Senate Bill 1588c1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 1588
By the Committee on Fiscal Resource and Senator Horne
314-1980-00
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records; providing
3 legislative findings of public necessity;
4 creating s. 24.1075, F.S.; providing that fees
5 charged for access to winning lottery numbers
6 and payout information by a 1-900 telephone
7 service is exempt from public records
8 requirements; providing for future legislative
9 review and repeal; providing for severability;
10 providing an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Legislative Findings.--
15 (1) Pursuant to Article I, Section 24 of the State
16 Constitution, the Legislature declares a public necessity to
17 clarify a legal ambiguity that has developed in relation to
18 the provision of winning lottery numbers and payout
19 information through a 1-900 telephone service by the
20 Department of the Lottery. Currently, the department
21 disseminates winning-number information on television nightly.
22 Upon drawing the numbers, the department widely distributes
23 winning lottery numbers and payout information to the media.
24 This same information is distributed to all lottery retailers
25 who make the information available to customers and lottery
26 players. The information is immediately posted on the
27 department's website at www.floridalottery.com. The department
28 provides the public with copies of documents that contain
29 winning lottery numbers and payout information upon request at
30 cost both by mail and at department offices. The department
31 also offers, through a competitively bid contract with a
1
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 1588
314-1980-00
1 service provider, the winning lottery numbers and payout
2 information via a 1-900 telephone service. The department
3 instituted this service at the direction of proviso language
4 to Specific Appropriation 1893 in the 1995-1996 General
5 Appropriations Act.
6 (2) Legal ambiguity has developed in the provision of
7 this service because of a class action complaint seeking
8 damages against the state. DeLuise v. Department of the
9 Lottery, et al., Second Judicial Circuit Court Case No.
10 99-3999, Leon County, Florida. The complaint demands refunds
11 for every person who has used the 1-900 service since October
12 1995, as well as attorneys' fees for alleged violation of
13 chapter 119, Florida Statutes. This act clarifies that the
14 department has the legal authority to provide winning lottery
15 numbers and payout information via a 1-900 service,
16 notwithstanding chapter 119, Florida Statutes, and that
17 revenue may be produced by the 1-900 service.
18 (3) Prior to 1995, the department provided winning
19 lottery number and payout information through a costly 1-800
20 service. In 1995, the Legislature made a policy decision to
21 require the users of the instant-access telephone service to
22 pay for this convenience and to allow the department to
23 generate revenue by providing the 1-900 service. Since the
24 1-900 service was instituted, the Educational Enhancement
25 Trust Fund has received nearly $8 million in revenue, while
26 the costs of the 1-800 service to the public have been
27 avoided.
28 (4) This act is no broader than necessary to
29 accomplish its stated purpose because access to public records
30 has not been impeded or restricted. The department will
31 continue to provide documents containing winning number and
2
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 1588
314-1980-00
1 payout information as otherwise required by chapter 119,
2 Florida Statutes, and will continue to widely distribute
3 lottery information to the media. This act does nothing
4 greater than to clarify the department's authority under
5 chapter 24, Florida Statutes, and the Legislature's original
6 intent in the passage of proviso language to Specific
7 Appropriation 1893 of the 1995-1996 General Appropriations Act
8 to use 1-900 services under these circumstances and to
9 generate revenue for education. Thus, this act does not create
10 new rights or eliminate previously established rights.
11 Section 2. Section 24.1075, Florida Statutes, is
12 created to read:
13 24.1075 1-900 telephone service; fees charged for
14 access not a public record.--Any fee charged for access to
15 winning lottery numbers and payout information by a 1-900
16 telephone service is exempt from the fee provisions of chapter
17 119. This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
18 Review Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall
19 stand repealed on October 2, 2005, unless reviewed and saved
20 from repeal through reenactment of the Legislature.
21 Section 3. If any provision of this act or its
22 application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
23 invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of
24 the act which can be given effect without the invalid
25 provision or application, and to this end the provisions of
26 this act are severable.
27 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
28 law and shall apply to all authorized 1-900 services of the
29 Department of the Lottery since October 1, 1995.
30
31
3
CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
Florida Senate - 2000 CS for SB 1588
314-1980-00
1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
2 SB 1588
3
4 Deletes the language in the bill that exempts from the public
records law, information made available to the public by the
5 Department of the Lottery through a 1-900 telephone service
and creates instead, a new s. 24.1075, F.S., which exempts any
6 fee charged for access to winning lottery numbers and payout
information by a 1-900 telephone service from the fee
7 provisions of ch. 119.
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
4