With the exception of exactly one vote against it in each chamber of the Florida Legislature, the Florida House and Senate passed a new level of privacy protection for lottery winners in Florida.
The bills, which passed all committees in the House and Senate, have broad bipartisan support. Only state Sen. Ray Rodrigues (R-Lee) and state Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R-Howey-in-the-Hills) voted against the legislation.
The bill says “persons who win valuable lottery prizes have been the targets of violent and nonviolent criminal acts based upon publicly identifying information,” so the Legislature finds it a necessity to provide the public records exemption to protect winners from harm.
Current Florida law makes winners’ street addresses, phone numbers confidential unless the winner agrees to disclose the information, but is released to government entities.
Under the proposed bills, lottery players who win $250,000 or more would have their identities protected for an additional 90 days from when they win the money. Still, government entities would have access to the information for purposes of claiming child support, or performing audits, as necessary.
Should the bills be signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the protection legislation would be in place until 2027, after which it would be subject to examination under state Open Government Sunset Review Act, and up for renewal or expiration.
Due to the nature of the bill and how it would affect public records, the legislation required a two-thirds vote by members for passage, according to Florida statutes. Having passed the House 114-1 and the Senate 37-1, the two-thirds requirement was satisfied.
The lottery winner public exemption law is now on its way to Gov. DeSantis for signing, or veto.
https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/privacy-protections-for-florida-lottery-winners-clears-house-senate/#:~:text=Privacy%20protections%20for%20Florida%20lottery%20winners%20clears%20House%2C%20Senate,-Politics&text=TAMPA%2C%20Fla.,for%20lottery%20winners%20in%20Florida.