This year the frowns win, 41-2.

By Mike Gimignani

Every year the First Amendment Foundation, which Barbara Petersen leads, publishes a list of bills relating to Florida's open-meetings and open-records laws under debate in the Legislature.

Like a kindergarten teacher would do with her students' fingerpaintings,

she puts a happy face next to the proposed laws that would expand

Floridians' rights to watch over leadership and a sad face on the bills that

would chip away at those rights.

In 11 years Petersen has seen a lot more frowns than smiles.

"We take a lot of bad bills and we try to fix them, but we never support an

exemption. Ever," she said.

A little more than 120 exemptions have been proposed, covering everything

from arrest and drug records to the location of state-owned archaeological

digs.

And the number goes up every day. Petersen and her staff update their list

constantly, but

“I keep thinking, 'This is the year they only attack us with 50 bills,' ”

she said. “We should be so lucky.”

Old is new again

Some of the biggest fish in the exemption pool are nothing new. State law

requires that the Legislature review and re-adopt any exemption to an

open-government law within five years of its passing.

A bill exempting autopsy photographs, nicknamed the "Dale Earnhardt law"

because it was passed amid the controversy of the NASCAR star's fatal crash

at Daytona in 2001, is up for its five-year review. Several bills have been

proposed to make the exemption permanent.

The sponsor of the original law, Sen. Jim King, said he didn't want anyone

to have the opportunity to publish graphic photos or "sell them on eBay." A

judge can allow the photos to be reviewed openly under certain

circumstances, but never copied.

"Just because you're . . . looking to get the photos shouldn't mean we need

to give them to you," the Jacksonville Republican said. "You're going to

have to prove the need to see them."

Tom Julin, a Miami lawyer who unsuccessfully argued the case to reverse the

Earnhardt bill, said the policy is far too broad and restricts the right of

the people to keep courts accountable.

"When you start to close down public access because of privacy concerns,

there's a very high price that the public and the press pays," he said.

King and Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, have proposed a new step this year:

Senate Bill 1898 would make any police photo or video of victims at a crime

scene exempt from inspection.

Critics have said the bill was proposed in response to the boot-camp

scandal unfolding in the Department of Juvenile Justice, saying that much of

the evidence made public in the case would be closed off if the bill passes.

Smith said that his priority is to prevent people from printing the photos

for thrills or profit.

"When you have an obligation in a state that has a constitutional right to

privacy, and the public also has a right to broad access, you have to side

on the right to privacy," he said.

Ups and downs

Smith, who's also running for governor, has introduced both of the bills

the First Amendment Foundation supports. One of those would require any

voting equipment used in elections to produce a paper record that could be

used in a recount.

"There is a confidence level required in our democracy," he said. "People

said when we switched to the electronic equipment that we don't need the

records, but we absolutely need it more."

Under state law, any open-government exemption must include a statement of

public necessity and must pass by a two-thirds vote in both the House and

Senate.

"Before, exemptions would be buried in 400-page bills with little to no

discussion to why they were needed," said Pat Gleason, general counsel for

Attorney General Charlie Crist. "The more recent ones usually are much more

compelling."

Gleason, a veteran of five attorneys general who called all five "champions

of public access," said voters can usually tell who will fight for the

public's right to access and mark their ballots accordingly.

"We are the Sunshine State and we have to govern ourselves that way," she

said. "For the most part, the people up here know that."

Not so open laws

Here are some of the bills under debate in the Legislature that would

curtail the right to access information:

SB 592 by Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge: Would continue the exemption, in

effect since 2001, on access to autopsy photographs or videos.

HB 687 by Rep. Sandy Adams, R-Oviedo: Would restrict public access to

personal information of applicants for state concealed-weapons permits.

HB 787 by Rep. Jennifer Carroll, R-Green Cove Springs/SB 1712 by Sen.

Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville: Would restrict public access to home parcel ID

numbers maintained by county property appraisers for certain state

employees.

SB 1448 by Sen. Gwen Margolis, D-Bay Harbor Island: Would restrict public

access to e-mail addresses of individuals held by a state agency.

SB 1898 by Sen. Jim King, R-Jacksonville and Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua:

Would restrict public access to photos or videos of the remains of a crime

victim as part of a criminal investigation.

SB 446 by Sen. Skip Campbell, D-Tamarac: Would make it a felony to disclose

or sell personal information about an individual without first getting that

person's consent.

For more information on these bills, go to Jacksonville.com, keyword:

legislature. People seeking public records can go or call directly to the

department that keeps the records. In Jacksonville they also can call (904)

630-CITY to make the request.

Reproduced courtesy of the Florida Time-Union