The Sunshine Law: Open Meetings and Public Records
In Florida, the people have a constitutional right to open government at the state and local levels. This right extends to elected and appointed boards, including boards of county commissioners and extends to public records and to open meetings. The constitutional provision is found in Article I, section 24 of the Florida Constitution. Many statutory provisions deal with public records and open meetings but much of the law is found in Chapters 119 and 286 of the Florida Statutes.
Great resources, including research, analysis and training materials, are available through the Governor’s Office of Open Government. You can link to that information here. The Florida Attorney General also has outstanding resources available on the internet and they can be accessed here.
Sunshine Technology Team
In September 2009, the state Attorney General announced a new policy that the Attorney General's Office would begin to treat Blackberry PIN messages and Blackberry text messages as public records by automatically retaining those messages that travel through the agency server. In addition to the new PIN policy, the Attorney General formed a Sunshine Technology Team to explore the open government requirements as related to electronic communications and emerging technology. The team was led by the Attorney General's Chief of Staff and included input from public records advocates, technology experts, media specialists, communications officials and government officials. Other forms of electronic communications that were reviewed included text messaging, instant messaging, and voice over internet protocol. You can link here to the final press release summarizing the work of the Team and a letter to the Department of State from the Attorney General asking for rule development for public record retention schedules on these new technologies.
Ethics
Florida has strong ethics standards for public officials and recognizes the right of her citizens to protect the public trust against abuse. The Florida Constitution requires that a code of ethics for all state employees and non-judicial officers prohibiting conflict between public duty and private interests be prescribed by law. The Commission on Ethics has been created to investigate complaints concerning breaches of public trust by public officers and employees other than judges. The Commission has an outstanding website, containing research, pamphlets, and advisory opinions. You can link to the site here.
The National Association of Counties has adopted a Code of Ethics for County Officials. That code was made a Board policy for the Florida Association of Counties in 1997. You can review that code here.
Click here for additional resources.
County Codes of Ethics
Some counties in Florida have adopted local ethics codes, ordinances, resolutions and/or policies. Some counties even have a local commission on ethics. FAC has compiled information on those provisions and programs. You can view a chart showing the results of that research here.
County Ethics Policies
FAC has compiled individual county ethics policies that can be viewed by clicking here.
Elections and Campaign Finance Laws
In 1973, the Florida Elections Commission was created to enforce the campaign finance laws of the state. The Commission’s jurisdiction extends to violations of Chapters 104 and 106, covering contributions, political action committees, reporting and many other requirements. The website for this commission also contains legal information, analysis, forms, and opinions. You can link here.
Honest Services
There is federal legislation that also governs the conduct of public officials. At times, not governing oneself in the best interests of constituents is deemed to be depriving them of “honest services” and can, depending on the circumstances, amount to bribery, mail fraud, embezzlement, and undisclosed secret personal interests. There is not a concrete definition of “honest services” and thus not a concrete explanation of how constituents are deprived of them. One federal court has described it as follows: “The typical case of honest services fraud is that the public is not getting what it deserves: honest, faithful, disinterested service from a public official. This concept applies whether the official is bribed or fails to disclose a conflict of interest. Finally, the scheme or artifice must lead to actual or intended actual injury. That is, the official must be performing a discretionary function which the scheme or artifice is intended to influence because it is the exercise of a discretionary function (the “service”) which must be the target of the scheme.” See United States v. Mangiardi, 962 F. Supp. 49, 51 (M.D. Penn. 1997), aff’d 202 F.3d 255 (3rd Cir. 1999), cert. den. 529 U.S. 1060 (2000). In recent years, more county commissioners in Florida are being investigated by the federal government for violations of honest services; some have even been indicted and convicted.
Resources containing information and examples are below:
Commission on Open Government
On June 19, 2007, Governor Charlie Crist issued Executive Order 07-107, creating the Commission on Open Government Reform. The nine member commission was created within the Governor’s Office of Open Government to review, evaluate, and issue recommendations regarding Florida’s public records and public meetings laws. The Commission reviewed the public’s right to access government meetings and records according to Section 119 and Section 286.011 of the Florida Statutes, as well as Article 1, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution. Click here to view the Commission’s final recommendations.