Senate Bill sb1230c2

    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 1230

    By the Committees on Health, Aging, and Long-Term Care;
    Governmental Oversight and Productivity; and Senators
    Argenziano, Bennett, Siplin and Bullard



    317-2369-03

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to public records; amending s.

  3         500.148, F.S.; providing an exemption from

  4         public-records requirements for certain federal

  5         records that are otherwise confidential under

  6         federal law and that are provided to the

  7         Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

  8         for purposes of food safety investigations,

  9         contracts and partnership activities, and

10         regulatory reviews; prohibiting the disclosure

11         of such information unless a federal agency has

12         found that the record is no longer entitled to

13         protection or unless ordered by a court;

14         providing for future legislative review and

15         repeal; providing a finding of public

16         necessity; providing an effective date.

17  

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

19  

20         Section 1.  Section 500.148, Florida Statutes, is

21  amended to read:

22         500.148  Reports and dissemination of information;

23  confidentiality.--

24         (1)  The department may publish from time to time

25  reports summarizing all judgments and court orders that have

26  been rendered under this chapter, including the nature of the

27  charges and the disposition thereof.

28         (2)  The department may also disseminate any

29  information regarding food that it considers necessary in the

30  interest of public health and the protection of the consumer

31  against fraud. Nothing in this section shall be construed to

                                  1

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






    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 1230
    317-2369-03




 1  prohibit the department from collecting, reporting, and

 2  illustrating the results of these investigations.

 3         (3)  Information deemed confidential under 21 C.F.R.

 4  part 20.61, part 20.62, or part 20.88, or 5 U.S.C. s. 552(b),

 5  and which are provided to the department for assistance during

 6  a joint food safety or food illness investigation, as a

 7  requirement for conducting a federal-state contract or

 8  partnership activity, or for regulatory review, are

 9  confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I

10  of the State Constitution. Such information may not be

11  disclosed except under a final determination by the

12  appropriate federal agencies that such records are no longer

13  entitled to protection, or pursuant to an order of the court.

14  This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review

15  Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand

16  repealed on October 2, 2008, unless reviewed and saved from

17  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

18         (4)(3)  Upon request of a food establishment, the

19  department may issue a report certifying that the requesting

20  food establishment currently complies with the sanitation and

21  permitting requirements of this chapter and the rules

22  promulgated thereunder. Such certification may be requested

23  for the purpose of exporting food to a foreign country. The

24  department is authorized to recover the cost associated with

25  carrying out the provisions of this subsection, the amount of

26  which shall be set by rule.

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

28  necessity that information concerning investigations of food

29  safety or food-borne illness which are otherwise confidential

30  under federal law remain confidential and exempt when shared

31  with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It

                                  2

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






    Florida Senate - 2003                    CS for CS for SB 1230
    317-2369-03




 1  is essential that the department have access to information

 2  provided by federal and other state agencies in order to

 3  conduct investigations and carry out contracts and partnership

 4  agreements. The Legislature further finds that federal

 5  agencies are reluctant to seek the department's review on

 6  important regulatory matters if information that is

 7  confidential under federal law would be subject to disclosure.

 8  Therefore, the Legislature finds that the harm caused by the

 9  release of such information substantially outweighs any

10  minimal public benefit derived from disclosure of federal

11  records that are otherwise confidential.

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

13  law.

14  

15          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
16                          CS for SB 1230

17                                 

18  The Committee Substitute corrects a reference to Federal law.

19  

20  

21  

22  

23  

24  

25  

26  

27  

28  

29  

30  

31  

                                  3

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