About the Sunshine Scorecard: The scoring system for the Florida Society of News Editors assigns points for a list of critical government openness bills. Legislators get three points for a floor vote, seven points for co-sponsoring a bill and 10 points for sponsoring a bill that’s on the list. Votes against openness lose points; votes for openness gain points. Legislators got a bonus point for communicating with the Florida First Amendment Foundation about the bill. The scores were compared to the session’s most extreme legislator — good or bad — and turned into standard letter grades for comparison. A perfectly neutral legislator would get a C. In 2017, the most extreme good score paled in comparison with the most extreme worst vote, leaving no legislator with an A score but some with Fs.
More on grades | About this project
Note: Locations vary by chamber. Representatives are shown with their reported city of residence. Senators are shown with their primary office city.
| Implementation | Mike Stucka, The Palm Beach Post |
| Design | Mike Stucka and Mark Buzek, The Palm Beach Post |
| Concept | Sunshine Week Committee, Florida Society of News Editors |
| Bill selection | Barbara Petersen, First Amendment Foundation |
The 10 Best
The First Amendment Foundation would like to recognize these 10 legislators for being the highest ranked on the Sunshine Scorecard. For the full list by county, scroll down or visit the Palm Beach Post’s Sunshine Scorecard page.
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Rep. Joseph Geller: B+
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Rep. Lori Berman: B+
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Sen. Bill Galvano: B
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Rep. Richard Stark: B-
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Sen. Kevin J. Rader: B-
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Sen. Darryl Ervin Rouson: B-
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