Information on Wisconsin Open Meeting And Records Laws

"Our democracy depends on citizens having ready access to local government."

Peg Lautenschlager
Wisconsin Attorney General
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There's a great deal of discussion on the local blogosphere about the New Richmond school board and Wisconsin's open meeting and open records laws. Below are links to the statues and information guides to help you as a citizen to interpret these laws.

The Attorney General and the Department of Justice continue to advocate for open government. Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law, enacted in 1976, attempts to promote openness in government and to provide Wisconsin citizens with an opportunity to observe and educate themselves about their government’s operations.

As a public service, the Attorney General’s Office has developed and recently revised a document that explains Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law and discusses significant cases that have an impact on the law’s implementation. This document is now available to you through this website to be reviewed and downloaded for your convenience. The Compliance Guide includes appendices that list the authorities and correspondence cited in the text, that reproduce the open meetings law sections of the statutes (current as of the October 2003 date of publication), and a complaint form.

Wis. Stat. §§ 19.81 through 19.98
Wisconsin Openings LawCompliance Guide. This guide containts an opening meeting violation complaint form in the appendix.
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The state’s Public Records Law took much of its present form in 1981 and is in place to provide the public with reasonable access to public records at reasonable costs. Portions of the law were substantially revised in 2003 as a legislative response to several court decisions interpreting the law.

As a public service, the Department of Justice has developed and recently revised a document in outline format that explains Wisconsin’s Public Records Law and discusses significant cases that have an impact on the law’s implementation. This document is now available to you through this website to be reviewed and downloaded for your convenience.

Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31 through 19.39
Wisconsin Public Records LawCompliance Outline
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Link to Wisconsin Dept. of Justice
Link to Open Meetings/Public Records link on Wis. DOJ site.
Link to Wisconsin State Law Library. This site has numerous resources and the handy Legal Topics A-Z directory.