Editorial | No Sunshine
This week’s gloomy weather was apropos for Sunshine Week, an annual collaboration among various entities intended to shine a light on the importance of public records and open government.
There was one glimmer — House Bill 437.
HB437 proposed to “improve transparency and accountability in handling public records requests,” by overhauling the state’s Public Records Act.
The legislation would have imposed a mandatory three-day window for agencies to respond to requests from citizens, required written explanations for delays, restricted agencies’ ability to impose fees and, in apparent acknowledgment of ongoing abuses, imposed penalties and sanctions while expanding the ability of citizens and organizations to recover “enforcement costs, such as attorney fees and litigation costs.”
The bill passed the House unanimously, 111-0.
The Senate could not be bothered and its companion bill never even made it to a committee hearing before the session closed last Friday.
Why is this important?
It’s important because public records are your records and the law — the current law — says you have the right to see them.
Think big projects:
That’s documents related to the Yacht Club and Jaycee Park rebuilds and contracts of all kinds.
Think big money:
That’s not only big projects but the single greatest recurring expense — personnel costs, including legacy costs.
Case in point:
The Deferred Retirement Option Program, which allows government employees eligible for retirement to accrue pension payments into an account for a lump-sum payment while they continue to work, has long been an area of interest for watchdog groups.
Dave Jaye, chair of one of those groups, the Lee County Taxpayers Association, spent months requesting the pension accrual statements for city employees from the city of Cape Coral which recently had increased its accrual period from five to eight years with estimated seven-figure payouts upon retirement for top-paid staff.
Mr. Jaye finally received a batch of documents on Feb. 26 after rattling the saber of litigation regarding fees for what the tax watch group says are routine reports.
The city ultimately did not charge him.
Florida defines public records as “. . . all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software, or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics, or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency.”
So what’s the problem?
Like pretty much as with anything — it’s time and money.
Government entities are taking more time and asking for more money to produce records since a court ruling allowed them to tack on a special service fee for “extensive” requests.
The School District of Lee County even tacks on the fee for records already gathered, redacted and vetted because “No one gets a public record for free because someone else already paid for it.” So bonus bucks.
We, the public, wait. And wait.
We pay. And we pay twice and apparently even thrice.
This is why the Florida House unanimously — unanimously! — passed legislation to make public records public again.
We thank them for their efforts.
Reform is needed.
It’s just too back the Senate rained on their parade.
Breeze editorial