IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE – 2024 LEGISLATION. (2024)

In response to recent legislation, The Florida Bar's Criminal Procedure Rules Committee has filed a “fast-track” report proposing amendments to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220 (Discovery).¹ The Executive Committee of The Florida Bar's Board of Governors unanimously approved the Committee's proposal. The Committee did not publish its proposal before filing it with the Court.

After considering the Committee's proposal and the relevant legislation, we amend the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure as proposed by the Committee. The more significant revisions are discussed below.

We amend rule 3.220(b)(1) to include property and material that “constitutes generated child pornography” to the list of discovery materials that cannot “be copied, photographed, duplicated, or otherwise reproduced.” This change is consistent with the recent adoption of section 827.072, Florida Statutes (2024), and related amendments to section 92.561, Florida Statutes (2023), both of which went into effect July 1, 2024. See ch. 2024-118, §§ 2-4, Laws of Fla.

Accordingly, the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure are amended as reflected in the appendix to this opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions are indicated by struck-through type. The amendments shall become effective immediately. Because the amendments were not published for comment prior to their adoption, interested persons shall have 75 days from the date of this opinion in which to file comments with the Court.²

It is so ordered.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES

1.   We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; see also Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(e).

2.   All comments must be filed with the Court on or before November 12, 2024, with a certificate of service verifying that a copy has been served on the Committee Chair, Honorable Laura E. Ward, Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, 800 East Twiggs Street, Suite 526, Tampa, Florida 33602, wardle@fljud13.org, and on the Bar Staff Liaison to the Committee, Michael Hodges, 651 East Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300, rules@floridabar.org, as well as a separate request for oral argument if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral argument, which may be scheduled in this case. The Committee Chair has until December 3, 2024, to file a response to any comments filed with the Court. If filed by an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal). If filed by a nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to practice in Florida, the comment may be, but is not required to be, filed via the Portal. Any person unable to submit a comment electronically must mail or hand-deliver the originally signed comment to the Florida Supreme Court, Office of the Clerk, 500 South Duval Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1927.

PER CURIAM.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.