Florida Senate OKs bill to shield Gov. DeSantis’ travel and visitor records from public: report

The Florida state Senate on Wednesday advanced a measure that would shield travel records of the governor and other state officials, Orlando Weekly reports.

SB 1616 would also withhold names of some guests at the governor’s mansion from the public.

The measure passed the state Senate by a 28-12 margin Wednesday, but still needs House approval.

Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Republican who sponsored the bill, said the measure will clarify a public-records exemption for surveillance and security that already exists.

“The governor's political life and private life are under a microscope, so there's an inordinate amount of public-information requests that the FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) has to sort through and figure out how they're going to provide the information,” Martin said.

Democrats sought a provision that would have opened records about the governor’s travels a month after concluding the trips.

Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat, argued that the bill will make it easier for DeSantis to elude scrutiny, noting that his office already “stonewalls” public-records requests.

“He lives in a government building. He gets government-paid transportation. He is supposedly running for president all over the country,” Polsky said.

“We should be able to see if he is flying on our dime or a donor’s dime.”