The First Amendment Foundation (FAF) in Tallahassee keeps watch over policy discussions that could impede the public鈥檚 right to know about government business.
鈥淲e track all bills that affect the public鈥檚 ability to oversee government and hold it accountable," says FAF president Barbara Petersen.
this year that would create new open government exemptions or extend current exemptions. 25 of them passed.
Petersen wrote the governor a letter that keeps the home addresses of certain government employees out of the public eye, like judges and law enforcement officers. Petersen says the new law defines 鈥渉ome address鈥� to include all descriptions of the property.
鈥淪ay you want to make sure that the chief of police is getting the same treatment from code enforcement that you are, and you go to check the property records to see if there are any liens against his home,鈥� Petersen says. 鈥淵ou won鈥檛 have any property descriptors; you won鈥檛 know where his home is.鈥�
Florida has more than 1,100 exemptions to open government laws on the books. Petersen says every exemption makes government less transparent.
She doesn鈥檛 like part of a that automatically seals the criminal history records of anyone who has charges against them dropped or who is found not guilty. She says charges are dropped for many reasons, and the records are only being sealed at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement - not at the county level.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to automatically seal these records, we could have a serial sexual predator going from county to county to county, and we would never know.鈥�
There were small victories, she says, like the failure of a bill that would have protected the names of foster parents.
Then, there is one bill that she says should have been approved -- that wasn鈥檛 even considered.
鈥淢arsy鈥檚 Law says a victim has the right to protect information that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim鈥檚 family.鈥� Petersen says an enacting bill would have provided guidelines for enforcing the constitutional amendment known as Marsy鈥檚 Law. It was approved by voters last November.
For now, law enforcement agencies have .
鈥淪ome law enforcement agencies aren鈥檛 reporting any information, just that there was a shooting somewhere in your city,鈥� Petersen says. 鈥淚t makes it harder for me to protect myself and my family. If I know that there鈥檚 a string of sexual assaults in my neighborhood park, I鈥檓 less likely to let my children go play in that park unaccompanied. I鈥檓 going to be more careful myself.鈥�
Petersen says law enforcers need some clarity because the haphazard response to Marsy鈥檚 Law is a safety issue.
鈥淏ecause the legislature didn鈥檛 do anything this session, I believe a court will have to decide because there are law enforcement agencies who I鈥檓 hearing about who are saying please sue us so that we know what this means,鈥� Petersen says.
None of the bills the foundation supported passed, such as legislation to prevent a state agency from filing civil action against someone who submits a public records request.
Copyright 2020 WFSU. To see more, visit . 9(MDAyNDY5MjM1MDEyODE2MzMyMTZmZDQwMg001))
