Georgia Open Records Act: Requests, Response Time, and Denials

The Georgia Open Records Act gives anyone the right to inspect and copy most records held by state and local government agencies, without having to explain why. Agencies must respond within three business days, the first 15 minutes of staff time is free, and copying fees are capped at 10 cents per page. If a request is denied, the agency has to point to a specific statutory exemption, and you can escalate to free Attorney General mediation or file suit in superior court.

How to Submit a Request

Georgia law does not require a specific form or format. You can request records by email, letter, fax, or in person. Put it in writing. A written request creates a paper trail if the agency misses deadlines or denies access later.

Send the request to the agency’s records custodian or designated open records officer. Many agencies post that contact on their website. Describe what you want with enough detail for staff to find it. “All emails about road construction” is a fee trap. “Emails between the Public Works director and XYZ Contracting from January through March 2025 about the Main Street repaving project” gets you what you actually need, faster and cheaper.

You do not have to give a reason. The Act does not condition access on your identity or purpose. A few narrow record types are the exception: accident reports require a written statement of need, and certain 911 recordings or law enforcement body camera footage involving privacy concerns may require a sworn affidavit.¹ Agencies only have to produce records that already exist. They do not have to compile new documents, write summaries, or answer questions.

One boundary worth knowing up front: the Act does not cover Georgia courts. A Georgia appellate court has held that the judicial branch is not encompassed within the Open Records Act’s definition of covered entities.² Court records are governed by the Uniform Court Rules instead. Staff service records provided to individual legislators by offices like the Senate Research Office or House Budget and Research Office are also exempt, though committee records and anything a legislator has made public are not.¹

The Three-Day Response Rule

Agencies must produce responsive records within three business days of receiving your request.³ If only part of the request can be filled in that window, the agency must release what it has and describe the rest, along with a timeline for producing it. If nothing can be produced in three days, the agency still has to respond within that period, telling you what records exist, when to expect them, and what the cost will be.⁴

Beyond the initial three-day response, there is no hard statutory deadline. The standard is a reasonable amount of time given the volume and complexity of what you asked for. A single police report may come back the same day; thousands of emails across multiple departments could legitimately take weeks. Unjustified delay itself can become grounds for an enforcement action.

What Agencies Can Charge

Agencies can charge for the actual cost of searching, retrieving, redacting, and copying records, but the caps are real. Staff time is billed at no more than the prorated hourly salary of the lowest-paid full-time employee with the skill and training to handle the request, and the first quarter hour of labor is free.³ For simple requests, that free 15 minutes often covers the whole search.

Copies of standard letter or legal-size documents cost no more than 10 cents per page. Blueprints, oversized maps, and other non-standard documents can be billed at actual reproduction cost. Electronic records delivered on physical media like a USB drive can be charged at the actual cost of the media. Agencies must use the most economical reasonable method of producing responsive records.

For larger requests, expect a cost estimate and a demand for payment before release. The Georgia Department of Public Safety, for instance, provides estimates when anticipated costs exceed $25 and requires advance payment above $500. Other agencies set their own internal thresholds, but the statutory fee caps apply everywhere.

Electronic records get their own rule. Agencies must produce them using the computer programs already in place. An agency cannot refuse to export data or run a filter by claiming it is too much work when those functions exist in software the agency uses in ordinary operations.³ An agency may point you to a public website where the same data lives, but if you specifically request the native electronic format, you are entitled to it.

