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The Ledger Florida's Tradition Of 'Sunshine' Today is the fourth annual "Sunshine Sunday" in Florida. No, it's not not a gimmick to boost Florida's climate with Northern tourists. This is aimed at people who call themselves Floridians all year long. This kind of sunshine doesn't burn Ñ unless you're doing something that can't stand the light of day. Sunshine Sunday was originated in 2002 by Florida newspapers, in cooperation with other news media, to celebrate Florida's longstanding commitment to open government and to make the people aware of how that commitment can be eroded if the public lets its guard down. The effort has been so successful that the American Society of Newspaper Editors has taken up the cause and has designated this week as "Sunshine Week." Many Floridians don't realize how fortunate they are to live in a state that pioneered the concept of open meetings and records. To this day, it's doubtful that any other state has laws that match Florida's for requiring transparency. The purpose of "Sunshine Week" is to let the other states know what they're missing. They're missing a lot. Sunshine has proven to be a strong disinfectant for corrupt government. It hasn't put an end to corruption, of course, but it has made it much more difficult to get away with. And sunshine has forced governing officials to be less wasteful and inefficient because it's easy for the public to find out what they're up to. It's no coincidence that Sunshine Sunday is scheduled at the same time that the Florida Legislature begins its annual 60-day session. It was the Legislature that enacted strong laws requiring open meetings of governmental boards and agencies and requiring that the vast majority of public records be accessible to the public. But it also is the Legislature that annually considers dozens of bills that attempt to place restrictions on the right of access. What the Legislature has done, it can undo. Open government isn't just for the news media, even though it facilitates our jobs. Any citizen has the same rights as any reporter or editor to examine how their state and local governments are functioning. It's the natural inclination of those in government to keep such things to themselves. The open government laws don't let them. It was a long time coming. Florida's first public-records inspection law was enacted in 1909. It said all state and local government records were open to public inspection unless there was a statutory exemption. But that law frequently was ignored until a series of court cases in the 1960s and 1970s gave it teeth. The famed "Government in the Sunshine Law" wasn't approved until 1967. The law, prohibiting secret meetings of government boards, commissions and committees, had been proposed in Tallahassee for many years, but a rural-dominated Legislature routinely blocked it. When court-ordered reapportionment swept out the old power structure, reform-minded legislators from the state's more populous areas quickly passed the sunshine law. Again, subsequent court cases beat back challenges and provided the teeth the new statute needed. In 1992, government in the sunshine finally achieved constitutional status with the approval by the voters of an amendment incorporating much of the statutory protections. Among other things, it requires that any exemptions approved by the Legislature contain a statement declaring their public-policy necessity. Any shaky statement of necessity can be taken to court for review. Neither of the political parties has a monopoly on secrecy. Both, in fact, have several champions of openness. But it's up to the voters to make sure their access to government isn't taken away on a piecemeal basis. That's what "Sunshine Sunday" is all about. May its ideals of open government remain strong in Florida and spread across all 50 states.
Reproduced courtesy
of The Ledger. |
