House Bill 2417e1

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                                      HB 2417, First Engrossed/ntc



  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.

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  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 assessing the local communications services

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

17  relating to regulating the public rights-of-way is

18  confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1),

19  Florida Statutes, and Section 24(a), Article I of the State

20  Constitution, may be used only for the purposes of imposing

21  such fees or assessing such tax or regulating such

22  rights-of-way, and may not be used for any other purposes,

23  including, but not limited to, commerical or competitive

24  purposes.

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

26  confidential business information" includes any proprietary or

27  otherwise confidential information or documentation, including

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

29  other information relating to the provision of or facilities

30  for communications service that is intended to be and is

31  treated by the company as confidential and is not otherwise


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






                                      HB 2417, First Engrossed/ntc



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

  2  as requested by the local governmental entity. Proprietary

  3  confidential business information does not include schematics

  4  indicating the location of facilities for a specific site that

  5  are provided in the normal course of the local governmental

  6  entity's permitting process.

  7         (3)  Nothing in this exemption expands the information

  8  or documentation that a local governmental entity may properly

  9  request under applicable law pursuant to the imposition of

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

11  communication services tax or the  regulation of its public

12  rights-of-way.

13         (4)  Any information in the possession of a local

14  government entity which consists of maps, plans, schematics,

15  diagrams, or other engineering data relating to the exact

16  location and capacity of facilities for the provision of

17  communications services by the local government entity shall

18  be exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1), and Section

19  24(a), Article I of the State Constitution.  Such information

20  shall remain exempt only for a period of sixty days after

21  completion of the construction of the communications services

22  facilities.

23         (5)  This section is subject to the Open Government

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

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

26  unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by

27  the Legislature.

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

29  necessity that proprietary confidential business information

30  be kept confidential when held by a local governmental entity

31  pursuant to the imposition of fees for occupying the public


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






                                      HB 2417, First Engrossed/ntc



  1  rights-of-way or the assessment of the local communications

  2  tax or the regulation of the public rights-of-way. Disclosure

  3  of proprietary confidential business information in a local

  4  governmental entity's possession would adversely affect the

  5  business interests of telecommunications companies and

  6  franchised cable companies providing the information by

  7  harming them in the marketplace and compromising the security

  8  of the communications network. Further, disclosure of such

  9  proprietary confidential business information would impair

10  competition in the communications industry.  Disclosure of

11  data prepared by or in the possession of a local government

12  which reveals the type and size of facilities for providing

13  telecommunications services creates a competitive disadvantage

14  for the local government and an unfair advantage for its

15  competitors.  Competitors can use such information to impair

16  full and fair competition and impede competition in the

17  telecommunications marketplace to the disadvantage of the

18  consumers of telecommunications services.  Thus, the public

19  and private harm in disclosing this information significantly

20  outweighs any public benefit derived from disclosure, and the

21  public's ability to scrutinize and monitor agency action is

22  not diminished by non disclosure of this information.

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

24  law.

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