All changes to statutes that are effective after the date shown on the Statutes Table of Contents, are indicated by explanatory notes. If a statutory unit is amended or repealed and recreated, both the version of the unit that is in effect before the effective date and the version in effect after that date are published along with a note indicating the date and identifying each version. One of these versions is shown in regular text and the other in smaller bold text. The notes and superseded text are removed from the Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations after the effective date has been reached.

Notes prepared by the Judicial Council or the Joint Legislative Council that are published as a part of a Wisconsin act and comments or notes that are included in supreme court orders that affect statutes may be published in full in the Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations or referred to in notes following the affected statute section directing the user to see the original act or order.

Notes indicating cross-references to sections of the Wisconsin Administrative Code that are authorized by or interpret the statute are included in or after many statute sections.

The legislative history of every statute section affected by legislative or supreme court action after 1970 appears in a history note following the section. For example, “History: 1971 c. 46; 1983 a. 36, 386.” This note shows that the section was affected by Chapter 46, Laws of 1971 and by 1983 Acts 36 and 386. Prior to the 1983 session, legislative enactments were entitled “chapters”; they are shown in the history notes as “c.” Starting with the 1983 session, legislative enactments are entitled “acts”; they are shown in the history notes as “a.” Sections that have not been affected after the 1969 session have no history notes. The history of legislation affecting statute sections before 1971 may be found in Wisconsin Annotations 1970. History notes do not indicate the specific treatment of the statute section, such as whether the section was amended or created by an act.

If an act renumbers a statutory unit, the history note of the renumbered statute will specify the section number of the act (as distinguished from the statute section number) that renumbered the statutory unit. This reference is intended to direct the reader to the place in the act where the statutory unit was renumbered. To further assist the reader, the history note for the statute to which the statutory unit is renumbered will also contain the numbers of all of the other sections of the act that affect that statute. For examples, see item 6, below.

Section 751.12, stats., authorizes the supreme court to make rules modifying or suspending statutes relating to pleading, practice, and procedure. The legislative history for a statute section affected by such a rule contains a reference to the supreme court’s order that promulgated the rule, in the following form: “Sup. Ct. Order No. 14-01, 2015 WI 21, filed 3-2-15, eff. 7-1-15.” The reference contains the supreme court order number (14-01), which indicates the sequential order and year of the proposal of the order, the public domain citation number (2015 WI 21), which is a number assigned by the court by which the order can be officially cited, the date of the issuance of the order, and the effective date of the order. History note references to orders issued prior to 2012 are in the following form: “Sup. Ct. Order No. 00-02, 2001 WI 39, 240 Wis. 2d vi.” The final number (240 Wis. 2d vi) indicates the volume and page of the Wisconsin Reports in which the order was published.

To find the legislative history or other annotations for a statute section that has been renumbered, it may be necessary to find the annotations under a former section number. Section 29.974, stats., provides an example. The history note to that section indicates the section was renumbered to s. 29.995 by ch. 365, section 46, Laws of 1975 and to s. 29.974 by 1997 Act 248, section 723. The section number prior to 1975 c. 365 can be found in section 46 of Chapter 365 in the 1975 Laws of Wisconsin or in the entry for s. 29.995 in the table of sections affected, found in the back of 1975 Laws of Wisconsin. Both sources show that s. 29.995 was renumbered from s. 29.635. Annotations for s. 29.635 created prior to the 1970 legislative session are found in Wisconsin Annotations 1970.

A statute section number that does not appear in this edition of the Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations may appear in the table of “Renumbered or Repealed Decimal-numbered Sections” printed in the appendix in volume 6, which lists whole sections that have been renumbered or repealed.

In addition to directing the LRB to print all general statutes in force, s. 35.18 (1), stats., directs the LRB to print “all important joint resolutions adopted since the last preceding general session, an alphabetical index, and such other matter as the bureau deems desirable and practicable.” This material is printed in volume 6 and consists of the following:

1. The United States Constitution.

2. The Wisconsin Constitution, with annotations.

3. Wisconsin Constitution Index.

4. Constitutional Joint Resolutions.

5. Appendix, consisting of the following:

6. Supreme Court Rules and Internal Operating Procedures.

The Wisconsin Statutes consist of the Statutes of 1898 with the additions and amendments and less the repeals made by the legislature and supreme court thereafter and annotations updated under s. 35.23. Acts of the legislature are effective on passage, approval, and publication under s. 35.095 (3), unless otherwise specified in the act. Changes to the statutes that are effective after publication are indicated by notes.