First Amendment Clinic Legal Fellow Allyson Veile spoke to the Georgia Recorder about the Georgia Attorney General’s open government mediation program which handles complaints of non-compliance with Georgia’s Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act. The article titled “Georgia AG shrugs off open records violations but demands local DAs enforce all laws equally” was written by Chaya Tong and published 9/22/23.
Veile said Memorandums of Understanding, a public negotiation memo between the AG’s office and the agency violating the Open Meetings or Records Act, haven’t been posted publicly on the AG’s website since 2016.
“I’m also not aware of any official or unofficial attorney general opinions that have been issued on the open records act since 2012,” Veile added. “Those are opinions that the office of the attorney general can issue through the AG’s website providing an official interpretation of the law from the AG’s office.”
The Issue
Government Transparency
Georgia’s legislature finds that transparent government is essential to a free, open, and democratic society. The state’s “sunshine laws” guarantee access to the public records and public meetings of local and state government agencies. The First Amendment and Georgia’s uniform superior court rules also protect the public’s right to observe court proceedings and review court…
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