Legislative Black Caucus calls for investigation into closed UW regents meeting

Legislative attorneys told the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus  that a closed Board of Regents meeting Tuesday may have been illegal ahead of a second meeting on the UW System funding deal. 

During a press conference Wednesday two hours before the vote the Legislative Black Caucus called for Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to investigate whether the closed Board of Regents meeting violated the law. 

According to caucus chair Rep. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, the Tuesday meeting may be illegal per a memo she requested from the nonpartisan Legislative Council.  

The memo calls on the standard of “public notice” required for meetings of public boards like the Board of Regents. It reads, in part, that a public notice of a closed meeting “must contain the specific nature of the business, as well as the exemption(s) under which the chief presiding officer believes a closed session is authorized.” 

State law allows for closed meetings that have contents regarding bargaining and/or competitive interest. 

The announcement of the closed meeting came late Monday night, with what Democrats said is little information about the contents of discussions and why they necessitated a closed session. The announcement asserted that topics discussed in the meeting were pursuant to state law. 

The memo stated that merely asserting the adherence to law doesn’t necessitate proper justification for a closed meeting. 

“It seems likely that a court would find that the [Board of Regents’] notice fails to permit members of the public to determine whether a valid bargaining or competitive interest exists,'' the memo said. 

It also said  there was not enough infromation to “allow them to make an informed decision whether to vote to close the meeting.” 

Neither Ozanne nor Kaul have not indicated whether they will investigate the meeting.

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