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TALLAHASSEE - A bill aimed at keeping papers from state agencies' incomplete internal investigations out of public view failed to pass the House on Tuesday.
Each state agency has an inspector general's office that does internal investigations of potential wrongdoing and audits the agency's work.
The measure (HB 1691), sponsored by Rep. David Rivera, would create an exemption from the public records law for audit and investigative working papers of inspector general's offices until the audit or investigation was complete and the report became final.
Rivera, R-Miami, said the bill was needed to make sure no one released information from incomplete investigations and compromised them.
Opponents of the bill - including all 39 House Democrats - argued that such an exemption could be used to cover up wrongdoing if the head of an agency ordered an investigation shut down before it was complete.
"If you begin an investigation and it never gets completed, there is no opportunity for anyone to ever understand what went on behind the scenes," said House Democratic Leader Doug Wiles of St. Augustine.
Rivera said the bill had adequate protections for whistle-blowers.
Exemptions to the public records law require a two-thirds vote in the House. The vote was 74-44 in favor of the bill, five votes short of gaining passage among those present.
The idea could get another House vote if the Senate passes a similar bill, Rivera said.