Category: Action alerts

Dear Council members and supporters: I write to call your attention to two issues: The first is the filing of a lawsuit by the MacIver Institute against Gov. Tony Evers, alleging that he has selectively denied information and access for reporters from the MacIver News Service. The lawsuit is described in this press release; you […]

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is issuing an Action Alert on AB-460, a bill whose main purpose is to raise the compensation level for state victims of wrongful imprisonment. The bill unanimously passed the state Assembly on Tuesday. Our concern is with how the bill would affect public access to case recordsmuch more significantly […]

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is issuing an Action Alert on proposed legislation to end the requirement that donors to political candidates or committees identify their principal employer. The proposal was introduced Oct. 15 by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos as an amendment to AB387, a bill to rewrite state campaign finance laws, and promptly […]

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is issuing an emergency action alert in response to the Joint Finance Committee’s shocking assault on the state’s long and proud tradition of open government. This cowardly action, passed by the Committee on July 2 just hours after its introduction, is part of an omnibus motion stuck into the state […]

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is deeply opposed to a change to Wisconsin’s open records law that was inserted into the budget late last week by the Joint Finance Committee. It passed on a party-line vote of 12-4, with Republicans in the majority. The change, part of Omnibus Motion #521, Item 14, P. 3, would […]

The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is issuing an action alert regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to exempt records of University of Wisconsin research from the state’s Open Records Law. The governor’s budget bill, SB21, on P. 181-182, would create this new section of the statute: 19.36 (14) UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM AUTHORITY. Any authority may withhold […]

SB 526, the bill that would purge the state’s online records system of information about criminal cases that do not lead to convictions, or are overturned on appeal, passed a Senate committee yesterday on a 5-0 vote. The bill is now available for a full Senate vote. This is the most serious attempt to date […]

As we were expecting, a bill to allow custodians to impose a new fee for the time they spend reviewing and redacting records has been introduced in the current legislative session. It is AB 26. The text is here. This bill has been scheduled for a hearing next Wednesday, Feb. 27, in Room 225 of […]

It’s important to be clear about what the state Supreme Court did not do today. It did not rule that the Wisconsin Legislature obeyed the state Open Meetings Law in passing changes to collective bargaining. It did not deem the Open Meetings Law a dumb idea. Rather, it concluded, on separation of powers grounds, that […]

This is to alert you to a provision in a motion adopted on May 24 by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee. The motion, at Point 6, would “amend current law to specify that statements of economic interest and any information contained therein may only be available for public inspection and copying at the office of […]

The Assembly Criminal Justice Committee today heard testimony on AB-340 (attached), Rep. Marlin Schneider’s latest effort to destroy WCCA, the state’s online circuit court records system. The bill would prohibit WCCA (commonly and incorrectly called CCAP) from displaying information about criminal cases that do not lead to convictions or civil lawsuits that do not lead […]

This article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel describes a legislative move to exempt judges and district attorneys from those public officials whose economic interest statements would be posted on the Internet, in a bill meant to increase transparency. While the overall bill would still be an improvement, this provision in predicated on the assumption that […]

State Rep. Joe Parisi and Sen. Pat Krietlow are now lining up cosponsors on a state Whistleblower Protection Act, affirming the right of journalists to protect confidential sources. Wisconsin is in a minority of states that do not have statutory shield law protections, although there have been some supportive court rulings. We urge advocates of […]

Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposed budget bill includes a provision to greatly expand expungement of criminal convictions. Under current law, expungement (including the complete purging of records) is available only for persons who are convicted of misdemeanor offenses committed before they reach age 21. The proposed change would make a person eligible for expungement up until […]

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s proposed budget includes a provision instructing law enforcement officers in most Wisconsin counties to begin collecting information on traffic stops, as a way to gauge whether racial profiling is occurring. The proposal calls for these records to be exempt from the state’s open records law. According to this article in the […]