MARTA Transcard information next up as 21st Century
General Assembly continues its assault on open government

By Tom Bennett

Atlanta, March 27, 2006 – The financial information about persons buying special fares to ride on Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority trains and busses is the latest public information up for a blackout in the General Assembly.  The House of Representatives voted 165-0 on Feb. 15 in favor of House Bill 955, with its secrecy for the data – not the names, the data – of persons using MARTA Transcard or Smartcard fares. The Senate Transportation Committee gave it a "do pass" recommendation on March 24. The Senate clerk’s office said on March 27 that this bill had "not yet" gotten on the calendar of the whole Senate.

However, that appeared likely. The bill’s strong backing by Jill Chambers, chair of the MARTOC oversight committee, and one of her committee members, Harry Geisinger, means it likely has the politics needed to get to the well in the last three days of the session, then turn up on the governor’s desk.

If signed, this would become the 156th Georgia exemption, and the 20th disclosure-killing outline entry under subset (A) of O.C.G.A. 50-18-72, "When public disclosure not required."

The General Assembly in this new century has worked so hard to exempt information that this would be sixth outline entry added to that ominous section since the 2001 publication of the third edition of the "red book." It is "Georgia’s Sunshine Laws, " by Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker in cooperation with the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. A new printing, with more pages, is due.

That edition’s statute 50-18-72(a) ended with outline entry 14. So in only four years, Georgians supporting open government have seen the addition of non-disclosure for:

15. Records that would compromise security;

16. Records of children 12 and under in recreation programs;

17. Records of persons traveling on toll roads; and

18. Records of donors to university foundations.

Next up for mulling by the Senate and governor at this writing is this exemption for:"Records of MARTA or any other transit system that is connected to that system’s TransCard or SmartCard system, which would reveal the financial records or travel history of any individual who is a purchaser of a TransCard or SmartCard or similar fare medium. Such financial records shall include, but not be limited to, social security number, home address, home telephone number, e-mail address, credit or debit card information, and bank account information but shall not include the user’s name."

House Bill 955’s laundry list of exempted data mirrors that in the previous outline entry 18, the one about toll road travelers. However, there were enough holes there for Staff Writer Ariel Hart to report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Feb. 22 that Dennis K. Larson, or someone in one of his four cars, "drove through the Georgia 400 toll lanes 519 times without paying, racking up fees totaling $13,234.50." You can do a lot with just a name.

Each new exemption seems innocent enough. After its introduction, there follows a wave of compassionate feelings that, well, this is the humane thing to do. Were wrong-minded individuals to be able to learn that someone is in their vehicle or aboard a bus or train, then their home would be ripe for invasion. However, as associations find ways to rationalize this ever-mounting pile of exemptions year by year, each law on passage teaches other legislators they can go in next year and get theirs passed, too.  No exemption from disclosure ever has been vetoed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

Hollie Manhemer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, testified against House Bill 955 in the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 9.  "Remember, the people’s right to know is the paramount interest," she said.  "This is another unnecessary exemption to the Open Records Act. Code sections 50-18-72(a)(11) and 50-18-72(a)(13.1) already exempt the material."

According to David Hudson, counsel for the Georgia Press Association, the House Judiciary Committee took the association’s suggestion to strike language about "development and implementation" of fare systems. It "amended the bill to keep confidential only documents that would reveal the financial records" of individuals, and not their names.