By Commissioner Fred Brummer

In my last two articles, I discussed Florida’s sunshine laws and constitutional provisions and the Federal Freedom of Infor­mation Act. I encouraged support for Florida’s open meetings and records laws and was critical of the application of the Federal law.
Does a conservative philosophy support open records and public access to government meetings and information? A strict constructionist will defend the peoples right to self-govern. Know­l­edge is power. The right to knowledge about government is power for the governed.
Clearly, it is important for the people to know what the government knows about them and how the government uses that information. Generally, state government receives information about its constituents from providing a service, granting a license or privilege, or by collecting a tax or fee. Managers in government should always ask whether information they collect is still necessary.
Many of governments’ data collection systems are dated. Newer data systems often collect the same information as their predecessor irrespective of the data’s use. Faster computers with greater storage capacity encourage the collection of information rather than efficiency.
In the year 2001, the Florida House Committees on State Administration and Technology surveyed State agencies that collect Social Security numbers. One question in the survey asked what authorization the agency had to collect Social Security numbers. Analysis of the responses indicated that 95% of the authorizations cited were incorrect, obsolete or overly broad.
Does the survey show that agencies purposely collect information without appropriate authority? Probably not, but what the survey does show is that agencies do not know why they collect information.
Data collection forms are old. The person completing the survey was not the person that designed the data collection form. No record was kept of the purpose for collecting the Social Security number. Data needs and autho­ri­zations changed, but the forms used have not. Information is collected because “it has always been done that way.”
In the 2002 legislative session, the House Committee on State Administration passed a bill to exempt from the State’s public records requirement Social Se­curity numbers. That means that agencies are required to eliminate the Social Security number from a public records request.
Perhaps the most important part of the bill was the section that admonished State agencies not to collect Social Security numbers unless the collection is imperative. Prohibitions such as this should not be necessary. Agency managers should routinely review the type information they gather. Information no longer necessary should not be collected.
The September tragedies make people much more sensitive about personal information. Identity theft is a problem that was growing long before September 2001. These two items create pressure on Florida’s open government laws.
The government will achieve better results under the light of public scrutiny than it will in the darkness of secrecy. It is important for the protection of Florida’s Sunshine laws that government collects only information that absolutely must have to provide a service, regulate a licensee or collect a tax.

Fred Brummer is the county commissioner for Orange County, Fla., District 2.