Nonpayment of Fees for Public Records May Preclude Subsequent Requests

In Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, the Fourth District considered a case in which Lozman had requested records from the City but then failed to pay the undisputed charges of $233.50. Because he failed to pay, the City never furnished the records to him. When he sought additional records, the City refused to comply until Lozman paid the amount due for the previous records request.

Lozman sued for a writ of mandamus, contending that the City's refusal to supply the records was a violation of the public records law. As stated by the Fourth District, the only issue in the case was "whether the City could require him to pay the past due fees before complying with his subsequent requests."

That question was not directly answered by the opinion. Rather, the Fourth District found that Chapter 119 "does not require the City to do any more than what it did in this case" and denied the petition for writ of mandamus.

Sunshine & Public Records Seminar in Tampa April 21, 2009

The Lorman Education Services seminar entitled "What You Need to Know About Public Records and Open Meetings" is scheduled to be held in Tampa on April 21, 2009. Here's all the details, the agenda and the distinguished faculty.

Hope to see you there.

Venice Email Shenanigans

I haven't devoted much time to chronicling the ongoing litigation involving the City of Venice and its email, but the Sarasota Herald Tribune has done an excellent job of it. See selected articles here, here, here, here and here. There's plenty more on the Herald's website. The coverage has been comprehensive and is likely to garner a Pulitzer nomination.

New York Times Contemplates the Spectre of Too Much Sunshine . . . Hell Reportedly Frozen Over

Although I try to limit this blog to matters specifically relating to Florida's open government laws -- and we have more than enough material -- some things are just too good to let pass by without comment.

In this article, the New York Times laments that, "information collected through disclosure laws intended to increase the transparency of the political process, magnified by the powerful lens of the Web, may be undermining the same democratic values that the regulations were to promote." In other words, now that all that information we demanded public access to is actually accessible to the public, it might not be such a good idea.

Imagine.

No Surprise Here - Commission's Report Being Favorably Received by the Media

Given that the numerous recommendations in the Final Report of the Commission on Open Government Reform lean almost entirely towards more "openness," it's no surpirse that the report is being favorably received by the media. The St. Pete Times' editorial from this morning's paper appears here.

"Reforming Florida's Open Government Laws in the 21st Century" . . .

is the title of the just-issued Final Report of the Commission on Open Government Reform, which is available here.

The Final Report is quite lengthy (about 200 pages) and contains numerous recommendations that will no doubt promptly be implemented by the Governor, to the extent he is able to do so unilaterally by Executive Order or otherwise, and by the legislature in the next session.

I'll be posting separately on specific issues and recommendations covered in the Final Report.