{"id":15820,"date":"2025-03-19T13:49:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T14:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15820"},"modified":"2025-03-19T15:05:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T15:05:59","slug":"will-highlights-measures-to-promote-government-transparency-through-public-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=15820","title":{"rendered":"WILL Highlights Measures to Promote Government Transparency Through Public Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-highlights-measures-to-promote-government-transparency-through-public-records\/\">https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-highlights-measures-to-promote-government-transparency-through-public-records\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"et_pb_section et_pb_section_0 et_section_regular\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_row et_pb_row_0\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_3_4 et_pb_column_0  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_text et_pb_text_0  et_pb_text_align_left et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_text_inner\">\n<p>The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty (WILL) released a new report called <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Testimony-in-Favor-of-Assembly-Bill-103-Final-3.6.25.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u201cShining a Light: Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Wisconsin\u2019s Public Records Process.\u201d<\/a> The report highlights several actionable reforms that would enhance government transparency and make it easier for citizens to hold their government accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Quote: WILL Policy Director, Kyle Koenen, stated, \u201cToo often, citizens have to hire a lawyer just to hear back from their own government and that\u2019s wrong. We believe holding government accountable starts with access to transparent information and records. These proposed reforms will bring greater access to open records and make it easier for members of the public to learn about what their government is doing on any given day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Report:\u00a0 Our report outlines several key reforms for the legislature to implement that would improve Wisconsin\u2019s public records process and enhance government transparency. We lay out the following policies:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Set Clear Response Times \u2013 Establish a firm 14-day deadline for agencies to respond to public records requests, with a maximum fulfillment period of 60 days. Requesters should also have the ability to seek legal relief if deadlines are not met.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Eliminate or Raise Location Fee Thresholds \u2013 Eliminate or significantly raise the $50 minimum threshold for record location fees, which has remained unchanged since 1981. Increasing this threshold to reflect inflation would lower financial barriers to accessing public records.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Restore Attorney Fee Recovery \u2013 Reverse the Wisconsin Supreme Court\u2019s Friends of Frame Park decision, which made it more difficult for requesters to recover attorney fees when a government actor does not release records. Ensuring that requesters can recover legal costs will deter government agencies from delaying or obstructing records requests.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Increase Transparency of Public Records Requests \u2013 Government entities should maintain a publicly accessible log of pending records requests, while also reporting public records processing times. This will provide greater insight into backlogs and put pressure on government entities to respond to requests in a timely manner.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Improve Public Records Custodian Transparency \u2013 All public entities should designate a public records officer and prominently display their contact information on their website. Additionally, the Wisconsin Department of Justice should maintain a statewide directory of public records custodians that is regularly updated.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additional Background: This report was released in conjunction with Sunshine Week (March 16-22), an annual celebration of government transparency and the public\u2019s right to know how their government operates. Coinciding with President James Madison\u2019s birthday, a staunch advocate for open government, this week serves as an opportunity for organizations like the Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty (WILL) to highlight the importance of transparency and public records as important tools for holding government accountable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Legislative Action Pending: On Monday, Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) and Representative Todd Novak (R-Dodgeville) introduced LRB-2241, legislation that would reverse the Wisconsin Supreme Court\u2019s decision in the Friends of Frame Park case. A coalition of open government advocates, including the Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty, Americans for Prosperity \u2013 WI, Wisconsin Transparency Project, Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, Wisconsin Newspaper Association, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and IRG Action Fund, sent a memo to lawmakers in support of this legislation. A similar bill (<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.legis.wisconsin.gov\/2023\/proposals\/reg\/sen\/bill\/sb117\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2023 Senate Bill 117<\/a>) passed the State Senate on a unanimous vote last session but failed to advance in the Assembly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Sunshine-Week-Combined-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-link-type=\"web\">\u201cShining a Light: Enhancing Transparency and Accountability in Wisconsin\u2019s Public Records Process.\u201d <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_column et_pb_column_1_4 et_pb_column_1  et_pb_css_mix_blend_mode_passthrough et-last-child\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_module et_pb_team_member et_pb_team_member_0 clearfix  et_pb_text_align_center et_pb_bg_layout_light\">\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_image et-waypoint et_pb_animation_off\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"617\" height=\"980\" src=\"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/WILL_Kyle_Color_002_WEB_980x617_100ppi_Sharpened.jpg\" alt=\"Kyle Koenen\" class=\"wp-image-9282\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"et_pb_team_member_description\">\n<h4 class=\"et_pb_module_header\">Kyle Koenen<\/h4>\n<p class=\"et_pb_member_position\">Director of Policy<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Kyle@will-law.org<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-highlights-measures-to-promote-government-transparency-through-public-records\/\">WILL Highlights Measures to Promote Government Transparency Through Public Records<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/will-law.org\">Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/will-law.org\/will-highlights-measures-to-promote-government-transparency-through-public-records\/ The News: The Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15822,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15820\/revisions\/15822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}