State Rep. Jordan Ridley, R-Woodstock, with microphone, participates in a Cobb Legislative Delegation meeting with other lawmakers at Jim Miller Park Thursday. Several Cobb County lawmakers have introduced legislation in the Georgia General Assembly that would require public school districts to broadcast or record public comments at school board meetings if those meetings are aired to the public. House Bill 989 would amend state law governing local boards of education to require that any public comment period be recorded or broadcast “in the same manner and to the same extent” as the rest of the public portions of their meetings. During a Thursday town hall at Jim Miller Park, Rep. David Wilkerson, D-Powder Springs, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, said the bill was about consistency and transparency. Wilkerson chairs the Cobb Legislative Delegation. “What this bill says is if you broadcast any of the meeting, you’ve got to broadcast the whole thing,” Wilkerson said. “Don’t just do all the great stuff and then not broadcast when people are asking questions.” The bill’s other co-sponsors include Rep. Mekyah McQueen, D-Smyrna; Rep. Solomon Adesanya, D-east Cobb; Rep. Mary Frances Willi
