FL S0416

Photographs, video, and audio recordings depicting or recording a person's killing are made confidential and exempt from public records requirements, with limited exceptions for immediate family members (surviving spouse, then parents, then adult children).

Surviving relatives with authority to access these records may designate other persons to view, copy, or publish them, and governmental entities may access them for official duties under written request with the deceased's identity remaining confidential.

Courts may issue orders allowing access to such recordings upon showing of good cause, considering whether disclosure is necessary for public evaluation of governmental performance, the intrusiveness to family privacy, and availability of similar information in other public records.

Surviving spouses must be given reasonable notice of petitions to access recordings and opportunity to be present and heard at court hearings; notice goes to parents if no surviving spouse, or adult children if no living parents.

Willful violations by custodians or of court orders are felonies of the third degree; criminal and administrative proceedings are exempt from this restriction; the exemption applies retroactively to all recordings regardless of when the killing occurred and is subject to repeal on October 2, 2016 unless reenacted by the Legislature.