If the Georgia General Assembly were a movie, it might be called “Nightmare on Washington Street.”
You think the demon is gone for good — but, no, he always comes back to threaten innocent townspeople.
That’s an apt description for SB 159 by Sen. Jeff Mullis. It’s an unholy resurrection of one of Georgia’s most notorious attempts to hijack good government.
Known earlier as House Bill 218, Mullis’ proposal would allow public officials, economic developers and private business to meet in secret to help “boost our state’s economy and promote job growth.”
A worthy goal, no doubt. Jobs are needed. Mullis appears to hope the economic downturn and accompanying hunger for jobs will blind citizens to the ugly downside of this bill.
Here’s the part Mullis — an economic developer himself — doesn’t talk about. If his bill becomes law, it will also make other things easier for public officials to do in secret. Some examples: ● Land near your home could go from being a serene pasture to a smoke-belching, gear-grinding industrial complex — and you won’t know about the change until it’s too late to raise objection. ● Officials could agree to increase your taxes to pay for incentives given to bring in that industry — and you won’t know that until it’s too late to ask questions. ● Officials could site a hog farm, a landfill, or any number of undesirable developments in your community— and it will all be approved in secret and not revealed until the deal is signed.
● Officials could route a new highway close by your home to serve businesses, sending trucks and more traffic by your driveway. And, you guessed it, you won’t know until after the deal is finalized.
That’s just for starters. Economic development is routinely done with some level of secrecy. Understandably so. Businesses are reluctant to disclose trade secrets or plans to move or expand. That’s not the issue. There are already ways to keep that information private. Whether this law covers just state developers or local authorities, too, the result will be the same. Blanket secrecy.
When public officials start offering tax abatements or financial incentives you’re paying for, that’s when privacy should end and the public allowed to know details. After all, it is your money.
Many of Georgia’s poor, rural counties are preyed upon by developers looking for communities hungry for payrolls, willing to give up relatively cheap land for the promise of jobs. Too often those jobs are in industries that pollute, involve dirty or hazardous products, or have other unattractive aspects.
Communities certainly have a right to pursue such industries if they choose, but residents need to be aware and not have those businesses creep in under a veil of secrecy. Common sense says if a new industry or business is stopped because the public learns the details, odds are that proposal needed to be stopped.
State lawmakers are going to be under tremendous pressure to sacrifice your right to know what developments may be occurring near you. The money and influence of big business speak loudly in the General Assembly. This legislation was stopped only by public outcry just a few years ago. Eager developers keep circling the Capitol, looking for an opening to slip this past an inattentive public and into law.
If you don’t want nasty surprises showing up next door to your home one day, call your legislator. Tell him or her that we’ve seen SB 159 before and the plot isn’t any better this time around.
Secrecy in government is bad public policy and SB 159 rates a “thumbs down.”
Robert M. Williams Jr. publishes weekly newspapers in Middle and South Georgia.
