Florida Senate - 2025                                    SB 1610
       
       
        
       By Senator Burgess
       
       
       
       
       
       23-01399A-25                                          20251610__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the disclosure of public servants’
    3         personal information; providing legislative findings;
    4         creating s. 111.101, F.S.; defining terms; providing
    5         that certain public employees and officials may
    6         provide a written notice to a data broker to prevent
    7         disclosure of specified personal data concerning
    8         themselves and related persons; prohibiting the
    9         release of data after receipt of such notice;
   10         providing for civil actions against a data broker for
   11         failure to comply; providing the standard of fault in
   12         such action; providing that it is not a defense that
   13         protected information was obtained through specified
   14         means; providing construction; providing that it is an
   15         affirmative defense to assert that the person is not a
   16         covered person; providing exceptions; providing for
   17         damages and costs; providing construction; providing
   18         severability; providing an effective date.
   19          
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. The Legislature finds that the state’s judges,
   23  prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and other public servants
   24  play an essential role in the functioning of the government of
   25  this state, and that the nature of their public duties regularly
   26  places them in danger of death, serious physical injury,
   27  threats, intimidation, and other reprisals. Violence, threats,
   28  and intimidation targeted at such public servants and their
   29  families is on the rise. Technology has broadened access to the
   30  personal information of such persons, defined herein as
   31  “protected information,” which can be and has been used to
   32  facilitate violence, threats, and intimidation. Accordingly, the
   33  provisions set forth herein are both necessary and appropriate
   34  to protect the privacy, safety, and security of such public
   35  servants and to prevent interference in the administration of
   36  justice and the operation of government in this state.
   37         Section 2. Section 111.101, Florida Statutes, is created to
   38  read:
   39         111.101Nondisclosure of public servants’ personal
   40  information.—
   41         (1)DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   42         (a)“Assignee” means a person or entity to whom a covered
   43  person’s right to bring a civil action for a violation of
   44  paragraph (2)(b) has been assigned, in writing, by the covered
   45  person or his or her authorized agent.
   46         (b)“Authorized agent” means any of the following persons
   47  or entities authorized to submit or revoke a request for
   48  nondisclosure of protected information on behalf of a covered
   49  person and to engage in communications and enforcement related
   50  thereto:
   51         1.A designated trustee or other agent acting pursuant to a
   52  written power of attorney or other legal instrument on behalf of
   53  any covered person who is physically or mentally incapacitated.
   54         2.A parent or legal guardian on behalf of any child who is
   55  a minor and who is otherwise entitled to nondisclosure pursuant
   56  to this section.
   57         3.A person or entity that has been appointed pursuant to a
   58  written power of attorney by a covered person to act on the
   59  covered person’s behalf with respect to this section.
   60         4.An agent acting on behalf of any federal judge, a
   61  designee of the United States Marshals Service, or the clerk of
   62  any United States District Court.
   63         (c)“Covered person” means any of the following persons:
   64         1.Active or former sworn law enforcement personnel or
   65  active or former civilian personnel employed by a law
   66  enforcement agency, including law enforcement officers;
   67  correctional officers; correctional probation officers;
   68  personnel of the Department of Children and Families whose
   69  duties include the investigation of abuse, neglect,
   70  exploitation, fraud, theft, or other criminal activities; and
   71  personnel of the Department of Revenue or local governments
   72  whose responsibilities include revenue collection and
   73  enforcement or child support enforcement.
   74         2.Current or former federal judges, justices of the
   75  Supreme Court, district court of appeal judges; circuit court
   76  judges; county court judges; and current judicial assistants.
   77         3.Current or former general magistrates, special
   78  magistrates, judges of compensation claims, administrative law
   79  judges of the Division of Administrative Hearings, and child
   80  support enforcement hearing officers.
   81         4.Current or former state attorneys, assistant state
   82  attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide
   83  prosecutors.
   84         5.Current or former juvenile probation officers, juvenile
   85  probation supervisors, detention superintendents, assistant
   86  detention superintendents, juvenile justice detention officers I
   87  and II, juvenile justice detention officer supervisors, juvenile
   88  justice residential officers, juvenile justice residential
   89  officer supervisors I and II, juvenile justice counselors,
   90  juvenile justice counselor supervisors, human services counselor
   91  administrators, senior human services counselor administrators,
   92  rehabilitation therapists, and social services counselors of the
   93  Department of Juvenile Justice.
   94         6.Current or former public defenders, assistant public
   95  defenders, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, and
   96  assistant criminal conflict and civil regional counsel.
   97         7.The parents, grandparents, siblings, spouses, children,
   98  and grandchildren of persons identified in subparagraphs 1.-6.
   99         8.A person sharing custody of a minor child with a person
  100  identified in subparagraphs 1.-6.
