Florida Senate - 2018                              CS for SB 268
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
       Senator Passidomo
       
       
       
       
       586-01081A-18                                          2018268c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public records; creating s.
    3         744.21031, F.S.; providing an exemption from public
    4         records requirements for certain identifying and
    5         location information of current or former public
    6         guardians, employees with fiduciary responsibility,
    7         and the spouses and children thereof; providing for
    8         retroactive application; providing for future
    9         legislative review and repeal of the exemption;
   10         providing a statement of public necessity; providing
   11         an effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Section 744.21031, Florida Statutes, is created
   16  to read:
   17         744.21031 Public records exemption.—The home addresses,
   18  telephone numbers, dates of birth, places of employment, and
   19  photographs of current or former public guardians and employees
   20  with fiduciary responsibility; the names, home addresses,
   21  telephone numbers, dates of birth, and places of employment of
   22  the spouses and children of such persons; and the names and
   23  locations of schools and day care facilities attended by the
   24  children of such persons are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s.
   25  24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. This exemption applies
   26  to information held by an agency before, on, or after July 1,
   27  2018. This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
   28  Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed
   29  on October 2, 2023, unless reviewed and saved from repeal
   30  through reenactment by the Legislature.
   31         Section 2. (1) The Legislature finds that it is a public
   32  necessity that the following identifying and location
   33  information be exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and
   34  s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution:
   35         (a) The home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth,
   36  places of employment, and photographs of current or former
   37  public guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility;
   38         (b) The names, home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of
   39  birth, and places of employment of spouses and children of such
   40  guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility; and
   41         (c) The names and locations of schools and day care
   42  facilities attended by the children of such guardians and
   43  employees with fiduciary responsibility.
   44         (2) The Legislature finds that the release of such
   45  identifying and location information might place current or
   46  former public guardians and employees with fiduciary
   47  responsibility and their family members in danger of physical
   48  and emotional harm from disgruntled individuals who react
   49  inappropriately to actions taken by the public guardians and
   50  employees with fiduciary responsibility. Public guardians and
   51  employees with fiduciary responsibility provide a valuable
   52  service to the community by helping some of the state’s most
   53  vulnerable residents who lack the physical or mental capacity to
   54  take care of most aspects of their own personal affairs. Public
   55  guardians and employees with fiduciary responsibility help those
   56  who lack a willing and qualified family member or friend and do
   57  not have the income or assets to pay a professional guardian.
   58         (3) Despite the value of this service, however, some
   59  persons, including a public guardian’s own wards, become
   60  disgruntled with the assistance provided or the decisions a
   61  public guardian or an employee with fiduciary responsibility
   62  makes, which can result in a guardian or an employee with
   63  fiduciary responsibility or the family members of the guardian
   64  or the employee with fiduciary responsibility becoming potential
   65  targets for an act of revenge. Wards have harassed their public
   66  guardians with threats of incarceration, violence, and death
   67  through voicemail messages and social media. Wards have also
   68  left voicemail messages threating to kill themselves and others,
   69  as well as the public guardian. In the course of their duties,
   70  public guardians have also been subject to being physically
   71  assaulted.
   72         (4) After a public guardian or an employee with fiduciary
   73  responsibility concludes his or her service, the risk continues
   74  because a disgruntled individual may wait until then to commit
   75  an act of revenge. The harm that may result from the release of
   76  a public guardian’s or an employee with fiduciary
   77  responsibility’s personal identifying and location information
   78  outweighs any public benefit that may be derived from the
   79  disclosure of the information.
   80         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2018.