House legislation requires government to be more open

Passing through the House by overwhelming numbers, House Bills 278 and 279 are pieces of legislation that I believe will go a long way toward making government more open.

House Bill 278 is important because it requires presiding officials to sign affidavits stating a specific purpose for holding closed meetings. If a meeting is found to be illegal, and the purpose of the meeting was falsely stated, the affidavit signer would be subject to laws that consider filing a false affidavit a felony.

I voted for the measure because it gives more teeth to the already-present sunshine laws designed to keep the public involved in government as much as possible.

House Bill 279 will also make government more accessible and open by requiring agencies to respond within three business days to requests for public records, Language is the bill says that all public records "shall be subject to disclosure to the same extent that such records would be subject to disclosure if received or maintained by such agency, public agency, or public office."

Purposeful violations of the law could result in the issuance of a citation, which will carry a fine up to $100. Again, this law will strengthen sunshine laws, encouraging governing officials to be more responsive to the public. The vote to pass House Bill 278 was 169 to one. The vote to pass House Bill 279 was unanimous with 172 members voting. These bills are now in the Senate where they are expected to pass as well. If signed into law, they would take effect on July 1.

I am continuing to watch Senate Bill 57, which would create a regional Transpiration Authority appointed solely by the governor. The bill passed through the Senate two weeks ago and is now in the House.

I can appreciate Governor Roy Barnes wanting to be proactive in reducing air pollution and lessening traffic woes, but creating more government is not the answer. We already have the means to address these problems with the Atlanta regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Two of the plan's major flaws area that all RTA members would be appointed exclusively by the governor, and that the RTA would have almost unlimited authority, even over local roads.

Just like the driver's license/fingerprinting bill of 1996, I believe this another case of Georgia being used as a testing ground for federal, big-government ideas. We don't need to be the continual pilot state for Washington programs.

On that note, I am hoping that this will be the year that we repeal the drivers' license fingerprint law. Effective as of 1996, Georgia law requires licensed drivers to be fingerprinted, for those fingerprint records to be electronically stored, and for "digital fingerprints" to be printed on the backs of licenses.

I have signed onto House Bill 13, which was authored by Representative Mitchell Kaye (R-Marietta). This bill would not only end the fingerprinting requirement, but it would also mandate that all fingerprint records be gained to date be destroyed within 30 days of the becoming effective. Furthermore, the bill would prohibit government agencies from collecting any uniquely-identifying biological date in the future, except for a photograph.

In years past, attempts to repeal the fingerprint law have been unsuccessful. However, I will continue to work toward repealing it as long as I am able, as will my conservative colleagues.

With the first half of the 1999 Legislative Session over, the days are getting busier. While the first 20 days or so were pretty even-paced, these last few weeks should prove to be a little more hectic. Several pieces of important legislation are still waiting for votes, and of course, we must still work our the Fiscal 2000 Budget.