Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution establishes a constitutional right of access to public records made or received in connection with official business, except for records for which a specific exemption exists. Section 119.07, Florida Statutes, effectuates this constitutional right, and ensures that state government and the Florida Board of Professional Engineers, which also falls under this requirement, is open and transparent, and that the public has access to non-exempt official records and information in its possession. At the same time, both state and federal laws provide exceptions that serve various needs, including the privacy of individuals.
Information collected at the FBPE site becomes a public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by members of the public, unless an exemption in law exists. The listing of Florida’s Professional Engineers contains the licensees’ email addresses, and no public records exemption exists for email addresses. The list for engineering companies and engineer interns does not contain email addresses. Professional Engineers are not licensed by discipline in Florida, so a list of Florida licensees will not contain the area of practice for engineers.
The public records laws in Florida place no restrictions on the commercial use of information provided in response to a public records request, including use of Board compiled listings of Florida licensees and their contact information, including email addresses. The Florida Board of Professional Engineers in no way endorses or sanctions the use of information obtained through a public records request in any way, whether for sales, marketing, surveying or polling, or other activities.