elections
Automatic voter registration
The bill requires the Elections Commission to use all feasible means to facilitate
the registration of all individuals eligible to vote in this state and to maintain the
registration of all eligible electors for so long as they remain eligible. Under the bill,
the commission must attempt to facilitate the initial registration of all eligible
electors as soon as practicable. To facilitate that initial registration, the bill directs
the commission and DOT to enter into an agreement so that DOT may transfer
specified personally identifying information in DOT's records to the commission.
The bill requires the commission to maintain the confidentiality of any information
it obtains under the agreement and allows a driver's license or identification card
applicant to opt out of DOT's transfer of this information to the commission.
Once the commission obtains the information required under current law to
complete an eligible elector's registration, the commission adds the elector's name
to the statewide registration list. The bill also permits an individual whose name is
added to the registration list or who wishes to permanently exclude his or her name
from the list to file a request to have his or her name deleted or excluded from the
list or to revoke a deletion or exclusion request previously made. In addition, the bill
directs the commission to notify an individual by first class postcard whenever the
commission removes his or her name from the registration list or changes his or her
status on the list from eligible to ineligible.
The bill also directs the commission to report to the legislature and the
governor, no later than July 1, 2023, its progress in initially registering eligible
electors under the bill. The report must contain an assessment of the feasibility and
desirability of integration of registration information with information maintained
by DHS, DCF, DWD, DOR, DSPS, and DNR; the UW System; and the Technical
College System Board, as well as with the technical colleges in each technical college
district.
Under current law, a qualified elector with a current and valid driver's license
or identification card issued by DOT may register to vote electronically on a secure
website maintained by the commission. To register electronically under current law,
a qualified elector must also authorize DOT to forward a copy of his or her electronic
signature to the commission. The authorization affirms that all information
provided by the elector is correct and has the same effect as a written signature on
a paper copy of the registration form. Finally, current law requires the commission
and DOT to enter into an agreement that permits the commission to verify the
necessary registration information instantly by accessing DOT's electronic files.
Residency requirement for voting
Under current law, with limited exceptions, an otherwise eligible voter must be
a resident of Wisconsin and of the municipality and ward, if any, where the voter is
voting for 28 days before an election in order to vote in the election in that
municipality and ward. The bill shortens that residency requirement from 28 days
to 10 days.
Proof of identification for voting
Current law allows an individual to use as voter identification an unexpired
identification card issued by a technical college, college, or university in this state if
the card meets certain criteria. The card must have an expiration date that is no later
than two years after the date it was issued, and the individual must establish proof
of enrollment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the
requirement to present both an unexpired identification card and proof of enrollment
had no rational basis and was therefore unconstitutional. See, Luft v. Evers, 963 F.3d
665 (2020). The bill allows a student to use an expired student identification card
under certain circumstances. Under the bill, a student does not need to present proof
of enrollment if using an unexpired identification card but must provide proof of
enrollment if using an expired identification card. In addition, the bill requires each
technical college in this state and each UW System institution to issue student
identification cards that meet the criteria to be used as voter identification no later
than August 1, 2021.
Current law also allows an individual to use as voter identification an
identification card issued by DOT. DOT may issue a receipt as a temporary
identification card to use for voting and other purposes to an individual who is
waiting for the permanent card. The receipt expires in 60 days. The bill extends the
expiration date to 180 days.
Voting absentee in person
Current law allows an individual to complete an absentee ballot in person no
earlier than 14 days preceding the election and no later than the Sunday preceding
the election. The bill eliminates the restriction on how soon a person may complete
an absentee ballot in person and provides that a person must complete such a ballot
no later than 7 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election.
Early canvassing of absentee ballots
Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day.
The bill authorizes a municipal clerk or municipal board of election commissioners
to begin the canvassing of absentee ballots on the day before an election, subject to
the following requirements:
1. The municipality must use automatic tabulating equipment to process
absentee ballots.
2. Prior to the early canvassing of absentee ballots, the municipal clerk or
municipal board of election commissioners must notify the Elections Commission in
writing and must consult with the Elections Commission concerning administration
of early canvassing of absentee ballots.
3. Early canvassing of absentee ballots under the bill may be conducted only
between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the day before the election, and ballots may not be
tallied until after polls close on election day.
4. Members of the public must have the same right of access to a place where
absentee ballots are being canvassed early as is provided under current law for
canvassing absentee ballots on election day.
