From Morris News Service
By Jake Armstrong

ATLANTA --The public's right to government records could shrink or expand depending on the outcome of five bills vying for lawmakers' approval this session.

While one measure would allow judges to keep the public from seeing sexually explicit evidence in criminal trials (a response to a notorious teen sex case), another would raise the bar legislators must clear to keep records from the public eye.

Just two weeks ago, contractors' bids and contracts with development authorities -- documents the public has a right to view -- seemed headed toward secrecy under House Bill 1200, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Willard, R-Sandy Springs. However, the House State Planning & Community Affairs Committee tabled the bill and a motion to revive it failed this week.

In keeping with the failure of that bill, advocates of public access say that Georgia's Open Records Act has gained strength over the past 15 years.

But that's not to say practice always follows the intent of the law, said Atlanta-based real estate attorney Matt Mashburn, a frequent user of the Act.

Though legislation has sought to aid access, keepers of government records have increasingly taken a broader view of what records are exempt from the Act, Mashburn said. "Now the pendulum in the past couple of years has started swinging the other way," Mashburn said. "They haven't clamped down, but there has been a subtle trend toward expanding these exemptions."

Making it harder to create an exemption is at the heart of Senate Resolution 970, which resides in the hands of the Senate Ethics Committee.

S.R. 970 proposes a constitutional amendment that would require any new exemption to the Open Record Act to get a two-thirds majority in the House and Senate, a so-called supermajority that now is reserved for proposed constitutional amendments.

The measure's sponsor, Sen. David Adelman, D-Atlanta, said the number of exemptions already in the Act leaves it riddled with holes.

For example, records of farm water use are exempt, and they are documents the public or press might want to view in times of water restrictions.

"Transparency in government is what protects our democracy. It should be very hard for the General Assembly to create exceptions to our open records and open meetings laws," Adelman said.

But Mashburn called the supermajority legislationl too cumbersome, adding that it would enable a small minority of recalcitrant lawmakers to block an exemption that may be worthwhile.

"There might be a good reason to exempt something, but a small group may say no, "and the will of the public is stymied," Mashburn said.

Another public access bill deals with criminal trials. Sen. Emanuel Jones, D- Ellenwood, seeks to give judges the right to clear a courtroom when sexually explicit evidence is shown at trial, and to allow judges to determine who has access to that material under Senate Bill 481.

That irks the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, which decries the potential limitation on public records.

Yet Jones said the intent of S.B. 481 is not to block public access, but to prevent a repeat of the Genarlow Wilson case, in which prosecutors released to the media a sex tape used as evidence in the then-17-year-old's trial on charges of sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

"I don't think any district attorney should have so much power to see fit to distribute material for children in compromising positions of pornographic nature ever again," Jones said.

Additionally, S.B. 481 would align Georgia law with federal law, he said.

Hollie Manheimer, executive director of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, countered that even the federal legislation is embroiled in lawsuits over its First Amendment implications.

On another issue, Sen. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, wants the state to post its financial records on a free, searchable Web site, under Senate Bill 300, dubbed the Transparency in Government Act.

Rogers said his research showed such Web sites in other states cost little to start up and can offer a hefty savings. Oklahoma set up a site for about $8,000, and Texas was able to shave $2.3 million off of its spending when the Web site revealed redundant purchasing within departments, he said.

"Other savings come to light where you let this information out to the general public. It's just good government," Rogers said.

Kelly McCutchen, executive vice president of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, an Atlanta-based think tank, said posting spending records online, a movement gaining speed in several states and at the federal level, serves the public and government.

"It roots out waste, but it also builds confidence in government," McCutchen said.

If politicians go begging for a tax increase, their constituents may be more apt to hear them out if they have evidence their money is being spent wisely, McCutchen said.

Reprinted with permission from the Rome News-Tribune, 03/01/08.