Florida Public Records Laws: The Public Records Act (Chapter 119) Explained

Florida's public records law is the Public Records Act, chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes, backed by a right of access written into the state constitution. Any person may request, no residency or purpose is required, and there is no fixed day count for a response. The standard is prompt acknowledgment and a good-faith response.

Information last verified on 2026-08-04. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This page covers Florida state law only. For records held by a federal agency, see our guide on how to file a FOIA request. To compare Florida with other states, start at the public records laws by state hub.

Sunshine Law or Public Records Act? Fixing the Confusion

Florida has two separate open-government statutes, and almost every search for the Florida Sunshine Law is really a search for one or the other.

Chapter 119, the Public Records Act, governs access to documents, emails, recordings, and other records held by state and local agencies. That is what this page is about.

Section 286.011 governs public meetings. Its text declares that all meetings of any board or commission of any state agency or authority, or of any agency or authority of any county, municipal corporation, or political subdivision, at which official acts are to be taken are public meetings open to the public at all times. That is the statute popularly called the Government-in-the-Sunshine Law.

The nickname migrated over the years to cover Florida's open-government rules generally, which is why so much writing calls chapter 119 the Sunshine Law. If you are trying to attend a city commission meeting, or challenge a decision made outside one, section 286.011 is your statute. If you want a copy of a document, chapter 119 is. Citing the wrong one in a demand letter is a common and avoidable own goal.

Florida also has something most states lack: a constitutional right of access. Article I, Section 24(a) of the Florida Constitution guarantees the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee. That constitutional footing is why Florida exemptions are drafted narrowly and reviewed periodically.

Who Can Request Public Records in Florida

Any person may request. Chapter 119 places the duty on every person who has custody of a public record to permit the record to be inspected and copied by any person desiring to do so, at any reasonable time, under reasonable conditions.

There is no residency requirement, no citizenship requirement, and no requirement that you be a Florida taxpayer. Out-of-state requesters have the same rights as Florida residents, which puts Florida on the opposite end of the spectrum from resident-only states such as Kentucky.

You also do not have to identify yourself or say why you want the record. Anonymous requests are valid. An agency may ask for contact information so it can send you the records or a fee estimate, but it cannot condition access on you explaining your purpose.

Florida Public Records Deadlines

Florida has no numeric deadline, and this trips people up constantly.

The operative language is in Fla. Stat. 119.07(1)(c): a custodian of public records and his or her designee must acknowledge requests to inspect or copy records promptly and respond to such requests in good faith. There is no 3-day rule, no 5-day rule, and no 10-day rule in chapter 119.

What counts as reasonable depends on the request. A single page the clerk can print while you wait should take minutes. Three years of email across four departments will take longer, and Florida courts have accepted that the time needed to review and redact voluminous records is part of a good-faith response.

The absence of a number is not the absence of a duty. The good-faith standard is enforceable, and an agency that sits on a simple request for weeks is not complying just because no statute names a day count. In practice the useful move is to document your request date, follow up in writing, and ask the agency for an estimated completion date, which builds the record you would need in court.

This is the same structural model Iowa uses, and the opposite of Georgia's fixed 3-business-day rule next door.

What Florida Public Records Cost

Chapter 119 sets actual caps, which is more than many states do. Under Fla. Stat. 119.07(4):

• Up to 15 cents per one-sided copy for duplicated copies of not more than 14 inches by 8.5 inches.
• No more than an additional 5 cents for each two-sided copy.
• For all other copies, the actual cost of duplication of the public record.
• Up to $1 per copy for a certified copy of a public record.

There is one significant add-on. If the nature or volume of the records requested requires extensive use of information technology resources, or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance by agency personnel, or both, the agency may charge a reasonable special service charge in addition to the actual cost of duplication. This is where large Florida requests get expensive, and the charge is based on the cost actually incurred for the extra labor or IT time.

Two practical points. First, inspection is different from copying. If you inspect records in person and only ask for copies of the pages you actually need, you avoid duplication charges on the rest. Second, narrowing a request by date range or custodian is the most effective way to keep it out of special-service-charge territory, because the charge is triggered by the extensiveness of the work, not by the sensitivity of the record.

Chapter 119 does not contain a federal-style public-interest fee waiver. Readers often expect one because the federal FOIA has one. In Florida the statutory caps do that job instead. An agency may still choose not to charge for a small request, and many do not, but that is agency practice rather than a right you can claim. These figures are current as of August 2026.

How to File a Florida Public Records Request

Florida has no central portal. You send the request to the custodian at the agency that holds the record.

