0-14-1 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-1.
(a) As used in this chapter, the term:
(1) "Agency" means:
(A) Every state department, agency, board, bureau, commission,
public corporation, and authority;
(B) Every county, municipal corporation, school district, or
other political subdivision of this state;
(C) Every department, agency, board, bureau, commission,
authority, or similar body of each such county, municipal
corporation, or other political subdivision of the state;
(D) Every city, county, regional, or other authority established
pursuant to the laws of this state; and
(E) Any nonprofit organization to which there is a direct
allocation of tax funds made by the governing authority of any
agency as defined in this paragraph and which allocation
constitutes more than 33 1/3 percent of the funds from all
sources of such organization; provided, however, this
subparagraph shall not include hospitals, nursing homes,
dispensers of pharmaceutical products, or any other type
organization, person, or firm furnishing medical or health
services to a citizen for which they receive reimbursement from
the state whether directly or indirectly; nor shall this term
include a subagency or affiliate of such a nonprofit
organization from or through which the allocation of tax funds
is made.
(2) "Meeting" means the gathering of a quorum of the members of
the governing body of an agency or of any committee of its members
created by such governing body, whether standing or special,
pursuant to schedule, call, or notice of or from such governing
body or committee or an authorized member, at a designated time
and place at which any public matter, official business, or policy
of the agency is to be discussed or presented or at which official
action is to be taken or, in the case of a committee,
recommendations on any public matter, official business, or policy
to the governing body are to be formulated, presented, or
discussed. The assembling together of a quorum of the members of
a governing body or committee for the purpose of making
inspections of physical facilities under the jurisdiction of such
agency or for the purposes of meeting with the governing bodies,
officers, agents, or employees of other agencies at places outside
the geographical jurisdiction of an agency and at which no final
official action is to be taken shall not be deemed a "meeting."
(b) Except as otherwise provided by law, all meetings as defined in
subsection (a) of this Code section shall be open to the public.
Any resolution, rule, regulation, ordinance, or other official
action of an agency adopted, taken, or made at a meeting which is
not open to the public as required by this chapter shall not be
binding. Any action contesting a resolution, rule, regulation,
ordinance, or other formal action of an agency based on an alleged
violation of this provision must be commenced within 90 days of the
date such contested action was taken, provided that any action under
this chapter contesting a zoning decision of a local governing
authority shall be commenced within the time allowed by law for
appeal of such zoning decision.
(c) The public at all times shall be afforded access to meetings
declared open to the public pursuant to subsection (b) of this Code
section. Visual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open
meetings shall be permitted.
(d) Every agency shall prescribe the time, place, and dates of
regular meetings of the agency. Such information shall be available
to the general public and a notice containing such information shall
be posted and maintained in a conspicuous place available to the
public at the regular meeting place of the agency. Meetings shall
be held in accordance with a regular schedule, but nothing in this
subsection shall preclude an agency from canceling or postponing any
regularly scheduled meeting. Whenever any meeting required to be
open to the public is to be held at a time or place other than at
the time and place prescribed for regular meetings, the agency shall
give due notice thereof. "Due notice" shall be the posting of a
written notice for at least 24 hours at the place of regular
meetings and giving of written or oral notice at least 24 hours in
advance of the meeting to the legal organ in which notices of
sheriff's sales are published in the county where regular meetings
are held or at the option of the agency to a newspaper having a
general circulation in said county at least equal to that of the
legal organ; provided, however, that in counties where the legal
organ is published less often than four times weekly "due notice"
shall be the posting of a written notice for at least 24 hours at
the place of regular meetings and, upon written request from any
local broadcast or print media outlet whose place of business and
physical facilities are located in the county, notice by telephone
or facsimile to that requesting media outlet at least 24 hours in
advance of the called meeting. When special circumstances occur and
are so declared by an agency, that agency may hold a meeting with
less than 24 hours' notice upon giving such notice of the meeting
and subjects expected to be considered at the meeting as is
reasonable under the circumstances including notice to said county
legal organ or a newspaper having a general circulation in the
county at least equal to that of the legal organ, in which event the
reason for holding the meeting within 24 hours and the nature of the
notice shall be recorded in the minutes. Whenever notice is given
to a legal organ or other newspaper, that publication shall
immediately make the information available upon inquiry to any
member of the public. Any oral notice required or permitted by this
subsection may be given by telephone.
(e)(1) Prior to any meeting, the agency holding such meeting shall
make available an agenda of all matters expected to come before
the agency at such meeting. The agenda shall be available upon
request and shall be posted at the meeting site, as far in advance
of the meeting as reasonably possible, but shall not be required
to be available more than two weeks prior to the meeting and shall
be posted, at a minimum, at some time during the two-week period
immediately prior to the meeting. Failure to include on the
agenda an item which becomes necessary to address during the
course of a meeting shall not preclude considering and acting upon
such item.
