some of its provisions, however, will not begin until July 1, 2021. The most important of those provisions is the petitioning process for removal from the registry.
“The first step to take in the petitioning process is to go to the law enforcement office where you register and ask for your Tier Assignment letter,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci. “According to the CA Department of Justice, tier assignment letters will not be sent to registrants, however, they will be available to law enforcement only on a government database.”
Because eligibility for the petitioning process is based upon the tier to which an individual is assigned, an individual’s Tier Assignment letter is critical. Each letter should state whether an individual convicted as an adult has been assigned to Tier 1, which requires a minimum of 10 years of registration, Tier 2, which requires a minimum of 20 years or registration or Tier 3, which requires lifetime registration. Tier assignments can be challenged.
“If a registrant requests a Tier Assignment letter and that request is denied, the registrant can and should contact ACSOL for assistance,” stated Bellucci. “Assistance will be available by phone at (818) 305-5984 or by email at service@all4consolaws.org (***updated e-mail address – Jan 13***).”
Below this article are links to documents that answer basic questions regarding the Tiered Registry Law, in general, and the petitioning process, in particular. Please note that individuals must wait until the month of their birthday after July 1, 2021, to petition for removal from the registry. As a result, individuals whose birthdays are in January, February, March, April, May and June cannot submit a petition until the month of their birthday in 2022. If they do so, their petitions will be rejected.
“Most registrants will be able to complete their own petition forms,” stated ACSOL President Chance Oberstein. “Soon after the final government petition forms are available, ACSOL will conduct training regarding how to complete a petition form. Individuals who have suffered one or more convictions in addition to a conviction for a sex offense may require legal assistance.”
In a newly issued document, the California Department of Justice (CA DOJ) has announced several clarifications regarding the Tiered Registry Law: (1) tier assignments will not be posted on the Megan’s Law website, (2) a risk score such as a STATIC-99R score is not necessary in order to petition for removal from the registry and (3) individuals may petition for removal even if they do not yet have a tier assignment letter. In addition, the CA DOJ has divided Tier 3 into two subcategories. Individuals assigned to one of the subcategories, based upon risk score only, may petition for removal after a minimum of 20 years while individuals assigned to the other subcategory are required to continue lifetime registration. Below is a link to the newly issued document. Additional documents, including the final form required to petition for removal from the registry, will be linked to this article in the future.
CA DOJ – FAQs – Jan. 2021 [UPDATED 1/5/21]
Hi Janice,
You stated a few years ago that ACSOL would lobby for some changes to the Tiered Registry including lobbying against the loss of ML exclusion for 646.7a. Is that still being planned in addition to the other lobbying efforts?
Thank you sincerely,
JC
What if i stayed in california for 5 years and then decided to move to Colorado and 5 years have passed and I’m on tier 1. Can I come back and petition to be removed from the registry?
Called long beach police department Tuesday and asked for my tier assignment letter and was told by the 290 registration offers
Because of covid-19 things are gonna take longer check back in after February …
2021 the califorina tier registry is Finley here shiit took long enough. In 5 months will see what the District Attorney and the court judges are gonna do hopefully people who qualify will go free and hopefully people who have been moved to tier3 find a way off the registry in time
Im remember back when I was 18 sitting in my room thinking Daam i can’t believe i have to deal with this for the rest of my life i never thought id make it this far honestly…
Good luck
Curious. I plead to a PC 243.4a in 1996. Reduced to a misdemeanor pursuant to 17B misdemeanor and later expunged! Summary Ptobation. What (I believe I know) tier would I be? I have a COR court date in LA late February. Would you recommend getting a letter from the department where I register? I’m just trying to cover everything. Let me know your thoughts. No arrests prior/after.
I also lived in California and then moved out to Nevada for work. Here I am actually treated worse than in California, even though the age of consent is 16 not 18, and therefore what I did in California would not even be chargeable here in Nevada. Even though I can’t petition for anything until December anyway, it would stand to reason that I should go back to the jurisdiction where I was charged and convicted?
