Sunshine Law training set to begin online March 1

Exceptions to Florida’s Sunshine Law have increased from 250 to more than 1,000 and it has Barbara Peterson upset.

The Florida Legislature makes its own rules and Gov. Rick Scott blatantly disregards it. Scott has cost state taxpayers $1.3 million in lawsuits fighting against their rights to open access to the governor’s public records.

“That’s wrong,” said Barbara Peterson, The First Amendment Foundation president for 25 years. “’I’m picking on (Gov. Scott) because he has a bad open records performance.”

Peterson and Betsy Daley, a Florida Commission on Ethics senior attorney, provided a three-hour seminar on state ethics for government officials and the Sunshine Law that regulates open government. Held Friday at the Sanders Community Center, the seminar was attended by about 60 people, including Mayor Ashton Hayward and several other council members and city employees.

Beginning March 1, Florida officials and citizens will be able to earn “Sunshine Law” certificates online. The First Amendment Foundation is joining The Poynter Institute to provide the training that counts toward continuing education credits. Peterson said she did all the voice overs for the new interactive class.

The two organizations announced their merger in December. Besides opening an office at Poynter in St. Petersburg, the groups plan to publish a digital version of the 2016 Government-in-the-Sunshine manual, Peterson said.

Florida is one of a handful of states that has both a constitutional and statutory right to the records and meetings of its government. Florida’s first open meetings law was passed in 1905. Today’s Sunshine Law was enacted in 1968.

Peterson said that the Foundation’s hotline has grown from 203 calls in its first year to 150-plus calls per month today.

Although Peterson advises public officials to simply avoid any conversation of public business outside of meetings, she said “Sunshine Law can be really difficult.”

Hayward thanked Peterson for her talk about Sunshine Law that included many examples of governments and public officials trying to circumvent it. “Thanks for helping us out as always,” the Pensacola mayor said. “And separating fact from fiction.”

Daley said ethics laws can become just as confusing as open records, pointing out the Ethics Commission issues thousands of advisory opinions each year. “I hope none of you have to face a complaint,” she said. Innocence or guilt “always depends on the facts of each individual case.”