Bill Text: FL S0876 | 2014 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Motor Vehicle Crash Reports

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-28 - Laid on Table, companion bill(s) passed, see CS/HB 863 (Ch. 2014-212), CS/CS/CS/HB 865 (Ch. 2014-213) [S0876 Detail]

Download: Florida-2014-S0876-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2014                              CS for SB 876
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Galvano
       
       
       
       
       
       596-02559-14                                           2014876c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to motor vehicle crash reports;
    3         amending s. 316.066, F.S.; requiring a statement to be
    4         completed and sworn to for each confidential crash
    5         report requested within a certain time period;
    6         providing an effective date.
    7          
    8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    9  
   10         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 316.066, Florida
   11  Statutes, is amended to read:
   12         316.066 Written reports of crashes.—
   13         (2)(a) Crash reports that reveal the identity, home or
   14  employment telephone number or home or employment address of, or
   15  other personal information concerning the parties involved in
   16  the crash and that are held by any agency that regularly
   17  receives or prepares information from or concerning the parties
   18  to motor vehicle crashes are confidential and exempt from s.
   19  119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution for a
   20  period of 60 days after the date the report is filed.
   21         (b) Crash reports held by an agency under paragraph (a) may
   22  be made immediately available to the parties involved in the
   23  crash, their legal representatives, their licensed insurance
   24  agents, their insurers or insurers to which they have applied
   25  for coverage, persons under contract with such insurers to
   26  provide claims or underwriting information, prosecutorial
   27  authorities, law enforcement agencies, the Department of
   28  Transportation, county traffic operations, victim services
   29  programs, radio and television stations licensed by the Federal
   30  Communications Commission, newspapers qualified to publish legal
   31  notices under ss. 50.011 and 50.031, and free newspapers of
   32  general circulation, published once a week or more often,
   33  available and of interest to the public generally for the
   34  dissemination of news. For the purposes of this section, the
   35  following products or publications are not newspapers as
   36  referred to in this section: those intended primarily for
   37  members of a particular profession or occupational group; those
   38  with the primary purpose of distributing advertising; and those
   39  with the primary purpose of publishing names and other personal
   40  identifying information concerning parties to motor vehicle
   41  crashes.
   42         (c) Any local, state, or federal agency that is authorized
   43  to have access to crash reports by any provision of law shall be
   44  granted such access in the furtherance of the agency’s statutory
   45  duties.
   46         (d) As a condition precedent to accessing a crash report
   47  within 60 days after the date the report is filed, a person must
   48  present a valid driver license or other photographic
   49  identification, proof of status, or identification that
   50  demonstrates his or her qualifications to access that
   51  information, and file a written sworn statement with the state
   52  or local agency in possession of the information stating that
   53  information from a crash report made confidential and exempt by
   54  this section will not be used for any commercial solicitation of
   55  accident victims, or knowingly disclosed to any third party for
   56  the purpose of such solicitation, during the period of time that
   57  the information remains confidential and exempt. Such written
   58  sworn statement must be completed and sworn to by the requesting
   59  party for each individual crash report that is being requested
   60  within 60 days after the report is filed. In lieu of requiring
   61  the written sworn statement, an agency may provide crash reports
   62  by electronic means to third-party vendors under contract with
   63  one or more insurers, but only when such contract states that
   64  information from a crash report made confidential and exempt by
   65  this section will not be used for any commercial solicitation of
   66  accident victims by the vendors, or knowingly disclosed by the
   67  vendors to any third party for the purpose of such solicitation,
   68  during the period of time that the information remains
   69  confidential and exempt, and only when a copy of such contract
   70  is furnished to the agency as proof of the vendor’s claimed
   71  status.
   72         (e) This subsection does not prevent the dissemination or
   73  publication of news to the general public by any legitimate
   74  media entitled to access confidential and exempt information
   75  pursuant to this section.
   76         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.