Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council
A representative government is dependent on an informed electorate
Statutes, Case law and Attorney General Opinions Wisconsin has two statutes governing access to public meetings and records. There is a large body of case law that has interpreted these statutes, and the Attorney General is authorized to provide additional interpretations. These laws, cases and opinions can be accessed below or at left. A separate law governs access federal government records, the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. s. 552. More information about FOIA can be found on the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Information and Privacy Web site and under our Resources tab. The text of FOIA can be found here.
Open Meetings Law Listed below is the complete text of the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law, Wis. Stat. §§ 19.81-19.98, as of July 2024. Click here for a more detailed and annotated version of the statutes. Annotations are useful references to case law and opinions of the Attorney General that can help explain a passage. […]
Continue ReadingOpen Records Law Listed below is the complete text of the Wisconsin Open Records Law, Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31-19.39, as of July 2024. Click here for a more detailed and annotated version of the statutes. Annotations are useful references to case law and opinions of the Attorney General that can help explain a passage. […]
Continue ReadingWisconsin statutes grant responsibility to the Attorney General to provide citizens with advice regarding the state’s open meetings and public records laws. The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Office of Open Government maintains an extensive listing of the advisories and opinions it has issued regarding the state’s open records and open meetings laws. To see this […]
Continue ReadingOpen Records Cases Adell v Sullivan (Court of Appeals, 1997) Denying damages and costs to a prison inmate who alleged the Racine Correctional Institute withheld documents and responded too slowly to a request for records. Atlas Transit v Korte (Court of Appeals, 2001) Upholding lower court’s balancing of interests in favor of a school system’s […]
Continue ReadingMcNamara/June 10, 1994 (Discussion of whether final deliberations and approval of contract ratification must be conducted in open session). Pelrine/Feb. 25, 1992 (Regarding closed session discussions of hiring of public employee). Ott/Nov. 18, 1991(Analyzing the law’s definitions of governmental bodies and quasi-governmental corporations). Besadny/April 28, 1989 (Applicability of law to advisory committees). Risser/Dec. 19, […]
Continue ReadingMaldonado/November 28, 2016 (Records custodians may not charge for paper copies of electronic records if the only reason paper copies are being provided is that the custodian needs to print them out to make redactions.) State Courts Office/Dec. 30, 2014 (Clerks of court cannot charge people who make their own copies of court records but can prevent […]
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