Non-federal COVID-19 response (Office of the Governor of Georgia)
| Multi Request | Non-federal COVID-19 response |
| Submitted | April 23, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | May 19, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Emma North-Best
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Georgia Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Memos, emails, letters, documents, reports, recorded phone calls and virtual meetings and other media discussing or describing COVID-19 response, shutdown and stay-at-home plans and orders, quarantines, and "re-opening" plans, as well as copies of discussions of COVID-19 with CDC, White House, FEMA or similar emergency management agencies, offices of Surgeons General and similar bodies, and management of medical facilities or organizations. This request excludes unsolicited messages from the public which received no response.
I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.
As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 3 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Emma Best
From: Office of the Governor of Georgia
Ms. Best,
On Thursday, April 23rd, 2020 our Office received your open records request for:
"Memos, emails, letters, documents, reports, recorded phone calls and virtual meetings and other media discussing or describing COVID-19 response, shutdown and stay-at-home plans and orders, quarantines, and "re-opening" plans, as well as copies of discussions of COVID-19 with CDC, White House, FEMA or similar emergency management agencies, offices of Surgeons General and similar bodies, and management of medical facilities or organizations. This request excludes unsolicited messages from the public which received no response."
Pursuant to O.C.G.A. ยง 50-18-71(g), requests should contain information about the messages that is reasonably calculated to allow the recipient of the request to locate the messages sought. Our searches are limited to the values that we input. In the absence of keywords, emails, or domains, or date ranges, the search was conducted using the keywords "COVID-19 response," "shutdown," "stay-at-home plans and orders," "quarantines," and "re-opening" for the date range March 1, 2020 to present. Our office has identified approximately 776 pages of records responsive to your request. The search was performed using the keywords, "COVID-19 response," "shutdown," "stay-at-home plans and orders," "quarantines," and "re-opening" and the provided date range.
To fulfill your request, we will have to undergo a legal review of the records for confidential, exempt, or privileged information in accordance with, but not limited to, O.C.G.A. 50-18-72 et. seq. Excluding the first fifteen (15) minutes of review, the estimated cost for fulfillment of your request is $170.85. If you agree to pay the estimated cost for such records, we expect to be able to provide the redacted records to you by close of business on Tuesday, May 19th, 2020. Please advise how you wish to proceed.
Sincerely,
Open Records Officer
Office of the Georgia Governor
open.records@georgia.gov<mailto:open.records@georgia.gov>
Files
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