Senate Bill sb2178c2
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Florida Senate - 2005 CS for CS for SB 2178
By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Productivity;
Ethics and Elections; and Senator Posey
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records; amending s.
3 97.0585, F.S.; revising an exemption from the
4 public-records law which is provided for
5 information concerning persons who decline to
6 register to vote, information relating to the
7 place where a person registered to vote or
8 updated a registration, and a voter's signature
9 and social security number; creating exemptions
10 from disclosure for a voter's driver's license
11 number and Florida identification number;
12 deleting an exemption from disclosure provided
13 for the voter's telephone number; providing
14 certain exceptions; providing for future
15 legislative review and repeal under the Open
16 Government Sunset Review Act; providing a
17 finding of public necessity; providing a
18 contingent effective date.
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20 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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22 Section 1. Section 97.0585, Florida Statutes, is
23 amended to read:
24 97.0585 Public-records exemption; information
25 regarding voters and voter registration Declinations to
26 register; place of registration and registration information;
27 confidentiality.--
28 (1) The following information concerning voters and
29 voter registration held by an agency as defined in s. 119.011
30 is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a),
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1 Art. I of the State Constitution and may be used only for
2 purposes of voter registration:
3 (a) All declinations to register to vote made pursuant
4 to ss. 97.057 and 97.058 are confidential and exempt from the
5 provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
6 Constitution and may be used only for voter registration
7 purposes.
8 (b)(2) Information relating to the place where a
9 person registered to vote or where a person updated a voter
10 registration.
11 (c) The social security number, driver's license
12 number, and Florida identification number of a voter
13 registration applicant or voter.
14 (2) The signature of a voter registration applicant or
15 a voter is confidential and exempt from the provisions of s.
16 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution; and
17 a voter's signature, social security number, and telephone
18 number may not be copied and is are exempt for that purpose
19 from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of
20 the State Constitution.
21 (3) This section applies to information held by an
22 agency before, on, or after the effective date of this
23 exemption.
24 Section 2. Section 97.0585, Florida Statutes, as
25 amended by this act, is subject to the Open Government Sunset
26 Review Act of 1995 in accordance with section 119.15, Florida
27 Statutes, and shall stand repealed on October 2, 2010, unless
28 reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the
29 Legislature.
30 Section 3. (1) The Legislature recognizes that the
31 Help America Vote Act of 2002 requires the implementation of a
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1 new single, uniform, centralized, interactive, and
2 computerized statewide voter registration system by January 1,
3 2006. The Florida Voter Registration System (FVRS) will
4 replace the existing state's voter registration system. The
5 FVRS will interface with and integrate voter registration
6 information and records from the offices of the 67 county
7 supervisors of elections. The FVRS will contain the name and
8 other registration information of every legally registered
9 voter in the state. The FVRS will be the official list of
10 registered voters in the state and will be used as the
11 registration system for federal and state elections. Any such
12 system must keep information concerning a person's decision
13 not to register or information concerning the place where a
14 person registers to vote confidential in accordance with the
15 National Voter Registration Act. Therefore, the Legislature
16 finds it necessary to continue the existing public-records
17 exemption to keep such information confidential and exempt in
18 order to conform with the requirements of the National Voter
19 Registration Act. Additionally, because persons may register
20 to vote or update voter registration information at designated
21 voter registration agencies that may include any office that
22 provides public assistance, this exemption is also necessary
23 to protect from disclosure personal information concerning
24 those persons who apply for or receive public assistance at
25 these offices.
26 (2) The Legislature also finds it necessary to broaden
27 the existing exemption from public-records access to social
28 security numbers of voters and voter registration applicants
29 to include driver's license numbers and Florida identification
30 numbers. The Legislature finds that access to such information
31 can lead to fraud, personal identity theft, and invasion of
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1 privacy. The Florida Voter Statewide Voter Registration
2 System, once implemented and maintained, will constitute one
3 of the most comprehensive and up-to-date databases of persons
4 in this state. The Legislature finds it not only necessary to
5 exempt from copying social security numbers, driver's license
6 numbers, and Florida identification numbers of those persons
7 in the Florida Voter Registration System but also to exempt
8 those numbers from inspection. Even the memorization of a
9 single person's social security number, driver's license
10 number, or Florida identification number could result in
11 economic and personal harm to that individual whose numbers
12 may be used to perpetrate fraud or may be coupled with other
13 readily available public information to commit personal
14 identity theft or to gain access to records, such as
15 financial, educational, or medical records. The Legislature
16 also finds it necessary to keep the social security numbers,
17 driver's license numbers, and Florida identification numbers
18 in the Florida Voter Registration System confidential and
19 exempt in order to encourage voter registration and remove
20 disincentives to registering to vote.
21 (3) The Legislature also finds it necessary to
22 continue and to expand the existing exemption that precludes
23 the copying of a voter's signature. Currently, a voter's
24 signature is exempt from copying but only if contained on a
25 voter registration application or precinct register. Two
26 advisory opinions from the Attorney General issued in 2001
27 stated that a voter's signature on an absentee ballot
28 certificate is not part of the voter registration record and
29 therefore not exempt from copying. Because express exemption
30 from copying did not exist for absentee ballot certificates,
31 any person or entity may request and obtain copies of all
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1 signatures of voters who voted absentee in any particular
2 election. Consequently, any person or entity may also request
3 and obtain copies of all signatures of voters who signed
4 provisional ballot envelopes, early voting certificates, or
5 any other voting-related documents other than a voter
6 registration application or a precinct register. The
7 Legislature intends that a voter's signature be protected in
8 order to prevent fraud, identity theft, or invasion of privacy
9 in all instances. Nonetheless, the Legislature finds that any
10 exemption for such signatures must be balanced against the
11 continuing administrative need to allow for public inspection
12 of the signatures of voters or voter registration applicants
13 for purposes of voter verification, matching, or authenticity
14 as may occur in a voter's challenge or canvassing of an
15 absentee ballot. Therefore, the Legislature finds that it is a
16 public necessity to continue the existing exemption solely
17 from copying of voters' signatures and to expand that
18 exemption to apply to voters' signatures as may also appear on
19 absentee ballot certificate envelopes, provisional ballot
20 envelopes, early-voting certificates, or any other
21 voting-related document that must be executed for purposes of
22 voting or voter registration.
23 Section 4. This act shall take effect on the same date
24 that Senate Bill 2176 or similar legislation takes effect, if
25 such legislation is enacted in the same legislative session or
26 an extension thereof and becomes law.
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1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
2 CS/SB 2178
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4 Specifies that the exempt information is held by an agency as
defined by s. 119.011, F.S.
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Makes the exemption retroactive in effect.
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