Florida Senate - 2010                             CS for SB 1198
       
       
       
       By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
       and Judiciary
       
       
       
       585-02364-10                                          20101198c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to a review under the Open Government
    3         Sunset Review Act; amending s. 390.01116, F.S.,
    4         relating to a public-records exemption for information
    5         contained in court files which identifies a minor
    6         petitioning for a waiver of the notice requirements
    7         contained in the Parental Notice of Abortion Act;
    8         saving the exemption from repeal under the Open
    9         Government Sunset Review Act; expanding the public
   10         records exemption to include information in the
   11         possession of the Office of Criminal Conflict and
   12         Civil Regional Counsel or the Justice Administrative
   13         Commission which identifies such a minor; providing
   14         for future legislative review and repeal of the
   15         expanded portion of the exemption under the Open
   16         Government Sunset Review Act; providing a statement of
   17         public necessity; repealing s. 2, ch. 2005-104, Laws
   18         of Florida, relating to the scheduled repeal of the
   19         public-records exemption; providing an effective date.
   20  
   21  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   22  
   23         Section 1. Section 390.01116, Florida Statutes, is amended
   24  to read:
   25         390.01116 Confidentiality of identifying information;
   26  minors seeking waiver of notice requirements Waiver of notice
   27  petition; confidentiality.—
   28         (1)Any information that can be used to identify When a
   29  minor petitioning petitions a circuit court for a judicial
   30  waiver, as provided in s. 390.01114, of the notice requirements
   31  under the Parental Notice of Abortion Act pertaining to a minor
   32  seeking to terminate her pregnancy, any information in a record
   33  held by the circuit court or an appellate court which could be
   34  used to identify the minor is:
   35         (a) Confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a),
   36  Art. I of the State Constitution if held by a circuit court or
   37  an appellate court.
   38         (b)Confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a),
   39  Art. I of the State Constitution if held by the Office of
   40  Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel or the Justice
   41  Administrative Commission.
   42         (2)Paragraph (1)(b) is subject to the Open Government
   43  Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
   44  repealed on October 2, 2015, unless reviewed and saved from
   45  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
   46         Section 2. (1)The Legislature finds that it is a public
   47  necessity to make confidential and exempt from public-records
   48  requirements any information that can be used to identify a
   49  minor petitioning a circuit court for a judicial waiver from the
   50  statutory requirement that a parent or legal guardian be
   51  notified when that minor seeks to terminate her pregnancy when
   52  such information is held by the Office of Criminal Conflict and
   53  Civil Regional Counsel or the Justice Administrative Commission.
   54  During representation of minors in judicial-waiver cases under
   55  the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, the Office of Criminal
   56  Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel may obtain identifying
   57  information from the minors. Similarly, the Justice
   58  Administrative Commission may receive identifying information of
   59  minors which is related to the processing of attorney billing
   60  and payment requests for representation in these cases. Because
   61  the information contained in these records is of a sensitive,
   62  personal nature regarding a minor petitioner, and because the
   63  Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel and the
   64  Justice Administrative Commission are subject to public-records
   65  requests, the release of this information could harm the
   66  reputation of the minor, as well as jeopardize her safety.
   67  Disclosure of this information could jeopardize the safety of
   68  the minor in instances when child abuse or child sexual abuse
   69  against her is present by exposing her to further acts of abuse
   70  from an abuser who, without the public-records exemption, could
   71  learn of the minor’s pregnancy, her plans to terminate the
   72  pregnancy, and her petition to the court.
   73         (2)The Legislature further finds that it is a public
   74  necessity to keep this identifying information in records held
   75  by the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel or
   76  the Justice Administrative Commission confidential and exempt in
   77  order to protect the privacy of the minor. The State
   78  Constitution contains an express right of privacy in Section 23
   79  of Article I. In addition, the United States Supreme Court has
   80  repeatedly required parental-notification laws to contain
   81  judicial-bypass procedures that preserve the anonymity of the
   82  minor at every level of the court process in order to protect
   83  the privacy rights of the minor. Without the confidential and
   84  exempt status for this information while held by the Office of
   85  Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel or the Justice
   86  Administrative Commission, as well as by the circuit or
   87  appellate courts, the constitutionality of the state’s program
   88  providing for notification of a minor’s termination of
   89  pregnancy, and the judicial-bypass procedure in particular,
   90  would be in question. Thus, the public-records exemption
   91  provided in this act is also necessary for the effective
   92  administration of the state’s program, the administration of
   93  which would be impaired without the exemption.
   94         Section 3. Section 2 of chapter 2005-104, Laws of Florida,
   95  is repealed.
   96         Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.