AB 340

Under current law, the director of state courts established a consolidated

electronic system. This system, known as the Consolidated Court Automation

Programs (CCAP), contains information about civil and criminal cases filed in the

circuit courts in this state, including information about the parties and their

attorneys; documents filed; and deadlines, decisions, and outcomes of cases. CCAP

also contains information on family court proceedings; probate proceedings; John

Doe proceedings; reviews of certain administrative proceedings; tax warrants;

mechanics', construction, condominium, or other types of liens; civil lawsuits;

eviction proceedings; and domestic violence and other restraining orders and

injunctions.

The information on CCAP is available for free on an Internet Web site. The Web

site has no limitations on who has access to the information, although information

in certain types of cases is not available to the public. CCAP allows a user to search

for all civil and criminal cases in which a person or entity, who is the subject of the

search, has been a party.

Currently, the initial CCAP Web page for each criminal and traffic or other civil

forfeiture case contains the following statements: 1) for each criminal and traffic or

other civil forfeiture case, a statement that employers may not discriminate against

persons because of arrest and conviction records, except in certain circumstances; 2)

for each criminal and traffic or other civil forfeiture case that did not result in a

conviction or forfeiture, a statement that the charges were not proven and have no

legal effect, and that the defendant is presumed innocent; and 3) for each traffic or

other civil forfeiture case in which a forfeiture but no criminal conviction was

imposed, a statement that the charge or charges in the case are not criminal offenses.

Under this bill, the director of state courts may only provide case information

on CCAP after a court does one of the following: 1) makes a finding that a person is

guilty of a criminal charge; 2) makes a finding that a person is liable in a civil matter;

3) orders a person to be evicted; or 4) issues a restraining order or an injunction

against a person.

The bill allows free access to CCAP to Wisconsin judges or other court officials,

law enforcement personnel, attorneys, and accredited journalists. The bill allows

access to CCAP information to any other person who pays a $10 annual fee and

registers his or her name and address with the director of state courts. The bill

requires the director of state courts to keep a registry and log of each user who pays

the annual fee that records the searches each user performs. Under the bill, if a user

searches for a person's name on CCAP and subsequently denies the person

employment, housing, or another public accommodation, the user must inform the

person that he or she searched for the person's record on CCAP. A user who fails to

do so may be fined $1,000.

Under the bill, upon the written request of a person whose case information is