Maintained 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. Links to more detailed information are highlighted in the text.
The most recent legislative floorperiod began on January 17, 2012, and concluded January 26. The next scheduled floorperiod is February 14 through 23.
Assembly Democrats elected Rep. Sandy Pasch as Assistant Minority Leader to replace Rep. Donna Seidel, who resigned the leadership position to run for Senate in District 29.
Rep. Fred Clark was elected the new Democratic Caucus Chair, replacing Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, who is running for U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's Second Congressional District.
The Legislature has RSS feeds for both recently introduced legislation and recent session activity. You can also view a listing of recently introduced bills. Our Facebook page also has links to recently introduced bills.
Five committee meetings will occur this week, Tuesday through Thursday. For details, see the Schedule of Committee Activities.
As of February 10, 114 acts have been signed into law during the 2011-12 legislative session and they can be found under the acts section of the Legislative Documents site.
To date, one act has been signed in calendar year 2012, but other bills awaiting action by the governor can be found under the enrolled bills section of the Legislative Documents site.
The 60-day recall petition drive ended on January 17, and petitions have been filed for recall elections for the following state offices: Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, Senator Scott Fitzgerald, Senator Van Wanggaard, Senator Terry Moulton, and Senator Pam Galloway.
The Government Accountability Board (GAB) is currently reviewing petitions. For more information on recalls, including estimated numbers of signatures and images of the petitions, see the GAB recall information Web site.
On January 3, Wisconsin’s Presidential Primary Selection Committee selected seven Republicans and one Democrat to appear as candidates in the Presidential Primary vote on April 3, 2012. The Republican candidates on the primary ballot will be Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. The Democratic candidate will be Barack Obama.
The University of Wisconsin System has released a Student Voting Guide for Wisconsin to inform students about changes in election laws, including photo identification requirements for registration and voting.
The 2011-2012 Wisconsin Blue Book is now available online. It may be ordered from the Department of Administration, Document Sales Unit (search Document Sales Catalog for "Wisconsin Blue Book"), (608) 266-3358. The price is $10.30 with shipping and $7.30 without. State Legislators are provided with complimentary copies to give to their constituents. You may contact your state senator or representative to ask about receiving one.
The Legislative Reference Bureau issued two study guides for the 2011-2012 Wisconsin Blue Book. Study Guide to the 2011-2012 Blue Book is geared toward high school students. Inside the 2011-2012 Wisconsin Blue Book is geared toward elementary school students.
Wisconsin’s public school open enrollment program allows students to attend schools in the district of their choice. 2011 Wisconsin Act 114 made some changes to the program including the application process. The library suggests the following resources to learn more about the changes and the program in general.
For more information about Legislative Service Agency publications, see the left panel of the Spotlight index page.
Send comments to LRB.Reference@legis.wisconsin.gov
Last revised: November 19, 2012