A north Florida woman and a Lake City newspaper publisher are being honored by an open government watchdog group.
The First Amendment Foundation said Tuesday it is giving its 2015 open government award to Barbara Jeffords Lemley of Lake City and Columbia County Observer publisher Stew Lilker. Continue…
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Read More… from Florida Open government watchdog group announces award
Although Florida is widely considered to have among the strongest open-records laws in the nation, that reputation is imperiled every year when lawmakers in Tallahassee seek to pass exemptions that nibble away at the public’s right to know how its government operates.
The latest attempt to amend the statutes, though, represents a potentially big bite. Continue…
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Read More… from Editorial: Bills threaten to dim Sunshine (Florida)
Bills filed this week would gut the public's right of access to the government by making it harder for citizens to take records disputes to court, First Amendment experts say.
Two Republican lawmakers, Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah and Rep. Greg Steube of Sarasota, are sponsoring the legislation (SB 1220 and HB 1021), which has the backing of the powerful Florida League of Cities. Continue…
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Read More… from Experts: New bills in Florida would harm public-records law
Mr. Worldwide is living up to his name by bringing some global attention to Florida's latest snub of the public's right to know.
The International Business Times noted in a story last week that the state's tourism agency, Visit Florida, is refusing to say how much it's paying rap artist Pitbull to promote the state as its new "ambassador."
Welcome to Florida, the land of sunshine, sand and secrecy. Continue…
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Read More… from EDITORIAL: Pitbull’s secret Florida contract a slap to the public
Florida’s expansive open records laws have IT leaders preparing a new push to open up the state’s data.
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Read More… from Florida performs inventory ahead of open data push
A Tampa lawmaker has filed a bill that would shield the identities of “witness(es) to a felony” from being released to the public.
The legislation creates an exemption from Florida public records law of witnesses’ “personal identifying information,” prohibiting its disclosure, including to the news media.
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Read More… from Florida bill would protect names of criminal witnesses
Florida lawmakers are calling for more transparency at state colleges and universities funded with donations.
Florida law allows public schools to keep secret the way they spend private money, one reason the University of Central Florida and coach George O'Leary faced criticism for not releasing terms of his contract. They didn't have to because O'Leary was paid with private money.
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Read More… from Florida lawmakers seek transparency in college funding, donations
Florida Democrats are demanding the public be allowed "real time" access into the behind-the-scenes process of map drawing being conducted by House and Senate staff in preparation for next week's special session to realign Senate district boundaries.
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Read More… from Florida Democrats demand map-drawing transparency
New text messages from Jacksonville City Council members obtained by The Florida Times-Union reveal the president of the firefighters’ union relayed communications between council members during a meeting last month as he worked behind-the-scenes to sway a vote, which is prohibited by Florida’s open government law.
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More data may be coming to Miami-Dade County residents.
The county commission is considering a resolution that would try to make county numbers and information more accessible to the public, a resolution based on open-data guidelines from the Sunlight Foundation. Continue…
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Read More… from Florida county considers open-data resolution
