Florida Senate - 2026                                    SB 1064
       
       
        
       By Senator Bradley
       
       
       
       
       
       6-00434A-26                                           20261064__
    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; authorizing
    5         certain public employees and officials to provide a
    6         written notice to a data broker to prevent disclosure
    7         of specified personal data concerning themselves and
    8         related persons; prohibiting a data broker from
    9         disclosing or redisclosing certain data after receipt
   10         of such notice; authorizing data brokers to provide e
   11         mail addresses for receipt of such notice under
   12         specified conditions; providing for civil actions
   13         against a data broker for failure to comply; providing
   14         the standard of fault in such actions; providing that
   15         it is not a defense that protected information was
   16         available through specified means; providing that it
   17         is an affirmative defense to assert that the person is
   18         not a covered person; providing exceptions; providing
   19         for damages and costs; providing construction;
   20         providing severability; providing an effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. The Legislature finds that the state’s judges,
   25  prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and other public servants
   26  play an essential role in the functioning of the government of
   27  this state and that the nature of their public duties regularly
   28  places them in danger of death, serious physical injury,
   29  threats, intimidation, and other reprisals. Violence, threats,
   30  and intimidation targeted at such public servants and their
   31  families is on the rise. Technology has broadened access to the
   32  personal information of such persons, defined in this act as
   33  “protected information,” and can be and has been used to
   34  facilitate violence, threats, and intimidation. Accordingly, the
   35  provisions set forth herein are both necessary and appropriate
   36  to protect the privacy, safety, and security of such public
   37  servants and to prevent interference in the administration of
   38  justice and the operation of government in this state.
   39         Section 2. Section 111.101, Florida Statutes, is created to
   40  read:
   41         111.101Nondisclosure of public servants’ personal
   42  information.—
   43         (1)DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
   44         (a)“Assignee” means a person or an entity to whom a
   45  covered person’s right to bring a civil action for a violation
   46  of paragraph (2)(b) has been assigned, in writing, by the
   47  covered person or his or her authorized agent.
   48         (b)“Authorized agent” means any of the following persons
   49  or entities authorized to submit or revoke a request for
   50  nondisclosure of protected information on behalf of a covered
   51  person and to engage in communications and enforcement related
   52  thereto:
   53         1.A designated trustee or other agent acting pursuant to a
   54  written power of attorney or other legal instrument on behalf of
   55  a covered person who is physically or mentally incapacitated.
   56         2.A parent or legal guardian acting on behalf of a child
   57  who is a minor and otherwise entitled to nondisclosure pursuant
   58  to this section.
   59         3.A person or an entity that has been appointed pursuant
   60  to a written power of attorney by a covered person to act on the
   61  covered person’s behalf with respect to this section.
   62         4.An agent acting on behalf of a federal judge, a designee
   63  of the United States Marshals Service, or the clerk of any
   64  United States District Court.
   65         (c)“Covered person” means any of the following persons:
   66         1.Active or former sworn law enforcement personnel or
   67  active or former civilian personnel employed by a law
   68  enforcement agency, including law enforcement officers;
   69  correctional officers; correctional probation officers;
   70  personnel of the Department of Children and Families whose
   71  duties include the investigation of abuse, neglect,
   72  exploitation, fraud, theft, or other criminal activities; or
   73  personnel of the Department of Revenue or local governments
   74  whose responsibilities include revenue collection and
   75  enforcement or child support enforcement.
   76         2.Current or former federal judges, justices of the
   77  Supreme Court, district court of appeal judges, circuit court
   78  judges, or county court judges, and current judicial assistants.
   79         3.Current or former general magistrates, special
   80  magistrates, judges of compensation claims, administrative law
   81  judges of the Division of Administrative Hearings, or child
   82  support enforcement hearing officers.
   83         4.Current or former state attorneys, assistant state
   84  attorneys, statewide prosecutors, or assistant statewide
   85  prosecutors.
   86         5.Current or former juvenile probation officers, juvenile
   87  probation supervisors, detention superintendents, assistant
   88  detention superintendents, juvenile justice detention officers I
   89  and II, juvenile justice detention officer supervisors, juvenile
   90  justice residential officers, juvenile justice residential
   91  officer supervisors I and II, juvenile justice counselors,
   92  juvenile justice counselor supervisors, human services counselor
   93  administrators, senior human services counselor administrators,
   94  rehabilitation therapists, or social services counselors of the
   95  Department of Juvenile Justice.
   96         6.Current or former public defenders, assistant public
   97  defenders, criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, or
   98  assistant criminal conflict and civil regional counsel.
   99         7.Individuals who hold or held elected public office under
  100  the laws of this state at the state, county, or municipal level,
  101  including members of the Legislature, statewide officers, county
  102  commissioners, sheriffs, mayors, city council members, or
  103  individuals holding similar positions.
  104         8.A child of a person identified in subparagraphs 1.-7.,
  105  until such child attains 26 years of age.
  106         9.A person sharing custody of a minor child with a person
  107  identified in subparagraphs 1.-7.
  108         10.A blood or legal relative sharing a primary residence
