Florida Senate - 2013                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 824
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 234164                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/09/2013           .                                
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       The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
       (Simmons) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 21 - 50
    4  and insert:
    5  court under this chapter is confidential and exempt from s.
    6  24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
    7         (2) As used in this section, the term “forensic behavioral
    8  health evaluation” means any record, including supporting
    9  documentation, derived from a competency, substance abuse,
   10  psychosexual, psychological, psychiatric, psychosocial,
   11  cognitive impairment, sanity, or other mental health evaluation
   12  of an individual.
   13         Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   14  necessity that forensic behavioral health evaluations filed with
   15  the court pursuant to chapter 916, Florida Statutes, be
   16  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 24(a), Art. I
   17  of the State Constitution. The personal health of an individual
   18  and the treatment he or she receives is an intensely private
   19  matter. An individual’s forensic behavioral health evaluation
   20  should not be made public merely because it is filed with the
   21  court. Protecting forensic behavioral health evaluations is
   22  necessary to consistently protect the health care privacy rights
   23  of all persons. Making these evaluations confidential and exempt
   24  will protect information of a sensitive personal nature, the
   25  release of which would cause unwarranted damage to the
   26  reputation of an individual. Further, the knowledge that
   27  sensitive personal information is subject to disclosure could
   28  have a chilling effect on mental health experts who conduct the
   29  evaluations for use by the court. Therefore, making these
   30  evaluations confidential and exempt allows courts to effectively
   31  and efficiently make decisions relating to the competency of
   32  individuals who interact with the state courts system.
   33  
   34  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   35         And the title is amended as follows:
   36         Delete lines 7 - 10
   37  and insert:
   38         providing a