AB752: Bill Text

LRB-3197/3

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1999 - 2000 LEGISLATURE

1999 Assembly BILL 752

February 15, 2000 - Introduced by Representatives Gundrum, Musser and Albers, cosponsored by Senators Lazich and Farrow. Referred to Committee on Judiciary and Personal Privacy.

AB752,1,2 An Act to create 809.62 (6m) of the statutes; relating to: public access to supreme court decisions regarding petitions for review.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, a party to an action may file a petition with the supreme court asking the court to review an adverse decision of the court of appeals. Review by the supreme court is a matter of court discretion, not of right and is granted under current law only when special and important reasons are presented. Current law includes criteria that the court considers when deciding to grant the petition. Currently, the vote of individual justices to grant or deny a petition is not made public.

This bill requires that the supreme court make available to the public a record of the justices' votes on acceptances and denials of petitions for review. The bill requires that a record of the votes be made available to members of the public upon request.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB752, s. 1 Section 1. 809.62 (6m) of the statutes is created to read:

AB752,2,2 809.62 (6m) The supreme court shall keep a voting record of the justices' decisions on petitions for review. For each petition that comes before the court, the record shall indicate the decision of each judge in favor of or opposed to the petition. The record shall be made available to members of the public upon request.

AB752, s. 2 Section 2. Initial applicability.

AB752,2,5 (1) This act first applies to petitions submitted on the effective date of this subsection.

AB752,2,6 (End)