Senate Bill sb2422c1
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
By the Committee on Commerce; and Senator Ring
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1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records and meetings;
3 creating s. 288.9630, F.S.; creating an
4 exemption from public-records requirements for
5 proprietary confidential business information
6 derived from state-supported research projects
7 held by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or the
8 Institute for the Commercialization of Public
9 Research; providing an exemption from
10 public-meetings requirements for portions of
11 meetings of the board of directors of the SURE
12 Venture Capital Fund at which confidential
13 information is presented or discussed;
14 providing for future legislative review and
15 repeal; providing a statement of public
16 necessity; providing a contingent effective
17 date.
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19 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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21 Section 1. Section 288.9630, Florida Statutes, is
22 created to read:
23 288.9630 Exemptions from public-records and
24 public-meetings requirements; SURE Venture Capital Fund and
25 the Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research.--
26 (1) The following information held by the SURE Venture
27 Capital Fund or the Institute for the Commercialization of
28 Public Research is confidential and exempt from s. 24, Art. I
29 of the State Constitution and s. 119.07(1):
30 (a) Materials that relate to methods of manufacture or
31 production, potential trade secrets, patentable material,
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
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1 actual trade secrets as defined in s. 688.002, or proprietary
2 information received, generated, ascertained, or discovered by
3 or through research projects conducted by universities and
4 other publicly supported organizations in this state and held
5 by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or the Institute for the
6 Commercialization of Public Research.
7 (b) Agreements and proposals to receive grants or
8 funding, including funding and grant applications; however,
9 those portions of such agreements and proposals, including
10 grant applications, which do not contain information made
11 exempt by paragraph (a) are not confidential and exempt upon
12 issuance of the report that is made after the conclusion of
13 the project for which funding was provided.
14 (c) Materials that relate to the identity of other
15 investors or potential investors in projects reviewed by the
16 fund.
17 (d) Any information received from a person or another
18 state or nation or the federal government which is otherwise
19 confidential or exempt under that state's or nation's laws or
20 under federal law.
21 (e) Any proprietary confidential business information
22 held pertaining to investment or planned investment in a
23 company by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or received by the
24 Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research as a
25 result of its solicitation of investment into a company,
26 including information such as company capital structure, key
27 customers, strategic partners or relationships, financial
28 statements, and employee lists, but excepting information
29 publicly disclosed by any such company. The term "proprietary
30 confidential business information" means information that is
31 owned or controlled by the corporation, partnership, or person
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
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1 requesting confidentiality under this section; that is
2 intended to be and is treated by the corporation, partnership,
3 or person as private in that the disclosure of the information
4 would cause harm to the business operations of the
5 corporation, partnership, or person; that has not been
6 disclosed unless disclosed pursuant to a statutory provision,
7 an order of a court or administrative body, or a private
8 agreement providing that the information may be released to
9 the public; and that is information concerning:
10 1. Business plans.
11 2. Internal auditing controls and reports of internal
12 auditors.
13 3. Reports of external auditors for privately held
14 companies.
15 (2) That portion of a meeting of the board of
16 directors of SURE Venture Capital Fund, or a meeting of the
17 Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research at
18 which information is presented or discussed which is
19 confidential and exempt under subsection (1) is closed to the
20 public and exempt from s. 24(b), Art. I of the State
21 Constitution and s. 286.011.
22 (3) Any records generated during those portions of the
23 board meetings which are closed to the public under subsection
24 (2), such as minutes, tape recordings, videotapes,
25 transcriptions, or notes, are confidential and exempt from s.
26 24, Art. I of the State Constitution and s. 119.07(1).
27 (4) Public employees may inspect and copy records or
28 information that is made exempt and confidential under this
29 section exclusively for the performance of their public
30 duties. Public employees receiving this exempt and
31 confidential information must maintain the confidentiality of
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
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1 the information. Any public employee receiving confidential
2 information who violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor
3 of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or
4 s. 775.083.
5 (5) At the time that any record or information made
6 confidential and exempt by this section, or portion thereof,
7 is legally available or subject to public disclosure for any
8 other reason, that record or information, or portion thereof,
9 shall no longer be confidential and exempt and shall be made
10 available for inspection and copying.
11 (6) This section is subject to the Open Government
12 Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand
13 repealed on October 2, 2012, unless reviewed and saved from
14 repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
15 Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
16 necessity that proprietary and confidential business
17 information held by the SURE Venture Capital Fund or the
18 Institute for the Commercialization of Public Research
19 regarding certain funding and coinvestment proposals and
20 proprietary business information of public universities or
21 other state-supported entities be held confidential and exempt
22 from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Art. I of
23 the State Constitution. Disclosing proprietary and
24 confidential business information derived from university or
25 other research projects, including trade secrets as defined in
26 s. 688.002, Florida Statutes, would negatively affect the
27 ability of universities and certain other entities in this
28 state which conduct publicly funded research to use the
29 information gained from the research to generate investment
30 returns on viable products, and competitor partnerships could
31 gain an unfair competitive advantage if provided access to
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
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1 such product information. The release of proprietary and
2 confidential business information, including trade secrets,
3 could result in inadequate returns and ultimately frustrate
4 attainment of the investment objective of the SURE Venture
5 Capital Fund and the Institute for the Commercialization of
6 Public Research. In finding that the public-records exemption
7 created by this act is a public necessity, the Legislature
8 finds that the public and private harm in disclosing
9 proprietary and confidential business information relating to
10 the state-supported research projects significantly outweighs
11 any public benefit derived from disclosure; that the exemption
12 created by this act will enhance the ability of the SURE
13 Venture Capital Fund and the Institute for the
14 Commercialization of Public Research to fulfill their duty to
15 support the commercialization of publicly funded research
16 products; and that the public's ability to be informed
17 regarding the university research projects funded by the grant
18 program is preserved by the disclosure of information excepted
19 from the created exemption.
20 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007, if
21 Senate Bill 2420 or similar legislation is adopted in the same
22 legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes law.
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Florida Senate - 2007 CS for SB 2422
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1 STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
2 Senate Bill 2422
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4 The CS differs from the bill as filed in three ways:
5 - Expands the proposed exemption to make exempt and
confidential any proprietary confidential business
6 information pertaining to investment in a company that
might reveal the company's capital structure, key
7 customers and partners, financial statements, and
employee lists, except for information that the company
8 has publicly disclosed; and
9 - Inserts a reference to SB 2420, the bill creating the
SURE Venture Capital Act, in the contingent effective
10 date.
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