By RYAN DAILEY
News Service of Florida

TALLAHASSEE – An appeals court heard arguments this week in a challenge to a judge’s ruling that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has “executive privilege” that shields it from releasing records.


The case could have far-reaching implications for Florida’s public-records laws, as an attorney for the plaintiff argued that no other chief executive in the state’s history has claimed such an exemption.
The appeal stems from a public-records request, filed by someone identified in court documents as J. Doe, seeking information from DeSantis’ office about people involved in discussions about appointing Florida Supreme Court justices. In a subsequent lawsuit, Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey rejected the public-records request on a series of grounds, including executive privilege.
The plaintiff’s attorney, Phil Padovano, argued before a three-judge panel of the Tallahassee-based 1st District Court of Appeal that a 1992 constitutional amendment about public-records access did not include a carve-out for the governor.
“The concept of executive privilege has no application whatsoever in the field of public records. It never has. The right to examine a public record is a fundamental constitutional right that is subject only to the exceptions that are created by statute,” Padovano, a former judge on the appeals court, said during Tuesday’s hearing.
Padovano added that the Legislature in the ensuing decades had not passed any law that would have provided such an exemption and that it is “not the place of a circuit judge” to create one.
In an Aug. 25, 2022, interview, DeSantis told conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt that a group of “six or seven pretty big legal conservative heavyweights” had helped him screen candidates for appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. The records request sought to find out who was in on those conversations.
Nathan Forrester, a state senior deputy solicitor general, told the appeals-court panel that executive privilege encompasses “documents whose disclosure would threaten the confidentiality that is necessary to perform an enumerated constitutional duty.”
But Judge Clay Roberts questioned Forrester about whether such privilege would apply to correspondence between the governor, the governor’s chief of staff and the governor’s general counsel.
“Just emails back and forth talking about policy matters. You would agree that all those are public records, or do you think that there is an executive privilege that makes them exempt” from the constitutional amendment, Roberts asked.
“At that level of generality, I’m not prepared to say that they would all be covered,” Forrester said.

TAKING ON ‘TAKEOVERS’

A series of bills signed by DeSantis included a measure that seeks to crack down on participants in “street takeovers.”
The bill, passed during the legislative session that ended March 8, targets “coordinated” events where 10 or more vehicles are involved in street takeovers. It will increase fines and potential jail time for people who participate.
The bill, in part, increases maximum fines for first-time offenses from $1,000 to $2,000. People who commit second offenses within a year could face third-degree felony charges, up from first-degree misdemeanor charges.
Rep. Kiyan Michael, a Jacksonville Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said in February the issue is a “public safety” problem that occurs from Jacksonville to Miami. She also said current penalties have not been a deterrent for many people.
Other supporters of the bill said during legislative debate that popular culture fueled the rise of such takeovers.
Rep. Doug Bankson, an Apopka Republican and bill co-sponsor, said in March that life-threatening street racing is increasing statewide because of popular video games and movies.
The “young population are emboldened to emulate what they’re seeing on the screen, whether it be the movie screen, TV screen or computer screen,” Bankson said. “The problem is that life does not allow a do-over with a simple push of a button.”
The law will take effect July 1.

STORM SEASON SAVINGS

Emphasizing a sales-tax “holiday” for hurricane preparedness supplies, DeSantis on Tuesday signed an annual package of tax breaks.
The package (HB 7073) is expected overall to trim state and local revenue by $439.6 million during the upcoming 2024-2025 fiscal year.
Lawmakers included a series of sales-tax holidays in the package to help shoppers save on hurricane-preparedness items, back-to-school supplies and recreation-related purchases.
“You could have a busy hurricane season and nothing could hit Florida. You could have a low hurricane season and have one hit us. So, really, whether it’s high or low, it’s really a question about (being) prepared,” the governor said during a bill-signing event.
The package includes two periods where sales taxes will be waived for storm-related items. The first preparedness holiday will start June 1, at the start of the hurricane season, while the second will be from Aug. 24 to Sept. 6, just before the peak of the storm season.
The holiday for back-to-school items is slated to run from July 29 to Aug. 11, and the outdoor recreation holiday will span the month of July. The governor also approved a holiday around Labor Day on tools and other work supplies.

STORY OF THE WEEK: In a case that could have far-reaching implications for the state’s public-records laws, an appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in a challenge to a judge’s ruling that “executive privilege” shields Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration from releasing records.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: It doesn’t make any sense that the governor of Florida could convene a secret meeting to help him appoint justices to our Supreme Court and that somehow the records of that meeting — I mean, just what happened, who went where — could somehow evade the constitutional right to access public records.” — Phil Padovano, attorney for the plaintiff in a case seeking access to public records from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration