MIAMI, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The sunshine laws forcing governments to operate in the open may be facing sunset, victims of terrorist attacks on the United States.
Freedom of information advocates say the U.S. war against terrorism has also targeted government-in-the-sunshine laws in many states.
The phenomenon of identity theft also has added ammunition to forces seeking to repeal or modify those laws.
Florida, the leader in enacting open records and open meetings laws, has become a leader in the attack on those same laws. The Florida Legislature is considering 90 different bills restricting freedom of information in some form.
At least a dozen states are considering legislation cutting back on public access to meetings, documents and other information. Lawmakers are afraid the information could be used by terrorists.
In Florida, the traditional media, advocates and strong supporters of sunshine laws, have been joined by such deep-pocket entities as banks, credit bureaus, retailers, some government agencies and Lexis-Nexis, the information gatherer.
The Florida Society of Newspaper Editors has hired high-power lobbyist Curt Kiser to spearhead its fight against anti-sunshine legislation.
One Florida bill would stop the government from revealing Social Security numbers and another would restrict the information that counties can put on the Internet.
"It's time we react now," said Rep. Fred Brummer, R-Apopka, a sponsor of both bills. "We have to change the mindset of government. We have to change the culture that we need to know everything."
Charles Davis, director of the Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri, said he would "consider that almost an ant-democratic position. Our country will not work unless we know virtually everything. Our citizens need that information to make their decisions."
"There is a flurry of legislative activity in states all over the country on a wide variety of topical exemptions to public records law, most of them having something to do with constricting the flow of information on maps and plats in the interest of security," he said. "Certainly at federal level we've seen a tightening of information on just about everything."
He said the most dangerous element in bills in state legislatures is the authority frequently given to lower-level government officials -- or even clerks -- to make decisions on whether to release material.
"Most of these people are not trained. They're good people but when they have that much discretion they're almost always going to run afoul of the law," he said.
Last year, after Sept. 11, Florida banned public access to records requests made by police in the process of an investigation, security plans for state-owned property and information on pharmaceuticals stockpiled in preparation for a terrorist attack.
But during that same special session in November and December, the lawmakers rejected a bill that would have allowed investigators to keep secret information for as long as three weeks if they could prove to a judge it would hinder their efforts. That bill was introduced again during the regular session that opened last month, but has since been withdrawn.
Kiser said legislators are becoming more careful with bills that freedom of information advocates warn could be dangerous to the rights of citizens. He said some of them may be toned down and made more specific.
"The bills that are the biggest problems are starting to get more discussion on whether they need to be as broad as they are," Kiser said. "I've been told by the leadership they are going to take a real close look before they come up for a vote."
He said the biggest problems are bills that conceal records concerning crop dusters and reports of improper incidents in the healthcare industry. The crop duster bill comes from concern the planes could be used in bio-terrorism attacks.
However, the bill closing some records generated by investigations of healthcare professionals appears to be more of an attempt to ride the wave than anything related to terrorism.
Part of the impetus for the anti-sunshine movement in Florida was provided by a statewide grand jury that targeted identity theft, and recommended severely restricting public records in Florida.
One of the possibilities is closing all public records unless there is a specific reason to open them. That would reverse current policy.
Studies have shown identity theft costs $2.5 billion a year in the United States and could go as high as $8 billion in three years.
The key to the crime is the Social Security number.
"It's your only unique identifier" conceded Daniel Nestel of LexisNexis.
The bill in the Florida House allows businesses to get Social Security numbers only if they can provide a convincing reason. The Senate bill simply makes them secret.
Although other lobbyists in Florida are fighting the Social Security bills bitterly, the traditional opponents to weakening sunshine laws, the media, are remaining on the sidelines.
"The Florida media has taken a neutral position on Social Security numbers. We recognize it is a very major tool against somebody, having his Social Security number," Kiser said.
In Idaho, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Attorney General Alan Lance and several legislatures are pushing bills to shut down access to public documents in the name of terrorism. The ban would be declared by judges on the recommendations of state agency chiefs.
The Missouri Legislature has proposed allowing local governments to meet privately when discussing security issues. Another bill would restrict access to public utility records.
A proposal in Oklahoma would change the open records law by prohibiting access to security plans. Massachusetts also is proposing a limit on access to security plans.
Similar proposals are under consideration in Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Tennessee and Washington. Indiana has already decided not to override a veto of legislation tightening the open-record and open-meeting laws in the face of terrorism.
The tightening is not limited to the states. Some liberals and conservatives say they are concerned with President Bush's attitudes toward sunshine laws.
Since he took office, Bush has delayed the release of Reagan administration papers, refused to share revised data from the 2000 Census and kept secret FBI records that date back decades. He has also turned his Texas gubernatorial papers over to his father's presidential library, not covered under Texas laws on freedom of information. The administration is also battling Congress over documents from Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force.
"This is the Old-World style of government, where the sovereign is considered to be elite and the people are considered to be the rabble, and they have little to no right to know what the government is doing," said conservative Larry Klayman, head of Judicial Watch.
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., considered well to the left of Klayman, has sued the administration for withholding census data that could help California.
The White House said it has been forthcoming except when the Constitution has told it not to be.
