The Wisconsin Legislature is the

state legislature A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Sta ...

of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Legislature is a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature, one divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single grou ...

body composed of the upper house, Wisconsin State Senate, and the lower Wisconsin State Assembly, both of which have had Republican majorities since January 2011. With both houses combined, the legislature has 132 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. The Legislature convenes at the

state capitol This is a list of state and territorial capitols in the United States, the building or complex of buildings from which the government of each U.S. state, the District of Columbia and the organized territories of the United States, exercise its ...

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

. The current sitting is the

105th Wisconsin Legislature The 105th Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 12, 2021, to March 1, 2022, in regular session. The Legislature also held two extraordinary sessions and six special sessions during the term. Senators representing even-numbered districts a ...

History

The United States first organized Wisconsin in 1787 under the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...

after Great Britain yielded the land to them in the Treaty of Paris. It became the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and a U.S. state on May 29, 1848.Highlights of History in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Blue Book 2011-2012 (accessed April 25, 2013) The 1850s saw an influx of European immigrants.19th Century Immigration
Wisconsin Historical Society (accessed April 25, 2013) The Legislature was dominated alternately by two political parties in its first century: the Republican and Progressive parties. In 1995, the Republican Party took control of the legislature for the first time since 1969, and have maintained their control of both houses since, except for a brief period between 2009 and 2011. In the

2016 Wisconsin elections The 2016 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 8, 2016. One of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats and all eight seats in the United States House of Representatives are up for election, as well as half of t ...

, Republicans secured their largest majority in the Assembly since 1956, and in 2018, the party maintained their overwhelming control of the legislature despite receiving fewer total votes. Congressional districts have been disputed since at least 2016. After Republican Governor Scott Walker then signed a

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

plan, at least one U.S. court found the districts to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. Other controversies include "prison gerrymandering," where prisons are counted towards the population of a district despite its inmates coming from elsewhere.

Membership

Qualifications and terms

To serve in the Wisconsin Legislature, individuals must be a resident of the state for at least one year preceding his or her election and be a qualified elector in the district they are elected to represent.Article IV
Wisconsin Constitution (accessed April 25, 2013) All 99 members of the Wisconsin Assembly are elected in a two-year term cycle without

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

. Similarly, all 33 members of the Wisconsin Senate are elected in a four year cycle, also without term limits. Half of the Senate is elected every two years. Prior to an amendment in the

Wisconsin Constitution 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 ...

in 1881, Assembly members served a one-year term, while Senators were elected every two years. The

began on January 2, 2021.

Officers

Members of both houses of the Legislature vote within their ranks to select presiding officers, such as the

Speaker of the Assembly Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

and the

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's succession for its top executive office: for e ...

. These high level positions reflect the party majority in both chambers. An amendment to the state constitution in 1979 removed the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin as the presiding officer of the Senate, allowing Senators to vote within their ranks for a chamber president. Similarly,

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Websterminority leaders are also selected by party strength in the legislative houses and within their own respective caucus.

Salary and benefits

Legislators in both the Senate and the Assembly receive an annual salary of $55,141. Senators receive per diem of up to $115 to cover living expenses when they are in

Dane County, Wisconsin Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

on state business, unless their district is in Dane County, in which case they receive per diem of up to $57.50. Assembly members outside of Dane County receive overnight per diem up to $155. Otherwise, they receive $76.50 per diem, the same rate as assembly members in Dane County. Legislators also receive $75 per month in "out-of-session" pay when the Legislature is in session for three days or less. Over two years, each legislator is allotted $66,008 to cover general office expenses, printing, postage and district mailings.

Rules and procedures

In both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature, a quorum is defined as a majority of current members. The majority of a quorum is needed to pass legislation on the floor of the chamber.Procedures Derived from State Constitution
Wisconsin Legislature (accessed April 25, 2013) Three-fifths of the members elected is the quorum necessary for passage or concurrence in either house of any fiscal bill. Proposals may not be introduced or offered unless they are put in proper form by the legislative reference staff if requested by members or members-elect of the legislature. Both houses of the legislature review a bill before it becomes law, and if each chamber approves the bill, the state's Governor will review it. If the Governor signs the bill, it passes into law, but if the Governor vetoes the bill, it will return to the legislature. It is possible for the legislature to override a veto and pass the bill into law itself, but this requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

State Assembly State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government. Channel Islands States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...

Law of Wisconsin

State law is contained in the

and the various statutes enacted by the Legislature. The interpretation of state law and its application in specific

case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

s are undertaken by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, based in Madison, Wisconsin. The law of the Menominee also applies within the Menominee Indian Reservation. The "Laws of Wisconsin" are published annually by the state's legislative reference bureau, "no later than the end of each session".

Theft by Contractor law

Wisconsin state law defines construction payments made to a prime contractor as funds to be held in trust by the prime contractor on behalf of any

sub-contractor A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract. Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...

s, and any action by the prime contractor to access these funds for their own business use in advance of settling claims for payment to a sub-contractor is defined as theft by the contractor. State law treats such theft as a felony,Court of Appeals of Wisconsin
State of Wisconsin v. Angela A. Keyes: Published Opinion
2007 WI APP 163, published 14 June 2007, accessed 3 September 2022 including cases where a contractor covers its own expenses in advance of payment to a sub-contractor.Michael Johnson Legal LLC
Theft by Contractor in Wisconsin
published 28 April 2021, accessed 14 October 2022 The case of State of Wisconsin v. Angela A. Keyes (2007) examined how Wisconsin Statute § 779.02 (5) applies in "a situation where a prime contractor also acts as a subcontractor and takes a profit on materials it supplies to a project before all other subcontractors are paid", ruling that the prime contractor in this case had wrongly paid themselves as sub-contractor ahead of other sub-contractors.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Bicameral legislatures Wisconsin law State law in the United States