The Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) has been working with Representative Jay Powell and Attorney General Sam Olens on the open meetings and open records legislation (HB 397).  This legislation passed in the House on March 5 and now heads to the Senate for consideration.  The bill includes a number of significant improvements to the current laws as well as improvements to earlier versions of the bill.  For a full summary of this legislation, click here.

Despite the significant improvements to current law found in HB 397, ACCG still has some concerns with the bill. In particular, the concerns are related to the civil penalty enforcement provisions and the absence of some process for responding to individuals that use the open records law for harassment purposes.  ACCG we will continue working with the Representative Powell and the Attorney General in an effort to resolve any remaining issues as the bill progresses.  Please review the current version of the bill and email concerns to Jim Grubiak at jgrubiak@accg.org.