Sunshine Laws Under Attack

Florida’s “open records” policy began all the way back in 1909 with our first public records law. In 2016 though, Florida’s openness may change.

As citizens of the state of Florida we are entitled to information from our local governments by the Florida Sunshine Law. The law is actually a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to the public records of governmental bodies. This access to this information has been pivotal for citizens that have held their local governments accountable for their actions. Now though, if two state lawmakers have their way, our Sunshine Law will be eclipsed.

Sen. Rene Garcia, of Hialeah, and Rep. Greg Steube, of Sarasota recently filed bills that would eliminate the requirement in our public record laws that state and local agencies must reimburse the legal costs of citizens who successfully sue them. Currently if a citizen believes they are being denied information, the only way they can force a local governmental agency to give those records is by a law suit. If the citizen wins that law suit under the current law, all of their legal costs associated with the request for information are reimbursed by the local agency.

Under the new proposed bills, state agencies would no longer be required to reimburse any legal fees and the decision as to whether or not any of the legal fees of the citizen will be reimbursed would be given to the courts. The bills do not outline any specific regulations that would help steer the courts decisions and furthermore the bills do not even create a standard to judge ongoing cases with. Some argue that creating a mechanism other than a lawsuit to force a governmental agency to produce records would save money. There are other states that have successfully created programs like this, but there are currently no plans to introduce a bill to create a process like this.

In the end it comes down to the fact that most citizens won’t take on governments that defy the public records law in court if those citizens can’t be assured they’ll recover their own legal costs. And, regrettably, there is no other way for Floridians to enforce the law than to file suit against governments that violate it.