Sen. Erpenbach discusses fix to open records law.

• Author: Anderson, Tony

Byline: Tony Anderson

Using a legislative study committee to look out for the interests of the public, the media and public employees, the state was able fix problems that had arisen with the open records law, according to the state senate minority leader.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach told a group of lawyers at a Dane County Bar Association lunch last week that open records became very complicated following the state Supreme Court's decision in Woznicki v. Erickson, 202 Wis.2d 178, 549 N.W.2d 699 (1996).

"It was extremely messy and very confusing," Erpenbach said.

Woznicki dealt with the St. Croix District Attorney's decision to release information about Thomas J. Woznicki following an investigation of the New Richmond School District employee. The majority Supreme Court decision, authored by then Justice William A. Bablitch, maintained that the district attorney had a duty to balance the interests of all parties before releasing information about a public employee that could be potentially damaging. It also created an employee notification requirement and established a right of judicial review.

The dissent in that case, written by Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, accurately foretold some of the problems that would arise from the majority's decision. She pointed to a lack of guidance in the decision regarding whose privacy interests would be implicated by a record. The decision also failed to give records custodians an indication of "what constitutes a 'reasonable' time in which the subject of a record might appeal a record custodian's decision to open a record."

Given that the majority decision did not establish standards for when reputations were damaged or privacy was invaded, record keepers became concerned about potential lawsuits and often denied or delayed the release of records.

The legislation, which Gov. Jim Doyle signed in August, was designed to fix problems arising from the Woznicki decision and its progeny. To address that issue, the legislature brought together a group of lawmakers, media representatives and public officials to ensure that interests of all parties were represented in the new legislation. The result was a bill which received strong bipartisan support.

"All of the sides involved in Woznicki were very sincere," Erpenbach said. "All of them did a very good job of making their points about what they wanted."

One audience member at the DCBA lunch raised concerns about developing legislation via...