ATLANTA (AP) — With one day left of the legislative session, Georgia Republicans mustered together a proposal to limit public access to records about state lawmakers' communications and police reports.
The bill sidestepped the usual lawmaking process by tacking a new proposal onto a bill without sending it to a regular committee, where lawmakers and members of the public could weigh in. Democrats in the House Rules Committee raised alarms about the last-minute effort without a clear motive.
Skeptics say the hurried process was especially concerning for a bill that could shield information about lawmakers' work from those who elect them and further restrict what police departments have to share with the public after they respond to a call about a crime.
Elberton Republican Rep. Rob Leverett said at the committee meeting the bill would simply “clean up” language related to public records issues that have come up in court. He called other added protections for legislators a “reasonable extension of existing law.”
The bill could get a vote Friday, the final day of the session. It was immediately sent back to the Rules Committee Wednesday, with Leverett telling The Associated Press on Thursday that there were disagreements over the bill. There could be more changes.
“Republicans are always trying to snake bad provisions in the dead of night without transparency and without public debate,” Democratic House Minority Whip Sam Park of Lawrenceville told AP. “They do this every time.”
Lawmakers are mostly exempt from the state's Open Records Act, but even fewer records would be available to the public under the bill. People wouldn't be able to access records of any communications involving members of the legislature or related staff, including with state agencies and officials and private companies.
The bill would also protect information about people’s entrance into and out of government buildings and data created for legislative activities. Agencies often prepare data such as how they spend money and present it to lawmakers.
“The First Amendment Foundation has always found it problematic that the legislature is protecting its own business, with a complete exemption from the law," said Sarah Brewerton-Palmer, president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation. "But now they’re now trying to extend that even into records that currently are public and held by the executive branch.”
The original bill sought to clarify that people should request records from government agencies even if they contract with private companies that have the requested information. That measure was a response to a Georgia Supreme Court ruling last year.
Under current law, police departments don't have to share full records for pending criminal investigations. But initial incident reports are public record. Police departments under the bill would only have to disclose a first incident report before investigations close. Those are often less detailed than later reports.
The measure comes after Appen Media, which owns a chain of suburban news outlets, sued the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs for giving its reporters limited information from police reports. A Fulton County judge originally ruled the city's police department didn't violate the Open Records Act. The Georgia Court of Appeals in March ruled that decision was premature, but the bill “basically blesses the practice the Sandy Springs police department was taking,” said Brewerton-Palmer.
“If a police department wanted to, they could shield basically all information about incidents from the public,” Brewerton-Palmer said.
Charlotte Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.
FILE - Georgia Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, speaks at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. (Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, File)
FILE - The Georgia Capitol is shown on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)