5. When not in use, automatic tabulating equipment used for canvassing
absentee ballots and the areas where the programmed media and the absentee
ballots are housed must be secured with tamper-evident security seals in a
double-lock location such as a locked cabinet inside a locked office.
6. Subject to criminal penalty, no person may act in any manner that would give
him or her the ability to know or to provide information on the accumulating or final
results from the ballots canvassed early under the bill before the close of the polls on
election day.
7. Certain notices must be provided before each election at which the
municipality intends to canvass absentee ballots on the day before the election.
Special elections to fill vacancies in the office of U.S. senator and
representative in Congress
Under current law, a vacancy in the office of U.S. senator or representative in
Congress occurring prior to the second Tuesday in April in the year of the general
election must be filled at a special primary and special election. A vacancy occurring
in one of these offices between the second Tuesday in April and the second Tuesday
in May in the year of the general election is filled at the partisan primary and general
election.
Current law provides that a special primary be held four weeks before the day
of the special election. However, if the election is held on the same day as the spring
election, the special primary is held concurrently with the spring primary. Under
current law, with regard to an election for a national office, the period between a
special primary and special election or between the spring primary or spring election
does not provide sufficient time to canvass and certify the primary results and
prepare ballots to send to overseas voters as required by federal law.
Under the bill, a vacancy in the office of U.S. senator or representative in
Congress is filled in the following manner:
1. At a special election to be held on the third Tuesday in May following the first
day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held concurrently with the spring
primary on the third Tuesday in February.
2. At a special election to be held on the second Tuesday in August following
the first day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held on the third Tuesday
in May.
3. At a special election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in
November following the first day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held on
the second Tuesday in August.
However, under the bill, a November special election is not held in any year in
which the general election is held for that office; instead, the vacancy is filled at the
partisan primary and general election.
Reimbursement of counties and municipalities for certain election costs
The bill requires the Elections Commission to reimburse counties and
municipalities for certain costs incurred in the administration of special primaries
and special elections for state or national office. A cost is eligible for reimbursement
only if certain conditions are met, including that the commission determines the cost
is reasonable and the rate paid by the county or municipality for the cost does not
exceed the rate customarily paid for similar costs at a primary or election that is not
a special primary or election. Under the bill, only the following costs may be
reimbursed:
1. Rental payments for polling places.
2. Election day wages paid to election officials working at the polls.
3. Costs for the publication of required election notices.
4. Printing and postage costs for absentee ballots and envelopes.
5. Costs for the design and printing of ballots and poll books.
6. Purchase of ballot bags or containers, including ties or seals for chain of
custody purposes.
7. Costs to program electronic voting machines.
8. Purchase of memory devices for electronic voting machines.
9. Wages paid to conduct a county canvass.
10. Data entry costs for the statewide voter registration system.
Voter bill of rights
The bill creates a voter bill of rights that municipal clerks and boards of election
commissioners must post at each polling place. The bill of rights informs voters that
they have the right to do all of the following:
1. Vote if registered and eligible to vote.
2. Inspect a sample ballot before voting.
3. Cast a ballot if in line when the polling place closes or, if voting by in-person
absentee ballot on the last day for which such voting is allowed, when the municipal
clerk's office closes.
4. Cast a secret ballot.
5. Get help casting a ballot if disabled.
6. Get help voting in a language other than English as provided by law.
7. Get a new ballot, up to three ballots in all, if the voter makes a mistake on
the ballot.
8. Cast a provisional ballot as provided by law.
9. Have the voter's ballot counted accurately.
10. Vote free from coercion or intimidation.
11. Report any illegal or fraudulent election activity.
Recount fees
Current law requires the Elections Commission to reimburse the counties for
the actual costs of conducting a recount. The reimbursement comes from the fees
that the commission collects from the person that filed the recount petition. The bill
changes the appropriation for reimbursing the counties from an annual
appropriation to a continuing appropriation.
Voter registration list
Under current law, all moneys received from the federal government under the
Help America Vote Act and from the sale of copies of the official statewide voter
registration list are deposited into the election administration trust fund. Copies of
the list are typically used for political purposes such as voter or constituent outreach.
The Elections Commission spent all HAVA moneys from the fund as of April 2019.
However, the moneys received from sales of the registration list have not been
appropriated and, therefore, cannot be spent. The bill creates an appropriation for
the moneys received from selling the registration list and authorizes the commission
to spend the moneys for election security and maintenance of the statewide voter
registration system.
Lobbying fees
Under current law, a person who employs a lobbyist (a principal) and who
spends more than $500 in a calendar year on lobbying activities must file a principal
registration form with the Ethics Commission and pay a fee. In addition, in order
for a lobbyist to represent a principal, either the lobbyist or the principal must file
an authorization statement with the commission and pay a fee.
The bill increases the principal registration fee from $375 to $430 and the
authorization statement fee from $125 to $180. The increase first applies to lobbying
that occurs during the 2023-24 legislative session.
The bill also imposes a $55 surcharge applicable to lobbying during the 2021-22
legislative session that is in addition to the fees collected for filing the principal
registration form and the authorization statement.
EMINENT DOMAIN
Condemnation authority for recreational trails, bicycle lanes and ways, and
pedestrian ways
The bill allows certain entities, such as a county board, village board, or DOT,
to use the power of condemnation to acquire land or interests in land for the purpose
of establishing or extending recreational trails, bicycle ways or lanes, or pedestrian
ways. Current law prohibits the exercise of condemnation power to acquire land or
interests for those purposes.
employment
Employment regulation
Minimum wage
The bill raises the minimum wages to be paid to most employees annually, from
the effective date of the bill through January 1, 2025. After that date, the bill
requires DWD to determine the percentage difference between the consumer price
index for the preceding 12-month period and the consumer price index for the 12
months before the preceding 12-month period, to adjust the minimum wages then
in effect by that percentage difference, and to publish those amounts in the
Wisconsin Administrative Register and on the DWD website.
The bill requires the secretary of workforce development to establish a
committee to study options to achieve a $15 per hour minimum wage and other
options to increase compensation for workers in this state. Under the bill, the
committee consists of nine members, with five appointed by the governor, and one
each appointed by the speaker of the assembly, the assembly minority leader, the
senate majority leader, and the senate minority leader. The committee is required
to submit a report containing its recommendations for options to achieve a $15 per
hour minimum wage and other options to increase compensation to the governor and
the appropriate standing committees of the legislature no later than October 1, 2022.
Collective bargaining for state and local employees; employee rights
Under current law, state and local governments are prohibited from collectively
bargaining with employees except as expressly provided in the statutes. Current law
allows certain protective occupation participants under the Wisconsin Retirement
System, known as public safety employees, and certain municipal transit employees
to collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions of employment. Under
current law, other state and municipal employees may collectively bargain only over
a percentage increase in base wages that does not exceed the percentage increase in
the consumer price index. In addition, under current law, the Employment Relations
Commission assigns employees to collective bargaining units, but current law
requires that public safety employees and municipal transit employees be placed in
separate collective bargaining units.
The bill adds frontline workers to the groups that may collectively bargain over
wages, hours, and conditions of employment. In the bill, “frontline workers” are state
or municipal employees with regular job duties that include interacting with
members of the public or with large populations of people or that directly involve the
maintenance of public works. Under the bill, ERC determines which state and
municipal employees meet the criteria. Also, the bill allows ERC to place in the same
collective bargaining unit both frontline workers and employees that are not
frontline workers. If ERC places employees of both types in a collective bargaining
unit, the entire collective bargaining unit is treated as if all members are frontline
workers and all members may collectively bargain over wages, hours, and conditions
of employment.
Under current law, state or municipal employees in a collective bargaining unit
elect their representative. The representative for a unit containing public safety
employees or transit employees requires the support of the majority of the employees
who are voting in the election, and the representative for a unit containing other
employees requires the support of the majority of all of the employees who are in the
collective bargaining unit. Under the bill, the representative for any collective
bargaining unit containing any state or municipal employees requires the support
of the majority of the employees who are voting in the election regardless of the
number of employees who are in the collective bargaining unit.
Under current law, ERC must conduct an annual election to certify each
representative of a collective bargaining unit representing state or municipal
employees who are not public safety employees or transit employees. At the election,
if a representative fails to receive at least 51 percent of the votes of all of the members
of the collective bargaining unit, the representative is decertified and the employees
are unrepresented. The bill eliminates this annual recertification process.
The bill requires state and municipal employers to consult about wages, hours,
and conditions of employment with their employees who are not public safety
employees, transit employees, or frontline workers. The employers must consult
when policy changes that affect wages, hours, or conditions are proposed or
implemented or, in the absence of policy changes, at least quarterly.
The bill adds that employees of authorities, such as the University of Wisconsin
Hospitals and Clinics Authority, WHEDA, and WEDC, may collectively bargain as
state employees.
