Florida’s cities and counties are strengthening their ethics laws and enforcement while state officials have essentially remained silent on such issues since the 1970s, a report released Thursday said.
The study by the Leroy Collins Institute, a think tank at Florida State University, and the ethics group Integrity Florida said the Sunshine State has a well-documented problem with corruption at every level of government. It said an increase in exemptions to the state’s open records laws and the unwillingness of lawmakers to continue ethics reform has led to Florida falling behind the rest of the country in ethics enforcement and government transparency.
