O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 21-5-2 (2019)

Declaration of policy

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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It is declared to be the policy of this state, in furtherance of its responsibility to protect the integrity of the democratic process and to ensure fair elections for constitutional offices; state offices; district attorneys; members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate; all constitutional judicial officers; and all county and municipal elected officials, to institute and establish a requirement of public disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures relative to the seeking of such offices, to the recall of public officers holding elective office, and to the influencing of voter approval or rejection of a proposed constitutional amendment, a state-wide referendum, or a proposed question which is to appear on the ballot in any county or municipal election. Further, it is the policy of this state that the state’s public affairs will be best served by disclosures of significant private interests of public officers and officials which may influence the discharge of their public duties and responsibilities. The General Assembly further finds that it is for the public to determine whether significant private interests of public officers have influenced the state’s public officers to the detriment of their public duties and responsibilities and, in order to make that determination and hold the public officers accountable, the public must have reasonable access to the disclosure of the significant private interests of the public officers of this state.

History

Code 1981, § 21-5-2, enacted by Ga. L. 1986, p. 957, § 1; Ga. L. 1987, p. 297, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 1/HB 48.

Annotations

Editor’s notes. Ga. L. 2005, p. 859, § 28/HB 48, not codified by the General Assembly, pro-

vides that the Act shall not apply to any violation occurring prior to January 9, 2006. Law reviews. For article on the 2005 amendment of this Code section, see 22 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 119 (2005).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1993–2020 · leading case: Gwinn v. State Ethics Comm'n, 426 S.E.2d 890 (Ga. 1993).
Gwinn v. State Ethics Comm'n, 426 S.E.2d 890 (Ga. 1993). · cites it 8× “" OCGA § 21-5-2. The State, through its legislative branch, has a legitimate interest in preserving the integrity of the democratic process by forbidding a regulated entity from contributing to the holder of the office which oversees the regulation of the entity, or a candidate…”
State Ethics Comm'r v. Moore, 447 S.E.2d 687 (Ga. Ct. App. 1994). · cites it 6× “Disclosure of the sources of a political candidate’s campaign funds is an important part of the legislative purpose of the Ethics in Government Act, and the stated purpose of the Act is to ensure fair elections and protect the integrity of the democratic process by placing…”
State Ethics Comm'n v. Long, 478 S.E.2d 618 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “” OCGA § 21-5-2. The General Assembly concluded that “it is for the public to determine whether significant private interests of public officers have influenced the state’s public officers to the detriment of their public duties and responsibilities, and [that], in order to make…”
Paul Serdula v. State (Ga. Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 2× “For example, OCGA § 24-8-806 provides that “[w]hen a hearsay statement has been admitted in evidence, the credibility of the declarant may be attacked and, if attacked, may be supported by any evidence which would be 46 See OCGA § 21-5-2 (“It is declared to be the policy of this…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.