Wheeler, William (Billy)

Georgia Open Records Act

O.C.G.A. §50-18-70 et seq.

The Georgia Open Records Act is a series of laws guaranteeing the public access to public records of government bodies. Public records are those documents generated by individuals or groups in public office in the course of public service. Government agencies that are included in the act are:

• Every state department, agency, board, bureau, commission and authority.
• Every county, municipal corporation, school district, or other political subdivision of the state.
• Every department, agency, board, bureau, commission, authority, or similar body of each such county, municipal corporation, or other political subdivision of the state.
• Every city, county, regional or other authority established pursuant to law.
• With some exceptions, "any nonprofit organization that receives more than one third of its funds in the form of a direct allocation of tax funds from the governing authority of an agency."

Records in the Georgia Open Records Act that are exempt are records related to the provision of staff services to individual members of the General Assembly by the Legislative and Congressional Reapportionment Office, the Senate Research Office, or the House Research Office, or GIS Data.

Any citizen of the state can request public records and requesters do not have to state a purpose. Once they have been obtained, there is no restriction on how records can be used, and agencies have three days to supply a response.