01/30/016 – By St. Augustine

It was a sad week in Tallahassee for the freedom of everyday citizens. The Senate Government Oversight and Accountability committee passed SB-1220 which would give the discretion to award attorney’s fees in actions brought by citizens to enforce the state’s public records laws to judges, rather than the statutory requirement that currently exists.

Current law requires judges to award attorney fees for violating the law, even when the violation is inadvertent. In an effort to curb these abuses, this legislation would change the word “shall” to “may” leaving the award of costs up to the discretion of the judge based on the particular facts of the case. [Read More]