BY TANNER ANDREWS
Even as I write this, the Legislature is still in session. That is never a good sign.
The Florida Constitution provides that they have two duties. They must sit through the governor’s State of the State speech, and they have to pass a budget. They are allowed to fidget or look at their phones while performing these duties.
Actually, playing with their phones might be an improvement. They would be less likely to draft things like HB 2024-1605 and HB 2024-1607. Reading them, my first thought was that Rep. Charles Brannan (R-Macclenny) has too much time on his hands.
There is not much to do in Baker County other than walk about the prisons and wait for time. That idleness may be the cause of these very silly bills. HB 2024-1605 makes the identities of killer cops and prison guards secret. HB 2024-1607 makes their personnel files secret.
This sort of thing ought to receive widespread attention. Cops should not be killing with impunity. Keeping their identities secret is both difficult and dangerous. Rep. Brannan was a former deputy. Perhaps his fellow deputies were a little trigger-happy.
At any rate, you may never find out who is going through the bullet budget, because HB 2024-1607 will make their personnel files secret.
Consider Okaloosa Deputy Jesse Hernandez, who went crazy when an acorn fell on the roof of his car. He rolled, yelling “shots fired,” then shot out his rear window, and yelled that he was hit.
Thanks to HB 2024-1605, you will not be able to find out about such antics, because Hernandez and fellow officers become crime victims. As a crime victim, his personnel file will become secret under HB 2024-1607. At least you will still be allowed to see your tax bill, so you can help pay for his next box of bullets.
I remember back when there were only a few hundred exceptions to the public-records law. Those days are long gone. The Legislature is busy each year, enacting bigger budgets and more exceptions to public access. I cannot imagine that the simultaneous growth in budgets and exemptions is any coincidence.
Sure, bullets are expensive. And bad cops hate heat. With these two bills, Rep. Brannan and fellow legislators leave no doubt what they are thinking — it’s the “killer cops combo,” do you want extra taxes with that?
— Andrews is a DeLand-area attorney and a longtime government critic. For purposes of the column, he finds it convenient that there is so much government to criticize.
Editor’s note: For better or worse, the proposed laws weren’t approved.
