For use Sunday, March 15

Lakeland Ledger Sunshine Sunday Editorial

The law that opened all of Florida’s governmental records to its citizens turns100 years old this year. And we’re pleased to note that the call for those open records originated from a former Lakeland mayor and newspaper owner-editor (of The Lakeland Sun, which was eventually absorbed by what would become today’s Ledger).

Park Trammell was born in Alabama in 1876, but moved with his parents to a farm near Lakeland shortly after. At the turn of the century, he had become an attorney and opened his practice in Lakeland, where he was mayor in 1899.

In 1909, however, Trammell, then 33, would be starting his term as Florida attorney general. That same year, he delivered a report to the Legislature: “I would suggest a law providing that at all times all the public records of the state, county and municipal officers shall be open for a personal inspection of any citizen of Florida.”

Trammell’s call for open public records turned into a bill filed by Rep. J. W. Mahaffey of Gadsden County. Perhaps because of the simpler time, the language was brief and straightforward. Here it is, in its entirety:

“Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

“Section 1. That all state, county and municipal records shall at all times be open for a personal inspection of any citizen of Florida and those in charge of such records shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.

“Section 2. That any official who shall violate the provisions of Section 1 of this act shall be subject to removal or impeachment.”

The bill passed both the House and Senate unanimously.

Suffice it to say today’s descendant is neither as brief — or as pointed — as Version 1.0. It has its own place in Florida Statutes, Chapter 119, and has been larded with various exemptions. Even the Legislature is exempt from open meetings.

Lawmakers and special-interest groups believe the exemptions are good; citizens find those exemptions are usually meant to conceal, rather than to mend some unintended consequences of too much openness in government.

Closing Loopholes

And that is why, on this 100th anniversary of Trammell’s report, there a ray of hope for the state’s Sunshine Laws. In 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist appointed a Commission on Open Government to find loopholes and come up with ways of making the laws better mesh with today’s Internet-based society.

The commission recently released its recommendations, which include:

Banning the use of cell phones by public officials during meetings for sending text or instant messages.

Requiring state and local governments and agencies to make sure that if public topics are discussed in e-mail by officials on private computers that those records are made public.

That citizens be charged for actual duplicating costs when copies of public records are requested. Too many times, the those charges have been inflated to discourage citizen “meddling” in government business.

This example from Terry Eberle of Florida Today: “The state wanted to charge us $3,000 for some statewide school records we wanted, but we decided we could get by without them. The problem, as I recall, is that Jeb Bush started contracting with private enterprise to keep a lot of records, now whenever they go get them, they have to pay a fee, which they pass on to us. We also were charged a large amount — in the thousands — by the local school board for some local records. They finally dropped the charges after I made a call to the superintendent.”

Perhaps it’s time to go back 100 years. We’d be better off if the Legislature simply passed the brief law from Trammel’s day, adding “meetings” to the wording:

“That all state, county and municipal records and meetings of elected officials shall at all times be open for a personal inspection of any citizen of Florida and those in charge of such records and meetings shall not refuse this privilege to any citizen.

“That any official who shall violate the provisions of Section 1 of this act shall be subject to removal or impeachment.”

Clear enough for even bureaucrats and elected officials to understand.

Reproduced courtesy of The Lakeland Ledger
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