Wisconsin State Assembly | |
---|---|
Wisconsin State Legislature | |
Type | |
Type | |
Term limits | None |
History | |
New session started | January 3, 2023 |
Leadership | |
Speaker pro tempore | |
Majority Leader | |
Minority Leader | |
Structure | |
Seats | 99 |
Political groups | Majority Minority |
Length of term | 2 years |
Authority | Article IV, Wisconsin Constitution |
Salary | $57,408/year + $155.70 per diem |
Elections | |
Last election | November 5, 2024 |
Next election | November 3, 2026 |
Redistricting | Legislative control |
Meeting place | |
State Assembly Chamber Wisconsin State Capitol Madison, Wisconsin | |
Website | |
Wisconsin State Assembly |
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Members of the Assembly are elected to two-year terms during the fall elections. In the event of a vacancy in an Assembly seat between elections, a special election may be held to fill the position.
The Wisconsin Constitution limits the size of the State Assembly to between 54 and 100 members inclusive. Since 1973, the state has been divided into 99 Assembly districts apportioned amongst the state based on population as determined by the decennial census, for a total of 99 representatives. From 1848 to 1853 there were 66 assembly districts; from 1854 to 1856, 82 districts; from 1857 to 1861, 97 districts; and from 1862 to 1972, 100 districts. [1] The size of the Wisconsin State Senate is tied to the size of the Assembly; it must be between one-fourth and one-third the size of the Assembly. Presently, the Senate has 33 members, with each Senate district formed by combining three neighboring Assembly districts.
The Assembly chamber is located in the west wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol building, in Madison, Wisconsin.
The United States first organized Wisconsin in 1787 under the Northwest Ordinance after Great Britain yielded the land to them in the Treaty of Paris. It became the Wisconsin Territory in 1836. The then-territorial assembly, after elections, was seated in Burlington for three sessions before they relocated to the permanent capital, Madison.
During the period of territorial assembly, the assembled members helped to set up the court system, established the borders and number of counties, and regularized the spelling of Wisconsin. In 1842, an assemblyman (Charles Arndt, a Whig of Brown County) was shot dead by another assemblyman, James Vineyard, a Democrat of Grant County, over an appointment for Grant County sheriff.
Wisconsin became a U.S. state on May 29, 1848, and special elections were held to fill the first session of the State Assembly; at the time, the body consisted of 66 members. [2] The Assembly was expanded to 82 seats in 1852, and then to 97 seats in 1856, then to 100 seats in 1861, which is the maximum allowed in the Constitution of Wisconsin. The membership remained at 100 seats until the 1971 redistricting act, which decreased membership to 99 in order to comply with federal equal representation requirements within the limits of the Wisconsin Constitution. The current number of 99 seats is set in order to maintain a 3:1 ratio of Assembly to Senate seats.
On July 8, 2015, a case was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin arguing that Wisconsin's 2011 state assembly map was unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering favoring the Republican-controlled legislature which discriminated against Democratic voters. This case became filed with the court as Whitford v Gill. [3] The case made it to the United States Supreme Court, which vacated and remanded the case. The Supreme Court held that the plaintiff challenging the state assembly map did not have standing to sue. In the Opinion of the Court, Chief Justice John Roberts stated that "[a] federal court is not 'a forum for generalized grievances," and the requirement of such a personal stake 'ensures that courts exercise power that is judicial in nature." Gill v. Whitford, 128 S.Ct. 1916 (2018). We enforce that requirement by insisting that a plaintiff [have] Article III standing..." Justice Elena Kagan filed a concurring opinion, in which Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor joined. Justice Clarence Thomas filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Neil Gorsuch joined. [4]
Representatives elected or re-elected in the fall of 2016 receive an annual salary of $57,408. [5]
In addition to their salaries, representatives are allowed to claim a per diem for travel expenses. The maximum rate is set by the 2001 Wisconsin Act 16 to 90% of the U.S. General Services Administration rate, but the houses are permitted to establish additional criteria for determining per diem. The State Assembly per diem is set to $155.70 per overnight stay and $77.85 for day visits. A maximum of 153 days may be claimed for per diem in 2023, and 80 days may be claimed in 2024. Over two years, each representative is allotted $12,000 to cover general office expenses, printing, postage and district mailings.
According to a 1960 study, at that time Assembly salaries and benefits were so low that in Milwaukee County, positions on the County Board of Supervisors and the Milwaukee Common Council were considered more desirable than seats in the Assembly, and an average of 23% of Milwaukee legislators did not seek re-election. This pattern was not seen to hold to the same extent in the rest of the state, where local offices tended to pay less well. [6]
↓ | |
45 | 54 |
Democratic | Republican |
Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Vacant | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Republican | Total | ||
Begin of 101st legislature (2013) | 39 | 59 | 98 | 1 |
End 101st (2014) | 60 | 99 | 0 | |
Begin 102nd (2015) | 36 | 63 | 99 | 0 |
End 102nd (2016) | ||||
Begin 103rd (2017) | 35 | 64 | 99 | 0 |
End 103rd (2018) | ||||
Begin 104th (2019) | 36 | 63 | 99 | 0 |
End 104th (2020) | 34 | 62 | 96 | 3 |
Begin 105th (2021) | 38 | 60 | 98 | 1 |
End 105th (2022) | 38 | 57 | 95 | 4 |
Begin 106th (2023) | 35 | 64 | 99 | 0 |
Current composition | 34 | 98 | 1 | |
Latest voting share | 34.7% | 65.3% |
Position | Name | Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Speaker | Robin Vos | Republican | ||
Speaker Pro Tempore | Kevin D. Petersen | Republican | ||
Majority Leader | Tyler August | Republican | ||
Assistant Majority Leader | Jon Plumer | Republican | ||
Majority Caucus Chair | Rob Summerfield | Republican | ||
Minority Leader | Greta Neubauer | Democratic | ||
Assistant Minority Leader | Kalan Haywood | Democratic | ||
Minority Caucus Chair | Lisa Subeck | Democratic | ||
Chief Clerk | Ted Blazel | |||
Sergeant-at-Arms | Anne Tonnon Byers |
The corresponding state senate districts are shown as a senate district is formed by nesting three assembly districts.
