Mask Mandates (Office of the Governor - Wisconsin)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Office of the Governor - Wisconsin of Wisconsin.
Multi Request Mask Mandates
Est. Completion None
Status
Fix Required

Communications

From: Emma North-Best

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Wisconsin Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Emails, memos, letters, documents and other records discussing or mentioning implemented or proposed mask mandate policies, as well as discussions regarding their expiration or termination between January 1, 2020 and the present.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

From: Office of the Governor - Wisconsin

Thank you for reaching out to the Office of the Governor. The below records request has been received. A response will be provided as soon as practicable and without delay.

In accordance with Section 19.35(3) of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Office of the Governor can charge for the costs of copying, mailing, and/or locating records due to open records requests.

If your request for records is denied, you will receive a letter with the rationale. Pursuant to Section 19.35(4)(b) of the Wisconsin Statutes, the Office of the Governor's decision to deny your request is subject to review by mandamus under Section 19.37(1) of the Wisconsin Statutes, or upon application to the attorney general or to your local district attorney.

In the meantime, please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.
Best,
The Office of Governor Tony Evers

From: Office of the Governor - Wisconsin

Good afternoon,

Thank you for reaching out to the Office of the Governor. As submitted, the request below is not reasonably specific as to either its subject matter or the length of time involved. An initial search of just email communications identified over 30,000 potentially responsive emails containing the term "mask mandate" during this time period. The Governor's Office would ask that you consider narrowing your request or provide additional clarification about the specific records that you are seeking. If the request is not narrowed, the Office may consider denying this request due to the unreasonable burden of both time and resources that would be needed to respond to this request.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions.
Best,
Steven

Steven M. Roets
Legal Assistant
Office of Governor Tony Evers

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