Download the full PDF report here.
January 2016
Executive Summary
Florida is making progress in the fight against public corruption. Ethics reforms that were passed in 2013 and 2014 represent the first significant attempt to update the state’s ethics laws since the 1970’s and since the 2012 publication of Integrity Florida’s report titled Corruption Risk Report: Florida Ethics Laws. Yet when measured against the benchmarks cited in that report, it’s clear much more remains to be done if government in Florida is to be more open, ethical and accountable to its citizens.
Florida went too long neglecting public corruption and ethical abuses and its citizens have paid a real price for corrupt government practices that have cost taxpayers’ public funds and damaged the state’s reputation.
In the 2016 legislative session and beyond, there are opportunities to advance policy proposals that would reduce the risk of corruption and improve Florida’s grades in national benchmarks.