Senate Bill sb3006er

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  2         An act relating to public records; creating s.

  3         106.0706, F.S.; creating an exemption from

  4         public-records requirements for user

  5         identification and passwords held by the

  6         Department of State pursuant to s. 106.0705,

  7         F.S.; creating an exemption from public records

  8         requirements for records, reports, and files

  9         stored in the electronic filing system pursuant

10         to s. 106.0705, F.S.; providing for expiration

11         of the exemption; providing for future

12         legislative review and repeal; providing

13         findings of public necessity; providing an

14         effective date.

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

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18         Section 1.  Section 106.0706, Florida Statutes, is

19  created to read:

20         106.0706  Electronic filing of campaign finance

21  reports; confidentiality of information and draft

22  reports.--All user identifications and passwords held by the

23  Department of State pursuant to s. 106.0705 are confidential

24  and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State

25  Constitution. All records, reports, and files stored in the

26  electronic filing system pursuant to s. 106.0705 are exempt

27  from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State

28  Constitution until such time as the report has been submitted

29  as a filed report. This section is subject to the Open

30  Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance with s.

31  119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2009, unless


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 1  reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the

 2  Legislature.

 3         Section 2.  (1)  The Legislature finds that it is a

 4  public necessity to exempt from public-records requirements

 5  all user identifications and passwords held by the Department

 6  of State pursuant to section 106.0705, Florida Statutes, as

 7  created in CS for Senate Bill 3004 or similar legislation. The

 8  public-records exemption is necessary to ensure accountability

 9  for the filing of false or inaccurate information. Under

10  current law, certain individuals, typically the candidate and

11  campaign treasurer or the chair of a committee or group and

12  its treasurer, must certify and bear responsibility for the

13  correctness of each campaign finance report filed with the

14  Division of Elections under pain of personal criminal

15  prosecution or administrative fine. The law uses the physical

16  signatures of such individuals on the paper campaign finance

17  reports as evidence of attestation to the veracity of the

18  report. Electronic reporting eliminates the evidentiary

19  advantages of hard-copy signatures by persons submitting

20  reports, so the provisions of law creating the electronic

21  filing system provide for the issuance of secure "sign-on"

22  information to the individuals designated, and provides that

23  such individuals are responsible for all filing using such

24  "sign-on" credentials unless they have notified the division

25  that their credentials have been compromised. Without a

26  public-records exemption for this information, there would be

27  no accountability for campaign finance reporting.

28         (2)  In addition, the public-records exemption is

29  necessary to protect against the unwarranted submission of

30  false or erroneous campaign finance data. Limiting access to

31  the electronic filing system will prevent unauthorized users


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 1  from changing or submitting false or inaccurate information

 2  that could be damaging to the reporting individual or group

 3  and result in charges being brought against the individuals

 4  accountable by statute for the veracity of the information.

 5         (3)  The Legislature also finds that it is a public

 6  necessity to exempt from public-records requirements all

 7  records, reports, and files created from information entered

 8  into the electronic filing system by individuals and groups

 9  subject to electronic campaign finance reporting requirements

10  until such time as a final report is due pursuant to law. It

11  is anticipated that best practices would encourage periodic

12  and timely updates to the draft report throughout the covered

13  reporting period and this exemption would allow reporting

14  individuals and groups adequate time to enter all the

15  information. Campaign finance reports can contain hundreds or

16  even thousands of individual entries for items such as dates,

17  names, amounts of contributions, and expenditures. It is

18  simply not technologically or practically feasible to require

19  all this information to be manually input on the designated

20  statutory due date. The public-records exemption will allow

21  reporting individuals and groups to update the information in

22  their draft reports throughout the reporting period and

23  subject the reports to internal audits to check for errors

24  prior to submission. The updated report for the entire

25  reporting period can then be submitted as required by law.

26         (4)  The public-records exemption is also essential

27  because it protects reporting individuals and groups from

28  exposing their campaign finance strategies to opponents who

29  could use the reported information to their advantage. For

30  example, a large inflow of contributions to a candidate's

31  campaign during a reporting period could indicate that the


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 1  candidate is positioning himself or herself for a large media

 2  buy to run political advertisements. An opponent of the

 3  candidate could frustrate this intention by purchasing

 4  desirable media slots first.

 5         (5)  Finally, this public-records exemption will

 6  accelerate the public's access to this information compared

 7  with current law, which allows for the filing of paper reports

 8  by mail on the designated due date and results in both mailing

 9  and data entry delays in processing the information to the

10  Internet. Under current law, in many cases, crucial campaign

11  finance information contained in reports due on the 4th day

12  before an election is never disclosed to the public until

13  after the election is over. The electronic campaign filing

14  system, with the public-records exemption in place, will

15  eliminate these delays and provide this crucial data to the

16  electorate before election day.

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

18  law if CS for Senate Bill 3004, or similar legislation

19  creating section 106.0705, Florida Statutes, to provide for

20  electronic filing of campaign treasurer's reports, is adopted

21  in the same legislative session or an extension thereof and

22  becomes law.

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