Municipalities and dozens of local elected officials from across Florida filed state and federal lawsuits Thursday challenging the constitutionality of a new law that requires the officials to disclose detailed information about their personal finances.
The lawsuits, filed in Leon County circuit court and federal court in South Florida, contend that the disclosure requirement violates privacy rights under the Florida Constitution and First Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution.
The law, passed during the 2023 legislative session, requires mayors and other elected municipal officials, such as members of city councils, to file annual reports detailing issues such as their net worths, incomes and assets. Other elected officials, such as the governor and state legislators, have long faced such requirements.
The new law has caused an uproar among local governments, with more than 100 municipal officials resigning because of it, according to the Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman law firm, which filed the lawsuits.