Wisconsin DOJ responding to open records requests faster

MADISON — Officials with the state Department of Justice say the agency is responding faster to open record requests.

A DOJ news release Tuesday says the agency took an average of 20 days to close a request this year, down from 59 days last year. Since the agency's new Office of Open Government opened in June, the average response time has been 16 days.

The news release said the DOJ has received 701 requests from the beginning of 2015 through Nov. 30. That's up from 486 requests in all of 2014. The agency has closed more than 600 requests year, including 410 requests since the open government office opened.

The agency also received 375 calls regarding open meetings and public records since January and has closed 358 of those inquiries.