Open records law: Assembly approves resolution re-affirming open government in Wisconsin

MADISON -- The Wisconsin Assembly has approved a resolution re-affirming open government in Wisconsin.

Republicans slipped language into the state budget last week that would have shielded nearly everything government officials create from the open records law. The Republicans backtracked and removed the language Tuesday.

Minority Democrats introduced a resolution on the Assembly floor Thursday calling for the chamber's organizational committee to meet immediately and pass a resolution affirming the Assembly's commitment to the open records law and preserving it unchanged.

Speaker Robin Vos, a Rochester Republican, moved to amend the resolution to erase committee involvement and the commitment to preservation of the law so it read only that the body would work to uphold transparent government.

The chamber passed Vos' amendment on a voice vote and the resolution 96-1.