Gov. Jeb Bush vetoes public records bill

[seafan]

Gov. Bush vetoes public records bill

By Alan Gomez
June 21, 2006

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday vetoed a public records bill that was crafted in response to questions surrounding his office's handling of public records.
In November, his office on four occasions denied the existence of a proposal to restructure a school voucher program. One of Bush's deputy chiefs of staff later admitted to The Palm Beach Post that she had the 11-page plan.

Rep. Shelley Vana, D-Lantana, responded to that situation by asking the Attorney General to investigate whether Bush's office had violated the state's public records law. Attorney General Charlie Crist turned down the request, but Vana later filed HB 1097 and got it passed through both chambers of the legislature — 38-0 in the Senate, 117-1 in the House.

It would have required agencies to "respond to requests to inspect or copy records promptly and in good faith."
On Tuesday, Bush wrote in a letter that the law was too burdensome and may have forced some state employees to drop everything they were doing to respond immediately to public records requests.

"I am not comfortable requiring Florida's state and local agencies to set aside their primary missions to comply with a new, but undefined, time standard for responding to public records requests, notwithstanding any other statutory deadlines, emergencies, or public record requests that may compete for the time of the agency's employees," Bush wrote. "Likewise, I am not comfortable requiring state and local agencies to spend unnecessary time in court responding to allegations that, while their compliance with a public records request may have been 'reasonable,' it was not 'prompt.' "

When told of Bush's answer, Vana said, "Oh, please."

snip

[LisaM]

1. Can they overturn his veto?

It sounds as if they have the votes - 155-1. But I don't know Florida law.

[Lochloosa]

2. Yes. 2/3 just like the Feds.

[William769]

4. In Florida's Congress?

Not likely!

[seafan]

3. The 2006 session is over with. Unless there is a special session

called, which is about as likely as * using diplomacy with Iran, the earliest opportunity to reverse this latest BFEE abomination will be probably in the 2007 Legislative session.

[SteppingRazor]

5. I blogged about this, actually:

http://blogs.southflorida.com/citylink_dansweeney/2006/06/jeb_bush_another_example_of_fl.html

I'd post it here, but you should read it on the blog, where there's photos and stuff to go with it. :hi:

[seafan]

11. Thanks, SteppingRazor, for spreading the word. This is what we need to do.

Every single day.

[CarlWoodward]

6. Just wanted to give some credit ...

As a former employee of the Palm Beach Post, I wanted to point out that the paper is probably the most aggressive, ass-kicking newspaper in Florida despite being a lot smaller than the Miami Herald and the St. Pete Times. No one else turns over rocks in Florida state government like Post.

[w4rma]

10. I agree. The Palm Beach Post rocks. (nt)

[seafan]

12. Yes, the Palm Beach Post gets the story. Ground zero for the coup.

Palm Beach County people are certainly not *over it.*

[Supersedeas]

7. Responsive - open - democracy - Bush - style

[Rex]

8. 38-0 in the Senate, 117-1 in the House

WOW. That is a CLEAR message. A Bush getting CAUGHT doing something illegal? I just can't believe it! :sarcasm:

[Charlie Brown]

9. Surely they can pass this over the veto

38-0 and 177-1 has got to be veto-proof.