Bill seeks privacy protections for public defender support staff
Rep. Bill Partington
A Volusia County lawmaker is proposing a public records exemption to shield the personal data of legal assistants who work with Florida’s public defenders and regional conflict counsel.
Republican Rep. Bill Partington, an Ormond Beach attorney, filed HB 181 earlier this month.
The bill defines legal assistants as non-lawyer employees of the public defender or Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel.
Florida’s elected public defenders serve each of the state’s 20 judicial circuits. Lawmakers created CCCRCs in 2007 to enhance efficiency and save taxpayer dollars.
Aligned with Florida’s appellate districts, the regional offices provide attorneys for indigent clients when public defenders face a conflict. Regional counsels also handle civil matters, often guardianship and dependency cases.
The bill would exempt from public records laws such things as the legal assistants’ addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and photographs. It would also protect family members, including a spouse’s workplace and the names and locations of their children’s schools and daycares.
The proposal follows a trend in recent years in which lawmakers have enacted or sought similar public records exemptions for judicial assistants, court clerks and court clerk personnel, appellate court clerks and Judicial Qualifications Commission staff members.
HB 181 contains a statement of public necessity that notes legal assistants regularly interact with criminal defendants. As a result, “legal assistants and their families may incur the ill will of defendants,” and may be “targets of revenge,” the bill states.
“If such identifying and location information is released, the safety of legal assistants and their families could be seriously jeopardized,” the bill states.
HB 181 has no companion. The regular 60-day legislative session convenes January 13.