Right-to-work law
The current right-to-work law prohibits a person from requiring, as a
condition of obtaining or continuing employment, an individual to refrain or resign
from membership in a labor organization, to become or remain a member of a labor
organization, to pay dues or other charges to a labor organization, or to pay any other
person an amount that is in place of dues or charges required of members of a labor
organization. The bill repeals these prohibitions and the associated misdemeanor
offense for violating the right-to-work law.
The bill explicitly provides that, when an all-union agreement is in effect, it is
not an unfair labor practice to encourage or discourage membership in a labor
organization or to deduct labor organization dues or assessment from an employee's
earnings. The bill sets conditions under which an employer may enter in an
all-union agreement. The bill also sets conditions for the continuation or
termination of all-union agreements, including that, if ERC determines there is
reasonable ground to believe employees in an all-union agreement have changed
their attitude about the agreement, ERC is required to conduct a referendum to
determine whether the employees wish to continue the agreement. ERC is required
to terminate an all-union agreement if it finds the union unreasonably refused to
admit an employee into the union.
Prevailing wage
The bill requires that laborers, workers, mechanics, and truck drivers
employed on the site of certain projects of public works be paid the prevailing wage
and not be required or allowed to work a greater number of hours per day and per
week than the prevailing hours of labor unless they are paid overtime for all hours
worked in excess of the prevailing hours of labor. Projects subject to the bill include
state and local projects of public works, including state highway projects, with
exceptions including projects below certain cost thresholds, minor service or
maintenance work, and certain residential projects. Under the bill, “prevailing wage
rate” is defined as the hourly basic rate of pay, plus the hourly contribution for bona
fide economic benefits, paid for a majority of the hours worked in a trade or
occupation in the area in which the project is located, except that, if there is no rate
at which a majority of those hours is paid, “prevailing wage rate” means the average
hourly basic rate of pay, plus the average hourly contribution for bona fide economic
benefits, paid for the highest-paid 51 percent of hours worked in a trade or
occupation in the area. “Prevailing hours of labor" is defined as 10 hours per day and
40 hours per week, excluding weekends and holidays. The bill requires DWD to
conduct investigations and hold public hearings as necessary to define the trades or
occupations that are commonly employed on projects that are subject to the
prevailing wage law and to inform itself of the prevailing wage rates in all areas of
the state for those trades or occupations, in order to determine the prevailing wage
rate for each trade or occupation. The bill contains certain other provisions
regarding the calculation of prevailing wage rates by DWD, including provisions
allowing persons to request recalculations or reviews of the prevailing wage rates
determined by DWD.
The bill requires contracts and notices for bids for projects subject to the bill to
include and incorporate provisions ensuring compliance with the requirements. The
bill also establishes a requirement that state agencies and local governments post
prevailing wage rates and hours of labor in areas readily accessible to persons
employed on the project or in sites regularly used for posting notices.
The bill makes a contractor that fails to pay the prevailing wage rate or
overtime pay to an employee, as required under the prevailing wage law, liable to the
affected employee for not only the amount of unpaid wages and overtime pay, but also
for liquidated damages in an amount equal to 100 percent of the unpaid wages and
overtime pay.
The bill includes, for both state and local projects of public works, provisions
regarding coverage, compliance, enforcement, and penalties, including 1)
requirements for affidavits to be filed by contractors affirming compliance with the
prevailing wage law; 2) record retention requirements for contractors regarding
wages paid to workers and provisions allowing for the inspection of those records by
DWD; 3) liability and penalty provisions for certain violations, including criminal
penalties; and 4) provisions prohibiting contracts from being awarded to persons who
have failed to comply with the prevailing wage law.
Family and medical leave
Under the current family and medical leave law, an employer that employs at
least 50 individuals on a permanent basis must permit an employee who has been
employed by the employer for more than 52 consecutive weeks and who has worked
for the employer for at least 1,000 hours during the preceding 52 weeks to take family
leave to care for a child, spouse, domestic partner, or parent of the employee who has
a serious health condition. An employer covered by the law must also permit an
employee to take up to two weeks of medical leave in a 12-month period when the
employee has a serious health condition. An employee may file a complaint with
DWD regarding an alleged violation of the family and medical leave law within 30
days after either the violation occurs or the employee should reasonably have known
that the violation occurred, whichever is later.
The bill makes the following changes to the family and medical leave law:
