A bill in favor of Florida’s Boxing Commission passed its first hearing today. The bill would allow public records exemptions provided by boxing promoters to the commission. Barbara Peterson, President of the First Amendment Foundation does not like this bill. Not because they don’t want to protect private entities competitive interest. But because they feel the bill doesn’t justify a need for exemptions.
“Well they need to convince us of why they need, why they need to protect this information,” said Peterson.
The bill would exempt the disclosure of the number of ticket sales for a match and the amount of gross receipts after a match. Sponsor and Rep. Travis Hutson (R-Elkton) believes asking for this information is hurting boxing businesses here in Florida.
“Do we really want businesses to enter contracts to have their proprietary information shown to everybody, specifically their sales, and their ticket sales, and their business plans when we don’t ask other businesses to do that. We’re really punishing the businesses that want to come here and the tourism it provides,” said Hutson.
Hutson believes the bills along with others are results of keeping up with the times and says the boxing laws haven’t been changed in nearly 40 years. When contacted the Florida Boxing Commission declined to do a phone interview about the bill. The bill goes next hearing will be done by the Government Operations Subcommittee.