House Bill 2417

    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HB 2417

        By the Committee on Utilities & Communications and
    Representative Rojas





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; providing an

  3         exemption from public records requirements for

  4         certain telecommunications or cable company

  5         records; providing for future review and

  6         repeal; providing a finding of public

  7         necessity; providing an effective date.

  8

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

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11         Section 1.  (1)  Any proprietary confidential business

12  information obtained from a telecommunications company or

13  franchised cable company by a local governmental entity

14  relating to imposing fees for occupying the public

15  rights-of-way or the local communications services tax

16  pursuant to s. 202.19, Florida Statutes, or otherwise relating

17  to regulating the public rights-of-way is confidential and

18  exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes,

19  and Section 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution, may be

20  used only for the purposes of imposing such fees or tax

21  regulating such rights-of-way, and may not be used for any

22  other purposes, including, but not limited to, commerical or

23  competitive purposes.

24         (2)  For the purposes of this exemption, "proprietary

25  confidential business information" includes any proprietary or

26  otherwise confidential information or documentation, including

27  maps, plans, billing and payment records, trade secrets, or

28  other information relating to the provision of or facilities

29  for communications service that is intended to be and is

30  treated by the company as confidential and is not otherwise

31  publicly available to the same extent and in the same format

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HB 2417

    193-160-00






  1  as requested by the local governmental entity. Proprietary

  2  confidential business information does not include schematics

  3  indicating the location of facilities for a specific site that

  4  are provided in the normal course of the local governmental

  5  entity's permitting process.

  6         (3)  Nothing in this exemption expands the information

  7  or documentation that a local governmental entity may properly

  8  request under applicable law pursuant to the imposition of

  9  fees for occupying the rights-of-way or the local

10  communication services tax or the  regulation of its public

11  rights-of-way.

12         (4)  This section is subject to the Open Government

13  Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance with section 119.15,

14  Florida Statutes, and shall stand repealed on October 1, 2005,

15  unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by

16  the Legislature.

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

18  necessity that proprietary confidential business information

19  be kept confidential when held by a local governmental entity

20  pursuant to the public rights-of-way. Disclosure of

21  proprietary confidential business information in a local

22  governmental entity's possession would adversely affect the

23  business interests of telecommunications companies and

24  franchised cable companies providing the information by

25  harming them in the marketplace and compromising the security

26  of the communications network. Further, disclosure of such

27  proprietary confidential business information would impair

28  competition in the communications industry. Thus, the public

29  and private harm in disclosing the proprietary confidential

30  business information significantly outweighs any public

31  benefit derived from disclosure, and the public's ability to

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2000                HB 2417

    193-160-00






  1  scrutinize and monitor agency action is not diminished by

  2  nondisclosure of the proprietary confidential business

  3  information.

  4         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

  5  law.

  6

  7            *****************************************

  8                          HOUSE SUMMARY

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      Provides an exemption from public records requirements
10    for proprietary confidential business information
      obtained from a telecommunications company or franchised
11    cable company by a local governmental entity relating to
      fees or taxes. See bill for details.
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