The Florida Senate on Wednesday approved a controversial measure that would shield travel records of the governor and other state leaders.
The proposal also would withhold from the public names of certain guests at the governor’s mansion.
The Senate voted 28-12 to pass the measure (SB 1616), which would create a public-records exemption for information held by law-enforcement agencies related to “security or transportation services” provided to the governor, the governor’s immediate family, the lieutenant governor, Cabinet members, the House speaker, the Senate president and the chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court.
The exemption also would apply to other people if requested by the governor or other state leaders for security reasons.
The exemption would apply to trips already taken.
The bill also would prevent disclosure of information related to mansion security operations, including information about screenings and clearances of people visiting the mansion on non-government issues.
Bill sponsor Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, said the bill “clarifies” an existing public-records exemption about surveillance and security measures.
“The governor's political life and private life are under a microscope, so there's an inordinate amount of public-information requests that the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) has to sort through and figure out how they're going to provide the information,” Martin said.
“So, this streamlines their process.”
Democrats...
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (WSMV) - A Tennessee doctor has pleaded guilty to committing millions of dollars’ worth of Medicare fraud through her Brentwood optometry practice. Helen Boerman, 48, pleaded guilt...