Florida Sunshine Law: Meetings, Records, and Refusals

The Florida Sunshine Law is the state’s open-government framework, giving any person the right to attend meetings of public boards and commissions and to inspect or copy records made or received by government agencies. It has two main pieces: Chapter 286 of the Florida Statutes, which governs open meetings, and Chapter 119, which governs public records. Both are backed by Article I, Section 24 of the Florida Constitution, a self-executing provision voters approved in 1992 that lets citizens invoke the right of access directly.¹²

What Public Meetings Must Be Open

Section 286.011 requires three things of any covered board or commission: meetings must be open to the public, reasonable notice must go out beforehand, and minutes must be recorded promptly and made available for inspection. Any action taken at a meeting that fails these requirements is not binding.³

The law reaches boards and commissions of state agencies, counties, municipalities, and political subdivisions. It applies to advisory boards even when their recommendations are nonbinding, following Town of Palm Beach v. Gradison, 296 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 1974). It also applies to people who have been elected but not yet taken office, and to staff who have been delegated policy-based decision-making authority.⁴

A “meeting” is defined broadly. Any gathering of two or more members of the same board to discuss a matter likely to come before that board qualifies, whether it happens in a conference room, on the phone, or by email or text. Serial communications routed through a third party to dodge a public meeting are also prohibited. In State v. Childers, 886 So. 2d 229 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004), a Florida appeals court confirmed that telephone and electronic discussions between board members violate the law when the subject is one that will come before the board.⁴

Meetings cannot be held at facilities that discriminate on the basis of sex, age, race, creed, color, origin, or economic status, or that otherwise restrict public access.³

How to Request Public Records

Under Chapter 119, every person has the right to inspect and copy public records. You do not have to show identification, give a reason, or put the request in writing, though writing it down creates a clear record if a dispute arises later.⁵ “Public records” covers paper documents, maps, photographs, recordings, and computer-stored data made or received by an agency during official business.¹

The custodian has to acknowledge the request promptly and respond in good faith, including verifying whether the record exists and where it is. When a record contains some material that is exempt, the custodian must redact only that portion and produce the rest. If access is denied outright, the custodian has to cite the specific statutory basis for the exemption and, if you ask, put that explanation in writing.⁶

Copy fees for standard-sized documents are capped at 15 cents per one-sided page. Certified copies cost up to one dollar. Agencies may charge a special service fee when a request requires extensive use of technology or significant clerical assistance, but the charge has to be reasonable and based on actual costs. You have the right to ask for a cost estimate before the agency starts working.⁶⁷

If a custodian claims a record is not public, the agency is barred from destroying that record for 30 days after a written request, giving you time to file a civil action. If a court finds the claimed exemption does not apply, it will order the record produced.⁶

When Access Can Be Denied

The Legislature can create exemptions, but only through a general law passed by a two-thirds vote of each chamber, and the law has to state with specificity why the exemption is necessary and be no broader than needed.⁸ Courts read exemptions narrowly. An exemption from public records disclosure does not automatically create an exemption from the open-meetings requirement; each has to be expressly established.⁴

The most commonly invoked meeting exemption lets a board meet privately with its attorney to discuss pending litigation. The rules are strict: the attorney must announce the session at a public meeting, attendance is limited to board members, the entity’s attorney, the chief administrative officer, and a certified court reporter, and the entire session must be recorded. The transcript becomes public once the litigation ends. Courts have held that strict compliance is required; substantial compliance is not enough.³⁴

Other common exemption categories, drawn from the Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual compiled by the Attorney General’s Office, include:

Personnel matters, including collective bargaining strategy, disciplinary proceedings, employee evaluations, and selection committees.
Security planning meetings and agency cybersecurity information.
Active criminal investigative and intelligence information, confidential informant identities, and certain victim and witness information under Marsy’s Law.
Sensitive personal data such as autopsy records, child abuse records, domestic violence victim information, and personal financial records.

Existing exemptions run through the Open Government Sunset Review Act, which requires periodic reauthorization or the exemption expires automatically.⁹¹⁰

A narrow exception exists for advisory committees delegated purely fact-finding authority. In Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government v. City of Sarasota, 48 So. 3d 755 (Fla. 2010), the Florida Supreme Court held that such committees fall outside the Sunshine Law. Once a committee starts sorting options, ranking applicants, or making recommendations, it crosses into decision-making and the exception disappears.⁴

Text Messages, Email, and Personal Devices

Text messages, emails, and social media posts made or received in connection with official business are public records, whether they come from a government-issued device or a personal phone.¹¹

In O’Boyle v. Town of Gulf Stream, 257 So. 3d 1036 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018), the Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that an elected official’s use of a private cell phone to conduct public business can create an electronic public record subject to disclosure. The court reasoned that the purpose of the public records laws would be defeated if officials could shield records by working from a personal device. Agencies responding to records requests must ask employees and officials to produce responsive records stored on personal devices, and courts may conduct in-camera inspections when a response is challenged.¹²

