3 January 2018
The Honorable David Silvers
Florida House of Representatives
402 South Monroe Street, Room 1302, The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100
Re: HB 343 Exemption/Proprietary Information – Florida Motion Picture Capital Corporation
Dear Representative Silvers:
We are writing to express our concerns regarding HB 343, which creates a public record exemption for certain information contained in applications for financing submitted to the Florida Motion Picture Capital Corporation.
While we are not necessarily opposed to the purpose of the proposed exemption, Representative Silvers, we are concerned by the vagueness of the terms “personal financial records,” “trade secrets,” and “proprietary information.” The proposed bill offers no definition for these rather vague terms, which runs contrary to the standard for creation of new exemptions to the public records law under Article I, s. 24(c), of the State Constitution.
We suggest that HB 343 be amended to reflect the definition of “trade secrets” as provided in HB 461. Additionally, there are numerous exemptions for proprietary confidential business information scattered throughout Florida statutes, and we recommend that HB 343 be amended to reflect one of those exemptions.
Thank you for your attention to our concerns, Representative Silvers. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Barbara A. Petersen, President
Cc: The Honorable Richard Corcoran, Speaker, Florida House of Representatives
Jon Kaney, General Counsel, First Amendment Foundation
Sam Morley, General Counsel, Florida Press Association