LRBs0269/1

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2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE

ASSEMBLY SUBSTITUTE AMENDMENT 1, TO ASSEMBLY BILL 966

January 31, 2024 - Offered by Representative Tusler.

AB966-ASA1,1,4 An Act to amend 19.36 (11) and 19.55 (1); and to create 8.10 (7), 19.36 (14), 19.55 (2) (cm), 59.43 (1r) and 757.07 of the statutes; relating to: privacy protections for judicial officers, granting rule-making authority, and providing a penalty.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill establishes privacy protections for judicial officers and a procedure for a judicial officer to complete a written request for protection of the personal information of the judicial officer and the judicial officer's immediate family.

Under the bill, a government agency may not publicly post or display publicly available content that includes a judicial officer's personal information, provided that the government agency has received a written request from the officer that the agency refrain from disclosing the personal information. Upon receipt of the written request, the agency must remove the personal information within 10 business days and may not publicly post or display the information. The personal information is also exempt from public records requests unless the agency has received consent to make the information available to the public.

The bill also provides that, upon receipt of a written request for privacy protections from a judicial officer, all persons, businesses, and associations must refrain from publicly posting or displaying on the Internet publicly available content that includes the personal information of the judicial officer or the judicial officer's immediate family. The prohibition does not apply to personal information that the judicial officer or an immediate family member of the judicial officer voluntarily publishes on the Internet after the bill goes into effect or personal information lawfully received from a state or federal government source, including from an employee or agent of the state or federal government.

After a person, business, or association has received a written request from a judicial officer, the person, business, or association must, within 10 days of the request, remove the personal information from the Internet; ensure that the judicial officer's personal information is not made available on any website or subsidiary website controlled by that person, business, or association; and identify any other instances of the identified information that should also be removed. Under the bill, once a written request is received, no person, business, or association may transfer the judicial officer's personal information to any other person, business, or association through any medium, except for personal information that the judicial officer or an immediate family member of the judicial officer voluntarily publishes on the Internet after the bill goes into effect, or if a transfer is made at the request of the judicial officer or is necessary to effectuate a request to the person, business, or association from the judicial officer. The bill also expressly prohibits a data broker, as defined in the bill, from knowingly selling, licensing, trading, purchasing, or otherwise making available for consideration the personal information of a judicial officer or a judicial officer's immediate family.

The bill requires the register of deeds to establish a process for judicial officers and immediate family members of judicial officers to opt out from the display and search functions of their names on public-facing land records websites. The bill also requires the register of deeds to shield from disclosure certain documents covered by a judicial officer's written request for protection of personal information, if the documents to be protected are specifically identified by the judicial officer.

Under the bill, a candidate for a judicial office may, instead of having his or her name and residential address listed on nomination papers, file a certification of residence with the Elections Commission before circulating nomination papers. A judicial officer circulating nomination papers on behalf of a candidate for a nonpartisan office, or signing nomination papers supporting a candidate for a nonpartisan office, may similarly file a certification of residence with the Elections Commission before circulating or signing nomination papers. The bill requires the commission, by rule, to verify the address provided in the certification of residence. Under current law, generally, a candidate for a state or local elective office must file nomination papers with the commission or, for a local office, with the appropriate municipal clerk. The top of each nomination paper must list the candidate's full name, including any nickname or former surname, and his or her residential street address. Under current law, a person circulating nomination papers on behalf of a candidate for a judicial office must also provide a certification at the bottom of each nomination paper stating his or her residential street address.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB966-ASA1,1 Section 1 . 8.10 (7) of the statutes is created to read:

AB966-ASA1,3,14 8.10 (7) (a) Notwithstanding sub. (2) (b) and (c) and s. 8.21 (4) (b), a candidate for filling the office of a judicial officer, as defined in s. 757.07 (1) (e), who files a certification of residence with the commission before circulating nomination papers is not required to indicate his or her residential address on the nomination papers, including nomination papers circulated on behalf of the judicial officer, or on the declaration of candidacy. Notwithstanding sub. (3) (intro.), a judicial officer, as defined in s. 757.07 (1) (e), who intends to circulate nomination papers on behalf of a candidate for filling a nonpartisan office, or who intends to sign nomination papers to support such a candidate, is not required to indicate his or her residential address on the certification of a qualified circulator appended to the nomination papers or on the nomination papers as a signatory. The commission shall promulgate rules for the administration of this subsection and prescribe a certification of residence for a candidate or circulating judicial officer for use under this subsection.

AB966-ASA1,3,20 (b) Certifications of residence submitted to the commission under par. (a) shall be kept confidential unless the judicial officer consents to disclosure under s. 757.07 (4) (e), except that the commission shall provide such certifications to the appropriate filing officer for the office the candidate or judicial officer seeks. Filing officers shall also keep confidential the certifications received by the commission unless the judicial officer consents to disclosure.

AB966-ASA1,2 Section 2. 19.36 (11) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB966-ASA1,4,12 19.36 (11) Records of an individual holding a local public office or a state public office. Unless access is specifically authorized or required by statute, an authority shall not provide access under s. 19.35 (1) to records, except to an individual to the extent required under s. 103.13, containing information maintained, prepared, or provided by an employer concerning the home address, home electronic mail address, home telephone number, or social security number of an individual who holds a local public office or a state public office, unless the individual authorizes the authority to provide access to such information. This Except as provided in sub. (14), this subsection does not apply to the home address of an individual who holds an elective public office or to the home address of an individual who, as a condition of employment, is required to reside in a specified location.