| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to public records and meetings; creating |
| 3 | s. 288.9629, F.S.; creating an exemption from public |
| 4 | records requirements for proprietary confidential business |
| 5 | information derived from state-supported research projects |
| 6 | held by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or the Institute for |
| 7 | the Commercialization of Public Research; providing an |
| 8 | exemption from public meetings requirements for portions |
| 9 | of meetings of the board of directors of the SURE Venture |
| 10 | Capital Fund at which confidential information is |
| 11 | presented or discussed; providing for future legislative |
| 12 | review and repeal; providing a statement of public |
| 13 | necessity; providing a contingent effective date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Section 288.9629, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 18 | to read: |
| 19 | 288.9629 Exemptions from public records and public |
| 20 | meetings requirements; SURE Venture Capital Fund and the |
| 21 | Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research.-- |
| 22 | (1) The following information held by the SURE Venture |
| 23 | Capital Fund or the Institute for the Commercialization of |
| 24 | Public Research is confidential and exempt from s. 24(a), Art. I |
| 25 | of the State Constitution and s. 119.07(1): |
| 26 | (a) Materials that relate to methods of manufacture or |
| 27 | production, potential trade secrets, patentable material, actual |
| 28 | trade secrets as defined in s. 688.002, or proprietary |
| 29 | information received, generated, ascertained, or discovered by |
| 30 | or through research projects conducted by universities and other |
| 31 | publicly supported organizations in this state and held by the |
| 32 | SURE Venture Capital Fund or the Institute for the |
| 33 | Commercialization of Public Research. |
| 34 | (b) Agreements and proposals to receive grants or funding, |
| 35 | including funding and grant applications; however, those |
| 36 | portions of such agreements and proposals, including grant |
| 37 | applications, which do not contain information made exempt by |
| 38 | paragraph (a) are not confidential and exempt upon issuance of |
| 39 | the report that is made after the conclusion of the project for |
| 40 | which funding was provided. |
| 41 | (c) Materials that relate to the identity of other |
| 42 | investors or potential investors in projects reviewed by the |
| 43 | fund. |
| 44 | (d) Any information received from a person or another |
| 45 | state or nation or the Federal Government which is otherwise |
| 46 | confidential or exempt under that state's or nation's laws or |
| 47 | under federal law. |
| 48 | (2) That portion of a meeting of the board of directors of |
| 49 | SURE Venture Capital Fund or a meeting of the Institute for the |
| 50 | Commercialization of Public Research at which information is |
| 51 | presented or discussed which is confidential and exempt under |
| 52 | subsection (1) is closed to the public and exempt from s. 24(b), |
| 53 | Art. I of the State Constitution and s. 286.011. |
| 54 | (3) Any records generated during those portions of the |
| 55 | board meetings which are closed to the public under subsection |
| 56 | (2), such as minutes, tape recordings, videotapes, |
| 57 | transcriptions, or notes, are confidential and exempt from s. |
| 58 | 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution and s. 119.07(1). |
| 59 | (4) Public employees may inspect and copy records or |
| 60 | information that is made exempt and confidential under this |
| 61 | section exclusively for the performance of their public duties. |
| 62 | Public employees receiving this exempt and confidential |
| 63 | information must maintain the confidentiality of the |
| 64 | information. Any public employee receiving confidential |
| 65 | information who violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor |
| 66 | of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. |
| 67 | 775.083. |
| 68 | (5) At the time that any record or information made |
| 69 | confidential and exempt by this section, or portion thereof, is |
| 70 | legally available or subject to public disclosure for any other |
| 71 | reason, that record or information, or portion thereof, shall no |
| 72 | longer be confidential and exempt and shall be made available |
| 73 | for inspection and copying. |
| 74 | (6) This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset |
| 75 | Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed |
| 76 | on October 2, 2012, unless reviewed and saved from repeal |
| 77 | through reenactment by the Legislature. |
| 78 | Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public |
| 79 | necessity that proprietary and confidential business information |
| 80 | held by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or the Institute for the |
| 81 | Commercialization of Public Research regarding certain funding |
| 82 | and coinvestment proposals and proprietary business information |
| 83 | of public universities or other state-supported entities be held |
| 84 | confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and |
| 85 | s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Disclosing |
| 86 | proprietary and confidential business information derived from |
| 87 | university or other research projects, including trade secrets |
| 88 | as defined in s. 688.002, Florida Statutes, would negatively |
| 89 | affect the ability of universities and certain other entities in |
| 90 | this state which conduct publicly funded research to use the |
| 91 | information gained from the research to generate investment |
| 92 | returns on viable products, and competitor partnerships could |
| 93 | gain an unfair competitive advantage if provided access to such |
| 94 | product information. The release of proprietary and confidential |
| 95 | business information, including trade secrets, could result in |
| 96 | inadequate returns and ultimately frustrate attainment of the |
| 97 | investment objective of the SURE Venture Capital Fund and the |
| 98 | Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research. In |
| 99 | finding that the public records exemption created by this act is |
| 100 | a public necessity, the Legislature finds that the public and |
| 101 | private harm in disclosing proprietary and confidential business |
| 102 | information relating to the state-supported research projects |
| 103 | significantly outweighs any public benefit derived from |
| 104 | disclosure; that the exemption created by this act will enhance |
| 105 | the ability of the SURE Venture Capital Fund and the Institute |
| 106 | for the Commercialization of Public Research to fulfill their |
| 107 | duty to support the commercialization of publicly funded |
| 108 | research products; and that the public's ability to be informed |
| 109 | regarding the state-supported research projects is preserved by |
| 110 | the disclosure of information excepted from the created |
| 111 | exemption. |
| 112 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007, if |
| 113 | House Bill 1521 or similar legislation is adopted in the same |
| 114 | legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes law. |