Attorney General of Florida — Opinion
June 16, 1995
RE: RECORDS — TELECOMMUNICATIONS — portion of audit report containing information obtained by city from its audit of telecommunications provider’s records exempt; remainder of audit subject to disclosure. s. 166.231(9), Fla. Stat.
Part of audit w/ info from its telecom. audit exempt;
Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General
Mr. Robert L. Hamilton Orlando City Attorney Post Office Drawer 1151 Orlando, Florida 32802
Dear Mr. Hamilton:
You ask the following question:
Does section 166.231(9)(e), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp.), make the entire audit report confidential and exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Law?
In sum:
Section 166.231(9)(e), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp.), exempts those portions of the audit report that contain information obtained by the municipality during its review of the telecommunications service provider’s records. Any other portion of the audit report not containing confidential or exempt information must be released for public inspection.
Section 166.231(9), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp.), permits the municipality to levy a public service tax on the purchase of telecommunications services as defined in section 203.012, Florida Statutes.[1] However, purchases of local telephone service or other telecommunications service for use in the conduct of a telecommunications service for hire or otherwise for resale are exempt from the tax.
Section 166.231(9)(e), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp.), authorizes a municipality to audit the records of any provider of telecommunications service taxable by the municipality. Each such provider is required to provide to the municipality, upon 60 days’ notice, access to all applicable records for such telecommunications service. In the audit, the telecommunications service provider is liable only for its taxable accounts collected corresponding to the information provided to it by the municipality. Subsection (9)(e), goes on to provide that “any information received by the municipality or its agent is confidential and exempt from the provisions of section 119.07(1).” (e.s.)
An examination of the legislative history surrounding the enactment of this exemption indicates the exemption relates only to information obtained by the municipality while auditing the provider’s applicable records.[2] The exemption, however, refers to “information” and, thus, would appear to apply to information contained in the audit report that was obtained from the municipality’s examination of the provider’s records. In addition, the exemption does not limit its application to a particular type of information obtained but rather encompasses any information obtained by the city from its review of the provider’s records.
Section 119.07(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp.), provides in part:
A person who has custody of a public record and who asserts that an exemption provided . . . in a general or special law applies to a particular public record or part of such record shall delete or excise from the record only that portion of the record with respect to which an exemption has been asserted and validly applies, and such person shall produce the remainder of such record for inspection and examination.
Thus, the statute expressly requires the custodian of a public record containing confidential or exempt material to delete that portion of the record containing such material and to disclose the rest of the record.[3]
Section 166.231(9)(e), Florida Statutes, does not make the entire audit report confidential. Only that information which is received by the city in conducting the audit of the telecommunications service provider is confidential. Accordingly, those portions of the audit report containing information which was obtained by the city from its review of the provider’s records would be exempt from the disclosure provisions of section 119.07(1), Florida Statutes (1994 Supp). Any other portions of the audit report that do not contain such information or other information made confidential or exempt by general or special law must be released for public inspection.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Butterworth Attorney General
RAB/tjw