Politics
Peggy Gossett-Seidman files bill to ban for-profit access to DMV records, end ‘shadow rating’
Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman wants to end Florida’s controversial and highly profitable practice of selling drivers’ personal information to private companies without their consent.
This month, she filed HB 357, which would shut down a long-running data-sharing system within the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DMV) that has quietly sold driver’s license and ID card information to private data brokers, insurance analytics companies and foreign-owned firms.
The legislation would ban all commercial sales of Florida driver data, block foreign and foreign-owned companies from accessing DMV records and require written consent before any disclosure to non-law-enforcement entities.
Information shared has included license holders’ names, photos, license numbers, birth dates, addresses, driving history, organ donor status and emergency contact information, among other details.
A major target of the bill is the use of personal DMV data in “shadow rating,” an unregulated process in which insurers purchase demographic and behavioral information to build private risk-scoring models that can drive up premiums for safe drivers based on ZIP codes, income indicators, vehicle profiles and other non-driving factors.
Research from the Consumer Federation of America shows how the use of non-driving data can sharply inflate insurance rates, even for motorists with clean records. HB 357, if passed, would prohibit these practices by banning third-party risk scoring, profiling and marketing, and requiring insurers to rely only on verified driving records.
The bill, if approved, would effectively kill a lucrative data marketplace in Florida that Gossett-Seidman’s Office says has generated more than $490 million since 2013, more than half of which came between 2021 and 2023.
It’s a widespread issue and hardly unique to the Sunshine State, according to prior reporting by VICE, Newsweek and InvestigateTV, the latter of which found that across 23 states that provided detailed records for 2024, at least $282 million was collected in exchange for DMV data.
“Floridians are required by law to provide their personal information to the DMV, and it is our responsibility to ensure that information is never misused,” Gossett-Seidman said in a statement. “The State of Florida is not in the business of selling your personal information. Under my bill, it never will be again.”
Gossett-Seidman, a Highland Beach Republican who worked for decades as a journalist, said that in the past few years, she’s heard from residents whose identities had been compromised shortly after they renewed their driver’s licenses. Others, she said, found their mailboxes “stuffed with attorney advertisements after minor citations, or had marketers show up at their doors.”
“For years, this system operated without public awareness,” she said. “Even high-ranking state officials were not fully informed.”
Take U.S. Rep. Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s immediate past Chief Financial Officer, whom Gossett-Seidman said privately confirmed to her that he was never told that ID holders’ information was being sold at a massive scale.
Patronis, she said, called the practice “horrible” and urged her to “blow it up.”
A press note from Gossett-Seidman’s Office predicts HB 357 would force fair competition among insurers and lead to lower premiums by eliminating third-party risk scores created by using DMV data, prevent shadow rating based on non-driving factors and require insurers to use only verified state driving records.
“Floridians deserve privacy, security and control over their own information,” Gossett-Seidman said. “HB 357 ends the era of driver-data sales and restores trust in our state systems. This issue spans many administrations and is not about blame. It’s about fixing what went wrong and protecting Floridians moving forward.”
HB 357, which would go into effect July 1, has been referred to the House Government Operations Subcommittee and State Affairs Committee.
It does not yet have a Senate companion.
The 2026 Legislative Session begins Jan. 13. Preliminary committee meetings are ongoing.
Florida’s behavioral health safety net system, overseen by seven regional Managing Entities, ensures that uninsured and underinsured Floridians can access essential behavioral health services regardless of their ability to pay. More than $1 billion goes into this robust system of care, which meets individuals’ acute and long-term behavioral health needs in both crisis and non-crisis settings and supports housing, transportation, and employment.
A recent statutorily required audit of the Managing Entities and the safety net system of care found no significant instances of Fraud, Waste or Abuse, proving the accountability, transparency and strength of this system.
House Bill 633, passed during the last Legislative Session, requires an independent audit of the Managing Entities. Last week, the Department of Children and Families presented it at a Committee meeting to share the audit results.
Bill Hardin, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Substance Abuse & Mental Health, remarked that the audit identified commendable practices and identified enhancements within the system.
During his presentation, Mr. Hardin emphasized that Managing Entities statewide operate at an administrative rate of less than 3% of the total allocations in appropriations and grants totaling $1.2 billion.
