{"id":2521,"date":"2011-01-09T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-09T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/01\/georgia-open-records-act.html"},"modified":"2011-01-09T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-09T14:00:00","slug":"georgia-open-records-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/01\/georgia-open-records-act.html","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Open Records Act"},"content":{"rendered":"Sometimes the easiest way to find out something from your local\ngovernment is by filing an open records request.\nSome local governments provide forms for that online:\n<ul>\n<li>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lowndescounty.com\/content.asp?pid=23&#038;id=139\">\nLowndes County<\/a>\n<li>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.valdostacity.com\/index.aspx?page=59\">\nValdosta<\/a>\n<\/ul>\nThe basic request is one sheet of paper on which you spell out\nwhat you want (be specific), your name and address, and where they can send it.\n<p>\nValdosta&#8217;s web page sums up the situation:\n\n<!--more-->\n<blockquote>\nO.C.G.A. 50-18-70 through 77, called the Georgia Open Records Act,\nestablishes the right of every citizen to inspect and take a copy of\nall records except those specifically exempt from being open.  When an\nagency receives a record request under the Open Records Act, it must\ncomply with guidelines established in the law:\n<ul>\n<li>\nThe agency has three business days from the date of the request to\ndetermine if the requested records are open or closed.\n<li>\nIf the records are closed, the agency must respond in writing specifying\nthe legal authority for restricting access to the records.\n<li>\nOtherwise, the records are to be provided within the three-day period\nor a plan for providing access to the records provided to the requester.\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\nThere are various exemptions and sometimes records can be redacted;\nsuch things are spelled out on the above web pages.\n<p>\nThey can charge you for copies.\nSince per-page paper copy charges can be as high as 25 cents a page,\nit&#8217;s usually more cost-effective (and less trouble for the providing entity)\nto ask for electronic copy, on a CD or DVD or via email.\n<p>\nWhat organizations are subject to the open records law?\nThe county website includes the relevant legal language:\n<blockquote>\nGENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE OPEN MEETINGS LAW\n<p>\n&#8220;Agencies&#8221; Subject To the Open Meetings Law:\n<p>\n(A)  Every state department, agency, board, bureau, commission, public\ncorporation, and authority;\n<p>\n(B)    Every county, municipal corporation, school district, or other\npolitical subdivision of this state;\n<p>\n(C)    Every department, agency, board, bureau, commission, authority,\nor similiar body of each such county, municipal corporation, or other\npolitical subdivision of the state;\n<p>\n(D)    Every city, county, regional, or other authority established\npursuant to the laws of this state; and\n<p>\n(E)    Any nonprofit organization to which there is a direct allocation\nof tax funds made by the governing authority of any agency as defined in\nthis paragraph and which allocation constitutes more than 33 1\/3 percent\nof the funds from all sources of such organization; provided, however,\nthis subparagraph shall not include hospitals, nursing homes, dispensers\nof pharmaceutical products, or any other type organization, person, or\nfirm furnishing medical or health services to a citizen for which they\nreceive reimbursement from the state whether directly or indirectly;\nnor shall this term include a subagency or affiliate of such a nonprofit\norganization from or through which the allocation of tax funds is made.\n(O.C.G.A. \u00a7 50-14-1(a)(1)(A)through(E))\n<p>\nGENERAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE OPEN RECORDS LAW\n<p>\n&#8220;Agencies&#8221; Subject To the Open Records Law:\n<p>\nAs used in the open records law, the term &#8220;agency&#8221; or &#8220;public agency&#8221; or\n&#8220;public office&#8221; has the same meaning and application as provided for in\nthe definition of the term &#8220;agency&#8221; in paragraph (1) of subsection (a)\nof the Code Section 50-14-1 and additionally includes any association,\ncorporation, or other similiar organization which: (1) has a membership\nof ownership body composed primarily of counties, municipal corporations,\nor school districts of this state or their officers or any combination\nthereof; and (2) derives a substantial portion of its general operating\nbudget from payments from such political subdivisions. (O.C.G.A. \u00a7\n50-18-70(a))\n<\/blockquote>\nThese definitions include, for example, the Valdosta-Lowndes County\nIndustrial Authority (VLCIA), which does not, as far as I know,\nhave its open records request form anywhere on its web site,\nalthough I hear you can pick one up at its offices on 2110 N. Patterson Street\nin Valdosta.\n<p>\nOf course, filing a form doesn&#8217;t always mean you will get the\nrequested information,\n<a href=\"http:\/\/valdostadailytimes.com\/biomass\/x2073114124\/Growing-oposition-of-proposed-biomass-energy-plant\">\nas the Valdosta Daily Times discovered:<\/a>\n<blockquote>\nFollowing an open records request by the Times for information regarding\nthe study, an email from Southern Georgia Regional Commission to Lofton,\nbut not a copy of the study, was produced.\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n-jsq\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sometimes the easiest way to find out something from your local government is by filing an open records request. Some local governments provide forms for that online: Lowndes County Valdosta The basic request is one sheet of paper on which you spell out what you want (be specific), your name and address, and where they [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[97,2,88,54,133,178],"tags":[8701,4720,7,730,6,2900,180,8742,8749],"class_list":["post-2521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-valdosta-city-council","category-vdt","category-vlcia","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-open-records-act","tag-lowndes-county","tag-open-records","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-daily-times","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority","tag-vdt","tag-vlcia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-EF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}