01/26/16 – By Arek Sarkissian A Florida Senate committee Tuesday approved a bill that would weaken public records law by stripping out a guarantee that people could recover legal fees if they won court fights to obtain records. Some government agencies in Florida deny the public access to public records, requiring them to obtain a court […]

01/26/16 – By Gray Rohrer Local government leaders are battling with open-government advocates over legislation that would leave it up to a judge to award attorney’s fees in public-records cases. The bill (SB 1220) passed through a Senate panel Tuesday by a unanimous 3-0 vote, and the House version of the bill (HB 1021) won […]

01/25/16 – By Mary Ellen Klas When allegations surfaced last year accusing the inspector general at the Florida Department of Correction’s of covering up wrongdoing at the agency, the head of a Tallahassee-based government watchdog group wanted to learn more. But when Ben Wilcox, Integrity Florida research director, submitted a public records request to get […]