Florida residents are lucky. We’re guaranteed access to public records by some of the strongest sunshine laws in the country. Those laws help expose corruption and track how taxpayer money is spent.

But a new proposal to amend the Florida Constitution stands to dilute our access to those records — purportedly in the name of “privacy.”

proposal being floated by the Constitution Revision Commission, a group that meets every 20 years to consider amendments to the state constitution, would give the Florida Legislature broader powers to exempt certain “private” information from public access. Proposal 22 is written too broadly, and the nonprofit First Amendment Foundation is rightly sounding the alarm.

Among the foundation’s questions:

If the proposed amendment passed, would public officials no longer be required to disclose personal financial information? Would lobbyists no longer have to disclose the the identity of clients and gross compensation?

These are good questions. And this “privacy” amendment is a bad idea. [READ MORE]