Florida Senate - 2021                                    SB 1824
       
       
        
       By Senator Powell
       
       
       
       
       
       30-01626-21                                           20211824__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public records; amending s.
    3         252.905, F.S.; defining terms; expanding an exemption
    4         from public records requirements for information
    5         furnished by a person or business to the Division of
    6         Emergency Management or a local emergency management
    7         agency to receive assistance with emergency planning
    8         to include emergency response assessment reports,
    9         evaluation tools, or after-action reports prepared by
   10         the division or a local emergency management agency;
   11         providing for future legislative review and repeal of
   12         the exemption; providing a statement of public
   13         necessity; providing an effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Section 252.905, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   18  read:
   19         252.905 Emergency planning information; public records
   20  exemption.—
   21         (1) As used in this section, the term:
   22         (a) “After-action report” means a report containing
   23  observations of a disaster, an incident, an emergency, or an
   24  exercise and recommendations identifying specific corrective
   25  actions for post-event improvements.
   26         (b) “Emergency management electronic collaboration system”
   27  means a web-based collaborative application designed to support
   28  a shared relational database used by the division or a local
   29  emergency management agency to store and update transactional
   30  data related to an emergency or a disaster which is input and
   31  used by multiple responders.
   32         (c) “Emergency response assessment report” means a report
   33  containing analysis and evaluation of collected data and
   34  information pertinent to the response actions taken by first
   35  responders and disaster response stakeholders before, during, or
   36  after a disaster or an emergency as those terms are defined in
   37  s. 252.34. Such response actions include, but are not limited
   38  to, saving lives or relieving suffering, protecting the health
   39  and safety of the public, preventing the escalation of an
   40  incident, mitigating further damage, maintaining or restoring
   41  critical functions, safeguarding the environment, and restoring
   42  normal services.
   43         (d) “Evaluation tools” means instruments or techniques used
   44  to measure and evaluate the quality or efficacy of disaster
   45  response actions or interventions.
   46         (2) The following Any information held by the division or a
   47  local emergency management agency, including all data and
   48  records contained in an emergency management electronic
   49  collaboration system, furnished by a person or a business to the
   50  division for the purpose of being provided assistance with
   51  emergency planning is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a),
   52  Art. I of the State Constitution:
   53         (a) Any information furnished by a person or a business to
   54  the division or a local emergency management agency for the
   55  purpose of receiving assistance with emergency planning.
   56         (b) Emergency response assessment reports, evaluation
   57  tools, or after-action reports prepared by the division or a
   58  local emergency management agency.
   59         (3) This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
   60  Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed
   61  on October 2, 2026, unless reviewed and saved from repeal
   62  through reenactment by the Legislature. This exemption applies
   63  to information held by the division before, on, or after the
   64  effective date of this exemption.
   65         Section 2. The Legislature finds it is a public necessity
   66  that emergency response assessment reports, evaluation tools,
   67  and after-action reports relied upon by emergency management
   68  agencies to evaluate the effectiveness of a response and used to
   69  improve that response be made exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida
   70  Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution.
   71  Such assessments, tools, and reports cover a cross-section of
   72  agencies and entities and may include protected information,
   73  such as threat, vulnerability, and capability assessment
   74  information. This protected information must be exempt from
   75  public records requirements not only because of its sensitive
   76  nature, but to assure participating agencies that their candid
   77  assessments of response techniques or procedures will not be
   78  misunderstood or misinterpreted, but instead be the basis for
   79  meaningful evaluation and improvement of existing response
   80  systems. This need outweighs the value of publicly disclosing
   81  these emergency response assessment reports, evaluations tools,
   82  and after-action reports.
   83         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.