In a first for Georgia, a City of Atlanta employee is facing criminal charges following an order to delay a local tv-station’s public records request.

Public records law is making headlines this week with new legislation on the horizon. States across the nation are looking to revise, change, and add new directives that will affect records requesters in their state and across the nation.

Legislators in Washington state are set to discuss a new bill looking to bring some highly-anticipated sunshine into the legislative branch.

A new two-fold bill in Massachusetts hopes to set a new standard for frivolous complaints in the state as well as address records requests intended to harass agencies. However, transparency advocates say the bill raises concerns and they hope to work with sponsors and the committee to “get it right.”

Over 150,000 acres were ravaged in Northern California last November, taking with it 86 lives and tens of billions of dollars in property damage. Butte County’s Camp Fire marks the list as one of California’s top 20 largest wildfires in history, leaving massive structural and environmental damages for years to come. With ongoing investigations to determine a culprit, all roads seem to lead to California’s biggest investor-owned utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric - sparking renewed discussion over the necessity of public oversight.