Florida Senate - 2018                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 268
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì423396CÎ423396                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  11/13/2017           .                                
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       The Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs
       (Passidomo) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 744.21031, Florida Statutes, is created
    6  to read:
    7         744.21031 Public records exemption.—The home addresses,
    8  telephone numbers, dates of birth, places of employment, and
    9  photographs of current or former public guardians and employees
   10  with fiduciary responsibility; the names, home addresses,
   11  telephone numbers, dates of birth, and places of employment of
   12  the spouses and children of such persons; and the names and
   13  locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the
   14  children of such persons are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s.
   15  24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. This exemption applies
   16  to information held by an agency before, on, or after July 1,
   17  2018. This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
   18  Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed
   19  on October 2, 2023, unless reviewed and saved from repeal
   20  through reenactment by the Legislature.
   21         Section 2. (1)The Legislature finds that it is a public
   22  necessity that the following identifying and location
   23  information be exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and
   24  s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution:
   25         (a)The home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth,
   26  places of employment, and photographs of current or former
   27  public guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility;
   28         (b)The names, home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of
   29  birth, and places of employment of spouses and children of such
   30  guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility; and
   31         (c)The names and locations of schools and day care
   32  facilities attended by the children of such guardians and
   33  employees with fiduciary responsibility.
   34         (2)The Legislature finds that the release of such
   35  identifying and location information might place current or
   36  former public guardians and employees with fiduciary
   37  responsibility and their family members in danger of physical
   38  and emotional harm from disgruntled individuals who react
   39  inappropriately to actions taken by the public guardians and
   40  employees with fiduciary responsibility. Public guardians and
   41  employees with fiduciary responsibility provide a valuable
   42  service to the community by helping some of the state’s most
   43  vulnerable residents who lack the physical or mental capacity to
   44  take care of most aspects of their own personal affairs. Public
   45  guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility help those
   46  who lack a willing and qualified family member or friend and do
   47  not have the income or assets to pay a professional guardian.
   48         (3)Despite the value of this service, however, some
   49  persons, including a public guardian’s own wards, become
   50  disgruntled with the assistance provided or the decisions a
   51  public guardian or an employee with fiduciary responsibility
   52  makes, which can result in a guardian or an employee with
   53  fiduciary responsibility or the family members of the guardian
   54  or the employee with fiduciary responsibility becoming potential
   55  targets for an act of revenge. Wards have harassed their public
   56  guardians with threats of incarceration, violence, and death
   57  through voicemail messages and social media. Wards have also
   58  left voicemail messages threating to kill themselves and others,
   59  as well as the public guardian. In the course of their duties,
   60  public guardians have also been subject to being physically
   61  assaulted.
   62         (4)After a public guardian or an employee with fiduciary
   63  responsibility concludes his or her service, the risk continues
   64  because a disgruntled individual may wait until then to commit
   65  an act of revenge. The harm that may result from the release of
   66  a public guardian’s or an employee with fiduciary
   67  responsibility’s personal identifying and location information
   68  outweighs any public benefit that may be derived from the
   69  disclosure of the information.
   70         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.
   71  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   72  And the title is amended as follows:
   73         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   74  and insert:
   75                        A bill to be entitled                      
   76         An act relating to public records; creating s.
   77         744.21031, F.S.; providing an exemption from public
   78         records requirements for certain identifying and
   79         location information of current or former public
   80         guardians, employees with fiduciary responsibility,
   81         and the spouses and children thereof; providing for
   82         retroactive application; providing for future
   83         legislative review and repeal of the exemption;
   84         providing a statement of public necessity; providing
   85         an effective date.