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 |
 Seat display Map display | |
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 | |
TheWisconsin State Assembly is thelower house of theWisconsin Legislature. Together with the smallerWisconsin Senate, the two constitute thelegislative branch of theU.S. state ofWisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by theRepublican Party, as it has been for 28 of the past 30 years (only2009-2010 are exceptions).
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.
TheWisconsin 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 theWisconsin 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 theWisconsin State Capitol building, inMadison, Wisconsin.
The United States first organizedWisconsin in 1787 under theNorthwest Ordinance afterGreat Britain yielded the land to them in theTreaty of Paris. It became the WisconsinTerritory in 1836. The then-territorial assembly, after elections, was seated inBurlington 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 ofcounties, and regularized the spelling of Wisconsin. In 1842, an assemblyman (Charles Arndt, aWhig ofBrown County) was shot dead by another assemblyman,James Vineyard, a Democrat ofGrant County, over an appointment for Grant County sheriff.
Wisconsin became aU.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 theConstitution 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.
In the 2010s, the Assembly was heavilygerrymandered,[3] with a 53–45% Democratic majority in the popular vote in the2018 election translating into a 63–36 Republican majority in the Assembly.[4][5] According to theOshkosh Northwestern, many experts recognized Wisconsin as the most gerrymandered state in the United States,[6] a claim rated "Mostly True" byPolitifact.[7] After the Republican redistricting in 2021, theWisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported theefficiency gap had further increased to 16.6% in favor of Republicans.[8]
On July 8, 2015, a case was filed with theU.S. District Court for theWestern District of Wisconsin arguing that Wisconsin's 2011 state assembly map was unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering favoring theRepublican-controlled legislature which discriminated againstDemocratic voters. This case became filed with the court asWhitford v Gill.[9] 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 JusticeJohn 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..." JusticeElena Kagan filed a concurring opinion, in which JusticesRuth Bader Ginsburg,Stephen Breyer, andSonia Sotomayor joined. JusticeClarence Thomas filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which JusticeNeil Gorsuch joined.[10]
On December 22, 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled inClarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission that the gerrymandered districts were unconstitutional and must be redrawn before the 2024 legislative elections.[11]
Representatives elected or re-elected in the fall of 2016 receive an annual salary of $57,408.[12]
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 inMilwaukee County, positions on the CountyBoard of Supervisors and theMilwaukee 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.[13]
| ↓ | |
| 45 | 54 |
| Democratic | Republican |
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) | Vacant | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Total | ||
| Begin of101st 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 |
| Begin105th (2021) | 38 | 60 | 98 | 1 |
| End 105th (2022) | 57 | 95 | 4 | |
| Begin106th (2023) | 35 | 64 | 99 | 0 |
| End 106th (2024) | 34 | 98 | 1 | |
| Begin107th (2025) | 45 | 54 | 99 | 0 |
| Current composition | 45 | 54 | 99 | 0 |
| Latest voting share | 45% | 55% | ||
| 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:[14]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
