Florida 2022 Regular Session

Florida House Bill H1483 Latest Draft

Bill / Introduced Version Filed 01/10/2022

                               
 
HB 1483  	2022 
 
 
 
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A bill to be entitled 1 
An act relating to public records; amending s. 2 
943.0517, F.S.; providing that expunged criminal 3 
history records of juveniles and certain information 4 
concerning such records are confidential and exempt 5 
from s. 119.07(1), F.S., and s. 24(a), Art. I of the 6 
State Constitution; providing for future legislative 7 
review and repeal of the exemption; providing a 8 
statement of public necessity; providing a conting ent 9 
effective date. 10 
 11 
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 12 
 13 
 Section 1.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (6) of section 14 
943.0517, Florida Statutes, as created by HB 1481, is amended, 15 
and paragraph (d) is added to that subsection, to r ead: 16 
 943.0517  Expunction of records for offenders under the age 17 
of 18 at the time of commission of certain offenses upon 18 
completion of the sentence. — 19 
 (6)(a)  Any criminal history record which is ordered 20 
expunged by a court of competent jurisdiction purs uant to this 21 
section must be physically destroyed or obliterated by any 22 
criminal justice agency having custody of such record, except 23 
that any criminal history record in the custody of the 24 
department must be retained in all cases. A criminal history 25     
 
HB 1483  	2022 
 
 
 
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record ordered expunged which is retained by the department is 26 
confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I 27 
of the State Constitution and not available to any person or 28 
entity except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction. A 29 
criminal justice agency may retain a notation indicating 30 
compliance with an order to expunge. The public records 31 
exemption in this paragraph is subject to the Open Government 32 
Sunset Review Act in accordance with s. 119.15 and shall stand 33 
repealed on October 2, 2027, unless reviewed and saved from 34 
repeal through reenactment by the Legislature. 35 
 (d)  Information relating to the existence of an expunged 36 
criminal history record which is provided in accordance with 37 
paragraph (a) is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1 ) and 38 
s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution, except that the 39 
department shall disclose the existence of a criminal history 40 
record ordered expunged to the entities set forth in 41 
subparagraphs (b)1. and 4. -8. for their respective licensing, 42 
access authorization, and employment purposes and to criminal 43 
justice agencies for their respective criminal justice purposes. 44 
It is unlawful for any employee of an entity set forth in 45 
subparagraph (b)1., subparagraph (b)4., subparagraph (b)5., 46 
subparagraph (b)6., subp aragraph (b)7., or subparagraph (b)8. to 47 
disclose information relating to the existence of an expunged 48 
criminal history record of a person seeking employment, access 49 
authorization, or licensure with such entity or contractor, 50     
 
HB 1483  	2022 
 
 
 
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except to the person to whom t he criminal history record relates 51 
or to persons having direct responsibility for employment, 52 
access authorization, or licensure decisions. This paragraph is 53 
subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act in accordance 54 
with s. 119.15 and shall stand repe aled on October 2, 2027, 55 
unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the 56 
Legislature. 57 
 Section 2.  The Legislature finds that it is a public 58 
necessity that the criminal history records of juveniles for 59 
offenses that were committed when t hey were under age 18 that 60 
have been expunged be made confidential and exempt from s. 61 
119.07(1), Florida Statutes, and s. 24(a), Article I of the 62 
State Constitution under ss. 985.04 and 943.053, Florida 63 
Statutes. The presence of an arrest or a criminal rec ord in 64 
these individuals' juvenile past and certain criminal history 65 
information relating to a juvenile creates an unnecessary 66 
barrier to becoming productive members of society, thus 67 
frustrating the rehabilitative purpose of the juvenile system. 68 
The Legislature therefore finds that it is in the best interest 69 
of the public that individuals with juvenile records are given 70 
the opportunity to become contributing members of society. 71 
Therefore, prohibiting the unfettered release of information 72 
concerning juveniles whose offenses have been expunged is of 73 
greater importance than any public benefit that may be derived 74 
from the full disclosure and release of such arrest records and 75     
 
HB 1483  	2022 
 
 
 
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information. 76 
 Section 3.  This act shall take effect on the same date 77 
that HB 1481 or similar legislation takes effect , if such 78 
legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an 79 
extension thereof and becomes a law. 80