Florida Senate - 2011 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SB 1970 Barcode 272688 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: RCS . 03/10/2011 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability (Ring) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment 2 3 Delete lines 26 - 41 4 and insert: 5 Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) be made 6 exempt from s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution. As 7 required by the Legislature, OPPAGA may provide independent 8 evaluative research and objective analyses to promote government 9 accountability and the efficient and effective use of public 10 resources. In order for OPPAGA to accomplish this mission, it is 11 necessary that individuals and businesses share information with 12 OPPAGA staff without concerns of competitive disadvantage, 13 disclosure, or reprisals. Private sector business entities have 14 legitimate concerns that information provided to assist the 15 Legislature in directing policy initiatives has protection from 16 those in the marketplace who could gain financially from the 17 ability to access information collected by OPPAGA. In addition, 18 supervisors and others often want to know