What Agencies Can Withhold

O.C.G.A. § 50-18-72 lists dozens of exemptions, and agencies sometimes reach for them more aggressively than the statute allows. The main categories:

Personal privacy. Medical and veterinary records, Social Security numbers, bank account information, and similar personal data are shielded when release would invade someone’s privacy.
Active law enforcement investigations. Records compiled for an ongoing criminal investigation or prosecution can be withheld if disclosure would reveal a confidential source, endanger someone, or compromise the investigation. Once the case closes, many of these records become available unless another exemption applies.¹
Personnel investigations. Complaints, investigations, or evaluations involving a public employee are exempt until ten days after the matter has been presented to the agency for action or the investigation has concluded.
Real estate and contract negotiations. Appraisals, engineering estimates, and sealed bids related to property acquisition or government contracts stay confidential until the deal closes or the project is abandoned.
Security and infrastructure. Security plans, vulnerability assessments, and cybersecurity records are protected.
Trade secrets. Proprietary business information submitted to a government agency can be withheld only if the company attached a sworn affidavit at the time of submission identifying the specific material as a trade secret under Georgia’s trade secret statute. Without that affidavit, the exemption does not apply.¹

Here is the principle running through all of them: exemptions protect specific information, not entire documents. If a record contains both exempt and non-exempt material, the agency must redact the protected portions and release the rest. Withholding a 50-page file because two paragraphs are exempt is not lawful.

What to Do if You Are Denied

When an agency denies a request, it must cite the specific legal exemption justifying the withholding, down to the code section, subsection, and paragraph.⁴ “This is confidential” is not a valid denial. Write back and demand the exact statutory citation. That alone resolves a surprising number of disputes, because the agency either finds it does not actually have an exemption or realizes it can only redact part of the file.

Attorney General Mediation

If direct negotiation fails, Georgia’s Attorney General runs a free mediation program for open records and open meetings disputes. You submit a complaint through the Attorney General’s website, and if the office decides the case is a good candidate, an attorney is assigned to work with both sides.⁵ The program focuses on disputes with local governments. Two practical points: your complaint itself becomes a public record and may be shared with the agency, and the office may not provide status updates while mediation is pending due to complaint volume.⁶

Filing in Superior Court

Georgia’s superior courts have jurisdiction over enforcement actions against any agency or person withholding records in violation of the Act. The Attorney General can also bring these actions independently and seek civil or criminal penalties. If the court finds the agency acted “without substantial justification,” it must award reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation costs unless special circumstances exist. That standard is more favorable to requesters than a “bad faith” test, because it does not require proving the agency intended to break the law, only that its position lacked a reasonable basis.⁷

Penalties for Agencies That Ignore the Law

Knowingly and willfully refusing to provide access to non-exempt records, ignoring the statutory deadlines, or deliberately making records difficult to obtain is a misdemeanor. The maximum fine is $1,000 for the first violation. A court can also impose the same $1,000 amount as a civil penalty for negligent violations in a civil enforcement action. Additional violations within 12 months of the first penalty can bring fines or civil penalties of up to $2,500 per violation.⁸

Destroying records to avoid disclosure is a different problem entirely. Under O.C.G.A. § 45-11-1, a public officer or employee who steals, alters, falsifies, or destroys any public record commits a felony punishable by two to ten years in prison.⁹ Georgia’s records management statutes separately make it a misdemeanor to destroy, alter, or steal public records outside an approved retention schedule.¹⁰ If an agency claims it “no longer has” records that should have been retained, the destruction itself may be worth reporting to the Attorney General’s office.

1
Justia. Georgia Code 50-18-72 – When Public Disclosure Not Required
2
State Court of Bibb County. Open Access to State Court of Bibb County Courtrooms and Records
3
Justia. Georgia Code 50-18-71 – Right of Access; Timing; Fees; Denial of Requests; Impact of Electronic Records
4
Office of the Attorney General. FAQ – Open Government
5
Office of the Attorney General. Open Government Mediation Program
6
Office of the Attorney General. Open Government Complaint
7
Justia. Georgia Code 50-18-73 – Jurisdiction to Enforce Article; Attorney Fees; Good Faith Reliance on Requirements of Article
8
Justia. Georgia Code 50-18-74 – Penalty for Violations
9
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 45 Public Officers and Employees 45-11-1
10
FindLaw. Georgia Code Title 50 State Government 50-18-102