Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers

It’s not marked on your calendars, probably wasn’t your preacher’s topic this morning and isn’t on your mind daily.

But today is Sunshine Sunday (www.fsne.org/sunshine2008) and the beginning of Sunshine Week (www.sunshineweek.org/sunshineweek/about).

It’s a time when media organizations nationwide remind the public that open-meetings and open–records laws are about Y-O-U. Today and the next week are about your ability to access information about the government that is supposed to serve you.

So if you head to the courthouse, watch a commission meeting on TV, are interested in the performance of your schools and teachers or just read the paper – where numerous stories daily are told thanks to Florida’s constitutional right to open government – keep in mind that preserving open-government laws are critical to democracy.

This year, instead of preaching about open government, we’ve decided to see how much you know, or can learn, about state and federal open-government laws. Please choose the best answers to the following questions or scenarios.

(If you get nine or more the following questions correct, you can give yourself the Mr. or Mrs. Sunny Award; for eight correct answers, your open-government knowledge is partly sunny; seven, partly cloudy; five or fewer and you need to clear up those clouds.)

1. One of the reasons Sunshine Sunday and Sunshine Week are held near March 16 each year is to honor the memory of a famous president who said this: “A popular government without popular information, or means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” Who said this?
   
   A. Ronald Reagan; B. George Washington;
   C. James Madison; D. Gen. Mudcat S. Grant
   

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2. Florida county commissioners X and Y can meet together for coffee and decide who they will nominate to a commission advisory board. Commissioner X can then tell alert Commissioner Z.
   
   A. Commissioners X and Y can discuss, but may not communicate with Commissioner Z;
   B. It’s OK, so long as they drink orange juice instead of coffee;
   C. Two members of an appointed or elected board may not meet to discuss business that they might one day vote for;
   D. Commissioner Z is OK, since he did not start the conversation.
   

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3. Any person can walk into a government office and may view salary information for any employee.
   
   A. True; B. False.
   

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4. Any person is entitled to walk into a medical examiner’s office and view autopsy photos.
   
   A. True;
   B. False. You have to show proper ID first;
   C. False. Florida legislators prohibited such access retroactively after the death of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt.
   

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5. Which of the following is true about public school teachers’ evaluations?
   
   A. You can review all evaluations of school teachers;
   B. You can review only the latest one;
   C. You have to give your name before you can see an evaluation;
   D. You may not see the latest evaluation until the end of the school year immediately following the school year during which the evaluation was made.
   

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6. A public board may shut taxpayers out of a meeting so it can discuss pending litigation.
   
   A. True; B. False.
   

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7. Which of the following is true?
   
   A. Law enforcement in Florida is required to release the names of rape victims;
   B. The names may be released only if the victims are 21 or older;
   C. The names are exempt from public disclosure laws;
   D. Rape victims’ names may be released if police announce names of rape suspects.
   

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8. Which of the following is true?
   
   A. The governor makes only $37,500 a year;
   B. State senators make $18,000 a year;
   C. This is personal information and not open to the public.
   D. Average salary for a School Board member on the Treasure Coast is $33,021, plus benefits.
   E. B and D.
   

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9. Gov. Charlie Crist created an Office of Open Government in 2007. This office specializes in:
   
   A. Explaining open-government laws to anyone or governments who need help;
   B. Helping other government agencies keep information from the public;
   C. Promoting Crist’s effort to become vice president;
   D. A&C.
   

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10. Which of the following must you provide to a keeper of records to be able to view a public record?
    
    A. Your name;
    B. Driver’s license;
    C. $1;
    D. Social Security card;
    E. Nothing.
    

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    BONUS:
    How much time does an agency have before it has to release information?
    
    A. A day;
    B. A week;
    C. A month;
    D. As long as it wants.;
    E. A reasonable period, based on the difficulty of retrieving the information. For most simple requests, 24 hours is reasonable.

Answers:

1. C; 2. C; 3. A; 4. C; 5. D; 6. B. The meeting may be closed to discuss ongoing litigation, but not anticipated litigation. 7. C; 8. E; 9. A; 10. E; BONUS: E

Reproduced courtesy of the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers.
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