Publications

This issue brief discusses state laws impacting the welfare of livestock, as well as the role of federal and local laws.

The flowchart provides an overview of the six stages of a state agency's "typical" administrative rulemaking process: statement of scope, initial drafting, external review, final agency review, legislative review, and publication.

Public officials' social media activity can be subject to challenge under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This issue brief summarizes the current state of the law with respect to First Amendment challenges to actions taken by public officials on social media platforms.

This information memorandum provides a summary table of professions that require the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) or a credentialing board to review a person’s arrest or conviction record when granting, renewing, or reviewing an occupational credential.

This information memorandum provides an overview of the standards used by the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) and the credentialing boards  in reviewing a person’s criminal records history when granting, renewing, or reviewing an occupational credential. Current law generally prohibits discrimination based on an arrest or conviction record, but allows consideration of a person’s criminal records history under certain guidelines. Current law also prohibits the use of criminal background checks in reviewing a person’s criminal records history, except with respect to certain occupations.

Pursuant to ch. 160, regulatory agencies collaborate to protect the state’s groundwater resources to provide adequate safeguards for public health and welfare. This information memorandum provides an overview of Wisconsin’s groundwater protection laws and associated DNR rules. 

Under 2023 Wisconsin Act 73 and subsequent legislation, a person must obtain a license to sell an electronic vaping device in Wisconsin, and an electronic vaping device that has not been registered with DOR generally may not be sold in Wisconsin.

In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Texas law mandating age verification for access to sexually explicit online material deemed “harmful to minors.” By finding the burden on adult speech to be only incidental, the court applied intermediate scrutiny, rather than strict scrutiny.