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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublic records. By AndreyPopov via iStock for WMNF News.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublic records. By AndreyPopov via iStock for WMNF News.<\/p>\n
This year there are roughly 40 proposals before the Florida Legislature seeking to create exemptions to public records. Historically, the state has been considered a national leader in making its system of government accessible to its citizens \u2014 but no more.<\/p>\n
Open government advocates are dismayed by the many new attempts at whittling down the state\u2019s transparency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sheer number is remarkable,\u201d says Caroline Klancke, executive director of the Florida Ethics Institute. \u201cI thought in past years, having seven and 14 \u2013 I think we got up to 14 a few years ago. This is a spectacular number of potential exemptions that \u2013 even when well-intentioned, diminish the public\u2019s right of access that is enshrined in our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n
One proposal (SB 144\/HB1373) exempts the current or former employees of the Judicial Qualifications Commission and their spouses and children, along with their home addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth and photographs, the places of employment of their spouses and children, and the names and locations of schools and daycare facilities attended by their children. That commission relates to various legal issues, including reprimanding misconduct.<\/p>\n
Other bills seek to exempt from the public records requirements municipal clerks; county and city personnel; emergency physicians; medical examiners; victims of domestic or dating violence; officers involved in use-of-force incidents; people who buy or receive ammunition; sexual assault counselors; mental health and substance abuse counselors; private investigators; members of state retirement plans; all information received by the Office of Financial Regulation as the result of certain kinds of investigations; the records and meetings of Space Florida; and the Parkinson\u2019s Disease Registry.<\/p>\n
There are more.<\/p>\n
To propose such exemptions, says Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, it\u2019s legally necessary to show a public benefit.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the law, Chapter 119, which governs public records,\u201d he said, \u201cyou have to demonstrate in the bill why this public benefit is more compelling than the Sunshine Law. And if you look at most exemptions \u2013 at least the way they\u2019re coming out now \u2013 that\u2019s not what you have because they\u2019re afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of those exemptions are understandable and justified in the wake of increasing political violence. But likely not all.<\/p>\n
Florida has a constitutional right of privacy. The state Constitution says we have the\u00a0right<\/a>\u00a0to be free of governmental intrusion into our private lives. But that freedom is specifically secondary to the public\u2019s right of access. \u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, says Block, there are other ways besides public records to find a potential target. He points to the killings of public officials in Minneapolis last year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe names are public and he [the alleged killer] hunted them down with a private service for a pittance,\u201d Block said. \u201cThis law is not going to deter bad actors. What it\u00a0would\u00a0do is, it would make it very difficult for people in your district to know whether you live where you\u2019re supposed to live.\u201d<\/p>\n Bipartisan courage<\/p>\n Public access and public records are not partisan issues. It\u2019s not a matter of one side getting it right and the other side getting it wrong.<\/p>\n For instance, Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, are carrying similar measures (SB 770 and HB 437) aimed at making public records more accessible.<\/p>\n Andrade\u2019s bill is now in the House Government Operations Subcommittee. Rouson\u2019s was introduced on Tuesday and is now in the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee.<\/p>\n Said Block, \u201cI applaud Rep. Andrade and Sen. Rouson for their bipartisan courage to do this when they know the powers that be don\u2019t want this.\u201d<\/p>\n In the interest of full disclosure, the Florida Trident\u2019s publisher, Barbara Petersen, drafted an early version of the measure.<\/p>\n Klancke, who has worked for state agencies, says its requirements are daunting.<\/p>\n \u201cThey include a 3-day turnaround, a codification in the law that specifies 3 business days for either a public-records response to be made, an estimated cost to be provided, or a denial,\u201d she said. \u201cThat 3 days is spectacularly brief. And oftentimes, the question will involve a subject that\u2019s over years. \u2018I want all the emails, text messages, memoranda\u2026 And it can touch multiple departments.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Rouson doesn\u2019t necessarily insist on the 3 days.<\/p>\n \u201cTimely information is important,\u201d he said. \u201cBut if the weak point is 3 days being insufficient to allow a public agency to comply, I\u2019m willing to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n Rouson is also the sponsor of SB 44, which requires agencies subject to the public records laws to provide an electronic option for payment of fees associated with a public records request.<\/p>\n \u201cI support these because they give more accountability to the public when making a request for public records,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd because they give transparency, and there\u2019s a penalty if the agency refuses to adhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bert J. Harris Act seeks to create an exemption to Florida\u2019s open public meetings law to permit \u201cany board or commission of any state agency or authority or any agency or authority of any county, municipal corporation, or political subdivision, and the chief administrative or executive officer of the governmental entity\u201d to meet in private \u201cwith the entity\u2019s attorney\u201d within a certain time frame. It provides that specified entities may meet in private with their attorneys to discuss certain claims concerning private property rights but requires that such meetings must be transcribed and that such transcripts will become public records at specified times.<\/p>\n The House measure, HB 655, passed the Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee with a committee substitute on Wednesday; it was sponsored by Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, and Dan Daley, D-Coral Springs. The Senate bill, SB 332 by Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, was introduced Tuesday.<\/p>\n Both measures have a number of lobbyists from the Florida League of Cities and the Florida Association of Counties trailing their activities.<\/p>\n \u2018Terrorizing our communities\u2019<\/p>\n Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith is sponsoring SB 316, which would create visible identification requirements for immigration-based law enforcement officers, known as ICE, who engage directly with the public. It would prohibit law enforcement officers from wearing non-medical face coverings. It would require the State Board of Immigration Enforcement to receive and investigate violations, and penalize violations.<\/p>\n \u201cICE has been terrorizing our communities,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThey\u2019ve picked up thousands of Floridians, many with no criminal record. They\u2019ve dumped them into Alligator Alcatraz, where they\u2019re facing inhumane conditions and being deported away from their families.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s also sponsoring SJR 1406, which would reduce the percentage of the electorate required to amend the state Constitution from 60 to 50 percent plus one.<\/p>\n Smith says if the votes of a simple majority of Floridians had carried the day in 2024, the state would have passed Amendment 3, which would have allowed recreational marijuana for adults which garnered 56 percent of the vote. Likewise, Amendment 4, which would have enshrined a right to abortion before fetal viability in the Florida Constitution, got 57 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n Instead of respecting the wishes of the majority, Smith says, last year lawmakers made it harder to get citizen-led ballot initiatives on the ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m introducing this proposal to bring the simple rule back that everyone can understand \u2013 and that\u2019s majority rules on constitutional amendments.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline Klancke says the public should know about the sheer volume \u2013 the \u201cbumper crop\u201d \u2013 of bills that would create exemptions from open government.<\/p>\n \u201cThese public records, although broadly defined, are the government\u2019s business. So, the more we abdicate, through exemptions, access to even being able to see the government performing its governmental function, there\u2019s a loss. And it\u2019s to society. And it\u2019s to transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Florida Trident<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.![](\"https:\/\/floridatrident.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/cropped-trident-only-180x180.png\")
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