Florida Senate - 2020                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for SB 1728
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì222838@Î222838                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  02/10/2020           .                                
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       The Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
       (Brandes) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Present subsection (9) of section 945.0911,
    6  Florida Statutes, as created by SB 556 or other similar
    7  legislation, 2020 Regular Session, is redesignated as subsection
    8  (10), and a new subsection (9) is added to that section, to
    9  read:
   10         945.0911 Conditional aging inmate release.—
   11         (9)PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RECORDS EXEMPTIONS.—
   12         (a)That portion of a panel review hearing conducted in
   13  accordance with this section during which the panel will discuss
   14  information that is exempt from public inspection and copying
   15  requirements under state law or confidential under federal law,
   16  such as protected health information covered by the Health
   17  Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is exempt from s.
   18  286.011 and s. 24(b), Art. I of the State Constitution. If the
   19  panel must discuss exempt or confidential information during the
   20  course of its meeting, the following requirements must be met:
   21         1.The panel must announce at the public meeting that, in
   22  connection with the performance of the panel’s duties, exempt or
   23  confidential information must be discussed;
   24         2.The panel must declare the specific reasons that it is
   25  necessary to close the meeting, or a portion thereof, in a
   26  document that is a public record and filed with the official
   27  records of the program; and
   28         3.The entire closed hearing must be recorded. The
   29  recording must include the times of commencement and termination
   30  of the closed hearing or portion thereof, all discussion and
   31  proceedings, and the names of the persons present.
   32         (b)1.That portion of the records the panel uses to
   33  determine the appropriateness of conditional medical release
   34  which includes any exempt or confidential information is
   35  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1) and
   36  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
   37         2.Any audio or video recording or transcript of, and any
   38  minutes and notes generated during, a closed hearing of the
   39  panel or closed portion of a hearing of the panel are
   40  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1) and
   41  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Such audio or video
   42  recording, transcript, minutes and notes must be retained
   43  pursuant to the requirements of s. 119.021.
   44         (c)Only members of the panel, staff supporting the panel’s
   45  functions, the inmate for whom the panel has convened, and
   46  licensed medical personnel called by the panel to provide
   47  testimony regarding exempt or confidential information shall be
   48  allowed to attend the closed portions of panel hearings. The
   49  panel shall ensure that any closure of its meetings as
   50  authorized by this section is limited so that the policy of the
   51  state in favor of public meetings is maintained.
   52         (d)This subsection is subject to the Open Government
   53  Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
   54  repealed on October 2, 2025, unless reviewed and saved from
   55  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
   56         Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   57  necessity that the hearings or portions of hearings during which
   58  exempt or confidential information is discussed by the review
   59  panel considering an inmate’s conditional medical release be
   60  made exempt from s. 286.011, Florida Statutes, and s. 24(b),
   61  Article I of the State Constitution. The Legislature finds that
   62  the rights of an inmate afforded under other state or federal
   63  laws that deem certain personal information confidential, such
   64  as protected health information covered by the Health Insurance
   65  Portability and Accountability Act, be upheld and that the
   66  inmate’s exempt or confidential information not be disclosed to
   67  the public during such hearings. The Legislature also finds that
   68  the recordings and transcripts of a panel review hearing and the
   69  records used by the panel to make its determination be made
   70  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1),
   71  Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the State
   72  Constitution. The inmate’s exempt or confidential information,
   73  if publicly available, could be used to invade his or her
   74  personal privacy. Making these reports and discussions of such
   75  information confidential and exempt from disclosure will protect
   76  information of a sensitive personal nature, the release of which
   77  could cause unwarranted damage to the privacy rights of the
   78  inmate. The Legislature therefore finds that it is a public
   79  necessity that such information be made confidential and exempt.
   80         Section 3. This act shall take effect on the same date that
   81  SB 556 or similar legislation relating to conditional medical
   82  release takes effect, if such legislation is adopted in the same
   83  legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes a law
   84  
   85  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   86  And the title is amended as follows:
   87         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   88  and insert:
   89                        A bill to be entitled                      
   90         An act relating to public meetings and records;
   91         amending s. 945.0912, F.S.; exempting from public
   92         meetings requirements that portion of a panel review
   93         at which the exempt or confidential information of
   94         specified inmates being considered for the conditional
   95         medical release program is discussed; exempting from
   96         public records requirements certain records used by
   97         the reviewing panel to make a determination of the
   98         appropriateness of conditional medical release and the
   99         recordings and transcripts of closed panel review
  100         hearings; providing for legislative review and repeal
  101         of the exemption; providing a statement of public
  102         necessity; providing an effective date.