Florida HB 181: Pub. Rec./ Pawnbroker Transactions

Bill Text

CS/HB 181 2026

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb181-01-c1
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to public records; amending s. 2
539.003, F.S.; providing an exemption from public 3
records requirements for records relating to 4
pawnbroker transactions that are delivered to the 5
Department of Law Enforcement; providing for future 6
legislative review and repeal of the exemption; 7
providing a statement of public necessity; providing a 8
contingent effective date. 9
10
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 11
12
Section 1. Section 539.003, Florida Statutes, is amended 13
to read: 14
539.003 Confidentiality.—All records relating to 15
pawnbroker transactions delivered to appropriate law enforcement 16
officials and the Department of Law Enforcement pursuant to s. 17
539.001 are confidential and exempt from the provisions of s. 18
119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution and may 19
be used only for official law enforcement purposes. This section 20
does not prohibit the disclosure by the appropriate law 21
enforcement officials or the Department of Law Enforcement of 22
the name and address of the pawnbroker, the name and address of 23
the conveying customer, or a description of pawned property to 24
the alleged owner of pawned property. 25

CS/HB 181 2026

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb181-01-c1
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

Section 2. The amendments to s. 539.003, Florida Statutes, 26
made by this act are subject to the Open Government Sunset 27
Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15, Florida Statutes, and 28
shall stand repealed on October 2, 2031, unless reviewed and 29
saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature. If 30
such amendments are not saved from repeal, the text of s. 31
539.003, Florida Statutes, shall revert to that in existence on 32
June 30, 2026, except that any amendments to such text enacted 33
other than by this act shall be preserved and continue to 34
operate to the extent that such amendments are not dependent 35
upon the portions of text which expire pursuant to this section. 36
Section 3. The Legislature finds that it is a public 37
necessity that records related to pawnbroker transactions that 38
are delivered to the Department of Law Enforcement be made 39
confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and 40
s. 24(a), Article I of the State Constitution. The Legislature 41
previously found that identical records related to pawnbroker 42
transactions which are delivered to appropriate law enforcement 43
officials under s. 539.001, Florida Statutes, contain 44
information of a sensitive and personal nature to the pledgor or 45
seller of pledged goods and thus made such records confidential 46
and exempt from disclosure under s. 539.003, Florida Statutes. 47
The Legislature finds that requiring pawnbroker transaction 48
records to be delivered to the Department of Law Enforcement 49
does not change the sensitive and personal nature of such 50

CS/HB 181 2026

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
hb181-01-c1
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S

records and, therefore, finds that such records must be made 51
confidential and exempt from public records requirements. 52
Section 4. This act shall take effect on the same date 53
that HB 1345 or similar legislation takes effect, if such 54
legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an 55
extension thereof and becomes a law. 56