He then noted that commendable practices included responsiveness, which is due entirely to the Managing Entities’ past and ongoing transparency and efficiency. This responsiveness facilitated the efficient execution of the audit.
The auditors also noted highly engaged leadership teams among the Managing Entities and overwhelming support from behavioral health providers in the Managing Entity Services network, as indicated by anonymous surveys.
While there were no significant findings of waste, fraud and abuse, areas for improvement within certain processes were identified. Each Managing Entity has independent findings, enabling them to continue enhancing the behavioral health safety net system.
House Bill 633 also called for the streamlined collection and reporting of essential data that shows significant outcomes, services and the return on investment in the state’s behavioral health safety net system. Managing Entities have developed a dashboard to comply with this requirement, and it is now on the Department of Children and Families website.
While Florida’s Managing Entities operate with extreme efficiency at a statewide 3% administrative rate, additional administrative resources will enable them to invest in the recommended enhancements.
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Natalie Kelly is CEO of the Florida Association of Managing Entities.
Politics
Elijah Manley fundraises off of Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick fundraising off of her federal indictment
It didn’t take Elijah Manley long to capitalize on what he sees as an unscrupulous misstep by the Congresswoman he’s running to unseat in Florida’s 20th Congressional District.
Just days after Florida Politics reported that U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is fundraising off of federal charges that she stole millions in COVID funds, Manley is also asking for campaign donations while citing the report.
“Yup, she tried to pull a fast one on you,” a fundraising email from Manley’s campaign said.
“The thing is, we can’t count on the establishment media to get this story in front of every voter. But we can count on each other.”
The email, which includes a big “DONATE” button, then provides a link to the Florida Politics report, asking readers to share it, adding, “Let’s make sure everyone in our district knows the truth.”
Asked for comment, Manley sent a text: “The #SCAMQueen is trying to take voters’ hard-earned money in the middle of an affordability crisis to pay for her criminal legal fees. Unfortunately for her, the voters in FL-20 are not naïve. They know a SCAM when they see one.”
A grand jury indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in November, accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to bankroll her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, has maintained she is innocent of wrongdoing, calling the charges “unjust” and “baseless” and a form of “retaliation” for her vote to release files connected to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Notably, none of the 426 other members of the U.S. House was indicted after voting “yes” on that release last month.
Hostilities between Cherfilus-McCormick and Manley, 26, have persisted for months. In September, the Congresswoman sued Manley for $1 million, accusing him of defamation for spreading “blatant lies” about her record and reputation. The suit cited a video Manley’s campaign published of him saying, among other things, that Cherfilus-McCormick “took $5.7 million from taxpayers” and a letter he wrote to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel pointing to an ongoing House Ethics Committee probe of her.
In the letter, Manley wrote that while he once “rooted for” Cherfilus-McCormick, he no longer does because “the Democrats’ collapse in our state has coincided with her election and the many ethical and legal scandals she brought to Congress.”
The two then got into a heated exchange in October at a Broward Young Democrats meeting that ended with Cherfilus-McCormick slinging the classic insult at Manley: “Your mama.”
The ongoing lawsuit isn’t the first time the Congresswoman has sued a foe for keeping word of the accusations she faces alive. In July 2022, she sued another one of her Primary foes this year, 68-year-old Dale Holness, for $1 million over campaign texts that told voters she embezzled $6 million from taxpayers to “buy a seat in Congress.” That suit has been listed as “inactive” since mid-2023.
Two Republicans, Sendra Dorce and Joseph Rodenay, are also running this cycle.
CD 20 spans a majority-Black area in and around western and central Broward County, with a small portion of southeast Palm Beach County. It includes all or part of Fort Lauderdale, Lake Park, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, North Lauderdale, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Riviera Beach, Sunrise and Tamarac.
It’s Florida’s most Democratic-leaning congressional district, with a Cook Partisan Voting Index rating of D+22.
Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American woman from Florida elected to Congress, has represented Florida’s 20th Congressional District since January 2022. She won her seat in a Special Election following the death of Alcee Hastings. Last year, she was re-elected unopposed.
The 2026 Primary is Aug. 18, followed by the General Election on Nov. 3.
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