Florida Senate - 2017 CS for CS for SB 210
By the Committees on Governmental Oversight and Accountability;
and Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senator Passidomo
585-02132-17 2017210c2
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to public records; creating s.
3 744.21031, F.S.; providing an exemption from public
4 records requirements for certain identifying and
5 location information of current or former public
6 guardians and the spouses and children thereof;
7 providing for retroactive application; providing for
8 future legislative review and repeal of the exemption;
9 providing a statement of public necessity; providing
10 an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Section 744.21031, Florida Statutes, is created
15 to read:
16 744.21031 Public records exemption.—The home addresses,
17 telephone numbers, dates of birth, places of employment, and
18 photographs of current or former public guardians; the names,
19 home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and places of
20 employment of the spouses and children of such persons; and the
21 names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended
22 by the children of such persons are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and
23 s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. The exemption in
24 this section applies to information held by an agency before,
25 on, or after the effective date of the exemption. This section
26 is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in
27 accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed on October 2,
28 2022, 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 that the following identifying and location
32 information be exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and
33 s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution:
34 (a) The home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth,
35 places of employment, and photographs of current or former
36 public guardians;
37 (b) The names, home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of
38 birth, and places of employment of spouses and children of such
39 guardians; and
40 (c) The names and locations of schools and day care
41 facilities attended by the children of such guardians.
42 (2) The Legislature finds that the release of such
43 identifying and location information might place current or
44 former public guardians and their family members in danger of
45 physical and emotional harm from disgruntled individuals who
46 react inappropriately to actions taken by the public guardians.
47 Public guardians provide a valuable service to the community by
48 helping some of the state’s most vulnerable residents who lack
49 the physical or mental capacity to take care of most aspects of
50 their own personal affairs. Public guardians help those who lack
51 a willing and qualified family member or friend and do not have
52 the income or assets to pay a professional guardian.
53 (3) Despite the value of this service, however, some
54 persons, including a public guardian’s own wards, become
55 disgruntled with the assistance provided or the decisions a
56 public guardian makes, which result in a guardian or the
57 guardian’s family members becoming potential targets for an act
58 of revenge. In one instance, a ward became angry that his public
59 guardian had taken him to the hospital for a psychological
60 evaluation. Thereafter, the ward used public records to locate
61 his public guardian’s home. The ward proceeded to call law
62 enforcement and requested officers to go to the public
63 guardian’s home after the ward falsely stated that the public
64 guardian was suicidal in an effort to get her involuntarily
65 committed under the Baker Act. The ward continued to make death
66 threats against this public guardian in the weeks following this
67 incident. Other wards have harassed their public guardians with
68 threats of incarceration, violence, and death through voicemail
69 messages and social media. Wards have also left voicemail
70 messages threating to kill themselves and others, as well as the
71 public guardian. In the course of their duties, public guardians
72 have also been subject to being physically assaulted.
73 (4) The risk continues after a public guardian concludes
74 his or her service because a disgruntled individual may wait to
75 commit an act of revenge until the guardian concludes his or her
76 service. The harm that may result from the release of a public
77 guardian’s personal identifying and location information
78 outweighs any public benefit that may be derived from the
79 disclosure of the information.
80 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.