Sunshine Week and the erosion of Florida’s open public records laws

Share
sunshine week
Credit: FreePress.net/flickr

We talk about open government in the midst of Sunshine Week. Florida’s Sunshine Law, a series of laws that guarantee public access to government meetings and records, have long been one of the strongest in the country. However over the years the Legislature have been passing a growing number of exemptions to the laws.Over 1100 exemptions exist today, an 250 percent from 1985. Another 43 are being considered in the current legislative session. Rosemary O’hara, the editorial page editor at the Florida Sun Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, talks about the exemptions, long-delays, and exorbitant retrieval fees which often make records inaccessible to journalists and everyday citizens.

Click Here to read an Op-Ed from the Florida Sun Sentinel on Florida’s Sunshine Laws.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

student meal
Next school year Hillsborough public schools are offering free meals

Hillsborough Public Schools are offering students free meals for the...

Correspondence Through Poetry. A Mind-Numbing Week.

Father Verses Sons: A Correspondence in Poems by Herbert Gold...

The sound of change: Music’s influence on anti-war and human rights movements

Throughout history, music has served as a powerful catalyst for...

a man in a tye dye shirt talking on a radio microphone
Recreational pot for Florida is on the ballot this fall—let’s talk about it

In four months, Florida voters have the opportunity to vote...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Rhythm Revival
Player position: