| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to public records exemptions; creating s. |
| 3 | 106.0706, F.S.; creating an exemption from public records |
| 4 | requirements for all user identifications and passwords |
| 5 | held by the Department of State pursuant to s. 106.0705, |
| 6 | F.S.; creating an exemption from public records |
| 7 | requirements for records, reports, and files stored in the |
| 8 | electronic filing system pursuant to s. 106.0705, F.S.; |
| 9 | providing for future review and repeal of the exemptions; |
| 10 | providing a statement of public necessity; providing a |
| 11 | contingent effective date. |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Section 1. Section 106.0706, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 16 | to read: |
| 17 | 106.0706 Electronic filing of campaign treasurer's |
| 18 | reports; confidentiality of information and draft reports.--All |
| 19 | user identifications and passwords held by the Department of |
| 20 | State pursuant to s. 106.0705 are confidential and exempt from |
| 21 | s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. All |
| 22 | records, reports, and files stored in the electronic filing |
| 23 | system pursuant to s. 106.0705 are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and |
| 24 | s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution until such time as |
| 25 | the report has been submitted as a filed report. This section is |
| 26 | subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act of 1995 in |
| 27 | accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2, |
| 28 | 2009, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment |
| 29 | by the Legislature. |
| 30 | Section 2. (1) The Legislature finds that it is a public |
| 31 | necessity to exempt from public records requirements all user |
| 32 | identifications and passwords held by the Department of State |
| 33 | pursuant to s. 106.0705, Florida Statutes. The public records |
| 34 | exemption is necessary to ensure accountability for the filing |
| 35 | of false or inaccurate information. Under current law, certain |
| 36 | individuals, typically the candidate and campaign treasurer or |
| 37 | the chair of a committee or group and its treasurer, must |
| 38 | certify and bear responsibility for the correctness of each |
| 39 | campaign finance report filed with the Division of Elections |
| 40 | under pain of personal criminal prosecution or administrative |
| 41 | fine. The law uses the physical signatures of such individuals |
| 42 | on the paper campaign finance reports as evidence of attestation |
| 43 | to the veracity of the report. Electronic reporting eliminates |
| 44 | the evidentiary advantages of hard-copy signatures by persons |
| 45 | submitting reports, so the provisions of law creating the |
| 46 | electronic filing system provide for the issuance of secure |
| 47 | sign-on information to the individuals designated and provides |
| 48 | that such individuals are responsible for all filing using such |
| 49 | sign-on credentials unless they have notified the division that |
| 50 | their credentials have been compromised. Without a public |
| 51 | records exemption for such user information, there would be no |
| 52 | accountability for campaign finance reporting. |
| 53 | (2) In addition, the public records exemption is necessary |
| 54 | to protect against the unwarranted submission of false or |
| 55 | erroneous campaign finance data. Limiting access to the |
| 56 | electronic filing system will prevent unauthorized users from |
| 57 | changing or submitting false or inaccurate information that |
| 58 | could be damaging to the reporting individual or group and |
| 59 | result in charges being brought against the individuals |
| 60 | accountable by statute for the veracity of the information. |
| 61 | (3) The Legislature also finds that it is a public |
| 62 | necessity to exempt from public records requirements all |
| 63 | records, reports, and files created from information entered |
| 64 | into the electronic filing system by individuals and groups |
| 65 | subject to electronic campaign finance reporting requirements |
| 66 | until such time as a final report is due pursuant to law. It is |
| 67 | anticipated that best practices would encourage periodic and |
| 68 | timely updates to the draft report throughout the covered |
| 69 | reporting period, and this exemption would allow reporting |
| 70 | individuals and groups adequate time to enter all the |
| 71 | information. Campaign finance reports can contain hundreds or |
| 72 | even thousands of individual entries for items such as dates, |
| 73 | names, amounts of contributions, and expenditures. It is simply |
| 74 | not technologically or practically feasible to require all this |
| 75 | information to be manually input on the designated statutory due |
| 76 | date. The public records exemption will allow reporting |
| 77 | individuals and groups to update the information in their draft |
| 78 | reports throughout the reporting period and subject the reports |
| 79 | to internal audits to check for errors prior to submission. The |
| 80 | updated report for the entire reporting period can then be |
| 81 | submitted as required by law. |
| 82 | (4) The public records exemption is also essential because |
| 83 | it protects reporting individuals and groups from exposing their |
| 84 | campaign finance strategies to opponents who could use the |
| 85 | reported information to their advantage. For example, a large |
| 86 | inflow of contributions to a candidate's campaign during a |
| 87 | reporting period could indicate that the candidate is |
| 88 | positioning himself or herself for a large media buy to run |
| 89 | political advertisements. An opponent of the candidate could |
| 90 | frustrate this intention by purchasing desirable media slots |
| 91 | first. |
| 92 | (5) Finally, this public records exemption will actually |
| 93 | accelerate the public's access to this information compared with |
| 94 | current law, which allows for the filing of paper reports by |
| 95 | mail on the designated due date and results in both mailing and |
| 96 | data entry delays in processing the information to the Internet. |
| 97 | Under current law, in many cases, crucial campaign finance |
| 98 | information contained in reports due on the 4th day before an |
| 99 | election is never disclosed to the public until after the |
| 100 | election is over. The electronic campaign filing system, with |
| 101 | the public records exemption in place, will eliminate these |
| 102 | delays and provide this crucial data to the electorate before |
| 103 | election day. |
| 104 | Section 3. This act shall take effect January 1, 2005, if |
| 105 | House Bill 1971 or similar legislation creating section |
| 106 | 106.0705, Florida Statutes, to provide for electronic filing of |
| 107 | campaign treasurer's reports, is adopted in the same legislative |
| 108 | session or an extension thereof and becomes law. |