When families face emergencies and are driven from their homes, they need access to emergency facilities like any other citizen. Families should be allowed to stay together during crises. However, a new bill proposed by Nancy Mace, a former South Carolina state representative who is now a U.S. congresswoman, seeks to deny this fundamental right to families with a member on a state’s sex offense registry. While protecting vulnerable populations is a goal we all share, this bill fails to achieve that and instead imposes unnecessary harm.
Mace’s legislation, the Safe Shelters Act, states: “Except for the purpose of seeking information on designated shelters, a covered sex offender may not enter or use the services of an undesignated shelter.”
Under the proposed bill, “designated shelters,” as determined by FEMA, would likely include federal buildings or prisons deemed suitable for registrants by the General Services Administration. This bill is cruel and unfairly targets registrants with families, particularly those with small children. Non-registered spouses depend on their partners for help and support during emergencies and registered single parents would be forced to choose between their children’s safety and forced separation. We believe that requiring families to separate during a crisis is contemptible.
Click here to sign the petition
Sent.
Of course now that jails and prisons can be used as “Emergency shelters” for homeless PFRs, they should have no problem making it illegal to be a homeless PFR! This way, after the 30 days of Emergency Shelter Jail ends, they kick the PFR out, and instantaneously arrest the PFR for Criminal Homelessness! Then the PFR can begin their 90 day sentence in Punishment Jail for “Criminal Homeless” after which they will be released back into the 30 day Emergency Shelter Jail, to begin a new cycle!
My cynicism leads me to suspect that, to the untrained eye, it would be impossible to tell the difference between “Emergency Shelter Jail” and “Punishment Jail”. I’m sure I am all alone in this suspicion. 😁
When there are tornadoes in the area and you need to seek shelter in a tornado shelter, is someone going to check IDs? Is FEMA out there checking every place that is viable for a shelter when needed? They cannot even help those who still need it today in NC months later after the hurricane blew through. Heck, that is their history when any major weather event happens wherever it is.
This is a flawed bill at best. Don’t know what political motivation she has for this but it is up there with the Rep from NJ who has done their best to screw people over with stupid bills such as this for years now. She has something seriously wrong with her.
Just a low-effort and pathetic pandering for votes measure.
Anyone with 20 brain cells could have written this “Act”
Oh, and does this fall under the umbrella of “Making America Great Again?”
Nancy Mace always does dumb stuff. She’s running scared of Jasmine Crockett who always puts Mace in her place on the House Floor.
Just saw the Christmas Carol play with my daughters. “Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?) Nancy Mace needs to be visited by the 3 spirits. Her trans / LGBTQ stance is also pretty sad and desperate.
This is the beginning of radical laws to ostracize PFRs from within the Trump admin. I come off registry in 4 months. If anything happens to change that or reverse it after I’m removed, I’m prepared. I have been in conflict areas with my time in the military. I’m prepared.
Nancy Mace…any relation to Nancy Grace???
One time it was pouring down raining and I was homeless, hungry and tired, I went to the Long Beach Rescue Mission where I was greeted by guy who seemed pretty cool, As were doing the intake the pastor comes out and says don’t worry son were gonna get you right you’ve come to right place everyone is welcome in GOD’s house.
Before he left I told the pastor if I stay here I gotta register this address within 5 working days. He turned to me and said oh no we don’t take [derogatory label] here I’m sorry I’m gonna have to ask you to leave and they kicked me out the lobby and back into the pouring rain.
.
This is yet another piece of evidence that the registry is used to continually signify that we “are” second class citizens despite already paying our dues to society. Another “registrants are still second class citizens” bill are going beyond “separate, but equal” to “separate and not redeemable” with its citizens that have already paid their dues to society.
The perpetual lie within the SCOTUS Smith v. Doe (2003) decision that the recidivism rates of registrants are “frightening and high” at 80% will continue to plague us until SCOTUS admits they royally screwed up by utilizing false facts. The store membership analogy by Chief Justice Roberts is actually a branding to exclude, banish, and not treat registrants as being “free and equal citizens who have regained their rights”.
I am patiently waiting for that day that Janice and ACSOL prove that SCOTUS did use false information that created law to allow the nation to treat a subsect of its own citizens as second class citizens after paying their dues. And that their decision has done irreparable harm to that subsect of its citizens from the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” like any other free citizen after paying their dues.
Every news pundit, from mainstream to podcast level, continue to perpetuate the false “frightening and high” recidivism rate. Everyone believes that lie as fact. Until SCOTUS does a mea culpa on the use of 80% recidivism was false, improperly used that false fact to make a decision to harm its own citizesn, and to cite that the true recidivism rates are around 3% as one of the lowest recidivism rates of criminals, then we all will be continually plagued with “SCOTUS Letter” (a play off the Scarlet Letter). All the justice dissenters in Smith v. Doe (2003) were proven correct about the registry, but their imagination of how horrible it would be become probably was not fathomable, especially in light that the lie of 80% recidivism rate was the cornerstone of the case.
I’m waiting for Mace or one of her colleagues to make a law saying a person on the registry can’t get medical treatment at a hospital or clinic if it has a pediatric unit or treats children. Watch a Mace interview or debate. The congresswoman only wins an election because of a redrawn district by the SC Legislature.
sent with pleasure
I was told by my PO on the day that I left the hallway house that I was not allowed to use any emergency/disaster shelter.
Why doesn’t ACSOL gather a list of people willing to shelter in a disaster related emergency. They don’t have to post it, but people could email for a name/location and be directed to safety. When I was attending group sessions there was a homeless PFR. He lived out of his van. I told him he could park in my driveway if there was flooding in area (rainy season). He never took me up on it, but was glad he had an option.