![]() Last year, DeSantis signed a law shielding information about candidates for college and university presidencies. In his first year, lawmakers expanded the list of personal details forbidden to be disclosed about various public officials. Requests to use space in the Capitol Complex must come from state agencies, the Legislature or judiciary, must be “consistent with the agency’s official purpose” and cannot include displays with “gratuitous violence or gore” that are “patently offensive to prevailing standards in the community.”įlorida’s open-government reputation already was fading before DeSantis took office in 2019, but that trend has gained steam. Under a DeSantis administration rule that took effect March 1, demonstrations at the Capitol Complex are only permitted outdoors. Public protests at the Capitol also have been limited. Television station WKMG reported last month that public records requests to some state agencies were being routed for review to the governor’s office, sometimes delaying their release by weeks or months. Governors in Oklahoma, Tennessee and Washington also have previously asserted the privilege.Īnother DeSantis administration policy has slowed access to some public records. Constitution, though courts have upheld the president’s prerogative to withhold documents to protect the confidentiality of advice received in the decision-making process. The Florida Constitution contains no specific mention of “executive privilege.” Neither does the U.S. That case is being watched by national media organizations as it’s being appealed. But nowhere, perhaps, have Sunshine Week issues garnered as much attention as in Florida - due largely to DeSantis’ powerful platform to voice his complaints about the media.Įarlier this year, a Florida trial judge upheld DeSantis’ assertion of “executive privilege” in refusing to turn over information requested under the state’s public-records law about his screening of potential state Supreme Court nominees. That one-day event has since grown to an annual Sunshine Week observed nationally by media and First Amendment advocates.Īs this year’s Sunshine Week began Sunday, lawmakers in state capitols were pursuing a mixture of proposals - some excluding more government records from public inspection others increasing the ability of people to keep an eye on their government. A decade later, as lawmakers were adding exemptions, voters approved another a constitutional amendment making it harder for legislators to approve future exceptions.įlorida newspapers launched the first “Sunshine Sunday” in 2002 to highlight the importance of public access to government information. Then, in 1992, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a public right to access records and meetings. ![]() ![]() It added a Sunshine Law requiring public meetings in 1967. ![]() Florida’s law making government records open to public inspection dates to 1909, long before similar measures emerged in many other states. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |