Thursday, March 8, 2007

Freedom of Information

I know I just said I wouldn't be posting for a few days, but the baby is sleeping a little longer than usual and I couldn't help myself . . .

Of course I have heard of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) before, but I didn't know much about exactly what it meant or how it works. It only took about 5 minutes of research on the Internet to find out that the FOIA only applies to federal agencies. The State of Wisconsin, however, has a similar law, the Wisconsin Public Records Law (WPRL) that requires disclosure of information from State agencies unless the information falls into certain specific exemptions. Requests for information from The Wisconsin Department of Regulation & Licensing would be covered by the WPRL. The Department of Justice recommends that requests for information should be filled within 10 business days if possible. This page has some good general information on the WPRL that I found interesting.