First Amendment defenders relieved after open records bill stripped of loopholes for state lawmakers

A proposed last-minute attempt to limit the populace s access to police reports and communications with state lawmakers was abandoned Friday as briskly as it emerged The proposed changes to the state s open records law had popped up unexpectedly Wednesday in the gatekeeping House Rules Committee bypassing the usual legislative committee process Here is a few background on Appen Media s lawsuit with the City of Sandy Springs Rep Rob Leverett an Elberton Republican noted he had seen the proposed changes as just extensions of existing law and were not really reflecting any new framework But the proposal Senate Bill was instantly met with opposition from First Amendment advocates who warned the changes would weaken transparency laws Under the proposal police departments would be able to shield almost all information about officers stops arrests and occurrence responses And it would have created broad new exemptions to prevent general disclosure of the General Assembly s pursuits including communication with other parts of state governmentThe change narrowing what police records are available for populace inspection appeared to be in response to a lawsuit filed by the Appen Media Group against Sandy Springs that accused the city of withholding residents police reports The state Court of Appeals had of late ruled in Appen s favor Gov Brian Kemp also seemed cool to the proposal Friday I haven t seen what the Legislature has done other than just reading a blip in the paper about it Kemp narrated reporters But we ll look at the ordinance in the modern day We ll see what ends up passing or not passing But I think the General Assembly knows that I m a pretty transparent person as you can see being out here answering your questions this day The House ultimately retreated from the changes Friday and passed a version that was more in line with the original proposal to the relief of the bill s sponsor Danielsville Republican Sen Frank Ginn You don t want to get into an argument with people that buy ink by the train car load Ginn mentioned referring to concerns from newspapers and others Ginn announced he was trying to pass a pro-business bill His proposal came in response to a Georgia Supreme Court ruling last year that unanimously determined that a private contractor working for a constituents entity is still subject to the law and can be sent requests for residents records they may possess Senate Bill declared that requests for those general records should go through the local governmental agencies that contracted with those third parties This version is what now sits on the governor s desk Georgia Recorder freelancer Maya Homan contributed to this analysis The post First Amendment defenders relieved after open records bill stripped of loopholes for state lawmakers appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta