MUNICIPAL AND COUNTY ORDINANCES IMPACTING REGISTERED PERSONS -- A PROJECT BY ONCEFALLEN
Finding housing as a Person Forced to Register is extremely difficult even in states without any form of living restrictions. This task is made more daunting in states that allow counties or municipalities to create their own restrictions in addition to the existing restrictions created by states.
As part of OnceFallen’s ongoing commitment to helping Registered Persons find housing that meets any current restrictions, we are attempting to create spreadsheets showing municipal and county ordinances in states that allow such restrictions. We hope to update these regularly as new ordinances are created. All will be published with links here in PDF format. You are free to print these out and share them.
While the primary focus of these guides are on residency restrictions or presence/proximity restrictions, some municipalities or counties may pass additional measures like Halloween/Holiday Restrictions, rules on emergency shelters, or additional fees. Please note that while some communities may have created maps of restricted zones, having a massive database is a daunting task. Without access to a plat map (zoning maps that cover property lives), there is no easy way to determine what housing is open to Registered Persons.
As of April 2025, I am aware the following states allow municipal-level residency/proximity restrictions: CO, FL, IL, ME, MN, NE, TX, WA, WI
For now, we have completed reviews of municipal/county codes for Florida and Nebraska, and are currently working on Wisconsin. If you find that I missed a municipal code, please send any updates to iamthefallen1@yahoo.com
OTHER RESOURCES
MINNESOTA: Mn-ATSA published a report that includes a list of municipal residency restrictions. It was published in 2019. You can access that report by CLICKING HERE
FLORIDUH: While I have covered Florida extensively, the OPPAGA (Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability) creates a triennial review of the impact of sex ofense laws. You may find some of the other statistical info helpful. You can find the latest report, published Dec. 2024, by CLICKING HERE
COLORADO: Colorado has 273 active incorporated municipalities. These municipalities consist of 73 cities, 198 towns, and two consolidated city and county governments. The Colorado Legal Defense Group published a review of 136 municipalities (about half of the municipalities of Colorado) in September 2021. You can access that repoort by CLICKING HERE
WISCONSIN: The Wisconsin State Law Library has portals to many municipal, townships, and counties. I’m using it to locate many local ordinances but in the meantime, you can do your own research by CLICKING HERE
DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH
There are a few way to look up municipal/county ordinances. Of course, many municipalities and counties have their own websites. Many communities also post ordinances on websites like Municode (https://library.municode.com/), American Legal Publishing Corporation (https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/) and eCode360 (https://ecode360.com/).
Many of these sites have a built in search function. Because terminology can vary greatly, I use terms like sex, sexual, offender, predator, or feet to find any ordinances or municipal codes that may contain evidence of any municipal codes.
Many ordinances may have statements full of myths like high reoffense rates and claims the intent is not punitive, followed by definitions and the type of restrictions in place. Read the bill in its entirety; there are some exemptions to the law.
Like any other law, ordinances can change, too. They can be repealed or expanded.