The reason we clamor about public notices being sacred to the public’s right to know is because these relate to the fundamental freedom of open government at the state level. And the state governments are modeled and formed in the image of how our Founding Fathers created federal government and this great country.
Many in power have forgotten this or simply choose to ignore it.
People have a right to know what their government is doing, when it is meeting and how their government plans to proceed. People should know where to look for public government notices in a centralized place and know this information is collected and presented by an independent third-party who is neither the government, nor the individual. This is the system we have in place today in Florida and the United States.
Some members of the Florida House of Representatives want to change this with HB 7049, a proposal that would place all government public notices in the hands of government. State Rep. Chuck Brannan (R-Macclenny) on Wednesday voted in favor of moving this bill through committee and onto the floor of the House for consideration, even though he said afterward he was against the bill and thought it was bad.
We all know how this ‘horse trading’ works in state government. Bills like this are spurned by anger from a few members of the hierarchy and slammed down on the desk and ordered to be forced through by the Republican majority. The rank-and-file representatives do what they are told, hoping for project appropriations or revenue scraps or perhaps even personal favors down the road from leadership or maybe even the governor. We’ll have to see how it plays out. That doesn’t make it right, but this is how our system works.
‘Horse trading’ should never be considered with the people’s basic freedoms and a transparent government. Here are few hypothetical examples of what could happen if government controlled its own system of notifying the public about its actions.
What if a landfill was proposed to be built in the field next door to your property? You probably would not want it there, but the public notices from the state agency planning it were run on that agency’s website for a couple hours. Was it the water district? DEP? The county? Where? And the meeting notice where local government decided on the land use change the county ran on its website between the hours of 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. and the meeting was that day. What if the meeting was noticed on the county website one hour before it began?
What if the city was about to annex your property into its boundaries, raising your taxes and placing you into its jurisdiction for code enforcement? What if the notice about this was buried on the city website or advertised with little notice or in the middle of the night? Probably would not sit well.
What about millage rate hearings? Tax increase proposals? Storm water surcharge fees? Fire assessment fees? See where I’m going with this?
Most local government intention is routine and harmless, but why take the chance? My examples here are hypothetical and extreme, but if any of them happened once anywhere in Florida, it’s too often. Why even risk the oversight of forgetting to post a public notice?
Currently, there is one central, third-party location where all of this information can be found and verified — your local legal newspaper and newspaper website. You can find all of this information updated daily in the printed paper or free at www.lakecityreporter.com. All public notice information is linked to www.floridapublicnotices.com and is free to search without a subscription.
Legal newspapers, which the Lake City Reporter is a legal newspaper serving Columbia, Suwannee, Hamilton and Lafayette counties, also provide notarized affidavits as proof of publication for government agencies and law firms that need them for court proceedings to prove their actions were published. Who does this protect? Governments and the citizens.
Last year, the Florida Press Association spent hundreds of hours working with members of the Florida House and Senate to work on compromised legislation that opened the marketplace to improved Internet technology and online publication of these public notices and modernized the law already in place for decades. This upgrade strengthened business, freedom in Florida and the public’s right to know. I’m proud to have played a small part in this process as a Florida Press Association board member and also a member of the FPA’s Public Notice Task Force. Our group spent a lot of time in Tallahassee last session lobbying, but more importantly, listening to the concerns of lawmakers as we worked toward a compromise.
The House, with Rep. Brannan voting ‘yes’ by the way, supported our compromised bill 105-9. The Senate, with the support of Sen. Jennifer Bradley, approved the bill 39-0. Imagine that, the newspaper industry that so many want to write off as dead and state government working together and leading for a stronger tomorrow. And now, there’s a rogue bill in the House attempting to undo freedom.
Public notices may not be something you think about every day or need every day, but they must be there, in the same, transparent and neutral place every day for the good of a free and open society. In your time of need, you will know where to find them.
Concerned? Contact your representative and let them know you are against HB 7049.
chuck.Brannan@myfloridahouse.gov.
bradley.Jennifer@flsenate.gov