Not everything on an official’s phone is a public record. In City of Sunny Isles Beach v. Gatto, 337 So. 3d 810 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022), a citizen watching a Zoom meeting saw a commissioner texting and asked for the messages. The Third District Court of Appeal ruled that the texts, exchanged between the commissioner and her husband, were “uniformly personal and private” and not public records because they were not made in connection with official business. A text about a zoning vote is a public record; a text to a spouse about dinner plans is not, even if sent during a public meeting.¹³

Board members also cannot use electronic communications to coordinate positions outside of public view. Attorney General opinions have found that circulating memoranda or reports to solicit comments from fellow board members outside a meeting violates the law, and that posting on a commissioner’s blog invites a violation if other commissioners respond on the same subject.¹⁴

Virtual Meetings Still Generally Require Physical Attendance

The statute authorizes remote participation via communications media technology only for a narrow category: regional citizen volunteer advisory committees created for the National Estuary Program with membership spanning four or more counties.³ For state and local boards generally, Attorney General opinions have required a physical quorum at the meeting location even if individual members participate remotely. The 2025 Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual continues to list in-person quorum as the operative standard.¹⁵

What Happens If an Agency Refuses

Any citizen can ask a circuit court to issue an injunction enforcing the law. Courts can invalidate actions taken at meetings that violated the open-meetings requirement. When a court finds a violation, it must assess reasonable attorney’s fees against the agency, and fees may be assessed against individual board members unless they acted on the advice of their attorney. As a counterweight, courts may also assess fees against someone who files a frivolous or bad-faith enforcement suit.³

On the criminal side, a public officer who violates Section 286.011 commits a noncriminal infraction punishable by a fine of up to $500. A board member who knowingly attends a meeting that fails to comply with the law commits a second-degree misdemeanor, which can carry up to 60 days in jail. A knowing violation of the Public Records Act under Chapter 119 is a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to a year in prison or a $1,000 fine.¹⁶¹⁴

Litigation is not the only option. The state’s Open Government Mediation Program offers an alternative for resolving disputes over access to records. The Attorney General’s Office publishes formal and informal opinions interpreting the law, and the First Amendment Foundation runs a hotline for individuals with access questions and maintains an exemption database.⁷¹⁷

Recent Exemption Changes

The 2025 legislative session added or renewed several exemptions worth knowing about if a records request runs into one.

SB 268, effective July 1, 2025, exempts partial home addresses and certain personal information of elected state and local officials and their families from public disclosure. The exemption covers the names and school locations of minor children and the telephone numbers and partial addresses of spouses and adult children. It is subject to the Open Government Sunset Review Act and will expire on October 2, 2030, unless reenacted.¹⁸¹⁹

SB 1652 created a new exemption for material in noncriminal court records that has been stricken by a court. To qualify, a court must specifically find the material is immaterial, impertinent, or a sham, and that its public availability would defame someone, damage their reputation, or jeopardize their safety. The bill became law on June 20, 2025.²⁰²¹

Several existing exemptions were renewed under the Open Government Sunset Review Act effective October 1, 2025, including protections for financial technology sandbox applications, location data for endangered species, personal information of housing assistance applicants, certain Department of Financial Services records, and information identifying minors in parental-consent waiver proceedings.²²

1
Florida Office of the Attorney General. The Sunshine Law
2
FindLaw. Florida Constitution Article I, Section 24
3
Florida Legislature. Section 286.011, Florida Statutes
4
The Florida Bar. Open Government Overview
5
Florida Office of the Attorney General. Open Government Frequently Asked Questions
6
Florida Senate. Section 119.07, Florida Statutes
7
Florida Office of the Attorney General. Citizens Open Government Guide
8
Florida Senate. Florida Constitution
9
Florida Office of the Attorney General. Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual
10
Florida Legislature. Chapter 119, Florida Statutes
11
Tallahassee Democrat. Blueprint Text Messages and Florida Sunshine Law
12
FindLaw. O’Boyle v. Town of Gulf Stream
13
Florida Third District Court of Appeal. City of Sunny Isles Beach v. Gatto
14
Sumter County, Florida. Sunshine Law and Public Records Presentation
15
Florida Office of the Attorney General. Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual
16
City of Jacksonville. Sunshine Laws in a Nutshell
17
First Amendment Foundation. Education
18
Florida Senate. SB 268 Bill Analysis
19
Florida Politics. Bill Shielding Lawmakers Addresses Among Public Records Exemptions Ready for Governor
20
Fast Democracy. SB 1652
21
BillTrack50. FL H1569 / CS/CS/SB 1652
22
WFSU News. Changes to Florida’s Sunshine Law Went Into Effect This Month