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House Bill 1673

House Bill hb1673er

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    2002 Legislature                  CS/HB 1673, Second Engrossed



  1

  2         An act relating to a public records exemption

  3         for social security numbers; creating s.

  4         119.072, F.S.; creating an exemption from

  5         public records requirements for all social

  6         security numbers held by an agency or its

  7         agents, employees, or contractors; providing

  8         exceptions to the exemption; providing

  9         conditions under which social security numbers

10         may be provided to a commercial entity;

11         providing for civil and criminal penalties;

12         providing requirements and restrictions with

13         respect to collection and disclosure of social

14         security numbers by an agency; providing for

15         review of social security numbers collected

16         prior to the effective date of the exemption;

17         restricting the release of social security

18         numbers contained in official records;

19         providing certain notice requirements and

20         requiring publication of notice by county

21         recorders; requiring annual agency reports;

22         providing for future review and repeal;

23         providing retroactive application of the

24         exemption; providing a statement of public

25         necessity; providing an effective date.

26

27  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

28

29         Section 1.  Section 119.072, Florida Statutes, is

30  created to read:

31         119.072  Social Security number exemption.--


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    2002 Legislature                  CS/HB 1673, Second Engrossed



  1         (1)  Effective October 1, 2002, all social security

  2  numbers held by an agency or its agents, employees, or

  3  contractors are confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and

  4  s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. This exemption

  5  applies to all social security numbers held by an agency and

  6  its agents, employees, or contractors before, on, or after the

  7  effective date of this exemption.

  8         (2)  Social security numbers may be disclosed to

  9  another governmental entity or its agents, employees, or

10  contractors if disclosure is necessary for the receiving

11  entity to perform its duties and responsibilities. The

12  receiving governmental entity and its agents, employees, and

13  contractors shall maintain the confidential and exempt status

14  of such numbers.

15         (3)  An agency shall not deny a commercial entity

16  engaged in the performance of a commercial activity as defined

17  in s. 14.203 or its agents, employees, or contractors access

18  to social security numbers, provided the social security

19  numbers will be used only in the normal course of business for

20  legitimate business purposes, and provided the commercial

21  entity makes a written request for social security numbers,

22  verified as provided in s. 92.525, legibly signed by an

23  authorized officer, employee, or agent of the commercial

24  entity.  The verified written request must contain the

25  commercial entity's name, business mailing and location

26  addresses, business telephone number, and a statement of the

27  specific purposes for which it needs the social security

28  numbers and how the social security numbers will be used in

29  the normal course of business for legitimate business

30  purposes. The aggregate of these requests shall serve as the

31  basis for the agency report required in subsection (7).  An


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  1  agency may request any other information as may be reasonably

  2  necessary to verify the identity of the entity requesting the

  3  social security numbers and the specific purposes for which

  4  such numbers will be used, however, an agency has no duty to

  5  inquire beyond the information contained in the verified

  6  written request.  A legitimate business purpose includes

  7  verification of the accuracy of personal information received

  8  by a commercial entity in the normal course of its business;

  9  use in a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding; use

10  for insurance purposes; use in law enforcement and

11  investigation of crimes; use in identifying and preventing

12  fraud; use in matching, verifying, or retrieving information;

13  and use in research activities. A legitimate business purpose

14  does not include the display or bulk sale of social security

15  numbers to the general public or the distribution of such

16  numbers to any customer that is not identifiable by the

17  distributor.

18         (4)  Any person who makes a false representation in

19  order to obtain a social security number pursuant to this

20  section, or any person who willfully and knowingly violates

21  the provisions of this section, commits a felony of the third

22  degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

23  Any public officer who violates any provision of this section

24  is guilty of a noncriminal infraction, punishable by a fine

25  not exceeding $500.  A commercial entity that provides access

26  to public records containing social security numbers in

27  accordance with this section, is not subject to the penalty

28  provisions of this subsection.