  101         9.A person sharing a primary residence with a person
  102  identified in subparagraphs 1.-6.
  103         10.Any person who holds or previously held a position in
  104  another state comparable to those identified in subparagraphs
  105  1.-6. and who has a home address in this state.
  106         (d)“Data broker” means a person or entity that knowingly
  107  collects or obtains the protected information of a consumer and
  108  then discloses that information to a third party. The term does
  109  not include any governmental agency and its representatives
  110  acting in their official capacity.
  111         (e)“Disclose” shall mean to solicit, sell, manufacture,
  112  give, provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, post,
  113  publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit,
  114  advertise, offer, or include within a searchable list or
  115  database, regardless of whether any other person or entity has
  116  actually searched such list or database for such person’s
  117  information.
  118         (f)“Federal judge” has the same meaning as in the Daniel
  119  Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2022, Pub. L. No.
  120  117-263, div. E, title LIX, subtitle D, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat.
  121  3458.
  122         (g)“Home addresses” means the dwelling location at which a
  123  person resides and includes the physical address, mailing
  124  address, street address, parcel identification number, plot
  125  identification number, legal property description, neighborhood
  126  name and lot number, GPS coordinates, and any other descriptive
  127  property information that may reveal the home address.
  128         (h)“Home telephone number” means any telephone number used
  129  primarily for personal communications or associated with
  130  personal communications devices, including a landline or
  131  cellular number.
  132         (i)“Judicial assistant” means a court employee assigned to
  133  the following class codes: 8140, 8150, 8310, and 8320.
  134         (j)“Protected information” means:
  135         1.A home address, including a primary residence or
  136  secondary residences.
  137         2.A home telephone number.
  138         3.A personal e-mail address.
  139         4.A social security number or driver license number.
  140         5.A license plate number or other unique identifiers of a
  141  vehicle owned, leased, or regularly used by the covered person.
  142         6.The mobile advertising ID or other unique identifiers
  143  used for tracking cellular phones or smart devices regularly
  144  used by the covered person.
  145         (2)NONDISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED INFORMATION.—
  146         (a)A covered person or their authorized agent seeking to
  147  prohibit the disclosure by a data broker of the protected
  148  information of the covered person shall provide written notice
  149  to the data broker referencing this section and requesting that
  150  the data broker cease the disclosure of the covered person’s
  151  protected information, as described in such notice.
  152         (b)Upon notification pursuant to paragraph (a), and not
  153  later than 10 business days following physical or electronic
  154  receipt thereof, a data broker may not disclose or redisclose,
  155  including, but not limited to, on the Internet, the protected
  156  information of the covered person.
  157         (3)ENFORCEMENT.—
  158         (a)A data broker that violates paragraph (2)(b) shall be
  159  liable to the covered person or the covered person’s assignee,
  160  who may bring a civil action in circuit court.
  161         (b)In any judicial proceeding hereunder, the standard of
  162  fault shall be ordinary negligence, and it is not a defense to
  163  liability in such proceeding that the covered person’s protected
  164  information is or was available to the public from other sources
  165  or available by inspection of public records. A party accessing
  166  a data broker’s website or other products or services for the
  167  purpose of determining whether the covered person’s protected
  168  information is disclosed therein shall not, as a result of such
  169  access, be deemed to have agreed on behalf of the covered person
  170  or the covered person’s assignee to any website terms and
  171  conditions, including waivers of claims or limitations of
  172  liability, with respect to the covered person’s or the covered
  173  person’s assignee’s rights under this section. Prior
  174  verification of a covered person’s status is not required for
  175  the notice under paragraph (2)(a) to be effective, but it shall
  176  be an affirmative defense to liability that a person is not a
  177  covered person.
  178         (c)A disclosure of protected information is not a
  179  violation of this section if the disclosure is:
  180         1.Made with the express authorization of the covered
  181  person, contingent upon such authorization being provided
  182  subsequent to the relevant nondisclosure request described in
  183  paragraph (2)(b); or
  184         2.For the sole purpose of facilitating a transaction
  185  initiated by the covered person.
  186         (d)For violations of paragraph (2)(b), the court shall
  187  award:
  188         1.The greater of actual damages or liquidated damages
  189  computed at the rate of $1,000 for each violation of paragraph
  190  (2)(b).
  191         2.Punitive damages upon proof of willful or reckless
  192  disregard of the law.
  193         3.Reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs
  194  reasonably incurred.
  195         4.Any other preliminary and equitable relief as the court
  196  determines to be appropriate.
  197         (4)CONSTRUCTION.—
  198         (a)This section shall be liberally construed in order to
  199  accomplish its purpose.
  200         (b) If any provision of this section or its application to
  201  any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does
  202  not affect other provisions or applications of this section that
  203  can be given effect without the invalid provision or
  204  application, and to this end the provisions of this section are
  205  severable.
  206         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2025.