The way I interpret the new “open records” law is that now, in order to obtain a public record in the state of Georgia, after sending in a request, you have to wait three months for them to approve and send you a copy of the record. Three months is a very long time.
I don’t think this law is necessarily fair to anyone. Especially because the new timeline is ridiculous compared to what it was.
To go from three days wait period to three months is a huge jump. I don’t understand how law makers came to that number. I could see maybe a month or six weeks but not three months.
This makes reporting, solving crime cases, and just obtaining general information much harder. It also comes off as trying to hide something or to put it off as long as possible.
One way to solve this problem could be varying wait times for how sensitive the information is.
For example, things that are considered general information but are not readily available, their wait time would be shorter than something to the effect of tax returns or someone’s contract demands.
While I think all laws are there for a reason, there is a level of sensibility that must be maintained. Three months goes beyond the level of being sensible.
So I think that the structure of the open records law needs to be revisited and revised that way people can obtain information in a more sensible amount of time.