For use Sunday, March 14

Let the sun shine

Lawmakers should strengthen compliance with open records, meetings law

Today is Sunshine Sunday, when newspapers around the country spotlight public records and open meetings laws that protect your right to know what’s going on in the halls of government.

Those laws allow citizens to hold leaders accountable, and Florida is fortunate to have some of the strongest in the nation, called Sunshine Law.

But each year brings gains and losses for open government as local and state officials support or chip away at the critical safeguards against secrecy and potential abuses.

Focusing on positives first, some hopeful signs Florida’s record on open government is improving:

The scandal involving former House Speaker Ray Sansom’s secretive budget deals to funnel millions of taxpayer dollars to Northwest Florida State College for an airport hangar for developer and campaign contributor Jay Odum has one bright side.

It’s shaken up the GOP leadership in Tallahassee and led Senate President Jeff Atwater to say the entire budget process should be conducted in the open, and more deliberately so the public has time to comment.

The way to get that ball rolling is for Atwater to champion Senate Joint Resolution 440, sponsored by Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, that would hold state lawmakers to higher transparency standards similar to those local governments must meet.

The bill opens up the appropriations process to public scrutiny, prohibits last-minute amendments often used to sneak in perks for cronies, and gives the public the right to challenge rules lawmakers create to hide information, such as a House rule saying not all emails must be archived.

Expanding open access

Another good step is House Bill 1211.

It would implement many recommendations of the Commission on Open Government Reform, such as imposing stiffer penalties for egregious, repeated violations of open records law and banning the prohibitive charges for copies of records some agencies charge to slam the door on sunshine.

Still other transparency friendly bills delete a provision that closed the public out of meetings where water management districts make permitting decisions that can be potentially damaging to Florida acquifers and make it easier for citizens to challenge agencies who deny public record requests.

"If all the good (open records) bills pass, it would be the biggest reform to open government in the history of Florida," says First Amendment Foundation President Barbara Petersen.

All should be approved.

Meanwhile, in Palm Bay, officials deserve praise for launching a Web site database where taxpayers can review spending, revenue, salary and other facts.

Florida’s Attorney General’s Office came down on the side of sunshine in 2009 in the never-ending water wars between Melbourne and West Melbourne, ruling settlement talks to resolve the battle should happen in public meetings.

That’s important because decisions on how to supply water for new growth west of Interstate 95 will affect thousands upon thousands of Brevard residents who depend on Melbourne for water.

Skirting the law

Now for the more troubling events.

Some elected officials through ignorance or self-interest try to skirt Sunshine Law. Others push for new exemptions to open government statutes that would keep the public in the dark.

In Brevard, here are the worst offenders:

• County Commissioner Trudie Infantini in August attempted to block a Brevard resident’s request for copies of four months of e-mails, saying the request was excessive. Other county leaders correctly released the e-mails.
• County commissioners in July held one-on-one closed door interviews with six finalists for the job of county manager, running counter to the spirit of open government. To his credit Commissioner Andy Anderson allowed a FLORIDA TODAY reporter to sit in on interviews he conducted.
• Rockledge officials harmed the public trust in June by holding similar individual sessions when city council members consulted engineering experts on proposed aquifer and storage recovery well to treat wastewater, again trampling the intent of open meetings law.

At the state level, proposed open records law exemptions that shouldn’t be approved include banning the release of 911 calls. That would prevent public oversight of the law enforcement communication system and hide mistakes and problems.

Other bad bills would prohibit the use or distribution of police crime scene photos or videos of dead or injured persons, slamming the door on public scrutiny of potential investigative lapses or abuses.

We call upon Brevard’s local and state leaders to make 2010 a banner year for sunshine, and not just with lip service.

From City Hall to the Capitol, they should expand and strengthen compliance with open records and meetings laws and require their staff do the same.

Reproduced courtesy of Florida Today
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