2012 Florida Public Records and Sunshine Law Seminar John A. Crawford, Nassau County Clerk of the Circuit Court, will host a Florida Public Records and Sunshine Law Seminar on Wednesday, March 28, 2012, at the Nassau County Judicial Annex in Yulee, Florida. Barbara A. Petersen, President of the First Amendment Foundation, will share her knowledge and experience regarding…
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10:50 p.m. EST, March 10, 2012|By Anika Myers Palm, Orlando Sentinel Laura Williams’ interest in public records was born of tremendous personal tragedy: In 1996, her then-husband, who had abused her, killed both their 2-year-old daughter and himself. In the years that followed, she joined groups that helped domestic-violence victims. And in 2007, she began…
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JOE SAUNDERS’S BLOG | Posted: March 8, 2012 7:20 PM The First Amendment Foundation has issued an email blast asking supporters to contact legislative leaders to demand passage of a Senate bill that guarantees the right of Floridians to speak at public meetings of their city councils, school boards, county commissions and before any other elected…
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ASSOCIATED PRESS WIRE REPORT Thursday, March 8, 2012 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s next governor and other statewide-elected officials will have to preserve and make public any documents and e-mails they send between their election and the time they are officially sworn into office. The Florida Legislature has unanimously passed a bill that was sparked by…
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We were each astounded when our City Attorney, approached us during the course of our service as mayors of the nearby cities of Lake Helen and Sanford and advised us that the courts had ruled that, although the Sunshine Law requires that meetings be open to the public, the Law does not give the public…
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A proposed state law that would have given Florida senators and representatives immunity from testifying or providing documents in civil lawsuits is dead — for now. House leaders put the brakes on the legislation this past Monday after protests from the League of Women Voters, the First Amendment Foundation and newspaper editors, to name a…
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Close monitoring of what goes on in Tallahassee during the annual sessions of the Florida Legislature always brings to mind this quote: “Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.” It often is attributed to Otto von Bismarck, a statesman credited with the unification of Germany in the 1800s. Bismarck…
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It’s taken for granted that a law enforcement agency is careful not to violate laws itself. Such an assumption, though, doesn’t seem to hold true in the case of the Port St. Lucie Police Department and its (mis)handling of public records. City residents should be outraged at department leaders’ continued failure to be transparent. Open…
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FIRST AMENDMENT FOUNDATION 336 E. College Avenue, Suite 101 Tallahassee, FL 32301-1554 (800) 337-3518 or (850) 222-3518 LEGISLATIVE ALERT 26 January 2012 We’re still sing-sing-singing along on HB 1305 and SB 1464! A couple of weeks ago, we sent out an ALERT on these two VERY GOOD bills sponsored by Representative Janet Adkins (HB 1305)…
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