Florida Open Meetings Law
From Sunshine Review
Contents |
Which government meetings are open to the public? All meetings of any governmental body where official acts will be taken are public meetings and always open to the public, and no resolution, rule, or formal action shall be considered binding except as taken or made at such meeting. The body must provide reasonable notice of all meetings.[1]
[edit] Meeting process
All meetings must be held in a facility that remains nondiscriminatory on the basis of sex, age, race, creed, color, origin, or economic status or which operates in such a manner as to unreasonably restrict public access to such a facility. Minutes are recorded at every meeting and they are open to public inspection.[1]
[edit] Exceptions
The only meeting that is not open to the public in Florida is one involving the present governmental body's attorney on a present and pending case.
Attorney-client sessions
Any body may meet in private with the entity's attorney to discuss present and pending litigation as long as the entity's attorney will be advising the entity at a public meeting that he or she desires advice concerning the litigation, the subject matter of the meeting will be confined to settlement negotiations or strategy sessions related to litigation expenditures, and the entire session, no exceptions, must be recorded by a certified court reporter. The public must have access to reasonably timely public notice of these private meetings.
This session will begin at an open meeting where the body's members announce the commencement, the estimated time of the private meeting, and the names of the people attending it. After the attorney-client session is over, the meeting is reopened.[1]
[edit] If violated
Any public officer who violates any provision of this act is guilty of a noncriminal infraction, punishable by fine not exceeding $500. Any person who knowingly violates the act by attending an illegally held meeting is guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree. Even if the violation occurs knowingly outside of Florida, it is a misdemeanor of the second degree.
If any fees are due at the end of a courts decision about a violation, the accused will pay them. If an accused member is acquitted, the body must pay any attorney's fees.[1]
[edit] Relevant legal cases
- See also: Court cases with an impact on state FOIA
Here is a list of open meetings lawsuits in Florida. For more information go the page or go to Florida sunshine lawsuits.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon to the right of the Year heading)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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