Emails from Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal show that it was his idea to propose a budget amendment that would have greatly limited public access to legislative records.

The emails from late June show Vos asked the Legislative Reference Bureau to write language that would keep bill drafting information secret. Twelve GOP members of the Joint Finance Committee approved the language after a last minute addition but later removed it from the budget in the wake of public outcry and opposition from the attorney general's office.

Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders said if that hadn't happened, linking the proposal to Vos would have been impossible.

"Had this gone through with the retroactive date that was put on it, the records that were released would have been concealable. It shows just how draconian and radical a move this was," said Lueders.

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Republican lawmakers initially refused to confirm who had requested the changes. Gov. Scott Walker and Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald later confirmed that their offices were involved in the process.

A statement from Vos' office responding to the record release said the goal was allow the Legislature to write it's own "common-sense" open records policy to protect constituents.

Meanwhile, an open records lawsuit against Walker is still pending in Dane County Circuit Court. The lawsuit, brought by the Center for Media and Democracy and The Progressive magazine, is seeking records about the governor's efforts to change the language in the University of Wisconsin's mission statement. The governor has claimed the records should be kept secret because they are part of the deliberative process. Similar language was part of the budget amendment that Vos and others were unsuccessful in keeping in the budget.

Editor's note: This article was originally an Associated Press story. It has been updated with reporting by Wisconsin Public Radio.