State: Senate lets public records bill die

TALLAHASSEE -- A controversial state Senate proposal to let police and a single judge close court and police records on a case-by-case basis in the name of fighting terrorism never came up for a vote Monday.

That bill is dead for this session, largely because of resistance from the House.

With the House unwilling to take up the bill to selectively close public records, the Senate saw no reason to make a controversial vote for no reason.

Instead, senators passed with almost unanimous agreement a series of less controversial measures to close records and tighten security.

"The House isn't going to take it up so there's no sense in going out on a limb on that bill. There's no sense in subjecting people to having to vote for it," said Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, sponsor of most of the security bills. "It's a two-house Legislature. And I'm a realist."

Barbara Petersen, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, a non-profit group that usually opposes exemptions in the state's open-government laws, said she was "relieved" by that decision.

Brown-Waite, who is likely to run for a North Suncoast congressional seat next year, said the same laws that make much information accessible to Floridians could also be misused by terrorists. She has described the new exemptions as unfortunate, but necessary, and at one point claimed to quote the legendary CBS News correspondent Edward R. Murrow.

"No one can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices," Brown-Waite said.

Security bills that passed Monday would carve out new exemptions from Florida's public records laws. Senators also declared confidential the security plans of private and public agencies, hospital emergency plans and police agencies' requests for public records.

In addition, they voted to keep secret the amount and locations of Florida's pharmaceutical stockpiles of anti-terrorism vaccines.

But the secrecy provision was narrowed somewhat to keep public the cost to the state, and the governor must annually certify the amount of the vaccines.

Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Palm Harbor, pushed for the narrower exemption and asked why the Legislature would want to "hide from public knowledge our readiness."

Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, cast the only vote against the bill.

The Senate also directed the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to "coordinate and direct" statewide and regional responses to acts of terrorism and directed the Department of Agriculture to adopt formal rules for the licensing of crop-dusting companies.

Senators also expanded law enforcement agencies' ability to use wiretapping in the pursuit of terrorists, and ordered that bail be denied to people charged with acts of terrorism as defined by state law.

The law defines terrorism as "a violent act or an act dangerous to human life which is a violation of the criminal alws of this state or of the United States" or an act intended to "affect the conduct of government through destruction of property, assassination, murder, kidnapping or aircraft piracy."

-- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk