This is how the General Assembly rolls

While the University of Georgia and its football team are undoubtedly the sponsor of the latest sneak play in the General Assembly, it will benefit every college and university in the state.Wednesday, State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, carried the water by offering a floor amendment that would extend from three to 90, the number of days a school's athletic department would have to reply to some open records requests.

The amendment was attached, interestingly enough, to an unrelated Senate Bill 323, which basically gives agencies that use state funds in development projects five days after securing binding commitments to release documents related to the projects. Broad language in that bill would also curb the public's right to know how their money is spent until it's too late.

Ehrhart said colleges, universities and athletic associations can't handle the burden of open records requests and that his amendment "allows (the state of Georgia) to play on the same field as Alabama and everybody else." Any college or university that can afford to spend, like UGA, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution's open record request, $558,741.29 from December 2015 to Jan. 31 for chartered aircraft used for recruiting trips, ought to be able to afford a secretary to handle open records requests. This is definitely an end run around the public's right to know.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "This is how the General Assembly rolls ."