Miami Herald by Elisabeth Koh
March 21, 2019
TALLAHASSEE
A bill that would block video and audio recordings or photos depicting the deaths of victims of mass violence is poised for a vote before the state Senate after its sponsor amended the bill Thursday to narrow the scope of the records that would be kept from public view.
SB 186 — which would apply to the deaths of three or more people, not including the perpetrator, in an incident of mass violence — has drawn an outcry from open government advocates who point to records from the Parkland shooting last year that would have been blocked under this legislation.
Bill sponsor Sen. Tom Lee, R-Thonotosassa, moved Thursday to narrow what records would be exempt by limiting the bill only to recordings that “show a person being killed in such incident” or show their body. The prior version of the bill had cited any recordings of events that cause “or relate to” the killings of multiple people.