202.195 Proprietary confidential business information; public records exemption. - Florida Statutes

202.195 Proprietary confidential business information; public records exemption.

   (1) Proprietary confidential business information obtained from a telecommunications company or franchised cable company for the purposes of imposing fees for occupying the public rights-of-way, assessing the local communications services tax pursuant to s. 202.19, or regulating the public rights-of-way, held by a local governmental entity, is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Such proprietary confidential business information held by a local governmental entity may be used only for the purposes of imposing such fees, assessing such tax, or regulating such rights-of-way, and may not be used for any other purposes, including, but not limited to, commercial or competitive purposes.

   (2) For the purposes of this exemption, “proprietary confidential business information” includes maps, plans, billing and payment records, trade secrets, or other information relating to the provision of or facilities for communications service:

   (a) That is intended to be and is treated by the company as confidential;

   (b) The disclosure of which would be reasonably likely to be used by a competitor to harm the business interests of the company; and

   (c) That is not otherwise readily ascertainable or publicly available by proper means by other persons from another source in the same configuration as requested by the local governmental entity.

Proprietary confidential business information does not include schematics indicating the location of facilities for a specific site that are provided in the normal course of the local governmental entity’s permitting process.

   (3) Nothing in this exemption expands the information or documentation that a local governmental entity may properly request under applicable law pursuant to the imposition of fees for occupying the rights-of-way, the local communication services tax, or the regulation of its public rights-of-way.

   (4) Maps, plans, schematics, diagrams, or other engineering data held by a local governmental entity that relate to the exact location and capacity of facilities for the provision of communications services by such entity are exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. Such information is exempt only for a period of 60 days after completion of the construction of the communications services facilities.

History. s. 1, ch. 2000-322; s. 1, ch. 2005-37.