Georgia law says most information created and maintained by taxpayer-funded organizations should be available to the public.

This can include everything from meeting minutes and contracts to law enforcement reports and salary data. In some instances, information may be on an agency’s website, but typically a member of the public must file a request for open records to access the information they want.

State law spells out what records are subject to this process, how quickly agencies must respond and what kinds of fees they can impose to fulfill a records request.

The law allows organizations three business days to respond to a requester with either the records or an estimated time and cost for producing them. The law also permits agencies to charge “reasonable fees” for finding, copying and in some cases redacting records that have been requested. 

The first 15 minutes of work on an open records response is free but agencies can charge for the remaining time it may take to fulfill the request, and they can also charge for copies.

Earlier this month, students at Mercer University’s Murphy Center for Collaborative Journalism sent open records requests to agencies in Macon-Bibb, Houston, Jones and Monroe counties in an effort to check their compliance with Georgia’s law and gauge their accessibility to members of the public. 

Each student came up with a request for a record that could not readily be found online but a record they believed could be easily retrieved and provided in a digital format. The goal was to make requests that would not require more than 15 minutes to fulfill –  the threshold for keeping the fulfillment of the request free.

Results varied by agency

Some agencies had an open records contact listed on their website or even an open records portal, while others had very limited to no staff contact information, and students had to figure out how and where to send a request.

Some students received a response within minutes of filing their request while others had to send a follow-up message.

We used a rubric to assign two letter grades to each of the agencies we contacted.  The agencies got one grade for the ease of contacting staff and filing a request for public records, and they received a second grade for their overall compliance with the law when it comes to response time and fees. 

You can see our grading grid below and click on the organization name to see more information on each of the agency’s specific responses.

Grading scale for the ease of contacting agency staff and finding or filing for public records.

A: Agency uses an online portal or has a clearly defined process or contact on its website for requesting public records. An “A” agency may also readily provide the most commonly  requested records on its website, including agendas and meeting minutes.

B: Agency has some public information online such as meeting agendas or meeting times, but additional information on how to request public information is not available. There is contact information available for staff.

C: Agency website has contact information for staff but nothing specific about how to request public information.

D: Agency has limited contact information on its website but it is not clearly labeled and/or easily accessible.

F: Agency contact information or how to get public records is not available on the website. 

 Grade scale for agency’s overall responsiveness and compliance with open records law

A: Provided records within the three-day window or less.

B Acknowledgedf the request within the three-day requirement, but records were provided after three days.

C:  Acknowledged the request but then put forth a long timetable for response or requested a high fee or retrieval price for what should be a digital record and/or PDF that could be emailed.

D: Acknowledged the request but no further information or follow-up.

F:  No response.

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