Wisconsin

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The Wisconsin project on Sunshine Review


The cities of Wisconsin have been active in organizing themselves to provide for greater government transparency by increasing the availability of legislative information on the internet.

Currently three out of the top five most populous cities in Wisconsin provide their constituents with internet based access of all public records directly from the cities’ databases. Wisconsin cities started to make this a priority after Milwaukee began doing so, on their page, in 2001.

Help to build a transparent and accountable government in Wisconsin


Wisconsin Breaking News...

FROM THE PUBLISHER: Get ready, we’re coming after public records

October 1, 2008: Nine years ago, newspapers around the state collaborated to participate in an audit of local government officials to see how officials complied with Wisconsin’s Open Records Law.

The results were not pretty - only 14 of the state’s 72 counties fully complied with the record requests.

That was in 1999. So how are we doing now? Read the full column here.

Public information audit to gauge openness’
September 24, 2008: Nine years ago newspapers around the state collaborated to participate in an audit of local government officials to see how officials complied with Wisconsin's Open Records Law.

The results were not pretty -- only 14 of the state's 72 counties fully complied with the record requests.

That was in 1999. So how are we doing now? Read the full column here.

Court dismisses case over Wis. lawmakers' secrecy
September 16, 2008: An appeals court on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that challenged Wisconsin lawmakers' practice of sharing drafts of bills with lobbyists while withholding them from the public.

Former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager does not have legal standing to continue the case since she left office after losing re-election in 2006, the District 1 Court of Appeals ruled.

Lautenschlager filed suit in 2005 seeking a court order declaring that drafts of bills are public records when lawmakers share them with selected lobbyists and experts. She claimed that practice was a violation of the open records law and gave special interests greater influence than average citizens. Read the full article here.

...more Wisconsin news

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Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under the GNU license.