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macon.com MIDDAY UPDATE: Georgia House approves bill designed to tighten Open Records exemption The Georgia House approved a slight change in state law today that sponsors said would make it more difficult for government agencies to withhold public documents. The bill, which won unanimous approval, amends a single sentence in a section of the Georgia Code defining records that may legally be withheld. State Rep. Jill Chambers, the bill's sponsor, said the change will make it more difficult for government agencies to refuse to hand over public documents by simply citing that they are agents of the federal government. Open records advocates were more reluctant to praise the measure. Hollie Manheimer of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation said "it is cause for the public's concern" because it could ultimately expand the scope of the existing exemption. She urged the Senate, where the bill now goes, to scrutinize the provision carefully. This is the third attempt to pass such legislation. The House passed similar measures the last two years and both times the effort was bottled up in the Senate. |
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