Brevard County Commission’s Attempt to Cover up First Amendment Violations

(Weekly Update #198)

Dear Members and Advocates,

Last week the Brevard County Commissioners voted to add public meetings to the exemption of their proximity ordinance. The decision was largely kept under the radar and is still quite vague, since there was no proposed language to vote on – just a conceptual idea that they would add an exemption. Many members, particularly those in Brevard County have asked how this will impact the pending lawsuit against the County.

The immediate answer is, it won’t. The lawsuit is still pending. No amendment has been made to the ordinance yet. We don’t know what that language will look like and we don’t know what rights it will restore. We don’t know whether the County will agree to not only amend the ordinance but to reverse all the elements of the ordinance that were passed in violation of our member’s First Amendment rights and Florida’s Governing in the Sunshine Laws, and there is still the matter of damages and attorney’s fees.

That said; it is definitely a step in the right direction on several levels. First, one way or the other, we have to be optimistically hopeful that registrants will be able to enforce their constitutional right to petition their government. Second, in bringing the lawsuit, the registrant community has demonstrated that they will no longer stand idle as their rights are trampled upon. Third, to this point, Brevard County has only ratcheted up its restrictions and this action effectively forced them to face the consequences and hopefully they (and other Counties) will think twice before passing unconstitutional laws. And finally, the actions of a few brave members standing up for the rights of all of us and the courage of the Florida Justice Institute in agreeing to represent them will result in change! This is what we are hoping to accomplish through all of our efforts.

For those who have read the complaint and have followed FAC for a while, you will remember that two years ago, the Brevard County Commission voted to amend their ordinance to allow private businesses to declare themselves as parks in order to establish new exclusion zones of 1000 feet from their businesses. FAC spoke out against the ordinance. Many of our members wanted to appear at the County Commission meeting to speak out publicly against the amendment but they were not legally permitted to, because the County Commission meeting took place within an exclusion zone. When we raised this issue with the Commissioners they ignored us.

Well… they cant ignore the issue any longer.

We are hopeful that the resolution to this lawsuit will result in much more than being able to attend the County Commission meetings. At least with respect to the ordinance that was passed in knowing violation of the Governing in the Sunshine Law (businesses being able to declare themselves as parks), that ordinance should be declared void. Additionally, County Commission meetings are not the only place where our members wish the exercise their first amendment rights. We have the right to participate in discourse and association at any public event in any public forum. Not just at the designated public forum where they hold County Commission meetings, but at all the traditional public forums which have been historically recognized as open to political speech and debate.

Separately, at the time FAC members were objecting to the actions being taken by the Brevard Commissioners, we initiated a complaint to the Attorney General’s Office (see the complaint here). To date we have not heard back from the Attorney General, nor are we aware of any action taken by the Attorney General in response to our complaint.  Members are invited to follow up with the Attorney General on her investigation.

This change may have been years in the making, but it appears the time has come.

Sincerely,

The Florida Action Committee

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