By Rick Stone With two weeks to go in the lawmaking session, open government and ethics measures favored by watchdog groups are stalled in the Florida Legislature. There is particular concern about citizen access to public records. The first worry
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EDITORIAL: Clouds dim Florida sunshine – nwfDailyNews.com
For a while, it must’ve seemed easy. SB 1648 and HB 1151, companion bills in the Senate and House, were written to improve Floridians’ access to public records and public meetings. They were zipping toward passage when the League of
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A curious champion for Senate President Don Gaetz’s public records bill – Tampa Bay Times
By Michael Van Sickler TALLAHASSEE — Senate President Don Gaetz made a public records bill one of his top priorities this session, only to see it stall in the Florida House. SB 1648, which passed the Senate last month, would
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Ethics bills languishing in Florida Legislature – Orlando Sentinel
By Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau Chief TALLAHASSEE — A year after passing sweeping reforms on political lobbying and conflicts-of-interests, proposals to impose even stronger ethical requirements on politicians are languishing in the Florida Legislature. An eclectic group of organizations, including the
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Coalition urges passage of ethics, open government bills – The Florida Current
By Bill Cotterell A coalition of open government activists spanning the political spectrum called on the Legislature Wednesday to slow its push for more exemptions to Florida’s “Sunshine” laws and put a high priority on improving public access to meetings
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Groups call on lawmakers to pass ethics, sunshine bills – Tallahassee Democrat
By Jeff Burlew Democrat senior writer @JeffBurlew on Twitter A coalition of government- watchdog groups called on Florida lawmakers to approve ethics and open-government bills that have passed the Senate but stalled in the House. Participating in a news conference
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Watchdog Groups to Call on Florida Legislature to Come Through With Ethics Reform and Open Government – Broward/Palm Beach New Times Blog
A Florida watchdog coalition, headed by the nonprofit group Integrity Florida, is scheduled to hold a news conference in Tallahassee on Wednesday morning to remind lawmakers of their promises to bring ethics reform and transparency to the Sunshine State’s government.
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Budget sleuthing, smoke and mirrors (Part 2) – The Fine Print
By Gary Fineout So the public and press have a hard time figuring out sometimes where items stashed in the $70-billion plus state budget came from originally. But there’s one person who legislators make sure to know where items in
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Groups call on lawmakers to pass ethics, open-government bills – Tallahassee Democrat
By Jeff Burlew Several government-watchdog groups are holding a news conference today to call on Florida lawmakers to pass stalled ethics and open-government bills. Representatives from the First Amendment Foundation, Integrity Florida, Common Cause Florida and Citizens Awareness Foundation will
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Come to Ohio and Cheat
In her story on Kent State University shredding documents to prevent the public from seeing how the Presidential Search Committee selected its new president, Akron Beacon Journal reporter Carol Biliczky may have come up with the ideal way for students
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