Section 472.0131(5), F.S. Meetings and records of meetings of any member of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or of the Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers held for the exclusive purpose of creating or reviewing licensure examination questions or proposed examination questions are confidential and exempt; however, the exemption does not affect the right of a person to review an examination as provided in subsection (3). Section 472.0201(1) and (2), F.S. All information required by the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of any applicant shall be a public record and open to public inspection except financial information, medical information, school transcripts, examination questions, answers, papers, grades, and grading keys, which are confidential and exempt and shall not be discussed with or made accessible to anyone except as provided therein. Any information supplied to the department by any other agency which is exempt from Ch. 119 or is confidential shall remain exempt or confidential pursuant to applicable law while in the custody of the department. Examination questions and answers provided by the department to an administrative law judge in an administrative hearing are confidential and exempt unless invalidated by the administrative law judge. Section 472.02011, F.S. An officer, employee, or person under contract with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services or the Board of Professional Surveyors and Mappers, or any subject of an investigation may not convey knowledge or information to any person who is not lawfully entitled to such knowledge or information about any public meeting or public record, which at the time such knowledge or information is conveyed is exempt from disclosure. Section 472.033(2), (4), and (10), F.S. For cases involving a complaint to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services that are dismissed before a finding of probable cause, the report of the department is confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1). All proceedings of the probable cause panel are exempt from s. 286.011 until 10 days after probable cause has been found to exist by the panel or until the subject of the investigation waives his or her privilege of confidentiality. The complaint and all information obtained pursuant to the investigation by the department are confidential and exempt from s. 119.07(1) until 10 days after probable cause has been found to exist by the probable cause panel or by the department, or until the regulated professional or subject of the investigation waives his or her privilege of confidentiality, whichever occurs first. However, the exemption does not apply to actions against unlicensed persons pursuant to s. 472.036. (Florida Office of the Attorney General // © March 9, 2023)
