Bill Text: FL S0656 | 2010 | Regular Session | Comm Sub
Bill Title: Public Records/State Long Term Care Ombudsman [SPSC]
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2010-04-30 - Died in Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability [S0656 Detail]
Download: Florida-2010-S0656-Comm_Sub.html
Florida Senate - 2010 CS for SB 656 By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and Senators Fasano and Storms 586-02493-10 2010656c1 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to public records; amending s. 3 400.0077, F.S.; providing an exemption from public 4 records requirements for personal identifying and 5 location information of any certified ombudsman or 6 employee of the Office of State Long-Term Care 7 Ombudsman within the Department of Elderly Affairs and 8 the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or 9 employees; correcting an obsolete reference; providing 10 for future review and repeal of the exemption; 11 providing a finding of public necessity; providing an 12 effective date. 13 14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15 16 Section 1. Subsection (1) of section 400.0077, Florida 17 Statutes, is amended to read: 18 400.0077 Confidentiality.— 19 (1)(a) The following are confidential and exempt fromthe20provisions ofs. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State 21 Constitution: 22 1.(a)Resident records held by the ombudsman or by the 23 state or a local ombudsman council. 24 2.(b)The names or identities of the complainants or 25 residents involved in a complaint, including any problem 26 identified by an ombudsman council as a result of an 27 investigation, unless: 28 a.1.The complainant or resident, or the legal 29 representative of the complainant or resident, consents to the 30 disclosure in writing; 31 b.2.The complainant or resident consents orally and the 32 consent is documented contemporaneously in writing by the 33 ombudsman council requesting such consent; or 34 c.3.The disclosure is required by court order. 35 3.(c)Any other information about a complaint, including 36 any problem identified by an ombudsman council as a result of an 37 investigation, unless theanombudsman council determines that 38 the information does not meet any of the criteria specified in 39 s. 119.15(6)(b)119.14(4)(b); or unless the information is to 40 collect data for submission to those entities specified in s. 41 712(c) of the federal Older Americans Act for the purpose of 42 identifying and resolving significant problems. 43 4.a. The home addresses, telephone numbers, places of 44 employment, if any, and photographs of certified ombudsmen or 45 employees of the Office of State Long-Term Care Ombudsman; the 46 home addresses, telephone numbers, and places of employment of 47 the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or employees; and the 48 names and locations of schools and day care facilities attended 49 by the children of such ombudsmen or employees. 50 b. A state or federal agency that is authorized to have 51 access to the information in sub-subparagraph a. under any 52 provision of law shall be granted such access in furtherance of 53 the agency’s statutory duties, notwithstanding the provisions of 54 this subsection. 55 (b) Paragraph (a) is subject to the Open Government Sunset 56 Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed 57 on October 2, 2015, unless reviewed and saved from repeal 58 through reenactment by the Legislature. 59 Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public 60 necessity that personal identifying and location information of 61 certified ombudsmen or employees of the Office of State Long 62 Term Care Ombudsman within the Department of Elderly Affairs and 63 the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or employees be made 64 confidential and exempt from public-records requirements. Under 65 the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program, a long-term care 66 ombudsman is a designated representative of the program who 67 helps to improve the lives of people who live in long-term care 68 settings such as nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and 69 adult family care homes by working to identify, explore, and 70 resolve the concerns of residents and their loved ones and 71 performing annual assessments of all long-term care facilities 72 in the state from a resident’s perspective. Long-term care 73 ombudsmen explore thousands of complaints in long-term care 74 facilities each year. Because the personal information of long 75 term care ombudsmen and employees of the Office of State Long 76 Term Care Ombudsman is not currently exempt from disclosure, any 77 person who files a public-records request can obtain the home 78 address, phone number, photograph, and place of employment of an 79 ombudsman or employee. In addition, the names, home addresses, 80 telephone numbers, and places of employment of the spouses and 81 children of ombudsmen and employees and the names of schools and 82 day care facilities attended by an ombudsman’s or employee’s 83 children are not exempt from disclosure. Much of this 84 information can be found in the ombudsman’s or employee’s 85 program membership application, which is a public record. This 86 raises privacy and safety concerns among ombudsmen and 87 employees, most of whom are volunteers and many of whom are 88 themselves elders. Exempting the personal information of 89 ombudsmen or employees and the personal identifying and location 90 information of the spouses and children of such ombudsmen or 91 employees from disclosure will provide the ombudsmen and 92 employees with a sense of security, eliminate fears of 93 harassment and retaliation, and allay concerns about identity 94 theft. Making the information exempt will also lead to increased 95 volunteer retention without negatively impacting the 96 individual’s who request the program’s documents. Therefore, it 97 is the finding of the Legislature that the reasons set forth 98 herein necessitate the exemption. 99 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010.