So if we’re not listed anymore on the public website or not showing an address our tier has changed to 1 or 2. If we’re showing every thing we’re tier 3. How soon can we expect to see a change? Dumb question, I know.
I envision the goal posts being moved back every time you need something. Guaranteed!!!! Come back in February…No not yet. Next month. Oh sorry things are still moving slow. Should be in by May…. okay hurdle crossed, then the next hurdle is delay after delay after delay and on and on.
this is what I saw/see on the fact sheet (download link) **petition denied after hearing, court to set date between 1 and 5 years in the future after which new petition may be filed** so if a individual is denied, he/she will still need to wait for a new court date if denied?? so the individual would still need to continue to register?? even though the individual received a tier 1 or 2 with no pending anything. and by *mistake* ((hypothetical now)) and was denied,,, the courts/the system is not all that great
Not gonna lie, I’m pretty frightened by this new and “improved” sex offender registry.
Janice:
It sounds as if things are starting to get hopeful in California. I am personally opposed to these various registration schemes but if they are now starting mechanisms for removal, I am all for it. According to FAC, Florida has a removal process and some are actually being removed. As you know, thanks to the Does litigation in Michigan, thousands will be removed from Michigan’s registry after Does II becomes final.
I am sure our forefathers are rolling in their graves over this assault on personal liberties. People have forgotten about the fight to gain these liberties and we are allowing our government to legislate them away.
@Janice – My husband is a registrant for attempted 288(a) and 288.2(b). He has had his record “expunged ” I just went on the Megan’s law website and noticed some only have City and State listed but all of his information is listed and the second charge which has been fully expunged is now posted although it was removed previously. I was under the impression his charges fell under tier 2 – city and zip posted only – am I wrong? If not, how can we get this fixed?
Guys we are all looking for change. One has to look at this teir level in a different light. It is man made and they are the one’s that decide the teir levels. Best thing to do is wait or go listen to Grand Funk Inside looking outside.
I’ve got a letter from the Governor that I received that ask for a pardon if not for myself for others. Some of you all are drowning yourself out. Sounds like someone doesn’t want to “stand up” and is suffocating or are we all just worried and troubled which is not productive. You guys are even bringing others down in many ways that are involved in all this.
Martin Luther even said change is gonna come so who are you letting who down or who is taking one down in this way. So don’t we all have to have something to believe in. Only you can make a difference.
Out of curiosity has anyone had any success in federal court getting rid of their requirement to register under federal law? Federally I am required to register for a minimum of fifteen years and having been registering for seven so far. The way it is written in the federal statue is to register for a minimum of fifteen years unless reduced for a clean record. I am wondering if someone has gone to court and was able to reduce their minimum registration requirements federally. Since I had a federal case I know the only way I could possibly stop having to register in California is by getting a federal court to state my registration requirement has ended then taking that to state court to probably start challenging my California tier assignment first and finally the state requirement to register.
Frankly, I think the tiered registry is a step backward. It’s a measure designed to break the sex offenders up, and judge each other. It inspires a mentality of “I got mine, forget it if he doesn’t get his.” It thus weakens us.
my b-day is the 31 of July, ill have 18 years on registry this year, no prior anything since, February im going to call and request my tier assignment, I should be a tier 2, soooo, lets see what local police tell me, anxious but yet, don’t keep hopes up due to things be so slow.
I was convicted in a tier state and after my sentence I moved to Florida. My parents moved there and at the time I had no idea what the registry was all about. I moved back north to a tired state and I thought they’d put me in tier 3 ; which they didn’t.
Personally I think the whole system is going to crash under it’s own house of cards. One might be good at shining shoes; yet you can’t make the registry shine because of the lies attached to it. Only thing I’m for is abolishing this damn thing!!
I know this has been asked before, but I don’t recall seeing an answer. Does anybody know for sure when the time period for being able to petition for removal starts? For a Tier 1, does the 10 year wait period start when leaving jail, or if probation after jail was given, is it once probation is finished?
