Sunshine Week, now in its sixth year, is a national effort to focus attention on the key roles open government and freedom of information have in a democracy. The name refers to Government in the Sunshine Act passed in 1976 — our nation’s bicentennial — with the goal of creating more openness in government. It’s only by coincidence that the initiative grew out of an effort by Sunshine state legislators to operate in the dark. Thus, in 2002, the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors began an awareness effort called Sunshine Sunday. The society credits that increased cognizance on the part of citizens and legislators with the defeat of some 300 exemptions to open government laws. Next, the American Society of Newspaper Editors took on the challenge and began the first Sunshine Week in March 2005. It has been celebrated each year since in mid-March, coinciding with National Freedom of Information Day and James Madison's birthday March 16. A grant from the John S. and James L.