SB 300 Florida Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Public Records/Appellate Court Clerks and their Spouses and Children

Summary
Public Records/Appellate Court Clerks and their Spouses and Children; Defining the term “appellate court”; providing an exemption from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current appellate court clerks and the spouses and children of such appellate court clerks; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a method for maintenance of an exemption; providing for retroactive application of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc.
Bill status died 3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Mar 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House Passage
Governor
Introduced Mar 4, 2025 Last action Jun 16, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

S 300 Filed S 300 c1 · 11 edits
MAJOR
This bill expands public records exemptions in Florida to protect the personal information of appellate court clerks and their families, adding new categories of protected personnel including state attorneys, magistrates, code enforcement officers, and various other law enforcement and investigative roles. The legislation also establishes sunset review provisions requiring legislative reauthorization by 2028-2030 and creates a formal process for requesting maintenance or release of exempt information.
Scope change
The bill significantly broadens the scope of protected personnel from just appellate court clerks to include a wide range of state and local government employees involved in law enforcement, investigations, judicial proceedings, and victim services.
ELIGIBILITY

Added exemptions for current or former justices, judges, and judicial assistants of the Supreme Court, district courts of appeal, circuit courts, and county courts.

Added exemptions for state attorneys, assistant state attorneys, statewide prosecutors, and assistant statewide prosecutors.

Added exemptions for general magistrates, special magistrates, judges of compensation claims, administrative law judges, and child support enforcement hearing officers.

Added exemptions for human resources directors, code enforcement officers, guardians ad litem, juvenile probation officers, public defenders, and Department of Business and Professional Regulation investigators.

Added exemptions for county tax collectors, Department of Health personnel handling disability determinations, impaired practitioner consultants, emergency medical technicians, and internal audit investigators.

Added exemptions for addiction treatment facility staff, child advocacy center personnel, domestic violence advocates, and Department of Agriculture inspectors.

Added exemptions for county and city attorneys, Florida Gaming Control Commission commissioners, and appellate/circuit court clerks and their personnel.

REQUIREMENT

Added sunset review provisions requiring legislative reauthorization by October 2, 2028-2030 depending on the category, unless the exemption is reviewed and saved by the Legislature.

Added formal requirements for maintaining exemptions through written and notarized requests from individuals or their employers to custodial agencies.

Added provisions allowing individuals to request release of their exempt information through notarized written requests to custodial agencies.

DEFINITION

Modified the definition section to include new categories of protected personnel while retaining existing definitions for law enforcement, financial investigators, and firefighters.

Floor votes · Senate Apr 23, 2025

How they voted

353
Passed
Total votes 38
Apr 23, 2025
D Democratic10
8 Yea 2 Nay
80% Yea
I Independent1
1 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican27
26 Yea 1 Nay
96% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
21
Key actions
7
Committee
7
Apr 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
CS passed; YEAS 35 NAYS 3
upper
Apr 8, 2025
Upper · Passed
Favorable by- Rules; YEAS 23 NAYS 1
upper
Apr 3, 2025
Upper · Passed
On Committee agenda-- Rules, 04/08/25, 9:00 am, 412 Knott Building
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Pending reference review under Rule 4.7(2) - (Committee Substitute)
upper
Mar 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
On Committee agenda-- Governmental Oversight and Accountability, 04/01/25, 1:30 pm, 110 Senate Building
upper
Mar 4, 2025
Introduced
Introduced
upper
Feb 18, 2025
Upper · Passed
Favorable by Judiciary; YEAS 9 NAYS 1
upper
Feb 10, 2025
Upper · Passed
On Committee agenda-- Judiciary, 02/18/25, 4:00 pm, 110 Senate Building
upper
Jan 29, 2025
Committee
Referred to Judiciary; Governmental Oversight and Accountability; Rules
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Darryl Rouson
Darryl Rouson
DDemocratic
FL
16