The Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly is the presiding officer of the

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

State Assembly, the lower house of the

Wisconsin Legislature The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republican ...

. Article IV of the

Constitution of Wisconsin The Constitution of the State of Wisconsin is the governing document of the U.S. State of Wisconsin. It establishes the structure and function of state government, describes the state boundaries, and declares the rights of state citizens. The W ...

, ratified in 1848, establishes the legislature and specifies the election of officers. The role and responsibilities of the speaker are defined in the Assembly Rules, originally in Rule 1, and also, under the present rules, Rule 3.

Selection

The speaker is chosen by a majority vote of the Assembly members at the start of each session or whenever a vacancy occurs in the role during a session, as such, the speaker is almost always the ''de facto'' leader of the Assembly's majority party. A speaker pro tempore is elected concurrent with the election of the speaker, to carry out the speaker's duties in his or her absence. Unlike the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, the rules of the Assembly require that the speaker and speaker pro tempore be elected from among the members of the Assembly.

Powers and duties

The speaker is empowered to make all Assembly

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

assignments and office assignments for members, and supervises all officers of the Assembly. The speaker is required to authenticate all acts, orders, or proceedings from the Assembly, and, with the countersignature of the chief clerk, issues all

subpoena A subpoena (; also subpœna, supenna or subpena) or witness summons is a writ issued by a government agency, most often a court, to compel testimony by a witness or production of evidence under a penalty for failure. There are two common types of ...

s on behalf of the Assembly or its committees.

Current Speaker

The current Speaker of the Assembly for the 105th Wisconsin Legislature is

Robin Vos Robin J. Vos (born July 5, 1968) is an American businessman and Republican politician and the 79th speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving in that role since 2013. He has been a member of the Assembly since 2005, representing most of ...

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Racine County, Wisconsin Racine County (, sometimes also ) is a county in southeastern Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 197,727, making it Wisconsin's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Racine. The county was founded in 1836, then a pa ...

. He is the 79th speaker since the establishment of the State Assembly and the 75th person to hold the office. He is currently serving his fourth term as speaker, first elected to the role on January 7, 2013. The Speaker pro tempore is Representative

Tyler August Tyler August (born January 26, 1983) is an American politician and legislator. He is the Speaker pro tempore of the Wisconsin State Assembly, since 2013. A Republican, he was first elected to the Assembly in 2010, representing eastern Walworth C ...

Lake Geneva , image = Lake Geneva by Sentinel-2.jpg , caption = Satellite image , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Switzerland, France , coords = , lake_type = Glacial lak ...

Walworth County, Wisconsin Walworth County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 106,478. Its county seat is Elkhorn. The county was created in 1836 from Wisconsin Territory and organized in 1839. It is named for ...

. This is his third full term in the role after being elected by the caucus in the October 2013.

Selection

Powers and duties

Current Speaker

List of speakers

Wisconsin Territory (18361848)

Wisconsin State Assembly (1848Present)

See also

References