Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has requested that the state Legislature grant it an exemption from Wisconsin’s Open Records Law. The proposed legislation, if passed, would limit public access to university records and diminish independent scrutiny of the state’s flagship university. In pursuit of this exemption, UW-Madison officials have circulated proposed language, initially to a list […]

Back in 1990, when Milwaukee launched the nation’s first publicly funded voucher program, participating schools could enroll no more than 49 percent voucher students. These schools were considered private, because the majority of their students paid private tuition. Fast-forward to 2013. Now, more than half of Milwaukee’s 110 voucher schools have at least 95 percent […]

Bob Dreps, a veteran media law attorney, says law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin are “overreacting” to an Illinois federal court ruling by purging the names of drivers from public records. Police in Wisconsin have begun withholding the names of drivers in police reports in response to a 2012 case involving the village of Palatine, Ill. […]

Journalists and others often have cause to complain about the difficulties of prying public information from public officials. But sometimes there are reasons for optimism. Wisconsin has one of the nation’s best systems for accessing court records, through Wisconsin Circuit Court Access. The system has saved county clerks of court countless hours providing this information. […]

March 10-16 is national Sunshine Week, meant to call attention to the cause of open government. For the seventh year in a row, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council is taking this opportunity to bestow its annual Openness Awards, or Opees. The council, which works to protect public access to meetings and records, is giving […]

A ruling last year by the Wisconsin Supreme Court involving the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel became the focus of attention Feb. 27, when a state Assembly committee held a public hearing on a bill, AB 26, that would drastically increase the cost of obtaining public records. The bill, if approved, would let custodians of public records […]

Let’s start with a stipulation: Not all of the inappropriate behavior that takes place in the Wisconsin state Legislature is committed by lawmakers. Some spectators, especially in the last two years, have also shown poor manners and bad form. People who shout “Liar!” from the gallery as the governor gives a State of the State […]

Stung by controversy last year over its allegedly light treatment of an environmental rule breaker, the state Department of Natural Resources is rewriting its enforcement procedures. Unfortunately, a draft of its plan calls for making the process less transparent. When dealing with polluters, the DNR’s policy is to apply progressively stricter actions until violations are […]

Recently the City of Burlington made some changes to its website, adding a feature it calls a “performance dashboard.” The online tool gives city residents a better look – much of it in real time – about what their government is doing. As the site explains, “Users can review monthly and yearly revenue, expenditures, per […]