29         (5)  On or after October 1, 2002, if any final

30  judgment, court order, or docket sheet contains a social

31  security number, then that number shall be entered on a


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    2002 Legislature                  CS/HB 1673, Second Engrossed



  1  separate page from the rest of the judgment, order, or docket

  2  sheet and shall be maintained as a separate attachment, which

  3  shall not be filed with or recorded by the county recorder in

  4  the official records.  The separate attachments containing

  5  social security numbers are available to other governmental

  6  entities and to commercial entities as provided for in this

  7  section.  Except for final judgments, court orders, or docket

  8  sheets, if a social security number is or has been otherwise

  9  included in a court file before, on, or after October 1, 2002,

10  such number may be included as part of the court record

11  available for public inspection and copying unless redaction

12  is requested by the holder of the social security number, or

13  his or her attorney or legal guardian, in a legibly signed

14  written request specifying the case name, case number, and the

15  document heading and page number, and delivered by mail,

16  facsimile, or electronic transmission, or delivered in person,

17  to the clerk of the court.  The clerk of the court shall have

18  no duty to inquire beyond the written request to verify the

19  identity of a person requesting redaction.  No fee will be

20  charged for the redaction of a social security number pursuant

21  to such request.

22         (6)(a)  On or after October 1, 2002, no person

23  preparing or filing a document to be recorded in the official

24  records by the county recorder as provided for in chapter 28

25  may include any person's social security number in that

26  document, unless otherwise expressly required by law.  If a

27  social security number is or has been included in a document

28  presented to the county recorder for recording in the official

29  records of the county before, on, or after October 1, 2002, it

30  may be made available as part of the official record available

31  for public inspection and copying.


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  1         (b)  Any person, or his or her attorney or legal

  2  guardian, has the right to request that a county recorder

  3  remove, from an image or copy of an official record placed on

  4  a county recorder's publicly available Internet website or a

  5  publicly available Internet website used by a county recorder

  6  to display public records or otherwise made electronically

  7  available to the general public by such recorder, his or her

  8  social security number contained in that official record.

  9  Such request must be made in writing, legibly signed by the

10  requestor and delivered by mail, facsimile, or electronic

11  transmission, or delivered in person, to the county recorder.

12  The request must specify the identification page number that

13  contains the social security number to be redacted.  The

14  county recorder shall have no duty to inquire beyond the

15  written request to verify the identity of a person requesting

16  redaction.  No fee will be charged for the redaction of a

17  social security number pursuant to such request.

18         (c)  A county recorder shall immediately and

19  conspicuously post signs throughout his or her offices for

20  public viewing; shall immediately and conspicuously post a

21  notice on any Internet website or remote electronic site made

22  available by the county recorder and used for the ordering or

23  display of official records or images or copies of official

24  records; and shall, prior to October 1, 2002, publish on two

25  separate dates in a newspaper of general circulation in the

26  county where the county recorder's office is located as

27  provided for in chapter 50, a notice, stating, in

28  substantially similar form, the following:

29         1.  On or after October 1, 2002, any person preparing

30  or filing a document for recordation in the official records

31


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  1  may not include a social security number in such document,

  2  unless required by law.

  3         2.  Any person has a right to request a county recorder

  4  to remove, from an image or copy of an official record placed

  5  on a county recorder's publicly available Internet website or

  6  on a publicly available Internet website used by a county

  7  recorder to display public records or otherwise made

  8  electronically available to the general public, any social

  9  security number contained in an official record.  Such request

10  must be made in writing and delivered by mail, facsimile, or

11  electronic transmission, or delivered in person, to the county

12  recorder. The request must specify the identification page

13  number that contains the social security number to be

14  redacted.  No fee will be charged for the redaction of a

15  social security number pursuant to such a request.

16         (7)  Beginning January 31, 2004, and each January 31

17  thereafter, every agency must file a report with the Secretary

18  of State, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the

19  House of Representatives listing the identity of all

20  commercial entities that have requested social security

21  numbers during the preceding calendar year and the specific

22  purpose or purposes stated by each commercial entity regarding

23  its need for social security numbers. If no disclosure

24  requests were made, the agency shall so indicate.

