Florida Today

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Editorial cartoon by Jeff Parker

Demand your legislators preserve open government

Many Floridians may not know Florida’s greatest source of civic pride, but they know its advantages.

The state offers the most open public-records access in the nation, assuring the right of the average citizen to uncover and examine nearly all the actions of its government.

Florida’s tradition of such rights goes back almost a century to the 1909 Open Records Act. It was expanded by the Sunshine Law of 1967, and further expanded by 1992’s Sunshine Amendment.

That amendment made a statement unimaginable in any of the dictatorships that crush humanity worldwide: “Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with official business.”

Few citizens would knowingly permit that right to be diminished, yet legislators who should be guarding the public’s right are instead brazenly chipping it away, putting Florida’s government in the sunshine under fierce attack.

Since the Legislature convened nearly two weeks ago, more than 35 new bills asking for an exemption from open government laws have been filed. That includes 13 shell bills that offer no subject and details until the last minute to minimize public knowledge and debate. Seventeen old exemptions also are up for renewal.

While a very few exemptions on security issues may be genuine and necessary, nearly all are nothing more than cynical ploys designed to cloak self-serving desires.

Among the most egregious this session is one that would exempt doctors from having to file reports with the Department of Health on medical incidents resulting in death or injury. Another would exempt pharmacists from public reports on their errors.

Another, submitted repeatedly under the guise of consumer-privacy protection, would let public utilities keep customer lists secret from growing private-company competition.

And another would hide the business cellphone and pager information of law enforcement personnel, making it impossible to check on the honest use of those devices, which are paid for by taxpayers.

Open access to public records is not some abstract bureaucratic concept.

It means citizens can find out more about the shopping center being planned near their home, whether government contracts are being awarded on the basis of fair and open bid, and what inspections show about the condition of the state’s nursing homes.

That access must be vigorously guarded, not just because the public has paid for it and has a right to it, but because the more knowledge the public has of government operations the greater the chance that government is operating honestly.

To assure open government is not lost in Florida, residents should call their legislators and demand they vote to assure the greatest possible access to matters of government.

Do it right now, because the enemies of open government are betting you won’t.