SB 526

Under current law, the director of state courts (director) has established a

consolidated electronic system that contains information about cases filed in the

circuit courts in the state, including both civil cases and criminal cases. This system,

known as the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP), contains

information about the parties to circuit court cases, their attorneys, documents filed

with the court, and deadlines, decisions, and outcomes of cases. The information

regarding case data contained on the CCAP system is available on the court's

Internet site, called Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA). The Internet site

presently has no limitations on who can access information on the site, although

information about certain types of cases is not available to the public. WCCA allows

a person accessing it to search for all cases, civil and criminal, in which a person or

entity who is the subject of the search has been a party.

Currently, the initial WCCA Web page displayed in each criminal case and in

each traffic and other civil forfeiture case contains a statement that employers may

not discriminate against persons because of arrest and conviction records except in

certain circumstances. The initial WCCA Web page displayed in each criminal case

and in each civil forfeiture case that did not result in a conviction also contains a

statement that the charges were not proven and have no legal effect, and that the

defendant in that case is presumed innocent. The initial WCCA Web page displayed

in each case in which there was a conviction for a civil forfeiture offense, but no

criminal conviction, contains a statement that the charge or charges in the case are

not criminal offenses.

This bill requires the director to remove a case or charge involving a civil

forfeiture from WCCA within 90 days after being notified that the case or charge has

been dismissed, that the defendant has been found not guilty of the charge in the

case, or that the case or charge has been overturned on appeal and dismissed. The

bill also requires the director to remove a case involving a misdemeanor or a felony

from WCCA within 120 days after being notified that the case or charge has been

dismissed and not read into the record for the purpose of sentencing the defendant,

that the defendant has been found not guilty of the charge in the case, or that the case

or charge has been overturned on appeal and dismissed.