Economic Development Agency Records

In AGO 2007-15, the Attorney General discussed the confidentiality provisions relating to records of economic development agencies. The opinion is a straightforward discussion of the exemption found in Fla. Stat. sec. 288.075(2).

In an interesting twist, the Attorney General was asked specifically whether the written request for confidentiality itself was exempt under the statute and whether the statutory confidentiality precluded the agency from citing to the exemption when responding to a public records request. The opinion advises -- correctly, I think -- that the written request for confidentiality may be itself confidential and exempt, if it contains information that the statute is intended to protect, and that the express requirement in Chapter 119 that a records custodian cite to any applicable exemption being relied upon to withhold records from production means that citing to the exemption provision of the statute can't be a violation of the confidentiality requirement.