First off thank you Janice and acsol. You guys truly are angels to us bearing a scarlet letter! Secondly I don’t blame anyone for being happy with or unhappy with the tierd system depending on where you fall and ultimately nobody truly knows where they fall until it is shown to us with law enforcement. If I’m a tier two and I get off I will be happy and so should everyone else. If I’m tier 3 I will be unhappy because this scarlet letter is my world like all of you guys. It dictates to me where I can and can’t go. It tells my brain if my neighbor looks cross eyed at me that they know about me. When my kids were young there were pics of me passed out at the bus stop. When my youngest was 10 there was an older boy walking behind her whispering to her your dad is a child molester. It has made problems with my jobs. It has gotten my house egged many times. I’m not asking for sympathy bc most of you have gone through the same thing. I’m saying this to show that this registration is our world. We are all in different worlds but we are together in one universe. If I’m tier two ill make a pledge to be there for tier three ppl. And if I’m tier three I ask that you guys are there for me. Some of our world’s will get better but don’t stop helping the other worlds in our universe! Thanks for reading
@Janice, sorry I disagree. I don’t think anybody will actually get off of it either. Judges around the country have proven themselves to be resistant to such attempts by petitioners. If anything, you’ve actually saved the registry by making it more likely to pass constitutional muster in the future.
The mandatory minimum registration period starts when your probation starts or after your release from jail or prison.
The new tier law will change alot of peoples lives for the better far as some people being left behind I’m not quite sure how I feel about that I guess the real question is why have you been left behind I don’t know what efford people labeled tier3 has done or not done to help ACSOL and their cause but I know a year or 2 ago back when Janice Bellucci was lobbying and at the state Capitol and protesting in multiple cities across southern California out of 100.000 sex offenders only 10 or 15 people would show up.
Strength in numbers speaks volumes imagine how much more of an impact we would of had on the new tier registry if everyone showed up to support ACSOL so dont get mad at people who will mostly go free or get mad because your being moved from tier1 to tier3 ACSOL was constantly warning us of what they were planning almost a year before SB384 was past there was plenty of time to stand up and fight this and you know ACSOL would of had your back.
So next time ACSOL asks you to stand up and fight for your constitutional rights as a human being maybe you’ll now understand the importance in letting your presence be known and your voice being heard.
Good luck
@ EricOk I suppose I’d feel better about it if we were in a state more like Vermont, or Hawaii. But we’re not. I happen to know most of the judges in this state have prosecutorial backgrounds, and they tend to be highly conservative in their political ideology. It doesn’t bode well for us. And in this country, your political opponents never give if you start from a position of compromise. Incrementalism doesn’t work here.
Regarding your criticism of the ACLU’s approach, if they had a democratic legislature, which we have in California a ruling like judge Cleland’s would’ve been made permanent. Additionally because of the ACLU and judge Cleland nobody in Michigan is currently registering because of the covid pandemic. Here, we are in spite of it. So I believe their approach has yielded better results.
I have 2 very important questions. Please read this. How will (ie: PC 243.4 a) a 17B affect tier status? Furthermore, how or will PC 1203.4 affect tier status? Something to think about.
I live in a small town of 8000 people. I made this letter to give to our local PD tomorrow. I wanted to give them some information in case they were not aware of SB 384.
REQUEST FOR TIER ASSIGNMENT LETTER
SB 384 was signed into law in October, 2017. This law creates a tiered sex offender registration scheme. The date set to go into effect is 1/1/2021.
Registrants may request their local registering agencies to provide them with their tier notification letters on or after January 1, 2021.
I am requesting this letter at this time. The letters are obtained from the California Department of Justice.
Sincerely,
@ Janice, there were two orders from Cleland. The first one is regarding the ex post facto provisions, which Gretchen Whiter and the legislature just nullified. The second one states that until the state of emergency regarding the covid pandemic is over, no registrant of any class has to register.