SPRING 2005 NEWSLETTER
GEORGIA FOI ACCESS
GEORGIA FIRST AMENDMENT FOUNDATION

Democrats lay it on the line for sunshine
They back a state constitutional amendment to check rise of exemptions to open government

By Jim Galloway
in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta, March 3, 2005 -- Open government grabbed center stage in the Legislature on Wednesday, as Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor and other Democrats proposed amending the state Constitution to require open records and meetings unless specifically exempted.

Democrats also suggested that, for the first time, the records generated by state legislators and the meetings they attend should be required to be open and available to the public.

"The business of our government should never be a covert operation," Taylor said, citing a string of Republican-backed measures that Democrats say prompted them to propose the constitutional amendment.

Open government has become the hottest impromptu issue of a session that Republican leaders had hoped would be contained and controlled.

In total charge of the Capitol for the first time in modern history, Republicans on Wednesday declared that Democratic concern for open government was opportunistic and linked to the 2006 race for governor, in which Taylor is a declared candidate.

"Why, if it was so important, did they wait to introduce it?" asked Dan McLagan, spokesman for Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Modeled after a similar effort in Florida, the constitutional amendment would first require approval by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate before it could be submitted to Georgia voters in 2006.

The measure would grandfather in the exceptions to public access currently in place --- including consumers' credit card information and the home addresses of law enforcement officers --- but would require the Legislature, by a simple majority, to reaffirm the exceptions within two years to retain them.

Afterward, a two-thirds majority of the House and Senate would be required to close off public access to any meeting or public record.

House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R-Hiram) charged the process outlined by Democrats would "make it easier for criminals to steal the identity of Georgians" and would give "pedophiles and child abusers . . . unprecedented access to our children."

The lieutenant governor's spokeswoman, Kristi Huller, disagreed. "Clearly, [Richardson is] misreading the bill," she said.

Republicans noted that 17 years ago, both Taylor and state Rep. DuBose Porter of Dublin --- now House minority leader --- voted against Republican amendments to open records legislation that would have subjected the Legislature to its own law.

Porter, a newspaper publisher, said he couldn't remember the circumstances of the vote, but said his support of openness in government was unimpeachable.

The list of proposed measures that Democrats say encroach on the public's right to know includes House Bill 340, which would mask the identities of donors to Georgia's public colleges. HB 340 is scheduled for debate in the House today.

University foundations say they're losing money because of concerns that donors have for their privacy. Opponents of the bill say cloaking the names of donors would prevent the public from learning whether the contributions may have prompted any taxpayer-funded favors in return.

Atlanta Journal-Consitution staff writer Nancy Badertscher contributed to this article.