Toll roads meetings must stop, Florida open government group says

TALLAHASSEE —The Florida Department of Transportation’s virtual meetings over building more than 300 miles of new toll roads violate the state’s Sunshine Law and must stop, the First Amendment Foundation told the agency on Thursday.

The meetings have had technical glitches that have prevented the public from attending, wrote Pamela Marsh, the president of the foundation. Both the Tampa Bay Times and the Miami Herald are members of the organization.

“All of these six meeting have been conducted in violation of the law,” Marsh wrote. “Until (the department) can provide access to ‘all interested persons’ it cannot proceed without further violating Florida law.”