1. Identify the right agency. County, city, sheriff, school board, and state agency records are all held separately.
2. Find the agency's records custodian. Under Fla. Stat. 119.12, an agency that does not prominently post its custodian's contact information in its primary administrative building and on its website loses the benefit of the pre-suit notice requirement, so most agencies post it clearly.
3. Put the request in writing. Chapter 119 does not require a written request, and a verbal request is valid, but writing creates the date record you will need if there is a dispute.
4. Describe the records specifically. Date ranges, department names, and record types narrow the search and hold down any special service charge.
5. Ask for an estimate before the agency starts, if volume is a concern. You are entitled to know what it will cost.
6. Keep everything. Your request, the acknowledgment, and every follow-up.

Our free FOIA request generator will produce a Florida-specific request letter citing chapter 119. Nothing you type into it is stored or sent anywhere.

Exemptions in Florida

Florida's exemptions are numerous but narrowly drafted, a consequence of the constitutional right of access. They are scattered across Fla. Stat. 119.071 and hundreds of subject-specific statutes elsewhere in the code.

Common categories include active criminal investigative and intelligence information, certain personal identifying information, some security and system-vulnerability records, medical information, and specified personnel information for categories of employees such as law enforcement officers, judges, and child-protection investigators.

Florida distinguishes between records that are exempt and records that are confidential and exempt. An exempt record may be released to some parties at the agency's discretion in some circumstances. A record that is confidential and exempt may not be released except as the statute specifically allows. The distinction shows up directly in the body camera rules below.

Exemptions apply to information, not to whole documents. An agency must redact the exempt portion and produce the rest, and it must state the statutory basis for each redaction in writing if you ask.

Police Records and Body Camera Footage

Ordinary police reports are chapter 119 records. The main obstacle is the active criminal investigative information exemption, which protects information compiled during an active investigation. Once a case closes, much of that material becomes available.

Body camera footage has its own provision, Fla. Stat. 119.071(2)(l). Its structure is privacy-based rather than investigation-based. A body camera recording, or a portion of one, is confidential and exempt if the recording was taken inside a private residence, inside a health care, mental health care, or social services facility, or in a place where a person recorded has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

The exemption is not a blanket. Footage from a public street, a traffic stop, or another public place is not covered by this particular provision at all, though other exemptions such as active criminal investigative information can still apply to it.

For footage that is covered, the statute names who may still obtain it. Access categories include the person recorded, that person's personal representative, and a person who lawfully resides at the location for interior portions of the recording. A court may also order disclosure on a showing of good cause, weighing whether disclosure is necessary to advance a compelling interest against the privacy harm.

Retention matters here too. A law enforcement agency must retain a body camera recording for at least 90 days. That is a floor, and agencies often keep footage longer under their own policies, but if the recording you want is approaching that window, request it in writing immediately and say explicitly that you are asking the agency to preserve it.

For 911 audio and dispatch records, which sit on a different track from bodycam footage, see our page on whether 911 calls are public records.

Enforcement: Florida Uses Courts, Not an Ombudsman

Florida has no records ombudsman with binding authority. There is no equivalent to Illinois' Public Access Counselor and no administrative appeal that ends in an enforceable order. Enforcement is judicial, and the statute is built to make that route fast and to make agencies pay for losing.

Under Fla. Stat. 119.11, an action to enforce chapter 119 is set for an immediate hearing and given priority over other pending cases. If the court finds the agency unlawfully refused access, it can order compliance within 48 hours. Once the complaint is served on the custodian, the custodian is barred from transferring, altering, or destroying the records at issue.

Under Fla. Stat. 119.12, a court awards the reasonable costs of enforcement, including reasonable attorney fees, to a complainant who prevails, but two conditions matter:

• The 5-business-day notice. The complainant must have provided written notice identifying the public record request to the agency's custodian of public records at least 5 business days before filing the civil action. Skipping this step forfeits the fee award even if you win.
• The posting exception. That notice requirement does not apply if the agency does not prominently post its custodian's contact information in its primary administrative building and on its website. An agency that hides its custodian cannot then complain that you failed to notify one.

The statute also cuts the other way. If the court determines the case was filed for an improper purpose, it may not award enforcement costs to the complainant and must instead award reasonable costs and attorney fees to the agency.

The practical sequence for a Florida requester is therefore: request in writing, follow up in writing, then send a formal 5-business-day notice to the custodian identifying the request. That notice alone resolves a large share of disputes, because it converts an ignored email into a documented fee exposure for the agency.

The Florida Attorney General's office publishes guidance on the state's open government laws, but it does not adjudicate individual records disputes the way the Illinois or Kentucky attorneys general do.

