" Wisconsin Legislative History" title=" Wisconsin Legislative History" />

Wisconsin Legislative History

Compiling a Legislative History | class="topNav">Drafting Records | Additional
Resources

The Wisconsin Supreme Court relies on legislative history to determine legislative intent in
cases where a statute is ambiguous. Wisconsin legislative history, while not as complete as
federal legislative history, includes several types of documents from which to infer legislative
intent. Compiling a legislative history of a Wisconsin law includes tracking changes made to the
proposed law by comparing the language of proposed amendments to the final bill, analyzing
amendments to the statute over time, reviewing the legislative drafting records, and seeking
additional information from the Legislative Council, Judicial Council, Legislative Reference
Bureau or any other special committee that might have been involved with the legislation.

Compiling a Legislative History

1. Identify the act number (or chapter number if the law dates from 1983 or earlier) and year of
   the legislation that is at issue by finding the law in either of the two subject compilation of
   laws:
2. 1. West's Wisconsin Statutes Annotated [KFW 2430 .A43] provides a citation to the
      act number and year of the current law and all prior versions of the law in the
      statute's "source note." West's Wisconsin Statutes Annotated is
      the most convenient source for texts of comments by the Legislative Council or Judicial
      Council if either body was involved with the act.
   2. Wisconsin Statutes [KFW 2430 .A22] provides the act number and year of the current
      law in the "history note" to the statute and also provides act and year citations
      going back to the original law.

3. Look up the act in the appropriate year of Laws of Wisconsin [KFW 2425.2 .L39], the
   chronological compilation of acts dating back to 1848. If amending an existing law, the act will
   include the law's original language and the language of the final amendments. The act may
   contain relevant language, such as a preamble that states the legislature's intent, not
   contained in Wisconsin Statutes or West's Wisconsin Statutes
   Annotated.
4. While reading the act in the Laws of Wisconsin, note the bill number for the act
   located above the act number. The bill number can be used to track the progress of the bill in
   either the Assembly Journal or Senate Journal [KFW 2406] for that legislative
   session.
5. Review the drafting records of the act (enrolled act, LRB, Legislative, or Judicial Council
   analysis, fiscal estimate, proposed amendments and Committee Records). The evolution of the bill
   through various proposals may provide an insight into the legislature's intent.
6. If the act originated from the Legislative Council, there may be other information available
   from the Council, including Council Reports to the Legislature, Discussion Papers,
   committees' Reports to the Council, Staff Briefs and Memoranda for various committees, and
   Summaries of Proceedings of committee hearings, including summaries of testimony presented. The
   Law Library binds this material into multi-volume sets for each session (available in the
   Wisconsin Room and Archives.) To see if the law under review was a product of the Legislative
   Council, check the annotations in West's Wisconsin Statutes Annotated or the
   Bulletin of Proceedings for the legislative session.
7. It may be necessary to review several acts that amended a statute to track the changes to the
   law that produced the ambiguous language. To be thorough, it may be appropriate to review bills
   from previous legislatures, as well as the drafting documents related to those bills, to discern
   the legislature's intent.

Finally, additional information may be gleaned from the procedural history of the act or bill.
Procedural histories can by found by using the subject index in the Bulletin of Proceedings
of the Wisconsin Legislature [KFW 2406] for the session that produced the act. The
Bulletin will refer you to specific pages detailing the legislative process in either
the Assembly Journal or Senate Journal for the session. Or, use the bill number
connected to the act to find the legislative process, since the bills are listed in numerical
order in the Journals.

Compiling a legislative history for lengthy and detailed budget bills is difficult because there
is no index to the hundreds of pages of budget bill drafting materials. Contact the LRB for
assistance by telephoning (608) 266-0341 or writing to: "http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/">Legislative Reference Bureau One East Main Street, P.O.
Box 2037, Madison, WI 53701-2037.

Drafting Records

A drafting record is a collection of all written materials related to a particular bill collected
by the legislative drafting attorney assigned to each bill, resolution or act introduced since
1927. Drafting records are organized by session year and act (or chapter) number. Drafting
records vary widely; many contain little information that can be used to determine legislative
intent.

Drafting records may contain (usually in the following order):

1. The enrolled act (adopted act);
2. The original proposal (either the Senate or Assembly bill);
3. The fiscal estimate of the law's impact on state revenues and expenses (since 1957);
4. A brief Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) analysis by the drafter (since 1967) or, if the
   bill originates from the Legislative or Judicial Councils, an analysis from the committee of the
   council that prepared the bill;
5. Amendments to the bill in order of their introduction;
6. The drafting person's or group's request, and the drafting attorney's
   instructions and correspondence;
7. The draft proposal (bill);
8. The Committee Report. The report records the date and vote on the recommendation to refer the
   bill to the legislature. There may be a record of hearings on the bill consisting of a list of
   those appearing or registering for or against the bill.

Locating drafting records from the current legislative session:

Locating drafting records from prior legislative sessions:

Additional Resources

For more information on Wisconsin legislation history, the following articles and presentations
may be consulted:

Researching Legislative History in Wisconsin, by Michael J. Keane.
Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, 2006 [Wisconsin Brief 06-10.]
"http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/pubs/wb/06wb10.pdf">http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/pubs/wb/06wb10.pdf

"How a Bill Becomes a Law," State of Wisconsin 2003-2004 Blue Book, 253-257.
Compiled by the Legislative Reference Bureau. Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau,
2003.
"http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/03bb/253-257.pdf">http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lrb/bb/03bb/253-257.pdf

"How to Find Resources Relevant to Legislative History Research on Wisconsin Laws," by
A. Peter Cannon. 1997 State Bar of Wisconsin Midwinter Convention [Program materials],
v. II, 459-467.
Location: KFW 2472 .S722, Law Library Wisconsin Room

"Judicial Interpretation of Legislative Intent and Legislative History Documents," by
N. Patrick Crooks. 1997 State Bar of Wisconsin Midwinter Convention [Program materials],
v. II, 481-488.
Location: KFW 2472 .S722, Law Library Wisconsin Room

"Legislative History: The Philosophies of Justices Scalia and Breyer and the Use of
Legislative History by the Wisconsin State Courts," by Kenneth R. Dortzbach.
80 Marquette Law Review 161-225 (1996-1997).
Location: Law Library Upper Stacks
Also on "http://0-heinonline.org.libus.csd.mu.edu/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/marqlr80&id=175&collection=journals">
HeinOnline (access is restricted to members of the Marquette Community)

"Researching Legislative Intent: Documentation Available Through the Wisconsin Legislative
Council Staff," by Ronald L. Sklansky. 1997 State Bar of Wisconsin Midwinter
Convention [Program materials], v. II, 471-479.
Location: KFW 2472 .S722, Law Library Wisconsin Room

"Researching Legislative Intent in Wisconsin: A Suggested Procedure," by David H.
Nispel. 56 Wisconsin Bar Bulletin 10-12, 59-60 (April 1983).
Location: Law Library Upper Stacks

Updated 2/10