Andrew Powell
Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters has filed new legislation (SB 1266) that aims to further strengthen protections for crime victims by ensuring their personal information remains confidential to reduce the risk of harassment and revictimization.
In March 2024, Florida celebrated five years since enshrining Marsy’s Law into the state constitution. Those provisions created a clear set of rights for crime victims. Marsy’s Law was named after Marsalee Ann Nicholas, a student at the University of California Santa Barbara who was stalked and killed by her ex-boyfriend in 1983.
After her murder, Marsy’s family was confronted by the perpetrator despite receiving no notification from the courts that he had been released on bail. States that have adopted Marsy’s Law into their respective constitutions aim to give crime victims meaningful and enforceable constitutional rights equal to the rights of the accused.
Gruters’ bill states that the Legislature recognizes the critical need to safeguard specific information that could be used to identify or harass crime victims or their families. The measure seeks to ensure that certain public records, routinely generated by any agency dealing with crime victims, are made confidential and exempt from certain Florida Statutes, and Article I of the State Constitution.
The bill aims to block disclosure of personal identifying and location information due to fears that victims and their family members could face threats.
The new measure would revise the existing public records exemption for documents that reveal certain information about victims of crimes. It includes only those records that reveal personal identifying or location information that could be used to locate or harass the victim or their family.
The legislation notes that confidential information must be released as needed for judicial proceedings, and access cannot be denied to criminal defendants. Individuals who are authorized to access the confidential and exempt information during any judicial proceeding must not disclose any such information to external parties, except as reasonably necessary to prepare a defense and pursue legal remedies.
The bill provides criminal penalties for violations including a potential penalty of up to one year in jail. It further provides for a potential repeal of the exemption on Oct. 30, 2030, unless reviewed and saved from repeal through reenactment by the Legislature.
If passed, the bill would come into effect July 1.
