Florida SB 268: Public Records/Public Guardians/Employees with Fiduciary Responsibility

Bill Text

268 
Public Records/Emergency Department Physicians 
2026-02-03T09:02:23Z 
Defining the term “emergency department physician”; providing exemptions from public records requirements for the personal identifying and location information of current emergency department physicians and the spouses and certain children of such emergency department physicians; requiring certain agencies that are custodians of the exempt information to maintain the exempt status of such information under certain circumstances; providing for future legislative review and repeal of the exemption; providing a statement of public necessity, etc. 
Committee Substitute 1 
2026 
S 
2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
GB 
General Bill 
c1 

 Florida Senate - 2026 CS for SB 268 

 By the Committee on Health Policy; and Senators Rodriguez and 
 Harrell 

 588-02409-26 2026268c1 
 1 A bill to be entitled 
 2 An act relating to public records; amending s. 
 3 119.071, F.S.; defining the term “emergency department 
 4 physician”; providing exemptions from public records 
 5 requirements for the personal identifying and location 
 6 information of current emergency department physicians 
 7 and the spouses and certain children of such emergency 
 8 department physicians; providing for retroactive 
 9 application of the exemption; requiring certain 
 10 agencies that are custodians of the exempt information 
 11 to maintain the exempt status of such information 
 12 under certain circumstances; specifying procedures for 
 13 requesting an agency to maintain the exempt status of 
 14 such information; providing that an individual has a 
 15 duty to withdraw a request if the exemption no longer 
 16 applies to him or her; requiring custodial agencies to 
 17 maintain the exempt status of such information until 
 18 the exemption no longer applies to the individual; 
 19 providing for future legislative review and repeal of 
 20 the exemption; providing a statement of public 
 21 necessity; providing an effective date. 
 22 
 23 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 24 
 25 Section 1. Paragraph (l) is added to subsection (5) of 
 26 section 119.071, Florida Statutes, to read: 
 27 119.071 General exemptions from inspection or copying of 
 28 public records.— 
 29 (5) OTHER PERSONAL INFORMATION.— 
 30 (l)1. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “emergency 
 31 department physician” means a physician licensed under chapter 
 32 458 or chapter 459 whose duties are performed in a hospital 
 33 emergency department licensed under chapter 395. 
 34 2. The home addresses, personal telephone numbers, and 
 35 dates of birth of current emergency department physicians; the 
 36 names, home addresses, personal telephone numbers, dates of 
 37 birth, and places of employment of the spouses and children 
 38 younger than 26 years of age of such emergency department 
 39 physicians; and the names and locations of schools and day care 
 40 facilities attended by the children younger than 26 years of age 
 41 of such emergency department physicians are exempt from s. 
 42 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. 
 43 3. The exemption in subparagraph 2. applies to information 
 44 held by an agency before, on, or after the effective date of the 
 45 exemption. 
 46 4. An agency that is the custodian of information specified 
 47 in subparagraph 2. and that is not the employer of the emergency 
 48 department physician must maintain the exempt status of that 
 49 information only if the individual requests the maintenance of 
 50 an exemption under subparagraph 2. on the basis of eligibility 
 51 as a current emergency department physician or the spouse or 
 52 child of such emergency department physician and the individual 
 53 submits a written and notarized request for maintenance of the 
 54 exemption to the custodial agency. The request must state under 
 55 oath the statutory basis for the individual’s exemption request 
 56 and confirm the individual’s eligibility for the exemption. An 
 57 individual who has submitted such a request has a duty to 
 58 withdraw the request if the exemption no longer applies to the 
 59 individual. If a custodial agency receives a request meeting the 
 60 requirements of this subparagraph, the custodial agency must 
 61 maintain the exempt status of such information applicable to the 
 62 individual until the qualifying conditions for the exemption 
 63 under subparagraph 2. no longer apply to the individual subject 
 64 to the exemption. 
 65 5. This paragraph is subject to the Open Government Sunset 
 66 Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand repealed 
 67 on October 2, 2031, unless reviewed and saved from repeal 
 68 through reenactment by the Legislature. 
 69 Section 2. The Legislature finds that it is a public 
 70 necessity that the home addresses, personal telephone numbers, 
 71 and dates of birth of current emergency department physicians; 
 72 the names, home addresses, pe