Florida Senate - 2018                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 560
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì851136!Î851136                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
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       The Committee on Rules (Steube) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 27 - 83
    4  and insert:
    5  officer of the governmental entity or his or her designee, is
    6  exempt from this section and s. 24(b), Art. I of the State
    7  Constitution for the limited purpose of meeting may meet in
    8  private with the entity’s attorneys and technical experts
    9  attorney to discuss imminent or pending litigation to which the
   10  entity is or may in the foreseeable future be presently a party
   11  before a court or administrative agency, provided that the
   12  following conditions are met:
   13         1.(a) The entity’s attorney shall advise the entity at a
   14  public meeting that he or she desires advice concerning the
   15  imminent or pending litigation. For imminent litigation, the
   16  entity’s attorney shall identify the name of the potential
   17  claimant or litigant.
   18         2.(b) The subject matter of the meeting must shall be
   19  confined to settlement negotiations or strategy sessions related
   20  to litigation expenditures.
   21         3.(c) The entire session shall be recorded by a certified
   22  court reporter. The reporter shall record the times of
   23  commencement and termination of the session, all discussion and
   24  proceedings, the names of all persons present at any time, and
   25  the names of all persons speaking. No portion of the session may
   26  shall be off the record. The court reporter’s notes must shall
   27  be fully transcribed and filed with the entity’s clerk within a
   28  reasonable time after the meeting.
   29         4.(d) The entity shall give reasonable public notice of the
   30  time and date of the attorney-client session and the names of
   31  persons who will be attending the session. The session must
   32  shall commence at an open meeting at which the persons chairing
   33  the meeting shall announce the commencement and estimated length
   34  of the attorney-client session and the names of the persons
   35  attending. At the conclusion of the attorney-client session, the
   36  meeting must shall be reopened, and the person chairing the
   37  meeting shall announce the termination of the session.
   38         5.(e) The transcript must shall be made part of the public
   39  record upon conclusion of the litigation. If imminent litigation
   40  does not commence, the transcript must be made part of the
   41  public record within a reasonable time after the matter
   42  underlying the imminent litigation is resolved or upon the
   43  expiration of the statute of limitations applicable to the
   44  matter underlying the imminent litigation, whichever occurs
   45  first.
   46         (b) Litigation is considered imminent when the entity has
   47  received notice of a claim or demand by a party threatening
   48  litigation before a court or administrative agency.
   49         (c) This subsection is subject to the Open Government
   50  Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
   51  repealed on October 2, 2023, unless reviewed and saved from
   52  repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
   53         Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   54  necessity to expand the exemption from public meetings
   55  requirements currently applicable to meetings at which any board
   56  or commission of any state agency or authority, or any agency or
   57  authority of any county, municipal corporation, or political
   58  subdivision, and the chief administrative or executive officer
   59  of the governmental entity meet in private with the entity’s
   60  attorneys to discuss pending litigation to which the entity is
   61  presently a party before a court or administrative agency. The
   62  exemption is expanded to include such meetings when the designee
   63  of the chief administrative or executive officer of the
   64  governmental entity is present, when technical experts of the
   65  entity are present, and when such meetings are related to
   66  certain imminent litigation.
   67  
   68  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   69  And the title is amended as follows:
   70         Delete line 5
   71  and insert:
   72         entities to meet in private with attorneys and
   73         technical experts to