Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a bill that creates a public-records exemption to prevent the release of home addresses and telephone numbers of legislators, members of Congress and numerous other elected officials.
The Legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill (SB 268) in April, with lawmakers saying they have been threatened and harassed and have had people show up at their homes. The records exemption also will apply to the governor, lieutenant governor, state Cabinet members, county commissioners, property appraisers, elections supervisors, school superintendents, school board members, mayors and city commissioners.
It also applies to officials’ family members. Florida law already included public-records exemptions for home addresses and telephone numbers for people such as law-enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, public defenders and tax collectors. The exemptions also generally have applied to those officials’ spouses and children. The bill will take effect Tuesday.
–News Service of Florida
