Senate Bill 194 aims to amend Wisconsin's public records law regarding the awarding of attorney fees and costs when a requester seeks access to contested records. Currently, a requester can only be awarded fees if they prevail in court, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court defined as obtaining a judicially sanctioned change in the legal relationship, such as a court order for disclosure. This bill seeks to change that standard by allowing requesters to be considered as having prevailed if they either receive a judicial order or if the authority voluntarily releases the contested record, provided that the court finds the filing of the mandamus action was a substantial factor in that release.

The bill includes specific legal language changes, renumbering the existing statute 19.37 (2) (a) to 19.37 (2) (a) 1 and creating a new subsection 19.37 (2) (a) 2. This new subsection outlines the conditions under which a requester is deemed to have prevailed, including the authority's voluntary release of a record. This change aligns Wisconsin's public records law more closely with the federal Freedom of Information Act, thereby expanding the circumstances under which requesters can recover attorney fees and costs.