  109  with a person identified in subparagraphs 1.-7.
  110         (d)“Data broker” means a person or an entity that
  111  knowingly collects or obtains the protected information of a
  112  consumer and then discloses that information to a third party.
  113  The term does not include any governmental agency or its
  114  representatives acting in their official capacity.
  115         (e)“Disclose” means to solicit, sell, manufacture, give,
  116  provide, lend, trade, mail, deliver, transfer, post, publish,
  117  distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit, advertise,
  118  offer, or include within a searchable list or database,
  119  regardless of whether any other person or entity has actually
  120  searched such list or database for the information.
  121         (f)“Federal judge” has the same meaning as in the Daniel
  122  Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act of 2022, Pub. L. No.
  123  117-263, div. E, title LIX, subtitle D, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat.
  124  3458.
  125         (g)“Home address” means the dwelling location at which a
  126  person resides and includes the person’s physical address,
  127  mailing address, street address, parcel identification number,
  128  plot identification number, legal property description,
  129  neighborhood name and lot number, GPS coordinates, or any other
  130  descriptive property information that may reveal the home
  131  address.
  132         (h)“Home telephone number” means any telephone number used
  133  primarily for personal communications or associated with
  134  personal communications devices, including a landline or
  135  cellular number.
  136         (i)“Judicial assistant” means a court employee assigned to
  137  the following class codes: 8140, 8150, 8310, or 8320.
  138         (j)“Protected information” means:
  139         1.A home address, including a primary residence or
  140  secondary residences.
  141         2.A home telephone number.
  142         3.A personal e-mail address.
  143         4.A social security number or driver license number.
  144         5.A license plate number or other unique identifiers of a
  145  vehicle owned, leased, or regularly used by the covered person.
  146         6.The mobile advertising ID or any other unique identifier
  147  used for tracking cellular phones or smart devices regularly
  148  used by the covered person.
  149         (2)NONDISCLOSURE OF PROTECTED INFORMATION.—
  150         (a)A covered person or his or her authorized agent seeking
  151  to prohibit the disclosure by a data broker of the protected
  152  information of the covered person must provide written notice to
  153  the data broker referencing this section and requesting that the
  154  data broker cease the disclosure of the covered person’s
  155  protected information, as described in such notice.
  156         (b)Not later than 10 business days following physical or
  157  electronic receipt of such written notice, a data broker may not
  158  disclose or redisclose, including, but not limited to, on the
  159  Internet, the person’s protected information set forth in such
  160  notice.
  161         (c)For receipt of such written notices from or on behalf
  162  of covered persons, a data broker may provide an e-mail address
  163  for receipt of written notices under this subsection, provided
  164  that the e-mail address:
  165         1.Is clearly and publicly published in a privacy policy on
  166  the data broker’s website;
  167         2.Does not change without at least 30 days’ notice to be
  168  communicated in the privacy policy; and
  169         3.Is able to receive any written notice delivered by e
  170  mail.
  171         (3)ENFORCEMENT.—
  172         (a)A data broker that violates paragraph (2)(b) shall be
  173  liable to the covered person or the covered person’s assignee,
  174  either of whom may bring a civil action in circuit court.
  175         (b)In any judicial proceeding initiated pursuant to
  176  paragraph (a), the standard of fault is ordinary negligence, and
  177  it is not a defense to liability in such proceeding that the
  178  covered person’s protected information is or was available to
  179  the public from other sources or available by inspection of
  180  public records. For the purpose of determining whether the
  181  covered person’s protected information has been disclosed in
  182  violation of paragraph (2)(b), a party accessing a data broker’s
  183  website or other products or services may not, as a result of
  184  such access, be deemed to have agreed on behalf of the covered
  185  person or the covered person’s assignee to any website terms and
  186  conditions, including waivers of claims or limitations of
  187  liability, with respect to the covered person’s or the covered
  188  person’s assignee’s rights under this section. Prior
  189  verification of a covered person’s status is not required for
  190  the notice under paragraph (2)(a) to be effective, but it is an
  191  affirmative defense to liability that such person is not a
  192  covered person.
  193         (c)A disclosure of protected information is not a
  194  violation of this section if the disclosure is:
  195         1.Made with the express authorization of the covered
  196  person, contingent upon such authorization being provided
  197  subsequent to the relevant nondisclosure request described in
  198  paragraph (2)(a); or
  199         2.For the sole purpose of facilitating a transaction
  200  initiated by the covered person.
  201         (d)For violations of paragraph (2)(b), the court shall
  202  award:
  203         1.The greater of actual damages or liquidated damages
  204  computed at the rate of $1,000 for each violation of paragraph
  205  (2)(b).
  206         2.Punitive damages upon proof of willful or reckless
  207  disregard of the law.
  208         3.Reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs
  209  reasonably incurred.
  210         4.Any other preliminary or equitable relief as the court
  211  determines to be appropriate.
  212         (4)CONSTRUCTION AND SEVERABILITY.—
  213         (a)This section shall be liberally construed in order to
  214  accomplish its purpose.
  215         (b) If any provision of this section or its application to
  216  any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does
  217  not affect other provisions or applications of this section
  218  which can be given effect without the invalid provision or
  219  application, and to this end the provisions of this section are
  220  severable.
  221         Section 3. This act shall take effect January 15, 2027.