LRB-0701/1
MED:cjs:rs
2013 - 2014 LEGISLATURE
February 15, 2013 - Introduced by Representatives Bies, Ballweg, Brooks,
Kapenga, T. Larson, Schraa, Tauchen, Tittl and Zepnick. Referred to
Committee on Government Operations and State Licensing.
AB26,1,2
1An Act to create 19.35 (3) (cm) of the statutes;
relating to: fees charged for
2access to public records.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under the public records law, an authority may charge certain fees to a person
who requests a record to cover costs associated with responding to the records
request. In Milwaukee Journal Sentinel v. City of Milwaukee, 2012 WI 65, 341 Wis.
2d 607, 815 N.W.2d 367, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that the public records
law does not permit an authority to charge fees for the cost of redacting confidential
information from records. This bill amends the public records law to provide that an
authority may impose a fee upon a requester for the actual, necessary, and direct cost
of deleting, redacting, or separating information that is not subject to disclosure from
a record.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
AB26,1
3Section
1. 19.35 (3) (cm) of the statutes is created to read:
AB26,2,24
19.35
(3) (cm) Except as otherwise provided by law or as authorized to be
5prescribed by law, an authority may impose a fee upon a requester for the actual,
1necessary, and direct cost of deleting, redacting, or separating information that is not
2subject to disclosure from a record.
AB26,2
3Section
2.
Initial applicability.
AB26,2,54
(1) This act first applies to requests to inspect or copy a record made on the
5effective date of this subsection.