House Bill hb1487

    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1487

        By Representatives Ritter and Attkisson






  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; providing an

  3         exemption from public records requirements for

  4         information received by a taxing authority or

  5         its agency in connection with certain audits of

  6         the records of a provider of telecommunication

  7         services; providing for review and repeal of

  8         the exemption; providing that the act is

  9         remedial and applies regardless of when the

10         audit was begun; providing a finding of public

11         necessity; providing an effective date.

12

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

14

15         Section 1.  Any information received by a taxing

16  authority or its agent in connection with an audit of a

17  telecommunications service provider conducted under section 36

18  of chapter 2001-140, Laws of Florida, and section 166.234,

19  Florida Statutes, is confidential and exempt from section

20  119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and Section 24(a) of Article I of

21  the State Constitution. This section is subject to the Open

22  Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance with

23  section 119.15, Florida Statutes, and shall stand repealed on

24  October 2, 2007, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through

25  reenactment by the Legislature.

26         Section 2.  Section 1 of this act is remedial in nature

27  and applies to all audits conducted under section 36 of

28  chapter 2001-140, Laws of Florida, and section 166.234,

29  Florida Statutes, regardless of whether the audit was begun

30  before or after the effective date of this act.

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






    Florida House of Representatives - 2002                HB 1487

    585-176A-02






  1         Section 3.  The Legislature finds that it is a public

  2  necessity that any information received by a local government

  3  in connection with an audit of a public service tax collected

  4  by a telecommunications service provider should be exempt from

  5  disclosure because disclosing such information would adversely

  6  affect the business interests of the telecommunications

  7  service provider by harming the provider in the marketplace

  8  and would compromise the security of the communications

  9  network. In addition, disclosure of such information would

10  impair competition within the telecommunications industry.

11  Disclosing information that reveals the business interests of

12  a telecommunications service company creates an unfair

13  advantage for its competitors. Competitors can use such

14  information to impair full and fair competition in the

15  telecommunications marketplace to the disadvantage of

16  consumers of telecommunications services. Thus, the public and

17  private harm in disclosing this information significantly

18  outweighs any public benefit derived from such disclosure and

19  the public's ability to scrutinize or monitor agency action is

20  not diminished by requiring that this information be

21  confidential.

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

23  law.

24

25            *****************************************

26                       LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY

27    Exempts from disclosure under the public records law the
      information received by a taxing authority or its agent
28    in connection with an audit of a telecommunications
      service provider. Provides for future legislative review
29    and repeal under the Open Government Sunset Review Act of
      1995. Provides for application of the exemption. Provides
30    a finding of public necessity.

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