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The First Amendment Foundation is a highly visible and accessible source of authoritative information, expertise, and assistance to the public and news media. It was founded as a non-profit organization in 1984 by The Florida Press Association, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, and the Florida Association of Broadcasters to ensure that public commitment and progress in the areas of free speech, free press, and open government do not become checked and diluted during Florida’s changing times.
Its purpose is to protect and advance the public’s constitutional right to open government by providing education and training, legal aid and information services. Funding is based on voluntary contributions and donations by news media and affiliated organizations and concerned individuals.
Open Government News
Proposals aim to open, limit access
miamiherald.com: Florida has some of the strongest open-government laws in the country, and every year state lawmakers try to expand them -- or attempt to whittle down what...
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Shining a light on government
International Falls Daily Journal:Sunshine Week grew from Sunshine Sundays, launched by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors in 2002 in response to efforts by some Florida lawmakers to...
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Sunshine Week
WMBB-TV:By Megan Albright Government in the sunshine. The State of Florida passed a law under that name in 1967 establishing the right for ordinary people to access...
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Sunshine Week starts Sunday
PensacolaNewsJournal.com:In Florida, every person has been granted the Constitutional right to inspect or copy any public record with some exemptions, and the Sunshine Law provides...
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Audit: Agencies want to provide records, but sometimes slip up
Fort Mills Times:The First Amendment Foundation sent out volunteers to 34 state agencies who were told to request a record that should have been easily provided: the last...
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Workshop Clarifies Sunshine Laws
news-journalonline.com: "This is the No. 1 complaint in the state," said Barbara Petersen, the president of the First Amendment Foundation...
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Local leaders differ in views on security levels
sptimes.com: The shooting at a council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo., on Thursday is leading some local governments in the Tampa Bay area to rethink the balance between open government and the need to prevent another tragedy.
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Fla. Open Government Commission To Hold Third Public Meeting
BNA.com: Florida's Commission on Open Government Reform, created by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) to review and evaluate the state's open government laws and practices
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The public's business shouldn't be a secret
sptimes.com: According to Barbara Petersen, president of the First Amendment Foundation, these closed-door litigation sessions are already the "worst-abused exemption"
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Sunshine 2008 Press Release
floridafaf.org: Sunshine Week 2008 Hits the Campaign Trail: Candidates from President to Mayor to be Quizzed on Access Issues
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Florida Partners with Google
wmbb.com: Burchett said the project will not compromise the security of nonpublic records. Florida's Agency for Workforce Innovation and departments of state...
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Open records law good for public
news-press.com: Florida has generally good open-government laws on the books, but how they are enforced — or resisted — by malicious officials can make all the difference.
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Governor Crist Opens Clemency Report For Applicants
theweeklychallenger.com: Governor Charlie Crist announced today that Florida’s clemency applicants appearing before the Board of Executive Clemency will now receive their case analysis reports prepared by the Parole Commission prior to the scheduled hearing.
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Op-ed by Dan Gelber, No More Government in the Shadows
nwfdailynews.com: You know, I've been growing increasingly suspicious myself about all these "negotiations" and stuff going on in Tallahassee.
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Crist signs open government Bill of Rights for Floridians
miamiherald.com: State agencies must treat citizens with courtesy, respect and professionalism when they ask for public records, according to an Open Bill of Rights signed Thursday by Gov. Charlie Crist.
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Investigation reveals criminal pasts of those toting guns
sun-sentinel.com: Garth F. Bailey, of Pembroke Pines, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in 1988 for shooting his girlfriend in the head while she cooked breakfast.
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Open records law good for public
news-press.com: Florida has generally good open-government laws on the books, but how they are enforced — or resisted — by malicious officials can make all the difference.
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Opening the way to better government
news-press.com: Florida's public records and open meetings laws, collectively known as the Sunshine Laws, arguably could serve as a national model for how government at all levels ought to conduct the people's business.
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Two officials say meeting should have been public
oakridger.com: Private tax policy meetings led by the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce probably should have been open to the public, a Knoxville media attorney and Nashville open-government advocate said last week.
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Sunshine Law Turned 40 (or 41) on July 4
Wired.com: Yesterday, while you were getting to the bottom of an American pale ale and shooting bottle rockets at your neighbors, the Freedom of Information Act turned 40 (or 41,depending on what kind of math you subscribe to). To celebrate this landmark law, which presumes that government documents should be open to the people unless a bureaucrat can prove otherwise, Wired News ran this piece of mine about the top 5 tech and civil liberties sunshine requests and the top 5 that are still outstanding.
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Grand jury OKs city Sunshine Law investigation
News4Jax.com: After hearing three hours of evidence, the Duval County grand jury decided to investigate whether members of the Jacksonville City Council violated Florida's Sunshine Law in the way they called, held and documented public meetings.
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Groups' special review access ends
St. Petersburg Times: All neighborhood groups will see development plans at the same time they're filed with the city because of a new rule passed by the City Council Thursday.
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Council 'Green Room' to get a dose of fresh air
Jacksonville.com: One of the practices that has eroded the public's confidence in how the City Council does business is the use of the so-called "green room."
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City Council still facing Sunshine
Jacksonville.com: The Jacksonville City Council is on its two-week summer holiday, but it might not be a restful vacation. State Attorney Harry Shorstein said he would push for a grand jury to investigate possible violations of Florida's Government-in-the-Sunshine Law by council members.
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