The Citrus County Chronicle

The issue: Florida’s sunshine laws.

Our opinion: Keep the light shining.

Celebrate open government on Sunshine Sunday

Today is Sunshine Sunday, a day when news-gathering organizations around the state are reminding citizens of the importance of the state’s government-in-the-sunshine laws.

One of the things the founders of this nation realized was that as good as the system of checks and balances was with the three branches of government, something else was needed in the equation.

That was the people’s branch, so to speak; what we call the free press. It has since, and very aptly, been labeled the Fourth Estate of government.

The freedom of speech that is guaranteed in the First Amendment of the federal Constitution is absolutely critical in a representative democracy such as ours, and it includes publishing information about government. The founders knew information about what their government was doing was vital to a free people remaining free.

So a critical element in such a system of government as ours is freedom of information about government. In recent times that freedom has been codified as the federal Freedom of Information Act and various states’ sunshine laws.

The founders knew that a citizenry uninformed about its government is a citizenry at risk. They knew all too well how power can corrupt and government can oppress. Witness stories in today’s news about corrupt public officials. It is a lesson we forget at our peril.

This is why sunshine laws are so important. They guarantee citizens the right to have access to the records and meetings of government. Since citizens cannot usually spend the time to gather the information about government, they depend on independent news-gathering organizations to keep them informed.

In Florida we are fortunate to have very good sunshine laws that give us the right to see what our government is doing through access to records and meetings.

An initial problem with the sunshine laws was that government representatives didn’t always understand or abide by them. That has changed in Florida for the most part, however, and it is fairly uncommon that an elected official or government administrator doesn’t know the law.

More often today the problem is that their subordinates don’t know and aren’t trained about the sunshine laws. Government managers and elected officials should make sure all employees who have contact with the public are trained in the requirements of the sunshine laws. That should be routine.

All citizens in Florida have a right to all records and meetings without giving their name or a reason unless there is a statute specifically exempting that record or meeting from the public.

It is the meeting-holder and record keeper’s legal responsibility to either allow access or produce the record in a timely fashion, or to cite the statute exempting the record or meeting. Official actions can be overturned if not done in the sunshine and officials can be prosecuted for willfully denying access.

Elected officials, with only a few exceptions, can discuss the public’s business only in a public and advertised meeting — in other words, in the sunshine and not in some back room.

We pride ourselves as being an open and free society, but we must always remember that freedom of information is vital for the functioning of such a democratic society.

Without the right to information about our government as granted in our sunshine laws, the public interest would be at risk.

Reproduced courtesy of the Citrus County Chronicle.
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