County Attorney Steinsteiner on First Amendment public comment
What the county recorded
This item is not from the published agenda
It is a stretch of the recording that this archive identified as a separate matter — a call to order, a recess, or something taken up that the agenda does not list. There is no official title, no staff recommendation and no disposition, because the county never recorded one. Everything below is inferred.
The source document
The county’s agenda for Board of County Commissioners, Mar 23, 2021
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
The county’s minutes for Board of County Commissioners, Mar 23, 2021
The published PDF, as served by the county. This item is one entry in it.
What was said
Machine transcription of 1m of recording, with speaker names inferred from voice matching. 25% of 4 lines carry a name. It shows what was said, not what was decided, and both the words and the names can be wrong.
Um the Let me just comment on the public comment this morning about the First Amendment. Um there is n no case law that we have determined that the process that you're engaged in is volative of the First Amendment nor the Sunshine Law. Um and in fact it's actually been lauded by uh groups like Thousand Friends of Florida. um as a as a system that allows
the public to continue to have their say before the before the Board of County Commissioners and Um
provides adequate social distancing. Um so from a legal standpoint, uh you know, I don't think that that the the speaker's comments that you are violating the First Amendment has any uh credence Um but I thought I'd say that for purposes of the record. Um and that's all I really have to talk to.
Okay. Madam Clerk.