Florida Senate - 2022                       CS for CS for SB 634
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Rules; and Commerce and Tourism; and
       Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       595-02699-22                                           2022634c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to judicial notice; creating s.
    3         90.2035, F.S.; authorizing courts to take judicial
    4         notice of certain information taken from widely
    5         accepted web mapping services, global satellite
    6         imaging sites, or Internet mapping tools upon request
    7         of a party; requiring parties who intend to offer such
    8         information into evidence to file a notice of intent
    9         containing specified information; authorizing parties
   10         to object to the court taking judicial notice of such
   11         information; creating a rebuttable presumption in
   12         civil cases that such information should be judicially
   13         noticed unless certain findings are made; requiring
   14         the court to instruct the jury that the jury may or
   15         may not accept the noticed facts as conclusive in
   16         criminal cases; providing construction; providing an
   17         effective date.
   18          
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Section 90.2035, Florida Statutes, is created to
   22  read:
   23         90.2035 Judicial notice of information taken from web
   24  mapping services, global satellite imaging sites, or Internet
   25  mapping tools.—
   26         (1)(a) Upon request of a party, a court may take judicial
   27  notice of an image, map, location, distance, calculation, or
   28  other information taken from a widely accepted web mapping
   29  service, global satellite imaging site, or Internet mapping
   30  tool, if such image, map, location, distance, calculation, or
   31  other information indicates the date on which the information
   32  was created.
   33         (b) A party intending to offer such information in evidence
   34  at trial or at a hearing must file notice of such intent within
   35  a reasonable time, or as defined by court order. The notice must
   36  include a copy of the information and specify the Internet
   37  address or pathway where such information may be accessed and
   38  inspected.
   39         (2)(a) A party may object to the court taking judicial
   40  notice of the image, map, location, distance, calculation, or
   41  other information taken from a widely accepted web mapping
   42  service, global satellite imaging site, or Internet mapping tool
   43  within a reasonable time or as defined by court order.
   44         (b) In civil cases, there is a rebuttable presumption that
   45  information sought to be judicially noticed under this section
   46  should be judicially noticed. The rebuttable presumption may be
   47  overcome if the court finds by the greater weight of the
   48  evidence that the information does not fairly and accurately
   49  portray what it is being offered to prove or that it otherwise
   50  should not be admitted into evidence under the Florida Evidence
   51  Code.
   52         (c) If the court overrules the objection, the court must
   53  take judicial notice of the information and admit the
   54  information into evidence.
   55         (3) In criminal cases, the court must instruct the jury
   56  that the jury may or may not accept the noticed facts as
   57  conclusive.
   58         (4) This section does not affect, expand, or limit
   59  standards for any matters that may otherwise be judicially
   60  noticed.
   61         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2022.