It seems like an annual rite of passage for Sen. Marlin Schneider, D-Wisconsin Rapids, to try to limit the public's access to the state's online court records system. Each year he fails, and the next year he tries again.
He's trying again. Hopefully, he'll fail again.
Schneider introduced a bill Wednesday (AB 340) which would limit free access to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site (commonly known as CCAP) to law enforcement and courts personnel and accredited journalists. Anyone else who registers their name and address and pays a $10 annual fee would be allowed to access CCAP information.
In addition, the bill would require a log to be kept of all searches done by fee-paying users. If a user searches for a person's name on CCAP and later denies the person employment, housing or other public accommodation, the user must inform the person of the CCAP search or be subject to a $1,000 fine.
The bill, which had only two co-sponsors in the Assembly and none in the Senate, has been referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice.
Schneider's argument against complete free public access to CCAP records is that the site is used inappropriately by citizens and businesses to snoop on others or to discriminate against job applicants.
We're sure that the misuse of information occurs, but as we said last year the solution cannot be to deprive public access to public records. Nor should it be to put in place a system to monitor which records are being accessed by whom, or to set up a structure in which some people gain free access while others must pay. Journalists, for example, do not deserve greater access to CCAP's public records than anyone else.
Sometimes, providing freedoms is a messy business. The public has the freedom to inspect public court documents in Wisconsin, whether at the courthouse or online. Neither Sen. Schneider nor anyone else in the Legislature has the right to take that freedom away, regardless of how inconvenient or messy it might be at times.
He's trying again. Hopefully, he'll fail again.
Schneider introduced a bill Wednesday (AB 340) which would limit free access to the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access site (commonly known as CCAP) to law enforcement and courts personnel and accredited journalists. Anyone else who registers their name and address and pays a $10 annual fee would be allowed to access CCAP information.
In addition, the bill would require a log to be kept of all searches done by fee-paying users. If a user searches for a person's name on CCAP and later denies the person employment, housing or other public accommodation, the user must inform the person of the CCAP search or be subject to a $1,000 fine.
The bill, which had only two co-sponsors in the Assembly and none in the Senate, has been referred to the Committee on Criminal Justice.
Schneider's argument against complete free public access to CCAP records is that the site is used inappropriately by citizens and businesses to snoop on others or to discriminate against job applicants.
We're sure that the misuse of information occurs, but as we said last year the solution cannot be to deprive public access to public records. Nor should it be to put in place a system to monitor which records are being accessed by whom, or to set up a structure in which some people gain free access while others must pay. Journalists, for example, do not deserve greater access to CCAP's public records than anyone else.
Sometimes, providing freedoms is a messy business. The public has the freedom to inspect public court documents in Wisconsin, whether at the courthouse or online. Neither Sen. Schneider nor anyone else in the Legislature has the right to take that freedom away, regardless of how inconvenient or messy it might be at times.
