Florida Senate - 2022                                     SB 782
       
       
        
       By Senator Perry
       
       
       
       
       
       8-00568-22                                             2022782__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public meetings and records;
    3         amending s. 945.0911, F.S.; exempting from public
    4         meetings requirements that portion of a panel review
    5         hearing at which the exempt or confidential
    6         information of specified inmates being considered for
    7         the conditional medical release program is discussed;
    8         specifying requirements for the review panel when
    9         exempt or confidential information must be discussed
   10         during its meeting; exempting from public records
   11         requirements certain records used by the review panel
   12         to make a determination of the appropriateness of
   13         conditional medical release and the recordings and
   14         transcripts of closed panel review hearings; providing
   15         for legislative review and repeal of the exemptions;
   16         providing a statement of public necessity; providing a
   17         contingent effective date.
   18          
   19  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   20  
   21         Section 1. Present subsections (9), (10), and (11) of
   22  section 945.0911, Florida Statutes, as created by SB ___ or
   23  similar legislation, are redesignated as subsections (10), (11),
   24  and (12), respectively, and a new subsection (9) is added to
   25  that section, to read:
   26         945.0911 Conditional medical release.—
   27         (9)PUBLIC MEETINGS AND RECORDS EXEMPTIONS.—
   28         (a)That portion of a panel review hearing conducted in
   29  accordance with this section during which the panel discusses
   30  information that is exempt from public inspection and copying
   31  requirements under state law or confidential under federal law,
   32  such as protected health information covered by the Health
   33  Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is exempt from s.
   34  286.011 and s. 24(b), Art. I of the State Constitution. If the
   35  panel must discuss exempt or confidential information during the
   36  course of its meeting, all of the following requirements must be
   37  met:
   38         1.The panel must announce at the public meeting that, in
   39  connection with the performance of the panel’s duties, exempt or
   40  confidential information must be discussed.
   41         2.The panel must declare the specific reasons that it is
   42  necessary to close the meeting, or a portion thereof, in a
   43  document that is a public record and filed with the official
   44  records of the program.
   45         3.The entire closed hearing must be recorded. The
   46  recording must include the times of commencement and termination
   47  of the closed hearing or portion thereof, all discussion and
   48  proceedings, and the names of the persons present.
   49         (b)1.That portion of the records the panel uses to
   50  determine the appropriateness of conditional medical release
   51  which includes any exempt or confidential information is
   52  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1) and
   53  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
   54         2.Any audio or video recording or transcript of, and any
   55  minutes and notes generated during, a closed hearing of the
   56  panel or closed portion of a hearing of the panel are
   57  confidential and exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1) and
   58  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Such audio or video
   59  recording, transcript, minutes, and notes must be retained
   60  pursuant to the requirements of s. 119.021.
   61         (c)Only members of the panel, the staff supporting the
   62  panel’s functions, the inmate for whom the panel has convened,
   63  and the licensed medical personnel called by the panel to
   64  provide testimony regarding exempt or confidential information
   65  shall be allowed to attend the closed portions of panel
   66  hearings. The panel shall ensure that any closure of its
   67  meetings as authorized by this section is limited so that the
   68  policy of the state in favor of public meetings is maintained.
   69         (d)This subsection is subject to the Open Government
   70  Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
   71  repealed on October 2, 2027, unless reviewed and saved from
   72  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
   73         Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   74  necessity that the hearings or portions of hearings during which
   75  exempt or confidential information is discussed by the review
   76  panel considering an inmate’s conditional medical release be
   77  made exempt from s. 286.011, Florida Statutes, and s. 24(b),
   78  Article I of the State Constitution. The Legislature finds that
   79  the rights of an inmate afforded under other state or federal
   80  laws that deem certain personal information confidential, such
   81  as protected health information covered by the Health Insurance
   82  Portability and Accountability Act, should be upheld and that
   83  the inmate’s exempt or confidential information should not be
   84  disclosed to the public during such hearings. The Legislature
   85  also finds that it is a public necessity that the recordings and
   86  transcripts of a panel review hearing and the records used by
   87  the panel to make its determination be made confidential and
   88  exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and
   89  s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution. The inmate’s
   90  exempt or confidential information, if publicly available, could
   91  be used to invade his or her personal privacy. Making these
   92  reports and discussions of such information confidential and
   93  exempt from disclosure will protect information of a sensitive,
   94  personal nature, the release of which could cause unwarranted
   95  damage to the privacy rights of the inmate. The Legislature
   96  therefore finds that it is a public necessity that such
   97  information be made confidential and exempt.
   98         Section 3. This act shall take effect on the same date that
   99  SB ____ or similar legislation takes effect, if such legislation
  100  is adopted in the same legislative session or an extension
  101  thereof and becomes a law.