Records Chapter 119 Does Not Reach

Birth, death, and marriage certificates are vital records held by the Florida Department of Health, with statutory eligibility limits on who may receive a certified copy, particularly for the cause-of-death portion. They are not obtained by a chapter 119 request. Our Florida death records guide covers eligibility and ordering.

Deeds, mortgages, and liens are county clerk and comptroller records, covered in our Florida property records guide. Court case files and warrants are court records governed by judicial access rules rather than chapter 119; see Florida warrant search.

Related articles

Public Records Laws by State

How to File a FOIA Request

Free FOIA Request Generator

Are 911 Calls Public Records?

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about Florida's Public Records Act as of August 2026. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Statutes, exemptions, and fee schedules change. If a public records dispute affects your legal rights, consult an attorney licensed in Florida about your specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-04.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Florida Sunshine Law the same as the Public Records Act?

No. Fla. Stat. 286.011, the Government-in-the-Sunshine Law, is Florida's open MEETINGS law. It requires meetings of state and local boards and commissions at which official acts are taken to be open to the public. The Public Records Act is chapter 119 and governs access to documents and other records. The nickname drifted into general use for both, but they are separate statutes with separate remedies.

Do I have to live in Florida to request public records?

No. Chapter 119 places the duty on custodians to allow inspection and copying by any person desiring to do so. There is no residency or citizenship requirement, and out-of-state requesters have the same rights as Florida residents.

Do I have to say why I want the records?

No. Florida does not require a requester to state a purpose, and anonymous requests are valid. An agency may ask for contact information so it can deliver records or send a fee estimate, but it cannot condition access on your explaining why you want them.

How long does a Florida agency have to respond?

There is no fixed number of days in chapter 119. Fla. Stat. 119.07(1)(c) requires a custodian to acknowledge requests promptly and respond in good faith. What is reasonable depends on the volume and complexity of the request, and courts accept that reviewing and redacting large record sets takes time. The absence of a day count does not remove the duty.

How much can a Florida agency charge for copies?

Up to 15 cents per one-sided copy of not more than 14 by 8.5 inches, no more than an additional 5 cents for a two-sided copy, actual duplication cost for other formats, and up to $1 for a certified copy. If the request requires extensive IT resources or extensive clerical or supervisory assistance, the agency may add a reasonable special service charge.

Can I get a fee waiver in Florida?

Chapter 119 does not create a public-interest fee waiver of the kind the federal FOIA has. The statutory caps in 119.07(4) are the cost protection instead. Some agencies choose not to charge for small requests, but that is discretion rather than a right.

What can I do if a Florida agency refuses to give me records?

The remedy is a civil action. Fla. Stat. 119.11 requires the court to set an immediate hearing and give the case priority, and the court may order compliance within 48 hours. Service of the complaint also bars the custodian from transferring, altering, or destroying the records at issue.

Can I recover attorney fees if I sue and win?

Under Fla. Stat. 119.12 a prevailing complainant is awarded reasonable enforcement costs including attorney fees, but only if the complainant gave the agency's records custodian written notice identifying the request at least 5 business days before filing suit. That notice requirement is excused if the agency does not prominently post its custodian's contact information in its primary administrative building and on its website. If the court finds the action was brought for an improper purpose, fees go to the agency instead.

Can I get body camera footage in Florida?

It depends on where it was recorded. Under Fla. Stat. 119.071(2)(l), footage taken inside a private residence, inside a health care, mental health care, or social services facility, or in a place where a recorded person had a reasonable expectation of privacy is confidential and exempt. Footage from a public street or a traffic stop is not covered by that provision, though other exemptions such as active criminal investigative information may still apply. Covered footage can still go to the person recorded, that person's personal representative, a person lawfully residing at the location for interior portions, or anyone a court authorizes on a showing of good cause.

How long does Florida keep body camera footage?

A law enforcement agency must retain a body camera recording for at least 90 days. That is a statutory floor rather than a maximum, and agencies often retain longer under their own policies. If the recording you want is nearing that window, put the request in writing immediately and ask the agency to preserve the recording.

Does Florida have an ombudsman I can appeal to instead of going to court?

No. Florida has no records ombudsman with binding authority over individual disputes. The Attorney General's office publishes guidance on the state's open government laws, but enforcement runs through the courts under Fla. Stat. 119.11 and 119.12.

Can I use a public records request to get a Florida death certificate?

No. Vital records are held by the Florida Department of Health under a separate statutory scheme with eligibility limits on who may obtain a certified copy, and tighter limits on the cause-of-death information. A chapter 119 request to an agency will not produce one.