Judge: Wisconsin lawmaker should have provided electronic copies of open records

MADISON - A state lawmaker should have provided a journalist with electronic copies of records, a Dane County judge has ruled. 

In her decision Friday, Circuit Judge Rhonda Lanford wrote that Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) should have provided electronic copies of emails requested by a longtime reporter and freedom of information advocate. 

Bill Lueders, the president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the managing editor of the left-leaning Progressive Magazine, said his victory in the case might help the public get cheaper and better open records.

"I'm pleased that the court recognized that requesters are entitled to receive electronic records in the most useful form, especially when that is also the easiest way to provide them," Lueders said in an email. "The Legislature in this case needlessly printed out many hundreds of pages of emails, instead of downloading these records onto a thumb drive or disc as requested. I hope the state learns a lesson from this, and does a better job in the future."

In response to an initial records request by Lueders, Krug had produced more than 1,500 pages of records related to state policies on water. For a per-page fee, Krug had offered to make copies of the pages that Lueders wanted, but Lueders instead requested and then sued in 2016  to obtain electronic copies of the records.

Digital files would be less expensive for Lueders and he might be able to use them in other ways such as searching for keywords.

In her ruling, Lanford wrote that lawmakers have yet to set a specific standard for electronic records but that state law does require public officials to provide copies of records that are "substantially as good" as the official documents or files. 

"If a requester indicates that his ability to access the record would be best served by a particular format of copy, the custodian should produce the copy in that format unless doing so would be so burdensome as to be inconsistent with the conduct of government business," Lanford wrote.

A spokesman for the state Department of Justice declined comment on whether that agency will appeal the ruling on behalf of the state, and Krug did not respond to a request for an interview.

But in an August 2016 emailed statement, Krug said he has "fully complied" with all open records requests his office has received since 2011. Krug has argued that paper copies are "substantially as readable as the original."

"The open records request from Bill Lueders was properly fulfilled and followed the law," Krug said in 2016.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is a member of the Freedom of Information Council that Lueders heads.