Advocates try to stem slippage in Florida's open-records commitment

By The Associated Press

10.21.02

Printer-friendly page

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Disturbed by proliferating exemptions to Florida's open-government laws, First Amendment advocates are seeking to require a two-thirds majority of both the state Senate and House to make future changes.

They say the passage of Amendment 4 on the Nov. 5 ballot would help the state keep its reputation as having the country's best public-records act.

Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, said there were already more than 850 exemptions to the state's Sunshine and Public Records laws, which require government meetings and records to be open to the public. Sixteen exemptions were added this year.

Petersen conceded some exemptions were unobjectionable and that most passed by more than a two-thirds majority, but said it should not be so easy to grant exemptions to the right of open government that the state constitution guarantees.

Petersen said two exemptions passed this year with less than two-thirds majorities. One exempts records submitted by companies that receive tax refunds because they promise to create jobs and pay a specific wage. The other exempts Department of Insurance workpapers and "other information" made or received in investigations of insurance companies.

"What does 'other information' mean?" Petersen asked. "It could mean anything."

Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, one of four legislators to vote against the proposed constitutional amendment, disagrees with Petersen about the need for a two-thirds vote.

"There has to be an incredibly compelling reason why the majority should not rule," Johnson said. Pressure from the news media, he said, can make it hard to get a two-thirds majority.

He cited news-media opposition to the Dale Earnhardt Family Protection Act, which exempts autopsy photos from public scrutiny. The law was passed in 2001 after newspapers sought access to autopsy photos of race car driver Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a crash in Daytona Beach.

News media fought the passage of the law, then attacked it in court. The 5th District Court of Appeal upheld its validity, but an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court is pending.

Petersen noted that despite media opposition, passage of the Earnhardt law was overwhelming, far greater than the two-thirds majority that the proposal would require.

Update

Floridians back open meetings, public records
Amendment on ballot to curtail exemptions to sunshine laws passes easily.  11.06.02

Related

Legislature dims Florida's sunshine laws
Lawmakers passed 15 new exemptions to public-records laws, routinely met in secret, and approved bills so quickly some members didn't know what they were voting on.  05.12.01