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| 10/23/2009 10:53:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Our View: Erpenbach has solution to opt-out issue
It's not often that a legislator recognizes the unintended consequences of a law and steps forward to correct it. That's why state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, deserves some praise.
Erpenbach this week began seeking co-sponsors to a modification to the Wisconsin "opt-out" law that he authored in 1999 and was passed in 2000. The law allows license holders to ask that their names not be included in lists that marketers and others, including the public, can acquire. It does so by allowing someone to "opt out" of lists that include 10 or more names.
The law was intended to protect Wisconsin drivers and hunters from having their personal information included in large data lists to marketers. The law also was supposed to ensure the public had access to the names of those who have opted out, as long as they are released in groups of nine or fewer.
The first intended result happened. Of the 4.6 million license holders with the Department of Natural Resources, 3.1 million have opted out. One-third of the state's 4.5 million licensed drivers are opt-outs, according to the Associated Press.
But some state agencies were refusing to release the information even in groups of nine names or fewer. The AP reported in July that neither the state Department of Natural Resources nor the Department of Transportation was releasing any names, even in groups of nine or fewer.
Worse, however, was that the law made it more difficult for members of the public or the media to review information about professional state license holders such as mortgage brokers and doctors.
Erpenbach in July said that it never was his intent to make it more difficult to get a public record. He vowed to do something to change that consequence.
Now, he's backing up that talk with action.
Erpenbach's proposal would change what information can be opted out for the licenses for dozens of professions handled by the Department of Regulation and Licensing. Because those with professional license provide a service to the public that they have been licensed by the state to provide, Erpenbach says, they should be considered at a different level of public scrutiny than a deer hunter.
The bill still would allow professional licensees to opt out of the release of personal information in groups of 10 or more. But personal information would be limited to Social Security number, telephone number and a street or post office box number. A professional licensee's name, city and ZIP code would not be subject to the opt out.
The bill would allow members of the public and the media to look into the background and current status of professional licensees. But it continues to protect hunters and drivers from the exposure of personal information to marketers.
Erpenbach is proposing the changes at the request of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. His solutions to the unintended consequences of the previous bill make sense, and satisfy the interests of both public access to information and to privacy rights of individuals.
We applaud Erpenbach for seeking and proposing reasonable fixes to the problems. Hopefully, his efforts result in the passage and signing of the bill.
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