Police in the middle of official duties would have been exempted from accepting public records requests, if a proposed amendment had gone through to Florida’s public records law. The bill passed two committees but died in the judiciary committee last month.

House Bill 627 would have allowed law enforcement officers to decline to accept a request if they were “actively engaged” in an official duty, such as an investigation or a call for service. The officer would have instead referred the requester to a public records portal or custodian.

Under the proposed amendment, someone who “knowingly and willfully persists in attempting to compel an officer to accept or process a public records request” could have been guilty of resisting an officer without violence, after being warned.

Posted: April 21, 2026
Category: Brechner News
Tagged as: Secrecy Tracker