Google in Florida records deal...

From The Buzz:

Florida and Google Inc. announced a partnership Monday that both say will make it easier for citizens to get access to public records through search engines. Gov. Charlie Crist said the Web site improvements will not cost the state any money, while a Google official, John Burchett, said he hoped his firm would receive increased traffic as a result.

Many records that are public are beyond the reach of Google's "crawlers," the automated seekers of online data that slam into firewalls into Florida for all kinds of reasons. Examples of records that will now be searchable include public school FCAT scores, water and waste permits, employment data and consumers' commuting patterns.

The Google deal follows Crist's creation of an Office of Open Government; a study commission on how government can become more accessible to citizens; and an executive order requiring state agencies' basic documents to be in plain language.

Florida is the sixth state to enter into a venture with Google, joining Arizona, California, Michigan, Utah and Virginia. To see how to get access to that hard-to-find information, go to http://www.google.com/publicsector.