FALL 2006 NEWSLETTER
GEORGIA FOI ACCESS
GEORGIA FIRST AMENDMENT CONSTITUTION

At least three Southern states have open government in their state constitutions; Five resolutions in the General Assembly call for adding it here

By Tom Bennett

Decatur, Ga., July 13, 2006 -- Arkansas’ state constitution opened the sessions "and the meetings of committees of the whole" in its legislature 133 years ago.

North Carolina’s state constitution asserts that anyone restraining the freedoms of press and speech "shall be held responsible for their abuse."

Florida’s state constitution "specifically includes the legislative, judicial and executive branches." Exemptions have to be passed by a two-thirds majority. They must be confined to a single subject. And they must "state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption."

A reporter attending open-government conferences for going on two decades has been able to determine that at least 3 of the 11 former states of the Confederacy have constitutional provisions for open government. Here are excerpts found in documents on the Internet.

 ARKANSAS CONSTITUTION

Article V, Section 13. "Sessions of each house and of committees of the whole shall be open, unless when the business is such as ought to be kept secret." This was adopted in 1873 and remains in effect today.

FLORIDA CONSTITUTION

Article 1, Section 4. "Freedom of speech and press. Every person may speak, write and publish sentiments on all subjects but shall be responsible for abuse of that right. No law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech or of the press…"

Article 1, Section 24. "Access to public records and meetings. (a) Every person has the right to inspect or copy any public record made or received in connection with the official business of any public body, officer, or employee of the state, or persons acting on their behalf, except with respect to records exempted pursuant to this section or specifically made confidential by this Constitution. This section specifically includes the legislature, executive and judicial branches of government and each agency or department created thereunder; counties, municipalities, and districts; and each constitutional officer, board, and commission, or entity created pursuant to law or this Constitution.

"(b)All meetings of any collegial public body or the executive branch of state government or of any collegial public body of a county, municipality, school district, or special district, at which official acts are to be taken or at which public business of such body is to be transacted and discussed, shall be open and noticed to the public and meetings of the legislature shall be open and noticed as provided in Article III, Section 4(e), except with respect to meetings exempted pursuant to this section specifically closed by this Constitution.

"(c) This section shall be self-executing. The legislature, however, may provide by general law passed by a two-thirds vote of each house for the exemption of records from the requirement of subsection (a) and the exemption of meetings from the requirements of subsection (b), provided that such law shall state with specificity the public necessity justifying the exemption and shall be no broader than necessary to accomplish the stated purpose of the law. The legislature shall enact laws governing the enforcement of this section, including the maintenance, control, destruction, disposal and disposition of records made public by this section, except that each house of the legislature may adopt rules government the enforcement of this section in relation to records of the legislative branch. Laws enacted pursuant to this subsection shall contain only exemptions from the requirements of subsections (a) or (b) and provisions governing the enforcement of this section, and shall relat e to one subject."

 NORTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTION

Article 1, Section 14. "Freedom of speech and of the press are two of the great bulwarks of liberty and therefore shall never be restrained, but every person shall be held responsible for their abuse."

Source: The Constitution Society.