Florida Senate - 2024 SB 920



By Senator Polsky





30-00856-24 2024920__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to electronic harassment; creating s.
3 784.0491, F.S.; defining terms; authorizing a person
4 to bring a civil action against another person if the
5 actor intentionally posts another person’s personal
6 identifying information without consent of the person
7 whose information is posted and if certain criteria
8 are met; authorizing a victim to recover damages and
9 any other appropriate relief, including reasonable
10 attorney fees; providing for joint and several
11 liability; authorizing injunctive relief; providing
12 applicability and construction; providing for
13 jurisdiction and severability; providing for liberal
14 construction and application; providing an effective
15 date.
16
17 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
18
19 Section 1. Section 784.0491, Florida Statutes, is created
20 to read:
21 784.0491 Electronic harassment.—
22 (1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term:
23 (a) “Close relation” means a current or former spouse or
24 domestic partner, a parent, a child, a sibling, a stepchild, a
25 stepparent, a grandparent, any person who regularly resides in
26 the household or who within the prior 6 months regularly resided
27 in the household, or any person with a significant personal or
28 professional relationship.
29 (b) “Course of conduct” means a pattern of conduct composed
30 of two or more acts, evidencing a continuity of purpose.
31 (c) “Electronic communication” means any transfer of signs,
32 signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any
33 nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,
34 electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photooptical system that
35 affects interstate or foreign commerce.
36 (d) “Mental anguish” means emotional distress or emotional
37 suffering as evidenced by anxiety, fear, torment, or
38 apprehension that may or may not result in a physical
39 manifestation of mental anguish or a mental health diagnosis.
40 The mental anguish must be protracted and not merely trivial or
41 transitory.
42 (e) “Personal identifying information” means any
43 information that can be used to distinguish or trace a person’s
44 identity, such as a name, a prior legal name, an alias, a
45 mother’s maiden name, or a date or place of birth in combination
46 with any other information that is linked or linkable to the
47 person, including, but not limited to:
48 1. A social security number, a home address, a phone
49 number, or biometric data;
50 2. Medical, financial, education, consumer, or employment
51 information, data, or records;
52 3. Any other sensitive personal information that is linked
53 or linkable to a specific identifiable person, such as gender
54 identity, sexual orientation, or any sexually intimate visual
55 depiction; or
56 4. Any information that provides access to a person’s
57 teleconferencing, video-teleconferencing, or other digital
58 meeting room.
59 (f) “Post” means to circulate, deliver, distribute,
60 disseminate, transmit, or otherwise make available to two or
61 more persons through electronic communication.
62 (g) “Publish” means to circulate, deliver, distribute,
63 disseminate, transmit, or otherwise make available to another
64 person or persons.
65 (h) “Regularly resides” means residing in the household
66 with some permanency or regular frequency in the living
67 arrangement.
68 (i) “Stalk” or “stalking” means to knowingly or
69 intentionally engage in a course of conduct, without a
70 legitimate purpose, directed at or concerning a specific person
71 that would cause a reasonable person to fear for his or her
72 safety or the safety of a close relation or to suffer
73 substantial emotional distress.
74 (j) “Substantial life disruption” means that a person
75 significantly modifies his or her actions or routines in an
76 attempt to avoid the actor or because of the actor’s course of
77 conduct, such as changing a phone number, changing an electronic
78 mail address, deleting personal electronic accounts,
79 significantly decreasing use of the Internet, moving from an
80 established residence, changing daily routines, changing routes
81 to and from work, changing employment or a work schedule, or
82 losing time from work or a job.
83 (2) OFFENSE.—A person may bring a civil action against
84 another person if the actor intentionally posts another person’s
85 personal identifying information without consent of the person
86 whose information is posted, and:
87 (a) The information is posted with the intent to harm or
88 harass the person and with the knowledge or reckless disregard
89 that the person whose information is posted would be reasonably
90 likely to suffer death, bodily injury, or stalking; and
91 (b) The posting of the personal identifying information
92 causes the person whose information is posted to suffer
93 significant economic injury, mental anguish, or to fear serious
94 bodily injury or death for oneself or for a close relation to
95 him or her, or to suffer a substantial life disruption.
96 (3) CIVIL ACTION; JOINT AND SEVERAL LIABILITY.—
97 (a) Civil action.—An individual who is a victim of an
98 offense specified under subsection (2) may bring a civil action
99 against the person who committed the offense or against any
100 person who knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving
101 anything of value, from participation in a venture that the
102 person knew or should have known was in violation of this
103 section. The victim may recover damages and any other
104 appropriate relief, including reasonable attorney fees.
105 (b) Joint and several liability.—An individual who is found
106 liable under this subsection is jointly and severally liable
107 with each other person, if any, who is found liable under this
108 subsection for all damages arising from the same violation of
109 this section.
110 (4) INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.—A court in which a suit is brought
111 under this section may, upon the motion of a party, issue a
112 temporary restraining order or a temporary or permanent
113 injunction to restrain and prevent the disclosure or the
114 continued disclosure of a party’s personal identifying
115 information.
116 (5) APPLICABILITY; CONSTRUCTION.—
117 (a) Applicability.—It is not a violation of this section
118 for a person to:
119 1. Provide a person’s personal identifying information in
120 connection with the reporting of criminal activity to an
121 employee of a law enforcement agency or with any lawfully
122 authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity
123 of any law enforcement agency or of an intelligence agency of
124 the United States and the person making the report reasonably
125 believes it is true;
126 2. Provide a person’s personal identifying information in
127 connection with a lawful and constitutionally protected activity
128 as it pertains to speech, assembly, or petition; or
129 3. Disseminate a person’s personal identifying information
130 for the purpose of, or in connection with, the reporting of
131 conduct reasonably believed to be unlawful.
132 (b) Construction.—This section may not be construed to:
133 1. Conflict with 47 U.S.C. s. 230 of the Communication
134 Decency Act;
135 2. Conflict with 42 U.S.C. s. 1983 of the Civil Rights Act;
136 or
137 3. Prohibit any activity protected under the United States
138 Constitution or the State Constitution.
139 (6) JURISDICTION.—A civil action may be brought in any
140 county in which an element of the offense occurred, or in which
141 a person resides who is the subject of the personal identifying
142 information that was posted as an element of the offense.
143 (7) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this section as now
144 or later amended or its application to any person or
145 circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect
146 other provisions or applications of this section which can be
147 given effect without the invalid provision or application, and
148 to this end the provisions of this section are severable.
149 (8) CONSTITUTIONALITY.—The Legislature does not intend, nor
150 does this section allow, civil actions to be brought forward for
151 constitutionally protected activity.
152 (9) LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION AND APPLICATION.—This section must
153 be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying
154 purpose to protect persons from becoming, and provide adequate
155 remedies to, victims.
156 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.