Senate Bill 7010 (2020) — A review under the Open Government Sunset Review Act
SB 7010
Florida Bills
Florida Senate - 2020 SB 7010 By the Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs and Space 583-01415-20 20207010__ Page 1 of 3 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to a review under the Open Government 2 Sunset Review Act; amending s. 119.071, F.S., which 3 provides a public records exemption for the 4 identification and location information of 5 servicemembers and the spouses and dependents of 6 servicemembers; expanding the exemption by removing 7 the requirement that a servicemember submit a written 8 statement that reasonable efforts have been made to 9 protect the information in order to claim the 10 exemption; providing for future legislative review and 11 repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of 12 public necessity; providing an effective date. 13 14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15 16
Section 1. Paragraph (
k) of subsection (5) of
section 17 119.071, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 18 119.071 General exemptions from inspection or copying of 19 public records.— 20
(5) OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION.— 21 (k)1. For purposes of this paragraph, the term: 22 a. “Identification and location information” means the: 23 (
I) Home address, telephone number, and date of birth of a 24 servicemember, and the telephone number associated with a 25 servicemember’s personal communication device. 26 (II) Home address, telephone number, date of birth, and 27 place of employment of the spouse or dependent of a 28 servicemember, and the telephone number associated with such 29 Florida Senate - 2020 SB 7010 583-01415-20 20207010__ Page 2 of 3 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. spouse’s or dependent’s personal communication device. 30 (III) Name and location of a school attended by the spouse 31 of a servicemember or a school or day care facility attended by 32 a dependent of a servicemember. 33 b. “Servicemember” means a current or former member of the 34 Armed Forces of the United States, a reserve component of the 35 Armed Forces of the United States, or the National Guard, who 36 served after September 11, 2001. 37 2.
Identification and location information held by an 38 agency is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the 39 State Constitution if a servicemember submits to an agency that 40 has custody of the identification and location information: 41 a. a written request to exempt the identification and 42 location information from public disclosure; and 43 b. A written statement that he or she has made reasonable 44 efforts to protect the identification and location information 45 from being accessible through other means available to the 46 public. 47 3.
This exemption applies to identification and location 48 information held by an agency before, on, or after the effective 49 date of this exemption. 50 4. This paragraph is subject to the Open Government Sunset 51 Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed 52 on October 2, 2025 2020, unless reviewed and saved from repeal 53 through reenactment by the Legislature. 54
Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public 55 necessity to remove the requirement that a servicemember submit 56 a written statement that he or she has made reasonable efforts 57 to protect their identification and location information from 58 Florida Senate - 2020 SB 7010 583-01415-20 20207010__ Page 3 of 3 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions. being accessible through other means available to the public in 59 order to claim the public records exemption under s. 60 119.071(5)(k), Florida Statutes.
The requirement of a written 61 statement of reasonable efforts is an added burden on these 62 individuals as well as on agencies receiving public records 63 requests. The extent to which servicemembers must protect their 64 information from public accessibility in order to satisfy the 65 reasonable efforts standard is unclear. It is also unclear how 66 much proof of reasonable efforts made by an individual is needed 67 by an agency in order to grant the exemption.
The burden on an 68 agency to verify whether these individuals have protected from 69 public disclosure their identification and location information 70 adversely impacts the effective and efficient administration of 71 government in establishing who is otherwise eligible for an 72 exemption. In 2017, the Legislature removed the requirement that 73 certain agency personnel could claim a public records exemption 74 only if reasonable efforts had been made in protecting such 75 information from being accessible through other means available 76 to the public from numerous public records exemptions.
Following 77 the 2017 amendments, only two public records exemptions under 78 current law, including the exemption for identification and 79 location information for servicemembers, continue to impose that 80 requirement. Such inconsistencies among public records 81 exemptions reduce accuracy and efficiency of redacting exempt 82 information when a public records request for agency personnel 83 information is made. It is not in the public interest for the 84 public to receive inaccurately redacted information. 85