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Governor’s proposal could keep some court records away from public

A Gov. Jim Doyle proposal to keep some online court records out of public view drew criticism Monday.

Doyle has proposed that renters who are evicted due to a foreclosure action against their landlord not have a record of the eviction listed in an online court database.

Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders called the proposal highly offensive.

“As is too often the case, this proposal seeks to address a real or hypothetical problem stemming from access to information by restricting access,” Lueders said. “My preference would be to address it by providing more and better information.”

The evictions should be included with a note explaining that they were caused by foreclosures and are not the tenants’ fault, he said.

Leaving the information out will make it even harder for the public to determine when foreclosures have forced tenants out, Lueders said.

But Doyle’s spokesman, Lee Sensenbrenner, said leaving tenants’ names out of the online court database was seen as a way to protect them. A pair of Democratic lawmakers, state Rep. Gordon Hintz of Oshkosh and Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee, presented the idea to the governor, he said.

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site, commonly known as CCAP, is a popular Web site that contains criminal and civil court records and gets up to 4 million hits a day. While frequently used by attorneys, court officials and the media, the site is open to everyone.

Lueders frequently speaks against any proposals to limit the information posted on the site.

The proposed change is in a bill Doyle introduced to make changes to the current budget, which ends June 30 and is about $600 million short of balancing. The bill is scheduled to be the subject of a public hearing on Tuesday and could pass the Democratic-controlled Legislature as early as Wednesday.

The bill also would require anyone bringing a foreclosure action against the owner of a rental property to notify tenants that the action was taken, when there has been a judgment, and that the property has been sold.

The bill would allow a tenant to stay in the rental unit for up to two months after the sale closes.

There are no such protections or notice requirements in current law.