Senate Bill sb1118

    Florida Senate - 2005                                  SB 1118

    By Senator Saunders





    37-624A-05

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to motor vehicle crash reports;

  3         amending s. 316.066, F.S.; providing for victim

  4         services programs to immediately obtain such

  5         reports; providing an effective date.

  6  

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

  8  

  9         Section 1.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of section

10  316.066, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

11         316.066  Written reports of crashes.--

12         (3)

13         (c)  Crash reports required by this section which

14  reveal the identity, home or employment telephone number or

15  home or employment address of, or other personal information

16  concerning the parties involved in the crash and which are

17  received or prepared by any agency that regularly receives or

18  prepares information from or concerning the parties to motor

19  vehicle crashes are confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1)

20  and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution for a period of

21  60 days after the date the report is filed. However, such

22  reports may be made immediately available to the parties

23  involved in the crash, their legal representatives, their

24  licensed insurance agents, their insurers or insurers to which

25  they have applied for coverage, persons under contract with

26  such insurers to provide claims or underwriting information,

27  prosecutorial authorities, victim services programs, radio and

28  television stations licensed by the Federal Communications

29  Commission, newspapers qualified to publish legal notices

30  under ss. 50.011 and 50.031, and free newspapers of general

31  circulation, published once a week or more often, available

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    Florida Senate - 2005                                  SB 1118
    37-624A-05




 1  and of interest to the public generally for the dissemination

 2  of news. For the purposes of this section, the following

 3  products or publications are not newspapers as referred to in

 4  this section: those intended primarily for members of a

 5  particular profession or occupational group; those with the

 6  primary purpose of distributing advertising; and those with

 7  the primary purpose of publishing names and other personal

 8  identifying information concerning parties to motor vehicle

 9  crashes. Any local, state, or federal agency, victim services

10  program, agent, or employee that is authorized to have access

11  to such reports by any provision of law shall be granted such

12  access in the furtherance of the agency's statutory duties

13  notwithstanding the provisions of this paragraph. Any local,

14  state, or federal agency, agent, or employee receiving such

15  crash reports shall maintain the confidential and exempt

16  status of those reports and shall not disclose such crash

17  reports to any person or entity. As a condition precedent to

18  accessing a crash report within 60 days after the date the

19  report is filed, a person must present a valid driver's

20  license or other photographic identification, proof of status,

21  or identification that demonstrates his or her qualifications

22  to access that information, and file a written sworn statement

23  with the state or local agency in possession of the

24  information stating that information from a crash report made

25  confidential by this section will not be used for any

26  commercial solicitation of accident victims, or knowingly

27  disclosed to any third party for the purpose of such

28  solicitation, during the period of time that the information

29  remains confidential. In lieu of requiring the written sworn

30  statement, an agency may provide crash reports by electronic

31  means to third-party vendors under contract with one or more

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    Florida Senate - 2005                                  SB 1118
    37-624A-05




 1  insurers, but only when such contract states that information

 2  from a crash report made confidential by this section will not

 3  be used for any commercial solicitation of accident victims by

 4  the vendors, or knowingly disclosed by the vendors to any

 5  third party for the purpose of such solicitation, during the

 6  period of time that the information remains confidential, and

 7  only when a copy of such contract is furnished to the agency

 8  as proof of the vendor's claimed status. This subsection does

 9  not prevent the dissemination or publication of news to the

10  general public by any legitimate media entitled to access

11  confidential information pursuant to this section. A law

12  enforcement officer as defined in s. 943.10(1) may enforce

13  this subsection. This exemption is subject to the Open

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

15  119.15, and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2006, unless

16  reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the

17  Legislature.

18         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2005.

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21                          SENATE SUMMARY

22    Allows victim services programs to immediately receive
      copies of motor vehicle crash reports.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.