Florida Senate - 2009                             CS for SB 2126
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Communications, Energy, and Public
       Utilities; and Senator King
       
       
       
       579-04881-09                                          20092126c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to public records; providing an
    3         exemption from public-records requirements for
    4         specified proprietary business information obtained
    5         from a communications company or broadband company by
    6         the Department of Management Services; providing for
    7         future review and repeal of the exemption; providing a
    8         statement of public necessity; providing a contingent
    9         effective date.
   10  
   11  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   12  
   13         Section 1. Communications and broadband company proprietary
   14  business information; public-records exemption.—
   15         (1) Any proprietary business information obtained from a
   16  communications company or broadband company by the Department of
   17  Management Services, or any person or agency authorized by the
   18  department, is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1),
   19  Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
   20  Constitution.
   21         (2) For the purposes of the exemption provided in
   22  subsection (1), the term “proprietary confidential business
   23  information” includes any proprietary or otherwise confidential
   24  information or documentation, including plans, billing and
   25  payment records, trade secrets, or other information, and must
   26  be specifically marked and identified as such at the time
   27  initially provided to the department, which is intended to be
   28  and is treated by the communications or broadband company as
   29  confidential and is not otherwise publicly available to the same
   30  extent and in the same format as requested by the department.
   31  Proprietary confidential business information does not include
   32  aggregate information related to the geographic scope of the
   33  availability of broadband services or the speed of services that
   34  are available in the state so long as the information does not
   35  directly or indirectly identify a provider of broadband
   36  services.
   37         (3) Any person who willfully and knowingly violates this
   38  section commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as
   39  provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084, Florida
   40  Statutes.
   41         (4) This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
   42  Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, Florida Statutes, and
   43  shall stand repealed on October 2, 2014, unless reviewed and
   44  saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
   45         Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public
   46  necessity that proprietary business information obtained from a
   47  communications company or broadband company by the Department of
   48  Management Services, or any person or agency authorized by the
   49  department, be held confidential and exempt from public-records
   50  requirements. Disclosure of proprietary confidential business
   51  information would adversely affect the business interests of
   52  communications and broadband companies providing such
   53  information by harming them in the marketplace and compromising
   54  the security of the communications network. Further, disclosure
   55  of such proprietary confidential business information would
   56  impair competition in the communications industry. Competitors
   57  can use such information to impede full and fair competition in
   58  the communications marketplace to the disadvantage of the
   59  consumers of communications services. Thus, it is the finding of
   60  the Legislature that proprietary business information obtained
   61  from a communications company or broadband company by the
   62  Department of Management Services, or any person or agency
   63  authorized by the department, must be held confidential and
   64  exempt from disclosure under s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and
   65  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution.
   66         Section 3. This act shall take effect on the same date that
   67  CS for SB 2092 or similar legislation takes effect, if such
   68  legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an
   69  extension thereof and becomes law.