Wisconsin’s state Legislature has kicked off a new, two-year session, in which it will work to pass new laws and decide on the state budget.
After the November 2024 elections, the makeup of the Legislature has shifted. Democrats flipped 14 seats, 10 in the Assembly and 4 in the Senate, but Republicans still control both chambers.
What is the Wisconsin State Legislature?
Wisconsin’s Legislature has two houses — the Senate and the Assembly. Wisconsin is divided into 33 Senate districts with roughly equal populations, and each Senate district is divided into three Assembly districts.
As a result, there are 33 senators and 99 representatives. Senators have four-year terms and representatives have two-year terms.
What does the Legislature do?
The Legislature makes Wisconsin’s state laws. It passes bills to create, amend and repeal laws. In addition to passing bills, the Legislature adopts resolutions, which can amend the Wisconsin Constitution or change rules by which the Legislature operates. The Legislature can also urge U.S. Congress or others to support certain policies.
The Legislature also provides checks to the executive branch in several ways. For instance, one Legislative committee oversees administrative rules for state agencies. The Joint Finance Committee reviews the governor’s draft of the budget, which means that each state agency’s budget goes through the Legislature for approval or changes.
The most recent Wisconsin Blue Book, an explainer on state government, includes an overview of the legislative process.
How do I get in touch with my legislator?
A person can identify their state representative and state senator by entering their address here.
What happens during the Legislature’s two-year calendar?
The Legislature’s two-year schedule is called a biennial session, or biennium, that begins in the first week of each odd-numbered year. The first days of the new session are dedicated to the inauguration of the members and organization of the Legislature. One of the first legislative acts in a new session is the adoption of a joint resolution that establishes the session calendar. Included in the calendar are scheduled floor periods and committee work periods and the dates by which passed legislation must be sent to the governor for signature or veto.
What are important dates during the 2025-2027 session?
- Late January 2025 — Gov. Tony Evers will submit his proposed state budget to the Legislature.
- February 2025 — Joint Committee on Finance begins work on the budget. A big legislative focus through late June is the budget.
- In February 2025, other committees begin work on other legislation.
- The Legislature will meet several times to act on these bills (that are before standing committees — see below);
- Floor periods are typically 2-3 weeks long. A floor session, also called a “floor period” in this context, is a period of one or more consecutive weeks when the Legislature is scheduled to meet.
- The Legislature usually meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. However, they do not typically meet all three days in each week of a floor period. Rather, they meet when there is enough legislation ready for their consideration to warrant a session.
- June-August 2025 — Summer recess.
- Fall 2025, winter 2026 — The Legislature returns to address the rest of its business for the session.
- March or April 2026 — The last floor period for enacting legislation.
- Summer and fall 2026 — The Legislature does not meet again after the veto review floor period unless the governor calls it into special session, or the Legislature calls itself into extraordinary session, to address legislation on a specific topic.
- Summer 2026-Jan. 2027 — The period from the veto review floor period until the convening of a new Legislature the following January is often referred to as the interim or study period.
What happens during the interim period from summer 2026 to winter of 2027?
First, the Legislature forms study committees to develop legislation for the following session. They study and develop legislative solutions for issues that are difficult to resolve in the regular course of legislative business or that legislators feel require further consideration prior to the introduction of legislation.
The study committees consist of legislators with an interest in the subject and members of the public selected based on their interest or technical expertise in the subject. While many states use study committees, Wisconsin is one of the only states where members of the public sit on the study committees as full, voting members. The study committees develop legislation that they recommend for introduction in the next biennial session.
If the Joint Legislative Council votes to introduce bills developed by study committees, those bills are referred to standing committees and move through the legislative process just like any other bill.
Second, during the interim period, legislators return to their districts and run for reelection, after which the biennial cycle starts again.
What are standing committees?
Each house creates its own standing committees to address specific topics at the beginning of the two-year session. For example, committee members become the experts in the Legislature on the bills that come before their committees. The committee chair decides which bills to schedule for committee consideration.
There is a nonpartisan Legislative Council staff member assigned to each standing committee. This person’s job is to answer questions from the chair and committee members regarding legal and policy matters, as well as committee procedures.
Here’s where you can find the Senate committees.
Here’s where you can find the Assembly committees.
Here’s where you can find the Joint Committees.
Standing committees hold two kinds of meetings: public hearings and executive sessions. At a public hearing, committee members learn about bills in the committee through testimony presented by the author, experts, lobbyists and members of the public who have an interest in the bills. This is one way you can get involved in the legislative process: anyone can testify at public hearings on legislation.
Here’s where to find what hearings are happening in the Legislature and which ones are public.
Here’s where you can learn how to attend public hearings.
Here’s where you can watch many standing committee meetings online (via WisconsinEye).
While a bill is in committee, legislative service agencies research the bill to determine its impact. In response to research and hearings, a committee may offer amendments. Then, it sends its analysis back to the Legislature, usually with a recommendation as to whether the Legislature should pass a bill.
If you want to follow the bills going through a specific committee, on the webpage for the various committees, you can click the link that says “Subscribe to updates via Notify.” Alternatively, you can set up multiple notifications here.
If you want to keep track of bills or resolutions in certain topic areas, go to “Subject Index to Legislation.” This webpage lists by keyword every introduced proposal from the current legislative session.
Also, if you want to find out who has signed on to a proposal as an author or a cosponsor — each proposal page links to those legislators, usually as the first item under “History.”
What happens to a bill after it’s been passed by a standing committee or by one of the houses?
Bills that have been passed by a standing committee or by the other house may be scheduled for debate and a vote during a floor session. When a bill is read again before the Legislature, this is called the "second reading." Legislators vote on individual amendments, and may offer more amendments.
Then, the bill is read a third time, and legislators vote on the completed bill with any amended changes. If it passes, it’s sent to the other house: for instance, 2013 Assembly Bill 20 became 2013 Senate Bill 39 in the Senate. Then, it undergoes the same process. If amendments are made in the second house, the bill is sent back to the first house, to make sure that they agree. (from “Follow the Process,” in About the Legislature.)
How can I observe these floor sessions?
The public may observe:
- From the galleries in the Senate and Assembly chambers.
- On television.
- On the Legislature’s homepage.
- On WisconsinEye.
In summary, here’s how to get involved in Wisconsin’s Legislative process:
- Vote in your legislative elections. The next election for full Wisconsin Assembly and half of the Wisconsin Senate is in 2026.
- Get in touch with your legislators about issues that you want the state to address.
- Sign up to testify on legislation when it’s in a standing committee.
- If you have a particular area of expertise and are selected by the Legislature, you can: Testify at, or serve on, a study committee.
- Attend a Legislative floor session from the gallery or watch on WisconsinEye, and provide input to your legislator.
Source material from: A Citizen’s Guide to Participation in the Wisconsin State Legislature by the Wisconsin Legislative Council Staff, 2023 Introduction to the Legislature, the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and this legislative explainer.