The sun is sinking into Florida’s government transparency

Florida, once known as the government’s transparency beacon, is getting darker and darker, with clouds spreading across the United States.

From March 16-22, 2025, the country will celebrate the 20th anniversary of National Sunshine Week, born in Florida.

Times have changed.

My colleagues and I have studied and taught information freedom since 1977 at the University of Florida Joseph L. Brechner Freedom Information Project. We monitor the status of open and accountable governments and monitor that our findings do not work for Florida and democracies across the United States.

But first, let’s look back on a sunny day.

The sun rises

Florida enacted the first version of the Public Records Act in 1909. The movement was led by Nebraska in 1866 and by Montana in 1895. Florida law was repealed in the 1950s and returned as the Sunshine Act in 1967.

“Sunshine” was equated with not only with the state’s nickname, but with the government’s notion of transparency. The Sunshine Act also famously quoted by former court court Lewis Brandeis Court, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants. The most efficient police officer.”

Something unique happened in Florida. Transparency has become established.

Journalists such as Pete Weitzel of the Miami Herald have built momentum through the Florida Association of Newspaper Editors and have pushed the government to become more transparent. They and other media groups helped launch the University of Florida in 1977 at the Florida Information Clearing House for $11,000. The College of Journalism has assigned professors and graduates to oversee public records, closure of public meetings and court cases, and to warn newspaper editors of secret laws. This effort has created a culture of transparency among elected leaders.

Journalists successfully promoted constitutional reform in the early 1990s. This required statewide transparency, two-thirds of votes from the state legislature, and adopted a legal exemption.

Several provisions of Florida’s Public Records Act stood out.

• Attorney’s fees are required. If a citizen is denied government information, sues and wins, the agency must pay the person’s attorney’s fees. Our research shows that this is one of the most important elements of public record laws to promote compliance.

•The definition of public records is broad and applies to documents created by individuals or contractors acting on behalf of the government. Applying the law to civilian actors is unique in the US and around the world.

• Governing bodies face strict requirements for deliberation in public places. Only two officials communicating with each other must form an official meeting, present in advance, and allow public attendance. In most states, a quorum or majority of the governing body is required to be considered an official meeting.

The Non-Profit Florida First Amendment Foundation was launched in 1985 to promote government transparency and in 1995, it hired the first paid employee, Barbara Petersen, to help those seeking to monitor secret laws, train civil servants and obtain information. The organization united with the Florida Association of Newspaper Editors Association to create Sunshine Sunday Sunday every March to promote the right to know. The event became National in 2005 as Sunshine Week.

All these factors have made Florida known as the most transparent nation in the country.

Cloud increase

Fast forward to 2025 and Florida has a completely different climate.

The decline in newspapers meant that fewer reporters were seeking records, fewer editors defending transparency, and fewer owners suing government agencies.

Copy fees associated with obtaining public records create barriers for the average citizen. Research shows that offering fee waiver increases accessibility without significant costs.

Over the years, legislators have been encouraged to pass more exemptions from Florida’s Sunlight Act. Some of these exemptions focused on protecting personal privacy, for example, in response to journalists requesting the autopsy file of NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt after his death in 2001.

The fear of terrorists after 9/11 led to exemption gusts, including hiding records about crop dusters, to prevent al-Qaeda from hijacking planes to spread charcoal thr bacteria.

Companies profiting from public records have sparked another backlash. For example, some companies have taken public mug shots, posted them online, allowing people to remove them at the price. Some lawyers set out a fee-changing clause, filing a public record request that was difficult to meet, suing quickly, and then settled with the agency for thousands of dollars.

The elected leaders opposed transparency, and Petersen, who now heads the Florida Government’s Center for Accountability, told me recently. One notable example she points out is Gov. Ron DeSantis, who refused to disclose his travel expenses record.

I hear it every week – calls from journalists and other people are being hampered by state and local government agencies. They often quote public records, exemption claims, high copy fees for full ghosts by agents. One reporter met a Miami city commissioner. Another challenged Tallahassee police refused to provide information about the shooting involving officers. College journalism students were told they had to pay $1,665 for records about the Florida dam.

One of my studies in 2019 showed that when I request public records in Florida, I receive an average of about 39% of the time. It has now reached the bottom half of the nation 31.

More recent data from non-profit Muckrock reports that as of February 2025, Florida’s share has fallen to 35%.

Bobby Brock, current director of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation, wrote in February: …It was over at the time. ”

It’s not just Florida

Florida reflects national trends. Secret creep spreads across the country, leading to the desert of transparency in cities large and small.

The United States has lost its reputation as an open and accountable government leader. The Federal Freedom of Information Law Act, often known as the FOIA, ranks 78th out of 140 countries, and is continuing to decline as new countries adopt better laws. A African intelligence committee told me a few months ago that he and his colleagues were laughing at how they called the weak US FOIA Act “toothless poodles.”

Our research shows that on average, if you seek public records in the US 10 years ago, you can get about half the time. Now it’s about a third, just 12%, at the federal level.

Even the US Department of Justice’s own statistics show similar declines in full releases of records, with average response times nearly doubled over the same period between 21 and 40 days.

What happens when compliance reaches 0%?

Aside from the effects of democracy itself, all Americans experience the pain of pocketbooks and everyday life.

Research shows that public records laws are less likely to have cleaner drinking water, safer restaurants, more-based school choices, reduced corruption, saving taxes and reattacking sex offenders.

For every dollar spent on public record journalism, society will benefit $287 with saved lives and more efficient government, according to Stanford Economist James Hamilton.

Some transparency advocates have sparked vigilance over actions taken by the new Trump administration, including removing agency websites, firing FOIA staff and dismantling the open federal advisory board.

These efforts will escalate secret creeps and allow them to drip to state and local levels. However, it is important to note that a decline in transparency is a long-term trend that transcends one president or political party. The federal government reached an absolute decline last year, fully compliant with the FOIA under the Biden administration.

It’s easy to point your finger at a politician, but it’s probably wise to look at the entire system. Many scholars say it is broken and should be rethought.

German sociologist Max Weber hypothesized that if secrets were not checked, it was a natural trend in bureaucracy. For decades, news companies, particularly in Florida, have opposed its secrets through public pressure and litigation.

If the opposite force weakens and does not disappear, who will replace it?

Nonprofit groups have filled some of the gaps, with independent online news sites growing and public records laws enacting.

But is that enough? Ultimately, it depends on the citizens. If people don’t value and demand a transparent government, whether in Florida or elsewhere in the country, politicians certainly aren’t.

David Cuillier is director of the Brechner Freedom Freedom Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.