02/21/16 – By The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Senate on Wednesday is slated to take up a potential compromise in perhaps the most-controversial public records issue of this year’s legislative session.
The issue centers on the award of attorney fees in public-records lawsuits. Government agencies are now required to pay attorney fees when they are found to have improperly withheld public records, but some cities and counties contend that people have inundated them with public-records requests as a strategy to file lawsuits and collect fees.