Opponents to secret negotiations by governments when dealing with companies trying to locate a facility in a community are upset over proposed legislation.
Sen. Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, says his Senate Bill 159 is good for economic development because it would ease companies' fears that trade secrets might be disclosed if meetings, documents or discussions were subject to Georgia's Open Records Act.
Under the proposal, any details of what a company is, does, or what it would build or do would be secret until the negotiations are completed by a government or agency and the deal is announced to the public.
Open records laws were created to give citizens the right to know what their governments are doing.
Shrouding negotiations in secret could have bad results if the company is "dirty," said Neill Herring, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club. He asked what if the negotiations are over a garbage dump or other polluting or unsavory industry. Citizens would have no input or chance to voice their opinions until contracts were signed.
With the General Assembly also discussing the weakening of many local planning and reporting laws, such as those affecting landfills, the results could leave citizens out of the process of deciding what is happening to their communities, he said.
"It will be like the wild West," Herring said.
Mullis said his intention is to help Georgia attract new industry and jobs. He works for a joint development authority in northwest Georgia and says he has to compete against Tennessee to lure new companies, and Tennessee allows more secrecy in such negotiations than Georgia.
"We just want companies to have the confidence that their trade secrets will be secure," Mullis said.
His bill is in the Senate Economic Development Committee.
Similar legislation has been introduced before and died because of public outcry.
Also, in 2008, many in Gwinnett County were surprised to find out the county government had negotiated a deal to build a $45 million baseball stadium, financed in part by property taxes, and no one knew until the deal was announced.
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