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Wisconsin Legislative SpotlightMaintained by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB), this page provides an overview of recent and upcoming activities in the Wisconsin Legislature. The LRB revises its content weekly during legislative floorperiods. Links to more detailed information are highlighted in the text. |
The final scheduled floorperiod of the 2009-10 legislative session ended on May 26. The legislature is in an interim period for the remainder of the biennial session. The schedule for the current legislative session was established by 2009 Senate Joint Resolution 1. Senate and Assembly committees will meet during the interim to consider administrative rules and conduct informational hearings.
The primary election for state officers and legislative seats was held on Tuesday, September 14. One member of the legislature, Senator Jeff Plale of South Milwaukee (D-7th) was defeated. Two other legislators, Senator Dan Kapanke of La Crosse (R-32nd) and Senator Julie Lassa of Stevens Point (D-24th), won their party’s nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 3rd and 7th Districts, respectively.
All odd-numbered senate districts and all assembly districts will be contested by the nominated candidates in the general election on November 2nd.
Representative Pedro Colón has been appointed to a circuit court judgeship in Milwaukee County.
See the Schedule of Committee Activities for information about locations and times of committee hearings during the interim.
In the 2009 legislative session, 406 bills have been signed into law. Six bills have been vetoed in their entirety, and 5 bills were vetoed in part.
There were 978 assembly bills and 708 senate bills introduced during the 2009 session. Additionally, one senate bill was introduced during the June 2009 Special Session, and 2 assembly bills were introduced during the December 2009 Special Session. All introduced legislation can be found on the Legislature's Searchable Infobases site, or by using the "Request text and history of legislative proposals" function on the home page.
For more information about Legislative Service Agency publications, see the left panel of the Spotlight index page.
On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, Wisconsin held a statewide primary election to select candidates for the general election in November. For more information about elections in Wisconsin, the LRB librarians recommend the following resources:
The Government Accountability Board (GAB) Web site. 2007 Wisconsin Act 1 created the GAB to take over the duties of the Ethics Board and the Elections Board. The GAB Web site contains a wealth of information about elections in Wisconsin, including a video, “Building the Ballot,” which is a WisconsinEye interview with Kevin Kennedy, Director and General Council of the GAB, and Nat Robinson, Division Administrator of the Elections Division of the GAB.
The LRB has put together two Tap the Power bibliographies on elections: “Election Administration and Voting”, from 2002, and its 2008 update, “Election Administration”.
In addition, the LRB library has numerous publications about elections in Wisconsin, including a history of elections in Wisconsin, Wisconsin Votes: An Electoral History, by Robert Booth Fowler (University of Wisconsin Press, 2008).
For more election-related publications available in the LRB Library, search our catalog.
Send comments to LRB.Reference@legis.wisconsin.gov
Last revised: November 13, 2012