The sun is setting on government transparency in Florida

Miami Herald

13-03-2025

Florida, the 'Sunshine State,' once known as a beacon of government transparency, is growing ever darker, and the clouds are spreading throughout the United States.
From March 16-22, 2025, the nation celebrates the 20th anniversary of national Sunshine Week, which originated in Florida, historically home to the most transparent and accountable governments in the country.
Times have changed.
At the University of Florida Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project, my colleagues and I have researched and taught about the freedom of information since 1977. We monitor the state of open, accountable government, and our research findings do not bode well for democracy — in Florida and throughout the U.S.
But first, let's look back to sunnier days.
Sun rises
Florida enacted its first version of a public records law in 1909, the sixth state to do so. The movement was led by Nebraska in 1866 and Montana in 1895. Florida's law was repealed in the 1950s and then returned in 1967 as the Sunshine Law.
'Sunshine' was equated with the state's nickname but also the concept of government transparency — lighting the dark recesses of secrecy. The Sunshine Law also played on a famous quote by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis that 'Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.'
Something unique happened in Florida then. Transparency took hold.
Journalists such as Pete Weitzel at the Miami Herald pushed hard for governments to operate more transparently, building momentum through the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. They and other media groups helped launch, with $11,000, the Florida Freedom of Information Clearinghouse in 1977 at the University of Florida. The journalism college assigned a professor and grad student to monitor public record denials, open meeting closures and court cases, and to alert newspaper editors to secrecy legislation. This effort created a culture of transparency, including among elected leaders.
Journalists successfully pushed for a constitutional amendment in the early 1990s, which required transparency across the state and required a two-thirds vote from the state Legislature to adopt exemptions to the law.
The nonprofit Florida First Amendment Foundation was launched in 1985 to promote government transparency and hired its first paid employee, Barbara Petersen, in 1995, to monitor secrecy legislation, train public employees and aid people trying to get information. The organization banded with the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors to create Sunshine Sunday each March to promote the right to know. This event went national in 2005 as Sunshine Week.
All these factors led Florida to become known as the most transparent state in the nation.
Increasing clouds
Fast forward to 2025, and we see an entirely different climate in Florida.
The decline of newspapers has meant fewer reporters pushing for records, fewer editors advocating for transparency, and fewer owners suing government agencies.
Copy charges related to getting public records create barriers for average citizens. Research shows that providing fee waivers would increase accessibility without significant costs.
Through the years, legislators became emboldened to pass more exemptions to the Florida Sunshine Law — more than 1,100 and growing. Some of those exemptions were focused on protecting personal privacy — for example, in reaction to journalists requesting the autopsy file of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt after his 2001 death.
Fear of terrorists following 9/11 led to a flurry of exemptions, such as hiding records about crop dusters to prevent al-Qaida from hijacking planes to spread anthrax.
Companies profiting from public records sparked another backlash. For example, some companies acquired public mugshots, posted them online and allowed people to have them removed for a price. Some attorneys gamed the fee-shifting provision, submitting public record requests that would be difficult to fulfill, suing immediately and then settling with agencies for thousands of dollars.
Elected leaders turned against transparency, Petersen, who now directs the Florida Center for Government Accountability, told me recently. One of the prominent examples she points to is Gov. Ron DeSantis' refusal to disclose his travel expense records.
I hear it every week — calls from journalists and others stymied by state and local government agencies. They often cite high copy fees for public records, claims of exemptions and outright ghosting by agencies. One reporter encountered Miami city commissioners sworn in at a private ceremony. Another challenged Tallahassee police refusing to provide information about an officer-involved shooting. A college journalism student was told she had to pay $1,665 for records about Florida dams that could fail and ended up pleading with the government to 'free the dam records.'
Not just Florida
Florida is reflective of a national trend — a secrecy creep spreading throughout the country, culminating in transparency deserts in cities big and small.
The U.S. is losing its reputation as a leader in open, accountable government. Its federal Freedom of Information Act, often known as FOIA, ranks 78th in strength out of 140 nations, and continuously drops as new countries adopt better laws. An information commissioner from Africa told me a few months ago that he and his colleagues laugh at the United States' weak FOIA law, referring to it as a 'toothless poodle.'
On average, according to our research, if you asked for a public record in America 10 years ago, you would get it about half the time.
Even the U.S. Department of Justice's own statistics show a similar decline in full release of records, and the average response time has nearly doubled over the same period, from 21 to 40 days.
What happens when compliance reaches 0%?
Aside from the ramifications on democracy itself, every American will feel the pain in their pocketbooks and everyday lives.
Studies show that public record laws lead to cleaner drinking water, safer restaurants, better-informed school choice, less corruption, saved tax dollars and a lower chance of sex offenders reoffending.
According to Stanford economist James Hamilton, for every dollar spent on public-records journalism, society benefits $287 in saved lives and more efficient government.
Some transparency advocates have raised the alarm on actions taken by the new Trump administration, such as the removal of agency websites, the firing of FOIA staff and the dismantling of the Open Government Federal Advisory Committee.
It is likely these efforts will escalate the secrecy creep and allow it to trickle down to the state and local levels. It is important to note, though, that declining transparency is a long-term trend that transcends any one president or political party. The federal government reached its absolute low in full compliance with FOIA last year, under the Biden administration.
It's easy to point fingers at one politician, but perhaps wiser to look at the entire system, which many scholars say is broken and should be reimagined.
Nonprofit groups have filled some of the gap, and independent online news sites are growing and enforcing public record laws.
But will it be enough? Ultimately, it is up to the citizenry. If the people don't cherish and demand transparent government, then the politicians certainly won't, whether in Florida or the rest of the country.
David Cuillier is director of the Brechner Freedom of Information Project, College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. This article was first published in The Conversation.