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

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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
currently available on CCAP, the director of state courts must remove any
information relating to a case that did not result in a finding of criminal guilt or civil
liability, an order of eviction, or the issuance of a restraining order against the
person.