Florida Senate - 2013 SB 1214
By Senator Clemens
27-01494-13 20131214__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records; creating s.
3 499.815, F.S.; exempting from public records
4 requirements a form, application, record, interview,
5 report, physician’s statement, memorandum, or drug
6 test result, relating to the medical use of cannabis,
7 held by the Department of Health, the Department of
8 Business and Professional Regulation, or the
9 Department of Revenue; providing for future
10 legislative review and repeal of the exemption under
11 the Open Government Sunset Review Act; providing a
12 statement of public necessity; providing a contingent
13 effective date.
14
15 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
16
17 Section 1. Section 499.815, Florida Statutes, is created to
18 read:
19 499.815 Public records exemption for the medical use of
20 cannabis.—
21 (1) Any application, form, record, interview, report,
22 statement, memorandum, physician’s statement, or drug test
23 results held by the Department of Health, the Department of
24 Business and Professional Regulation, and the Department of
25 Revenue under part III of chapter 499, is confidential and
26 exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State
27 Constitution, and may not be used or received in evidence,
28 obtained in discovery, or disclosed in any public or private
29 proceedings, except in accordance with part III of chapter 499.
30 (2) This section is subject to the Open Government Sunset
31 Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, and shall stand
32 repealed on October 2, 2018, unless reviewed and saved from
33 repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
34 Section 2. The Legislature finds it is a public necessity
35 that applications, forms, records, interviews, reports,
36 statements, memoranda, physician’s statements, and drug test
37 results held by the Department of Health, the Department of
38 Business and Professional Regulation, and the Department of
39 Revenue under part III of chapter 499, Florida Statutes, be made
40 confidential and exempt from disclosure. Information concerning
41 the medical use of cannabis which a physician has recommended
42 for a qualifying patient as defined in s. 499.804, Florida
43 Statutes, is a private, personal matter between the patient, the
44 physician, and the patient’s caregiver. Nevertheless, the
45 registration of qualifying patients and patients’ caregivers
46 will ensure the ability of the state to review and provide
47 oversight of prescribing and dispensing medical cannabis. If, in
48 the process, the information that would identify a qualifying
49 patient or a patient’s caregiver is not made confidential and
50 exempt from disclosure, any person could inspect and copy
51 documentation that relates to the qualifying patient’s use,
52 administration, and possession of, and the patient’s caregiver’s
53 administration and possession of, medical cannabis and be aware
54 of the qualifying patient’s use of cannabis. The availability of
55 such information to the public would result in the invasion of
56 the qualifying patient’s privacy and the patient caregiver’s
57 privacy. If information regarding the qualifying patient could
58 be correlated with his or her use of medical cannabis, it would
59 be possible for the public to become aware of the diseases or
60 other medical concerns for which the qualifying patient is being
61 treated by his or her physician. This knowledge could be used to
62 embarrass or to humiliate a qualifying patient or to
63 discriminate against him or her. Additionally, exempting from
64 disclosure information held by the departments which relates to
65 the use of medical cannabis will prevent an individual from
66 identifying which physician recommends the use of medical
67 cannabis most often and from seeking out the physician in order
68 to increase the likelihood of obtaining cannabis. Further,
69 protecting information relating to medical cannabis and its use,
70 administration, and possession by a qualifying patient, and its
71 administration and possession by the patient’s caregiver, also
72 prevents an individual from identifying the qualifying patient
73 and patient’s caregiver and from seeking out those persons for
74 robbery, burglary, or illicit drug activities. Accordingly, the
75 Legislature finds that the harm to a qualifying patient and
76 patient’s caregiver resulting from the release of the
77 information regarding the use, administration, and possession of
78 medical cannabis which is contained in documentation held by the
79 Department of Health, the Department of Business and
80 Professional Regulation, and the Department of Revenue under
81 part III of chapter 499, Florida Statutes, outweighs any minimal
82 public benefit derived from disclosure to the public, and such
83 information must therefore be confidential and exempt from
84 disclosure.
85 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013, if SB
86 _______, or similar legislation that legalizes the medical use
87 of cannabis, is adopted in the same legislative session, or an
88 extension thereof, and becomes a law.