1st Amendment Foundation...Adria

Adria was with the 1st Amendment Foundation and she help clear up the right of access for public records. 1st Amendment Foundation is a small non-profit organization in place to help provide seminars for anyone who has interest in public access. They have an active role in the Legislative and the report Legislative activities and bills. They also focus their efforts on the Sunshine Laws.

In the Adria’s speech, she informed us that Florida has the longest and richest regulations for open records. It is in the Florida Constitution that we are able to access public records. In Article 1 section 24 of the Florida Constitution it expresses that every person has the right to receive public access.

The Department of State is the one in charge of determining the retention of records. Each record has to be provided in the form that it is kept, but if a person ask to receive the information in another form, it is not the responsibility of the provider. The agent does not have to provide any records that they do not maintain.

There are ways that an agent can get in trouble for not providing records that they do maintain, and this is only if they are knowing of the violation that the committed. Brechner.org is a website where we can see who has got in trouble and what their charges where.

If someone is looking to obtain information the agent must provide the information in a reasonable time frame. There also must be a reasonable notice of meetings when two or more people are meeting from the same agency. They would have to provide the timing, placement and content. They must keep the minutes of every meeting and they may not ask public member and press to leave an open meeting unless the person/person’s are being disruptive.

Overall, Adria was very informative and I think she will be a great resource in the near future.