Franklin County, FL Privacy & Surveillance: Recording & Consent Laws (2026)
Key Facts
- Adopting ordinance
- Ord. No. 2024-03 (5-21-24)
- Exempt location
- Commission meeting room during noticed public meetings
- Consent required
- Every person whose voice or image is recorded
- Non-compliance result
- Treated as trespasser, removable by law enforcement
- Covers
- County offices and all five constitutional officers' facilities
Summary
Franklin County bars recording video or sound inside any county-owned, controlled or leased building without the consent of everyone whose voice or image is captured. The only carve-out is the commission meeting room, conference rooms or other spaces during a publicly noticed meeting; refusing to stop recording elsewhere is treated as trespassing.
Except within the county commission meeting room, conference room or other locations in which a public meeting is being conducted pursuant to a public notice issued by county government, it shall be unlawful and violation of this ordinance to record video and/or sound within county owned, controlled or leased property without the consent of all persons whose voice or image is being recorded.
Full Breakdown
5, Article VI, 'County-Owned, Controlled, Leased Facilities,' added by Ord. No. 5-75, splits county buildings into three access categories: designated public forum (the county commission meeting room at 34 Forbes Street, Apalachicola, plus conference rooms during a noticed public hearing), limited designated public forum (areas open only to people conducting legitimate business with county staff) and non-public forum (employee work areas). Subsection (4) makes it unlawful, everywhere in county-owned, controlled or leased property except during a duly noticed public meeting in the commission room or a conference room, to record video or sound without the consent of every person whose voice or image is captured.
Subsection (9)(k) separately lists unconsented audio or video recording as prohibited conduct inside any such facility. 09. The rule reaches the county's five constitutional officers' facilities as well as commission offices, since 'county government' is defined by cross-reference to Article VIII, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution to include those officers.
Violations & Fines
Recording without consent outside a noticed public meeting violates the ordinance itself under § 5.5-75(4); continuing after a warning converts the person into an unauthorized trespasser. The county coordinator or a designee may verbally order the person to leave, and law enforcement may issue a trespass warning notice or enforce removal under F.S. §§ 810.08-.09, exposing a non-complying recorder to trespass charges.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I legally record video in the Franklin County courthouse annex?
What happens if I keep filming after a county employee tells me to stop?
Does the recording rule apply during a Board of County Commissioners meeting?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Franklin County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Franklin County to another location·View the Florida privacy & surveillance overview
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