Florida's government in the sunshine is getting less transparent this week, according to critics of a new law that shields elected officials and their families from certain disclosures.
Starting Tuesday, local elected officials, their spouses and their adult children in Florida will be allowed to exempt their home addresses from disclosure on local property appraiser websites and publicly available documents. That's thanks to SB 268, a bill sponsored by Democratic Florida state Sen. Shevrin Jones.
The bill was introduced in January and received bipartisan support after the killing of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman at her home on June 14. It was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last week.
"The Legislature further finds that the harm that may result from the release of such personal identifying and location information outweighs any public benefit that may be derived from the disclosure of the information," the bill reads in part.
SB 268 is the latest caveat added to Florida's "Sunshine Law," an open records law that makes all government records and communications publicly accessible unless otherwise exempt.
The Florida First Amendment Foundation said in a statement that the new law will make it harder to verify if elected officials actually live in the districts and cities that they are running to represent.
Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser Tomás Regalado, who is also the former Mayor of the City of Miami, told WLRN his office is prepared to process any exemption request from elected officials pursuant to the new law. When it comes to his own address, though, Regalado said he'll keep that public.
"I’m not gonna request an exemption because my address has always been and will always be public record. I don't care," Regalado said.
Under existing state law, law enforcement officers and judges are exempt from disclosing their home addresses. City and county commissioners and mayors' addresses have been public up to this point.
"I understand the fear of the elected official because of what happened in Minnesota," Regalado said. "But if you are an elected official you should be be transparent. If we have to declare our finances every single year, we should not hide our property."
The Florida First Amendment Foundation (FAF) said in a written statement after the law was passed that this change will be a blow to public accountability and transparency.
"While the bill will do little to deter bad actors, it makes it extremely difficult for people to check whether their elected officials actually live in their districts," wrote Bobb Block, executive director of FAF.
Speaking to WLRN, Block said that the state needs to make a system to ensure that elected officials are following residency requirements.
" I think that what they need to do is they need to look at ways to either create a system where the supervisors of election in every county can do an audit every six months or so to validate that the people who are serving as elected officials indeed live where they're supposed to serve," Block told WLRN.
Democratic former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman was fatally shot at her home in a Minneapolis suburb by a man posing as a police officer. Minnesota's chief federal prosecutor called it an assassination. Hortman's husband, Mark, was also killed. The gunman is also accused of shooting and seriously wounding a state senator and his wife.
