Wisconsin committee passes bill restricting access to court records

A Wisconsin state assembly committee has passed a bill that would restrict public online access to court records, WQOW (Eau Claire) reported.

The proposed bill limits public access to cases where the party was found guilty of a criminal charge, liable in a civil case, evicted, or the subject of a restraining order or junction. Certain interested parties would still be able to access the records.

The vote in committee was 3-3 so committee chairman Rep. Fred Kessler, a former Democratic judge, decided that it would continue to the full Assembly for debate, but was doubtful the bill would have enough support to pass.