| 1 | The Governmental Operations Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to public records exemptions; amending s. |
| 7 | 288.1067, F.S.; expanding the public records exemption for |
| 8 | incentive programs to include the Innovation Incentive |
| 9 | Program under s. 288.1089, F.S.; providing for future |
| 10 | review and repeal; providing a statement of public |
| 11 | necessity; providing a contingent effective date. |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Section 1. Subsections (1) and (4) of section 288.1067, |
| 16 | Florida Statutes, are amended to read: |
| 17 | 288.1067 Confidentiality of records.-- |
| 18 | (1) The following information held by the Office of |
| 19 | Tourism, Trade, and Economic Development, Enterprise Florida, |
| 20 | Inc., or county or municipal governmental entities, and their |
| 21 | employees or agents, pursuant to the incentive programs for |
| 22 | qualified businesses as provided in s. 220.191, s. 288.1045, s. |
| 23 | 288.106, s. 288.108, or s. 288.1088, or s. 288.1089 is |
| 24 | confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 119.07(1) and |
| 25 | s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution, for a period not to |
| 26 | exceed the duration of the relevant tax refund, tax credit, or |
| 27 | incentive agreement: |
| 28 | (a) The business's federal employer identification number, |
| 29 | unemployment compensation account number, and Florida sales tax |
| 30 | registration number. |
| 31 | (b) Any trade secret information as defined in s. 812.081. |
| 32 | Notwithstanding any provision of this section, trade secret |
| 33 | information shall continue to be confidential and exempt after |
| 34 | the duration of the tax refund, tax credit, or incentive |
| 35 | agreement. |
| 36 | (c) The percentage of the business's sales occurring |
| 37 | outside this state and, for businesses applying under s. |
| 38 | 288.1045, the percentage of the business's gross receipts |
| 39 | derived from Department of Defense contracts during the 5 years |
| 40 | immediately preceding the date the business's application is |
| 41 | submitted. |
| 42 | (d) The anticipated wages for the project jobs that the |
| 43 | business plans to create, as reported on the application for |
| 44 | certification. |
| 45 | (e) The average wage actually paid by the business for |
| 46 | those jobs created by the project and any detailed proprietary |
| 47 | business information or an employee's personal identifying |
| 48 | information, held as evidence of the achievement or |
| 49 | nonachievement of the wage requirements of the tax refund, tax |
| 50 | credit, or incentive agreement programs or of the job creation |
| 51 | requirements of such programs. |
| 52 | (f) Any proprietary business information regarding capital |
| 53 | investment in eligible building and equipment made by the |
| 54 | qualified business project when held by the Office of Tourism, |
| 55 | Trade, and Economic Development as evidence of the achievement |
| 56 | or nonachievement of the investment requirements for the tax |
| 57 | credit certification under s. 220.191, for the high-impact |
| 58 | performance agreement under s. 288.108, or for the Quick Action |
| 59 | Closing Fund agreement under s. 288.1088, or for the Innovation |
| 60 | Incentive Program agreement under s. 288.1089. |
| 61 | (g) The amount of: |
| 62 | 1. Taxes on sales, use, and other transactions paid |
| 63 | pursuant to chapter 212; |
| 64 | 2. Corporate income taxes paid pursuant to chapter 220; |
| 65 | 3. Intangible personal property taxes paid pursuant to |
| 66 | chapter 199; |
| 67 | 4. Emergency excise taxes paid pursuant to chapter 221; |
| 68 | 5. Insurance premium taxes paid pursuant to chapter 624; |
| 69 | 6. Excise taxes paid on documents pursuant to chapter 201; |
| 70 | or |
| 71 | 7. Ad valorem taxes paid, as defined in s. 220.03(1), |
| 72 |
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| 73 | which the qualified business reports on its application for |
| 74 | certification or reports during the term of the tax refund |
| 75 | agreement, and for which the qualified business claims a tax |
| 76 | refund under s. 288.1045 or s. 288.106, and any such information |
| 77 | held as evidence of the achievement or nonachievement of |
| 78 | performance items contained in the tax refund agreement. |
| 79 | (4) This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset |
| 80 | Review Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand |
| 81 | repealed on October 2, 2011 2007, unless reviewed and saved from |
| 82 | repeal through reenactment by the Legislature. |
| 83 | Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public |
| 84 | necessity to provide confidentiality for certain information |
| 85 | concerning businesses that is obtained through the |
| 86 | administration of the Innovation Incentive Program for qualified |
| 87 | innovation businesses under s. 288.1089, Florida Statutes. The |
| 88 | disclosure of information such as trade secrets, tax |
| 89 | identification numbers, analyses of gross receipts, the amount |
| 90 | of taxes paid, the amount of capital investment, and the amount |
| 91 | of employee wages paid, and the detailed documentation to |
| 92 | substantiate such performance information, could injure a |
| 93 | business in the marketplace by providing its competitors with |
| 94 | detailed insights into the financial status and the strategic |
| 95 | plans of the business, thereby diminishing the advantage that |
| 96 | the business maintains over those that do not possess such |
| 97 | information. Without this exemption, private sector businesses, |
| 98 | whose records generally are not required to be open to the |
| 99 | public, might refrain from participating in the economic |
| 100 | development program and thus would not be able to use the |
| 101 | incentives available under the program. If a business were |
| 102 | unable to use the incentives, the business might choose to |
| 103 | locate its employment and other investment activities outside |
| 104 | the state, depriving the state and the public of the potential |
| 105 | economic benefits associated with such business activities in |
| 106 | this state. The harm to businesses in the marketplace and to the |
| 107 | effective administration of the economic development program |
| 108 | caused by the public disclosure of such information far |
| 109 | outweighs the public benefits derived from its release. In |
| 110 | addition, because the confidentiality provided by s. 288.1067, |
| 111 | Florida Statutes, does not preclude the reporting of statistics |
| 112 | in the aggregate concerning the program, as well as the names of |
| 113 | businesses participating in the program and the amount of |
| 114 | incentives awarded and claimed, the public has access to |
| 115 | information important to an assessment of the performance of the |
| 116 | program. |
| 117 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006, if |
| 118 | House Bill 1283 or similar legislation is adopted in the same |
| 119 | legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes a law. |