Florida Amendment 4, Laws on Public Records and Meetings Exemptions Amendment (2002)

Florida Amendment 4
Election date November 5, 2002
Topic Open meetings and public information and State legislative vote requirements
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Florida Amendment 4 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Florida on November 5, 2002. It was approved.

A “yes” vote supported requiring that laws that provide for exemptions from public records or public meetings requirements must pass both houses of the Legislature by 2/3 majority.

A “no” vote opposed requiring that laws that provide for exemptions from public records or public meetings requirements must pass both houses of the Legislature by 2/3 majority.

Election results

Florida Amendment 4
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		3,474,978	76.64%
No		1,059,183	23.36%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 4 was as follows:

“

Requires that laws providing exemptions from public records or public meetings requirements must, after the effective date of this amendment, be passed by a two-thirds vote of each house of the Legislature.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Constitutional changes

The text of the amendment read:

SECTION 24. Access to public records and meetings.-- (a) Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this Constitution. This section specifically includes the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government and each agency or department created thereunder; counties, municipalities, and districts; and each constitutional officer, board, and commission, or entity created pursuant to law or this Constitution. (b) All meetings of any collegial public body of the executive branch of state government or of any collegial public body of a county, municipality, school district, or special district, at which official acts are to be taken or at which public business of such body is to be transacted or discussed, shall be open and noticed to the public and meetings of the legislature shall be open and noticed as provided in Article III, Section 4(e), except with respect to meetings exempted pursuant to this section or specifically closed by this Constitution. (c) This section shall be self-executing. The legislature, however, may provide by general law passed by a two - thirds vote of each house for the exemption of records from the requirements of subsection (a) and the exemption of meetings from the requirements of subsection (b), provided that such law shall state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption and shall be no broader than necessary to accomplish the stated purpose of the law. The legislature shall enact laws governing the enforcement of this section, including the maintenance, control, destruction, disposal, and disposition of records made public by this section, except that each house of the legislature may adopt rules governing the enforcement of this section in relation to records of the legislative branch. Laws enacted pursuant to this subsection shall contain only exemptions from the requirements of subsections (a) or (b) and provisions governing the enforcement of this section, and shall relate to one subject. (d) All laws that are in effect on July 1, 1993 that limit public access to records or meetings shall remain in force, and such laws apply to records of the legislative and judicial branches, until they are repealed. Rules of court that are in effect on the date of adoption of this section that limit access to records shall remain in effect until they are repealed.

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the Florida Constitution

A 60% vote was required during one legislative session for the Florida State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounted to a minimum of 51 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 18 votes in the Florida State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments did not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot. Amendments on the ballot required a simple majority vote in this year.

See also

2002 Measures

• 2002 Measures
• Open meetings and public information on the ballot
• State legislative vote requirements on the ballot
• 2002 legislative sessions

Florida

• Florida ballot measures
• Florida ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Florida Division of Elections, "Initiatives / Amendments / Revisions Database"