Senate Bill sb0022Cc1

    Florida Senate - 2001                           CS for SB 22-C

    By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Brown-Waite
    and Smith




    307-740-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; amending s.

  3         119.07, F.S.; creating an exemption from

  4         public-records requirements; providing that a

  5         request by a law enforcement agency from

  6         another agency for information from a public

  7         entity is exempt; providing that the response

  8         of a public entity to a law enforcement agency

  9         for information is exempt; providing for future

10         repeal and review; providing a statement of

11         public necessity; providing an effective date.

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

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15         Section 1.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (3) of section

16  119.07, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

17         119.07  Inspection, examination, and duplication of

18  records; exemptions.--

19         (3)

20         (b)1.  Active criminal intelligence information and

21  active criminal investigative information are exempt from the

22  provisions of subsection (1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State

23  Constitution.

24         2.  A request of a law enforcement agency to inspect or

25  copy a public record that is in the custody of another agency,

26  the custodian's response to the request, and any information

27  that would identify the public record that was requested by

28  the law enforcement agency or provided by the custodian are

29  exempt from the requirements of subsection (1) and s. 24(a),

30  Art. I of the State Constitution, during the period in which

31  the information constitutes criminal-intelligence information

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






    Florida Senate - 2001                           CS for SB 22-C
    307-740-02




  1  or criminal-investigative information that is active. This

  2  exemption is remedial in nature and it is the intent of the

  3  Legislature that the exemption be applied to requests for

  4  information received before, on, or after the effective date

  5  of this subparagraph. The law enforcement agency shall give

  6  notice to the custodial agency when the criminal-intelligence

  7  information or criminal-investigative information is no longer

  8  active, so that the custodian's response to the request and

  9  information that would identify the public record requested

10  are available to the public. This subparagraph is subject to

11  the Open Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance

12  with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed October 2, 2007,

13  unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by

14  the Legislature.

15         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that the exemption

16  from public-records requirements which is provided in section

17  119.07(3)(b)2., Florida Statutes, is a public necessity

18  because criminal investigations are jeopardized if law

19  enforcement requests to inspect or copy a public record, the

20  record custodian's response to such a request, or other

21  information that would identify the records requested are

22  available to the public. Persons who obtain such information

23  may inadvertently or purposefully make the subjects of such

24  investigations aware that an investigation is active. If it is

25  discovered that criminal activity is being investigated,

26  perpetrators of that activity may flee, destroy evidence,

27  evade prosecution, or speed up the timetable for the

28  performance of that illegal activity. Therefore, the

29  Legislature finds that requests of law enforcement agencies to

30  inspect or copy public records that are in the custody of

31  other agencies, as well as the response of the custodian to

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    Florida Senate - 2001                           CS for SB 22-C
    307-740-02




  1  such a request, and any information that would identify the

  2  specific records requested by a law enforcement agency, must

  3  be exempt during the period in which the information

  4  constitutes criminal-intelligence information or

  5  criminal-investigative information that is active.

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

  7  law.

  8

  9          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
10                         Senate Bill 22-C

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12  Provides that the exemption is remedial in nature and that it
    applies to records received before, on, or after, the
13  effective date of the bill.

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