Citation Numbers: 77 Op. Att'y Gen. 20
Judges: DONALD J. HANAWAY, Attorney General
Filed Date: 2/10/1988
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
LEO MORTENSEN, Commissioner Savings and Loan Review Board
You ask whether officer and director salary information submitted to the commissioner of savings and loan in an absorption application is exempt from disclosure under the public records law.
You advise that the absorption of one savings and loan association by another must be approved by the commissioner of savings and loan (state commissioner) under sections
Absorption applications filed with the federal regulators are required to contain salary information about all officers and directors involved. You advise that state law does not specify required information, but it has been the long-standing practice of your agency to allow associations to submit copies of the same applications submitted to the federal regulators. Independent of federal requirements you would require submittal of salary information about the association to be absorbed in order to review compliance with section S-L 9.035 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code. It provides that as a condition precedent to approval of an absorption under section
Your question requires an interpretation of section
*Page 21APPLICATION OF OTHER LAWS. Any record which is specifically exempted from disclosure by state or federal law or authorized to be exempted from disclosure by state law is exempt from disclosure under s.
19.35 (1), except that any portion of that record which contains public information is open to public inspection as provided in sub. (6).
You direct my attention to
(a) General rule. Except as otherwise provided in this Part or as may be specifically authorized by the Board, information of the Board that has not been published in accordance with § 505.3 and is not available to the public through other sources will not be made available to the public or otherwise disclosed if such information is —
. . . .
(3) Privileged or related to the business, personal, or financial affairs of any person and is furnished in confidence;
. . . .
(6) Contained in personnel, medical, and similar files (including financial files), the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; or
. . . .
*Page 22(b) Information available to insured institutions and to State and Federal agencies. A copy of each report of the regular examination of each insured institution or affiliate is made available by the Board's Supervisory Agent at the appropriate Federal Home Loan Bank to the institution examined. Reports of examination and other information relating to State-chartered insured institutions and affiliates are made available, upon request, by the Director of the Board's Office of Examinations and Supervision to the State governmental authority having general supervision of such State-chartered insured institutions. Reports of examination and other information may be made available by the Board to other agencies of the United States or a State for use where necessary in the performance of their official duties. All reports or other information made available pursuant to this paragraph shall remain the property of the Board and, except as otherwise provided in this Part, no person, agency, or authority to whom the information is made available or any officer, director, or employee thereof, shall disclose any such information except in published statistical material that would not disclose the affairs of any individual or corporation.
(c) Prohibition against disclosure. Except as authorized by this Part or otherwise by the Board, no officer, employee, or agent of the Board or of any Federal Home Loan Bank shall disclose or permit the disclosure of any unpublished information of the Board to anyone (other than an officer, employee, or agent of the Board or of a Federal Home Loan Bank properly entitled to such information for the performance of his official duties), whether by giving out or furnishing such information or a copy thereof or by allowing any person to inspect, examine, or copy such information or copy thereof, or otherwise. Notwithstanding the foregoing, unpublished economic, statistical or similar information or unpublished information regarding interpretations by the Board of statutory or regulatory provisions may be disclosed, orally or in writing, by any officer, employee, or agent of the Board or of any Federal Home Loan Bank, acting in his capacity as agent of the Board, subject, however, to the restrictions stated in § 505.5 of this Part.
(Emphasis added.)
You state that the federal board has construed the provisions of section 505.5 (a)(3) and (6) to preclude the disclosure of salary information contained in absorption applications received by the board. The question is whether the federal exemption is incorporated in our state public records law by virtue of section
In my opinion section
The provisions of
The one qualification comes from
You note that section S-L 1.15 (3)(a)5. of the Wisconsin Administrative Code might be used to exempt disclosure of the salary information. It exempts "[i]nformation which in the opinion of the legal custodian invades personal privacy to such an extent as to outweigh the public interest in disclosure." However, you believe this administrative rule which was adopted in 1976 has been superceded by the codification of public records law in sections
DJH:RWL *Page 24