Florida transparency advocates push measure to toughen public records violation penaltiesBy Doug SouleTallahassee DemocratJune 17, 2024Worried that Florida's long-lauded government transparency laws are in "a state of crisis," open access advocates are pursuing legislation they hope will turn the tides. Bobby Block, the First Amendment Foundation's executive director, announced Saturday that his group and others will bring forward a measure that would toughen penalties against the government for wrongfully delaying or denying a public records request and create an independent office to oversee appeals and complaints. "Right now the problem is too many people are delayed, denied or ignored," Block said in an interview after the announcement, which came during a Tallahassee awards ceremony organized by his group. "If that happens, you have no recourse, whether you're a company, which are the biggest users of public records law, whether you're an individual, whether you're a news organization or whether you're a lawyer." No recourse, that is, short of suing, which requires a large amount of time and resources. "We want to put more heat on the government so they think twice before delaying, denying or ignoring," said Block, a former journalist.
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