When Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. opened a manufacturing facility in West Point, the Technical College System of Georgia undertook to provide technical and vocational training—as a part of its Quick Start program1 —to the workers whom Kia hired for the new facility. Years later, Krystal Coleman, Sabrina Robinson Bolston, Tim Durden, and Darrell Strawbridge each submitted a request to the Technical College System pursuant to the Open Records Act,2 seeking to inspect certain records concerning the hiring practices of Kia.3 The Technical College System refused on several grounds to make the requested records available for inspection, and Coleman, Bolston, Durden, and Strawbridge then filed a lawsuit to compel their production.4 In 2012, while the lawsuit was pending, the General Assembly amended the Open Records Act, and among other revisions, it added OCGA § 50-18-72 a 47, which excepts certain records concerning the Quick Start program from public inspection. The Technical College System and Kia then moved to dismiss the lawsuit,5 asserting that paragraph 72 a 47 excepts every record that Coleman, Bolston, Durden, and Strawbridge requested. Without deciding the extent to which paragraph 72 a 47 applies to the requested records, the trial court denied the motions to dismiss, concluding that it would be unconstitutional in any event to apply paragraph 72 a 47 in a pending lawsuit. The Technical College System and Kia appeal,6 and we conclude that paragraph 72 a 47 applies by its terms in this case, and we conclude as well that its application in this case is constitutional. For these reasons, we reverse the decision of the trial court. But we cannot say from the pleadings alone that every record requested is excepted from public inspection under paragraph 72 a 47, and so, we also remand for the trial court to determine the extent to which the requested records are so excepted.
1. We first consider whether OCGA § 50-18-72 a 47—on its face, and assuming its constitutionality—applies at all in this case.7 Paragraph 72 a 47 excepts the following records from public inspection under the Open Records Act:
