HB 529

1	A bill to be entitled
2	An act relating to public records; amending s. 400.0077,
3	F.S.; providing an exemption from public records
4	requirements for personal identifying and location
5	information of any certified ombudsman or employee of the
6	Office of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman within the
7	Department of Elderly Affairs and the spouses and children
8	of such ombudsmen or employees; correcting an obsolete
9	reference; providing for future review and repeal of the
10	exemption; providing a finding of public necessity;
11	providing an effective date.
12
13	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
14
15	Section 1.  Subsection (1) of section 400.0077, Florida
16	Statutes, is amended to read:
17	400.0077  Confidentiality.-
18	(1)(a)  The following are confidential and exempt from the
19	provisions of s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
20	Constitution:
21	1.(a)  Resident records held by the ombudsman or by the
22	state or a local ombudsman council.
23	2.(b)  The names or identities of the complainants or
24	residents involved in a complaint, including any problem
25	identified by an ombudsman council as a result of an
26	investigation, unless:
27	a.1.  The complainant or resident, or the legal
28	representative of the complainant or resident, consents to the
29	disclosure in writing;
30	b.2.  The complainant or resident consents orally and the
31	consent is documented contemporaneously in writing by the
32	ombudsman council requesting such consent; or
33	c.3.  The disclosure is required by court order.
34	3.(c)  Any other information about a complaint, including
35	any problem identified by an ombudsman council as a result of an
36	investigation, unless an ombudsman council determines that the
37	information does not meet any of the criteria specified in s.
38	119.15(6)(b) 119.14(4)(b); or unless the information is to
39	collect data for submission to those entities specified in s.
40	712(c) of the federal Older Americans Act for the purpose of
41	identifying and resolving significant problems.
42	4.a.  The home addresses, telephone numbers, places of
43	employment, if any, and photographs of any certified ombudsman
44	or employee of the Office of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman; the
45	home addresses, telephone numbers, and places of employment of
46	the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or employees; and the
47	names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended
48	by the children of such ombudsmen or employees.
49	b.  Any state or federal agency that is authorized to have
50	access to the information in sub-subparagraph a. by any
51	provision of law shall be granted such access in furtherance of
52	the agency's statutory duties, notwithstanding the provisions of
53	this subsection.
54	(b)  Paragraph (a) is subject to the Open Government Sunset
55	Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed
56	on October 2, 2015, unless reviewed and saved from repeal
57	through reenactment by the Legislature.
58	Section 2.  The Legislature finds that it is a public
59	necessity that personal identifying and location information of
60	any certified ombudsman or employee of the Office of State Long-
61	Term Care Ombudsman within the Department of Elderly Affairs and
62	the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or employees be made
63	confidential and exempt from public records requirements. Under
64	the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, a long-term care
65	ombudsman is a designated representative of the program who
66	helps to improve the lives of people who live in long-term care
67	settings such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and
68	adult family care homes by working to identify, explore, and
69	resolve the concerns of residents and their loved ones and
70	performing annual assessments of all long-term care facilities
71	in the state from a resident's perspective. Long-term care
72	ombudsmen explore thousands of complaints in long-term care
73	facilities each year. Because the personal information of long-
74	term care ombudsmen and employees of the Office of State Long-
75	Term Care Ombudsman is not currently exempt from disclosure, any
76	person who files a public records request can obtain the home
77	address, phone number, photograph, and place of employment of an
78	ombudsman or employee of the office. Additionally, the names,
79	home addresses, telephone numbers, and places of employment of
80	spouses and children of ombudsmen and employees of the office
81	and the names of schools and day care facilities attended by an
82	ombudsman's or employee's children are also not currently exempt
83	from disclosure. Much of this information can be found in the
84	ombudsman's or employee's program membership application, which
85	is a public record. This raises privacy and safety concerns
86	among ombudsmen and employees of the office, most of whom are
87	volunteers and many of whom are elders themselves. Exempting the
88	personal information of an ombudsman or employee of the office
89	and the personal identifying and location information of the
90	spouses and children of such ombudsmen or employees from
91	disclosure will provide the ombudsmen and employees with a sense
92	of security, eliminate fears of harassment and retaliation, and
93	allay concerns about identity theft. Making the information
94	exempt will also lead to increased volunteer retention without
95	negatively impacting citizens who request the program's
96	documents. Therefore, it is the finding of the Legislature that
97	the reasons set forth herein necessitate the exemption.
98	Section 3.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.