Florida legislative leaders are negotiating behind closed doors on next year's state budget.
The secrecy isn’t abnormal, but that doesn't mean everyone is happy about it.
There’s currently a special session focused on getting the job done, and as Floridians wait to see a finished budget, Gov. Ron DeSantis even compared it to the selection of the pope.
“These members probably have no idea either what's going on,” DeSantis said. “I mean, it's kind of just like a little cabal of people that decide it. It's almost like, is there white smoke coming out, we have a budget?”
Barbara Petersen, the executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, is a transparency advocate. In fact, she’s repeatedly accused the DeSantis administration of not being transparent enough, including in court — allegations his administration has refuted. But she agreed with the governor on this.
“That's very rich coming from the anti-open government governor,” she said. “He does the same thing, but yes, it has always been relatively secretive, and we've always complained about it.”
Florida has broad open government meeting laws, called “Sunshine Laws.”
“Why they do or don't get money is of critical public importance and interest, and it all happens behind closed doors,” Petersen said. “That is making a mockery of government in the Sunshine.”
Some “Sunshine” requirements are exempt for the Legislature. But lawmakers do operate under transparency rules, including requirements for some meetings involving three or more legislators to be open to the public if they involve legislative business.
There are public meetings, but those are typically short and only when there's a vote on things already decided behind closed doors.
A Senate spokesperson said no constitutional or legislative rules have been violated — and noted lawmakers can question and debate during the open meetings.
Yet, Ben Wilcox, research director at Integrity Florida, said the public should know how the deals are made.
"The budget-making process in Florida is not transparent,” he said. “It's very hard to see when the real deal-making decisions are made, and when you do see an actual conference committee meeting, the deals have already been done."
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This story was produced by WUSF as part of a statewide journalism initiative funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
