Proposed Privacy Protections for Appellate Court Clerks

The Frame

What this does

The bill would have restricted public access to specific personal data of court staff, potentially impacting the ability of the public or media to verify information about these government employees, while intended to mitigate safety risks for those clerks.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

Appellate court clerks

The bill would have allowed them to request the redaction of their personal information from public records.

Public records requesters

The bill would have limited their access to information previously available under public records laws.

What changed

Last recorded activity March 13, 2026.

What's next

Introduced.

Summary

This bill would have shielded the personal information of Florida appellate court clerks, their spouses, and their children from public records requests. It aimed to protect these employees from potential retaliation by litigants by exempting their home addresses, phone numbers, and other identifying details from public disclosure.

Key Facts

You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

What information would have been kept private under this bill?

Home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, photographs, and information about spouses, children, and schools attended by the children of appellate court clerks.

Did this bill become law?

No, the bill died in the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee on March 13, 2026.

Why did the legislature propose this exemption?

The legislature argued that appellate court clerks interact with litigants and may become targets for revenge, necessitating privacy protections for their safety.

Why It Matters

The bill would have restricted public access to specific personal data of court staff, potentially impacting the ability of the public or media to verify information about these government employees, while intended to mitigate safety risks for those clerks.

News Coverage

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Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Expansion of Privacy Exemptions

The bill reflects a broader legislative trend in Florida of creating specific public records exemptions for various categories of government employees and judicial staff.

Florida Legislature