(2) A summary of the subjects acted on and those members present
at a meeting of any agency shall be written and made available to
the public for inspection within two business days of the
adjournment of a meeting of any agency. The minutes of a meeting
of any agency shall be promptly recorded and such records shall be
open to public inspection once approved as official by the agency,
but in no case later than immediately following the next regular
meeting of the agency; provided, however, nothing contained in
this chapter shall prohibit the earlier release of minutes,
whether approved by the agency or not. Said minutes shall, as a
minimum, include the names of the members present at the meeting,
a description of each motion or other proposal made, and a record
of all votes. In the case of a roll-call vote the name of each
person voting for or against a proposal shall be recorded and in
all other cases it shall be presumed that the action taken was
approved by each person in attendance unless the minutes reflect
the name of the persons voting against the proposal or abstaining.
(f) An agency with state-wide jurisdiction shall be authorized to
conduct meetings by telecommunications conference, provided that any
such meeting is conducted in compliance with this chapter.
50-14-2 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-2.
This chapter shall not be construed so as to repeal in any way:
(1) The attorney-client privilege recognized by state law to the
extent that a meeting otherwise required to be open to the public
under this chapter may be closed in order to consult and meet with
legal counsel pertaining to pending or potential litigation,
settlement, claims, administrative proceedings, or other judicial
actions brought or to be brought by or against the agency or any
officer or employee or in which the agency or any officer or
employee may be directly involved; provided, however, the meeting
may not be closed for advice or consultation on whether to close a
meeting; and
(2) Those tax matters which are otherwise made confidential by
state law.
50-14-3 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-3.
This chapter shall not apply to the following:
(1) Staff meetings held for investigative purposes under duties or
responsibilities imposed by law;
(2) The deliberations and voting of the State Board of Pardons and
Paroles; and in addition said board may close a meeting held for
the purpose of receiving information or evidence for or against
clemency or in revocation proceedings if it determines that the
receipt of such information or evidence in open meeting would
present a substantial risk of harm or injury to a witness;
(3) Meetings of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation or any other
law enforcement agency in the state, including grand jury
meetings;
(4) Meetings when any agency is discussing the future acquisition
of real estate, except that such meetings shall be subject to the
requirements of this chapter for the giving of the notice of such
a meeting to the public and preparing the minutes of such a
meeting; provided, however, the disclosure of such portions of the
minutes as would identify real estate to be acquired may be
delayed until such time as the acquisition of the real estate has
been completed, terminated, or abandoned or court proceedings with
respect thereto initiated;
(5) Meetings of the governing authority of a public hospital or
any committee thereof when discussing the granting, restriction,
or revocation of staff privileges or the granting of abortions
under state or federal law;
(6) Meetings when discussing or deliberating upon the appointment,
employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or
dismissal, or periodic evaluation or rating of a public officer or
employee but not when receiving evidence or hearing argument on
charges filed to determine disciplinary action or dismissal of a
public officer or employee. The vote on any matter covered by
this paragraph shall be taken in public and minutes of the meeting
as provided in this chapter shall be made available. Meetings by
an agency to discuss or take action on the filling of a vacancy in
the membership of the agency itself shall at all times be open to
the public as provided in this chapter;
(7) Adoptions and proceedings related thereto; and
(8) Meetings of the board of trustees or the investment committee
of any public retirement system created by Title 47 when such
board or committee is discussing matters pertaining to investment
securities trading or investment portfolio positions and
composition.
50-14-4 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-4.
(a) When any meeting of an agency is closed to the public pursuant
to any provision of this chapter, the specific reasons for such
closure shall be entered upon the official minutes, the meeting
shall not be closed to the public except by a majority vote of a
quorum present for the meeting, the minutes shall reflect the names
of the members present and the names of those voting for closure,
and that part of the minutes shall be made available to the public
as any other minutes. Where a meeting of an agency is devoted in
part to matters within the exceptions provided by law, any portion
of the meeting not subject to any such exception, privilege, or
confidentiality shall be open to the public, and the minutes of such
portions not subject to any such exception shall be taken, recorded,
and open to public inspection as provided in subsection (e) of Code
Section 50-14-1.
(b) When any meeting of an agency is closed to the public pursuant
to subsection (a) of this Code section, the chairperson or other
person presiding over such meeting shall execute and file with the
official minutes of the meeting a notarized affidavit stating under
oath that the subject matter of the meeting or the closed portion
thereof was devoted to matters within the exceptions provided by law
and identifying the specific relevant exception.
50-14-5 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-5.
(a) The superior courts of this state shall have jurisdiction to
enforce compliance with the provisions of this chapter, including
the power to grant injunctions or other equitable relief. In
addition to any action that may be brought by any person, firm,
corporation, or other entity, the Attorney General shall have
authority to bring enforcement actions, either civil or criminal, in
his or her discretion as may be appropriate to enforce compliance
with this chapter.
(b) In any action brought to enforce the provisions of this chapter
in which the court determines that an agency acted without
substantial justification in not complying with this chapter, the
court shall, unless it finds that special circumstances exist,
assess in favor of the complaining party reasonable attorney's fees
and other litigation costs reasonably incurred. Whether the
position of the complaining party was substantially justified shall
be determined on the basis of the record as a whole which is made in
the proceeding for which fees and other expenses are sought.
(c) Any agency or person who provides access to information in good
faith reliance on the requirements of this chapter shall not be
liable in any action on account of having provided access to such
information.
50-14-6 G
*** CODE SECTION *** 01/23/01
50-14-6.
Any person knowingly and willfully conducting or participating in a
meeting in violation of this chapter shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine not to
exceed $500.00.