Senate Bill 1498c1

    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1498

    By the Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care; and
    Senator Saunders




    317-1733-99

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; amending s.

  3         395.3025, F.S.; providing exemptions from

  4         public records requirements for specified

  5         personal information contained in personnel

  6         records relating to employees of certain

  7         licensed facilities and their spouses and

  8         children; providing for future review and

  9         repeal; providing a finding of public

10         necessity; providing an effective date.

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12  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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14         Section 1.  Subsection (10) is added to section

15  395.3025, Florida Statutes, 1998 Supplement, to read:

16         395.3025  Patient and personnel records; copies;

17  examination.--

18         (10)  The home addresses, telephone numbers, social

19  security numbers, and photographs of employees of any licensed

20  facility; the home addresses, telephone numbers, social

21  security numbers, photographs, and places of employment of the

22  spouses and children of such persons; and the names and

23  locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the

24  children of such persons are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s.

25  24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.  This subsection is

26  subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in

27  accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand repealed on October

28  2, 2004, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through

29  reenactment by the Legislature.

30         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that it is a public

31  necessity that the personal information about employees of

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1498
    317-1733-99




  1  hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers be exempt from the

  2  public records laws of this state. Employees in such

  3  facilities provide treatment and care to a wide spectrum of

  4  individuals including, among others, prisoners, criminal

  5  suspects brought for treatment by local law enforcement

  6  officers prior to incarceration, patients under the influence

  7  of drugs or alcohol at the time of treatment, and patients who

  8  have been admitted for treatment of mental illnesses,

  9  including involuntary admissions under the Baker Act. It is

10  not uncommon for employees of such facilities to be threatened

11  by patients or family members of patients who may be angry or

12  upset with the nature of the treatment or the circumstances

13  under which it has been provided. If these individuals gain

14  access to the personal information specified in this act, they

15  could use that information to threaten, intimidate, harass, or

16  cause physical harm or other injury to the employees of

17  hospitals or ambulatory surgical centers or their families.

18  This concern is not mere speculation. Incidences have occurred

19  in which patients have inflicted injuries upon health care

20  providers which have resulted in the death of the provider.

21  The Legislature further finds that incidences have occurred in

22  which the personnel records of employees have been requested

23  under circumstances that could have threatened the safety or

24  welfare of the employees or their families, whether or not

25  actual harm resulted. Because release of this personal

26  information would not benefit the public or aid it in

27  monitoring the effective and efficient operation of

28  government, but could result in harm to the specified

29  employees or their families, the Legislature finds that it is

30  public necessity that the personal information specified in

31  this act be confidential and exempt from the public records

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999                           CS for SB 1498
    317-1733-99




  1  laws of this state. This exemption is consistent with the

  2  longstanding policy of the state under section 119.07(3)(i),

  3  Florida Statutes.

  4         Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.

  5

  6          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
  7                             SB 1498

  8

  9  Provides a Public Records Law exemption for certain specified
    personal information about certain health facility employees
10  and the spouses and children of such employees and limits the
    applicability of the exemption to hospital and ambulatory
11  surgical center personnel records.

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