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A Times Editorial
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 30, 2001
State lawmakers in the House must have Florida confused with Iraq or North Korea. Under a proposed bill, the state could jail a person for identifying an applicant to lead a Florida university. Under current law, it is required that the names of state university presidential candidates be made public, but separate legislation to reorganize the university system would close that process from public view. Conducting such important job searches behind closed doors would be bad enough, but the measure to criminalize what is now mandatory is the most punitive assault on Florida's open-government laws this year. It is indicative of the extremes to which lawmakers will go to push public business behind closed doors.
The furor over Dale Earnhardt's autopsy photos has detracted from the broader attack on the "Sunshine Laws." Florida's legacy of openness is a model for the nation and a right protected in the state Constitution. Yet this session, lawmakers are driving a broad range of records and meetings underground.
Imagine: The state would conceal the names of bad doctors and dangerous nursing homes. It would make it tougher for citizens to protect their homes and neighborhoods by restricting access to police reports.
Lawmakers have filed 115 bills to change the Sunshine Laws this year, a 50-percent jump from last session. And the reasons for secrecy are getting more gratuitous. One bill exempts information about public employees, which would make it harder to determine if the boss was discriminating, hiring the mayor's son or giving a raise to his girlfriend. One Senate measure would close records showing whether a company created the jobs it was paid tax credits to provide. On the House side, Republicans want public college and university presidents chosen in secret; disclosure of a candidate's name would be punishable by up to one year in prison.
The Sunshine Laws make citizens safer, companies more responsible and government more accountable to the people. These benefits should not be carelessly tossed away. The right to know is essential in a democracy for the people to make informed decisions. The Legislature should be careful not to put this right at risk.