Atlanta Journal-Constitution: By and for the people? Georgia lawmaking sometimes limits access
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: By and for the people? Georgia lawmaking sometimes limits access
When Georgians try to weigh in on hot-button issues at the Capitol this year, they might find the sausage-making a little hard to follow.
Bills can change at a moment’s notice, and amended bills often aren’t available to the public until the next day — sometimes after they are approved. Public hearings may be quickly scheduled or canceled. Committee votes often come quickly, sometimes with little debate, then are decided by a count of raised hands that’s never publicly recorded.
Even legislators and lobbyists can struggle to keep track — unless they’re cozy with the committee chairperson.
Welcome to the Georgia General Assembly, where legislative leaders make the rules and the state’s open records laws don’t apply.
How a bill becomes a law will be as important as ever when this year’s legislative session begins Monday, filled with proposals on expanded gun rights, book bans, tax cuts, teacher pay raises and election rules. …
Some states publish reports summarizing bills, amendments and votes as they move through the process. Others post written testimony online. Several legislatures are covered by open records laws, including those in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania and Utah.
It’s not uncommon for Georgia lawmakers to circulate amendments to bills in advance of public hearings, sometimes changing key pieces before members of the public have a chance to review them.
Rapid changes to bills are especially frequent on the most contentious legislation, such as Georgia’s voting law passed last year, and its abortion law approved in 2019.
“You’re asking your constituents to show up and testify, to take time out of their busy days, and they don’t even know what they’re testifying about,” said Viki Harrison, director of state operations for Common Cause, a government accountability organization.
“All that does is make the public think that politicians are not real people and are not looking out for our best interests.”