25         (8)  The Legislature acknowledges that the social

26  security number was never intended to be used for business

27  purposes but was intended to be used solely for the

28  administration of the federal Social Security System. The

29  Legislature is further aware that over time this unique

30  numeric identifier has been used extensively for identity

31  verification purposes and other legitimate consensual


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  1  purposes. The Legislature is also cognizant of the fact that

  2  the social security number can be used as a tool to perpetuate

  3  fraud against a person and to acquire sensitive personal,

  4  financial, medical, and familial information, the release of

  5  which could cause great financial or personal harm to an

  6  individual. The Legislature intends to monitor the commercial

  7  use of social security numbers held by state agencies in order

  8  to maintain a balanced public policy.

  9         (9)  An agency shall not collect an individual's social

10  security number unless authorized by law to do so or unless

11  the collection of the social security number is otherwise

12  imperative for the performance of that agency's duties and

13  responsibilities as prescribed by law. Social security numbers

14  collected by an agency must be relevant to the purpose for

15  which collected and shall not be collected until and unless

16  the need for social security numbers has been clearly

17  documented. An agency that collects social security numbers

18  shall also segregate that number on a separate page from the

19  rest of the record, or as otherwise appropriate, in order that

20  the social security number be more easily redacted, if

21  required, pursuant to a public records request. An agency

22  collecting a person's social security number shall, upon that

23  person's request, at the time of or prior to the actual

24  collection of the social security number by that agency,

25  provide that person with a statement of the purpose or

26  purposes for which the social security number is being

27  collected and used. Social security numbers collected by an

28  agency shall not be used by that agency for any purpose other

29  than the purpose stated. Social security numbers collected by

30  an agency prior to the effective date of this act shall be

31  reviewed for compliance with this subsection. If the


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  1  collection of a social security number prior to the effective

  2  date of this act is found to be unwarranted, the agency shall

  3  immediately discontinue the collection of social security

  4  numbers for that purpose.

  5         (10)  Any affected person may petition the circuit

  6  court for an order directing compliance with this section.

  7         (11)  The provisions of this section do not supersede

  8  any other applicable public records exemptions existing prior

  9  to the effective date of this act or created thereafter.

10         (12)  This section is subject to the Open Government

11  Sunset Review Act of 1995 in accordance with s. 119.15, and

12  shall stand repealed October 2, 2007, unless reviewed and

13  saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.

14         Section 2.  The Legislature finds that it is a public

15  necessity that social security numbers held by an agency be

16  made confidential and exempt from public disclosure because

17  such numbers are of a sensitive personal nature and are often

18  the link to an individual's personal, financial, medical, or

19  familial records. The social security number is the only

20  nationwide, unique numeric form of identification in existence

21  in the United States. Release of a social security number is

22  of concern due to the amount of sensitive personal information

23  which can be acquired by its use. The disclosure of such

24  number can provide access to private information about a

25  person which could be used to perpetrate fraud upon that

26  person or otherwise cause great harm to that person and his or

27  her family. Additionally, public disclosure of the social

28  security number constitutes an unwarranted invasion into the

29  life and personal privacy of a person. Thus, the harm from

30  disclosing such number outweighs any public benefit that can

31  be derived from widespread and unregulated public access to


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  1  such number.  However, responsible commercial use of the

  2  social security number does not result in personal or

  3  financial harm to a person but allows more complete identity

  4  verification, thereby enhancing the mutual benefits of the

  5  commercial relationship. Accordingly, the Legislature finds

  6  that an exception to the exemption for commercial entities is

  7  warranted.

  8         Section 3.  This act shall take effect upon becoming

  9  law.  For purposes of codifying the Florida Statutes 2002, the

10  Division of Statutory Revision of the Office of Legislative

11  Services is directed to substitute the effective date of the

12  Council Substitute for House Bill 1673, First Engrossed, for

13  the language "the effective date of this act" as used in

14  section 119.072(9) and (11), Florida Statutes, as created by

15  section 1 of Council Substitute for House Bill 1673, First

16  Engrossed.

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