Senate moves bill to shield appellate court clerks and JQC employees
Sen. Darryl Rouson
The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve separate public records exemptions that sponsors say are necessary to protect Judicial Qualifications Commission staff and appellate court clerks.
The Senate voted 35-3 to approve SB 302, regarding the Judicial Qualifications Commission staff, and 35-2 to approve SB 300, the appellate court clerk bill.
Democratic Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg attorney, sponsored both bills.
Rouson described the Judicial Qualifications Commission as an independent body “charged with investigating and prosecuting allegations of misconduct against judges.”
The JQC routinely receives complaints against judges from litigants who are “dissatisfied with adverse results,” Rouson said.
“The JQC employees who receive and investigate these complaints have experienced online doxing of their personal information, threatening phone calls and emails, and social media intimidation,” Rouson said.
The bill would shield the home addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and photographs of current and former JQC employees, and similar identifying information, including the places of employment of their spouses and children, as well as the schools and daycares their children attend.
SB 302 would “reduce opportunities for out-of-office harassment and intimidation by dissatisfied complainants,” and “provide the same measure of protection” afforded to other justice system partners, such as state attorneys, agency investigators, and inspectors general, Rouson said.
SB 300 merely expands a public records exemption to appellate court clerks that the Legislature extended to trial court clerks and clerk personnel last year, Rouson said.
“Last year, the Legislature enacted a public records exemption for personal information of trial court clerks due to the increasing threats of harm and harassment from litigants and others,” he said.
More specifically, Rouson said, the bill would extend the public records exemption to “clerks of the appellate courts, district courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court, who face similar threats and harassment in their near identical role serving the appellate courts of this state.”
A provision of the bill would repeal the exemption after two years but authorize the individual to receive a two-year extension, “if the individual remains employed as a clerk of the court, or a clerk personnel,” he said.
The fate of both bills is uncertain.
HB 155, a companion to SB 302, cleared the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee last month, but was not heard by the House Government Operations Subcommittee, nor House Judiciary.
HB 372, a companion to SB 300, also cleared the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee last month but failed to receive hearings in the same two House panels.
The 60-day legislative session is scheduled to end May 2.
