Charlotte Newton

Do you read the mouse print legal notices printed daily in newspapers such as The Breeze? No? Don’t worry, you are not alone. Who does, you say? Surprisingly, more people than you imagine, including those of us trying to follow the machinations of our county government.

In fact, these legal notices are critical to keeping our commissioners and county administrators accountable and transparent. Yet proposed legislation in the Florida House (House Bill 35) and a companion bill in the Florida Senate (Senate Bill 402) would severely restrict the public’s ability to access information from local government. These bills will allow governmental bodies to bypass printing legal notices in newspapers and instead opt for posting on their own website or even that of a third party, if the cost is less. Surely, not a great saving of dollars for what we lose in transparency.

Women For a Better Lee does not usually comment on state legislative happenings, but this proposal would have far-reaching consequences and would enable our already far-from-transparent county government to further bury information of importance to the public.

WFBL often directs people to the county’s website (leegov.com) if they are looking for up-to-date happenings in county government, but that is a poor substitute for print publication of these notices, which deal with such important topics as re-zoning actions, contract solicitations, public meetings and hearings, and various legal matters of interest to citizens.

In 2020, the legislature attempted the same gambit with no luck. However, the recent introduction of a companion bill in the Senate makes passage more likely this time. As we wrote about last year’s legislation, “Relegating legal notices to websites such as the one maintained by Lee County means that people will have to navigate often opaque and cumbersome pathways to find information of critical importance to their daily lives. For those who may not have access to a computer and wish to participate in local decision-making — the very essence of our democratic system –allowing local government to bypass traditional methods of communication is not only poorly thought-out, but dangerous as well.”

Those words remain true today. 

We encourage you to contact our local legislators and urge them to vote against this bill. To find your legislators, go to:

www.flsenate.gov/senators; click on “find your legislators”

www.myfloridahouse.com/representatives; click on “find my representative.

This is truly terrible legislation and an end run around full and public disclosure. Shame on our state legislators for undermining our right to know.

— Charlotte Newton,

Women For a Better Lee