A Florida House committee approved a bill that’s aimed at preventing government agencies from going to court to try to block the public’s constitutionally protected access to government records.

Republican Rep. Ray Rodrigues said there’s a growing trend of agencies using the courts in an effort to avoid fulfilling public records requests. He said what government agencies should be doing is providing the requested records or citing the exemption under law that allows them to keep the records from the public. If the requester doesn’t agree the exemption applies to the records sought, the requester can then sue the agency. If the requester wins, the agency has to reimburse his or her legal costs.

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