Governor’s office, Department of Justice, and Secretary of State’s office
among the worst offenders
Delafield, Wis. — The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) released the Agency Sunshine Report on Thursday, finding that most Wisconsin offices and agencies failed the State’s own public records performance test. The report examines how quickly state agencies and constitutional offices answer the public and is accompanied by an interactive dashboard displaying response times.
The report from IRG’s Center for Investigative Oversight (CIO) scores 13 state agencies and constitutional offices against a single standard drawn from the State’s own guidance, using request logs and publicly reported data. Seven of the 13 scored offices failed. Several additional offices could not be scored because they did not provide usable request-level data, while two agencies produced no records at all. The result is not a few isolated delays, but a broad failure to measure, disclose, and deliver timely access to public records.
Wisconsin once published these numbers itself. Two executive orders, issued in 2016 and 2017 by Gov. Scott Walker, required every agency to track its records requests and post its response times on a statewide dashboard. The Evers Administration stopped updating the dashboard in 2019. A report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty explained how the Evers Administration offered no cogent explanation for the reversal.
What We Found
Most scored offices failed. Seven of 13 missed the report’s speed or backlog threshold, including the Governor’s Office, the Department of Justice, and the Secretary of State. Among the offices outside the ranking, some lacked the data needed for an apples-to-apples score, and DATCP and DOR did not produce records at all. Four scored agencies answered the typical request in one business day or less.
What It Is
On April 22 and 27, 2026, IRG sent an identical three-part request to 19 state agencies and constitutional offices: each office’s records tracking log or weekly pending-request snapshot, any records of its average monthly response times, and any compilation of significant releases, covering January 1, 2024 through April 22, 2026.
From each usable log, IRG counted business days from the date a request was received to the date of the agency’s final response, pooling every request rather than averaging division averages. An agency passes if its median is 10 business days or fewer and fewer than 10 percent of its logged requests remain outstanding. Thirteen offices were scored, including DOJ from data it publishes itself. One standard was applied the same way to every scored office.
The Quote
“Most of the agencies we tested failed, and the offices that should be setting the standard are among the worst performers. When the highest levels of state government do not lead on transparency, Wisconsin citizens pay the price in delay, silence, and diminished accountability,” said Jake Curtis, IRG General Counsel and Director of the Center for Investigative Oversight (CIO).
“Wisconsin stopped publicly tracking agency response times in 2019. It turns out that when no one is watching the clock, response times falter, backlogs grow, and transparency suffers. When scrutiny disappears, delay becomes routine and transparency becomes optional,” Curtis continued.
Key Findings
- A majority of scored offices failed. Seven of 13 missed at least one of the report’s two thresholds. Three failed primarily on speed, two failed on both speed and backlog, and two failed because more than 10 percent of logged requests remained outstanding.
- The Secretary of State is the study’s worst scored performer. Its median response time is 169 business days, and not one of its 59 logged requests closed within 30. Its cover letter nevertheless certifies that every 2024 and 2025 request was resolved “within a timeframe that was practicable and without delay,” a claim its own production contradicts.
- The Department of Justice failed the public records standard it recommends to others. DOJ’s median response time reached 58 calendar days in the first half of 2026, approximately 41 business days, while roughly 13 percent of requests remained outstanding. As of August 4, DOJ reported 568 pending requests, including 103 more than a year old, 41 more than two years old, and three more than five years old. The oldest had been pending for 1,989 days. DOJ ranked 12th of 13 scored offices, although it deserves credit as the only scored office that publicly reports its own failing performance.
- The Governor’s Office took 59 business days to produce its own tracking log and answered only one of the request’s three parts. It ranks tenth of the twelve scored offices, with a median of 18 business days across 404 requests.
- Two agencies have produced nothing at all. As of August 18, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) and the Department of Revenue (DOR) have gone 84 business days without producing records, issuing a denial, or stating a determination, more than eight times the State’s own 10-business-day benchmark. A 2019 review found both answering in nine business days.
- Four agencies answer the typical request in one business day or less. The Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) posts a median of zero business days across 695 logged requests, with 98 percent closed within the benchmark. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS), and the Department of Transportation (DOT) each close the typical request in one business day, DNR across 17,831 requests and DOT across 30,808.
What Comes Next
The Governor should restore a uniform statewide transparency standard and public dashboard, and every agency should record and publish when each response is actually transmitted. Legislative committees should call the worst performers to account, direct a statewide audit of public records compliance, and require standardized agency logs with request-weighted response times published quarterly. Lawmakers should also restore fee recovery for requesters forced to sue, as 2025 Assembly Bill 190 and 2025 Senate Bill 194 would have done.
The Agency Sunshine Report is available online here. Explore the live agency dashboard here.
