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Sunshine Week: First Amendment Foundation goes to bat for Florida’s right to know

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

It’s Sunshine Week in the Sunshine State, and not just because it’s Spring Break. Since 2005, open government and freedom of information advocates have designated March 13-19 as a time to celebrate public transparency and raise awareness about the critical importance of access to government records. Sunshine Week is timed to coincide with the birthday of James Madison, author of the First Amendment. True to form, the First Amendment Foundation has been busy at the Florida Capitol battling to ensure…

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Spotted at the Governors Club: The last troubadour of Real Florida

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

Jeff Klinkenberg is not the kind of guy who does “luncheons,” but there he was at the Governors Club Tuesday, entertaining Friends of the First Amendment — some real, some fake — at the First Amendment Foundation’s annual fundraiser. He looked a lot more comfortable later that day at Sally Bradshaw’s bookstore, telling true tales about things that “make Florida unique” to an appreciative audience of people who like to choose their reading material in a venue that does not…

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Bad nursing homes benefit from AHCA’s passive-aggressive war on #transparency

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

Somebody please give Shelisha Coleman a big fat raise. The Agency for Health Care Administration’s (AHCA) high profile flack works hard duty playing hardball with some of Florida’s best reporters, but makes tens of thousands of dollars less than men paid by taxpayers to tell tall tales about #Transparency. Coleman had to drop a whopping load of horsefeathers on the Orlando Sentinel last week in a laughable effort to justify AHCA’s unlawful redactions to public records. Taking up the cause…

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Bill blocking public release of death recordings a slippery slope for transparency, truth

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

I will give state Rep. Chris Latvala, a Clearwater Republican, the benefit of the doubt that he believes he is doing the right thing by filing HB 661 – a measure that prohibits the public release of video and audio recordings of someone’s death. Latvala originally filed the measure last October to cover only the release of recordings and video of police officers who died in the line of duty. He expanded that bill Monday to include anyone who was…

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Public records bill barely gets out of first committee

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

A bill that would give judges discretion to award attorney fees in public records lawsuits squeaked out of its first review panel Tuesday. The Senate’s Governmental Oversight and Accountability cleared the bill (SB 80) by a 4-3 vote. It goes next to the Community Affairs Committee. The measure changes the word “shall” to “may” regarding courts awarding legal fees when an “agency (has) unlawfully refused to permit a public record … to be inspected or copied.” It would also require a “complainant (to) provide…

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Bill again targets attorney fees in public records cases

in Statewide/Top Headlines by

A bill that would give judges the discretion to award attorney fees in public records lawsuits was refiled Wednesday in the Florida Legislature. New state Sen. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican and lawyer, is again behind the legislation (SB 80). He backed a version of the bill last session as a state representative. It passed the Senate unanimously but died in the House. The measure changes the word “shall” to “may” regarding courts awarding legal fees when an “agency (has) unlawfully…

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First Amendment Foundation calls Mike Fasano’s conditions on public record access ‘highly inappropriate,’ illegal

in Peter/Top Headlines by

Mike Fasano took to social media last week to “shame” GOP political consulting firm Data Targeting for having the audacity to request public personnel records. In doing so, the Pasco County Tax Collector – recognized with the Friend of the First Amendment award only last year – disappointed a number of people, including several of his friends. But in the eyes of First Amendment Foundation president Barbara Petersen, Fasano is not only doing something “highly inappropriate” – he is also breaking the law.…

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