The following is a list of the Assembly Committees: [7]
The Michigan Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, adopted in 1963, defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted. The chief purposes of the Legislature are to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws. The Legislature meets in the Capitol building in Lansing.
The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after those of the U.S. Senate.
The Tennessee General Assembly (TNGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is a part-time bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title and office of Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. In addition to passing a budget for state government plus other legislation, the General Assembly appoints three state officers specified by the state constitution. It is also the initiating body in any process to amend the state's constitution.
The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senate, with 49 Senators plus the Lieutenant Governor acting as president. The state is divided into 49 legislative districts, each of which elect one senator and two representatives.
The Wisconsin Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The legislature is a bicameral 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 in Madison.
The 2010 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 2, 2010. All of Wisconsin's executive and administrative officers were up for election as well as one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats, Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, seventeen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate, and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The 2010 Wisconsin Fall Partisan Primary was held September 14, 2010.
The 4th Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in southeast Wisconsin, the district is entirely contained within northern Milwaukee County. It comprises part of the north side of the city of Milwaukee, as well as the city of Glendale, the village of Shorewood, and parts of northern Wauwatosa and western Brown Deer. The 4th Senate district is one of two majority-black Senate districts in Wisconsin.
The Nevada general election, 2014 was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2014, throughout Nevada.
The 2014 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 4, 2014. Wisconsin's Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer were all up for election, as well as Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives. The November general election in 2014 also featured a statewide referendum on an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin. The 2014 Wisconsin Fall Primary Election was held on August 12, 2014.
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 were up for election, as well as half of the Wisconsin Senate seats and all 99 Wisconsin State Assembly seats. Voters also chose ten electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then participated in selecting the 45th president of the United States. The 2016 Fall Partisan Primary was held on August 9, 2016.
The 2018 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 6, 2018. All of Wisconsin's partisan executive and administrative offices were up for election as well as one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats, Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives, seventeen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate, and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. The 2018 Wisconsin Fall Partisan Primary was held August 14, 2018. There were also special elections held during 2018 for three State Assembly seats and two state senate seats.
Gill v. Whitford, 585 U.S. 48 (2018), was a United States Supreme Court case involving the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. Other forms of gerrymandering based on racial or ethnic grounds had been deemed unconstitutional, and while the Supreme Court had identified that extreme partisan gerrymandering could also be unconstitutional, the Court had not agreed on how this could be defined, leaving the question to lower courts to decide. That issue was later resolved in Rucho v. Common Cause, in which the Court decided that partisan gerrymanders presented a nonjusticiable political question.
The 2020 Wisconsin Fall general election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 3, 2020. All of Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election, as well as sixteen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Voters also chose ten electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then participated in selecting the president of the United States. The 2020 Fall partisan primary was held on August 11, 2020.
Redistricting in Wisconsin is the process by which boundaries are redrawn for municipal wards, Wisconsin State Assembly districts, Wisconsin State Senate districts, and Wisconsin's congressional districts. Redistricting typically occurs—as in other U.S. states—once every decade, usually in the year after the decennial United States census. According to the Wisconsin Constitution, redistricting in Wisconsin follows the regular legislative process, it must be passed by both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature and signed by the Governor of Wisconsin—unless the Legislature has sufficient votes to override a gubernatorial veto. Due to political gridlock, however, it has become common for Wisconsin redistricting to be conducted by courts. The 1982, 1992, and 2002 legislative maps were each enacted by panels of United States federal judges; the 1964 and 2022 maps were enacted by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The 2015 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on April 7, 2015. There was a contested election for justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as well as several other nonpartisan local and judicial elections and an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin to change the process for selection of the chief justice of the State Supreme Court. In addition, the ballot contained a special election to fill a vacancy in the 20th State Senate district. The 2015 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 17, 2015.
The 2022 Wisconsin fall general election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 8, 2022. All of Wisconsin's partisan executive and administrative offices were up for election, as well as one of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats, and Wisconsin's eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The fall election also filled the seventeen odd-numbered seats in the Wisconsin Senate and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly for the 106th Wisconsin Legislature. The 2022 Wisconsin fall primary was held on August 9, 2022.
The 2000 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 7, 2000. One of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats was up for election, as well as Wisconsin's nine seats in the United States House of Representatives, the sixteen even-numbered seats in the Wisconsin State Senate, and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Voters also chose eleven electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then participated in selecting the president of the United States. The 2000 Fall Partisan Primary was held on September 12, 2000.
The 2023 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on April 4, 2023. The featured race at the top of the ticket was for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which became the most expensive judicial election in history. Several other nonpartisan local and judicial offices were also decided on the April 4 ballot, including mayoral elections in some of Wisconsin's larger cities—Green Bay, Madison, and Racine. In addition, a special election was held in the 8th State Senate district, concurrent with the Spring elections. The 2023 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 21, 2023.
The Forty-Sixth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 14, 1903, to May 23, 1903, in regular session. During this legislative term but after the end of the legislative session, in February 1904, the Wisconsin State Capitol suffered a severe fire that destroyed two wings and damaged the rotunda.
The One Hundred Sixth Wisconsin Legislature was the previous legislative term in Wisconsin. It was convened on January 3, 2023, in regular session, and concluded on January 6, 2025, though it adjourned for legislative activity on March 12, 2024. There has been one special session during this term.