Statewide County WI Archives Biographies..... The Legislature. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/wi/wifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Tina Vickery tsvickery@gmail.com January 2, 2008, 8:40 am Author: Compiled by The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library THE LEGISLATURE Total personnel: 133 members, 4 officers (besides the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker), 105 employees. Expenditures, fiscal year 1930-31: $300,446, of which amount $15,-171 was by interim and special committees; fiscal year 1931-32, $222,073, of which $11,809 was by interim committees. Appropriations, 1933-35: Legislature, a sum sufficient, with an allotment of $1,000 per year to each house as a contingent fund. Should any interim committees be created special appropriations of limited amounts will, if the usual practice is followed, be made to them. Publications: Journals of each house (daily during sessions and in bound form after their close) ; Manuals of each house (giving rules; Legislative Directory; Bulletins of committee hearings (weekly during sessions by each house); Bulletin of Proceedings (weekly during sessions after first five weeks and in bound form after close) ; Calendars (daily during sessions for use of members) ; Bills, Joint Resolutions; Amendments to bills and joint resolutions; Acts; Session Laws (published by the secretary of state after close of sessions) ; Interim Committee Reports. (All of the above publications except the Session Laws will be mailed as they appear for $25 per session paid to the secretary of state for this service, or the acts alone, as published, for $5. Single copies of these publications can be obtained, while the supply lasts, on request from members of the legislature or the legislative reference library. The Session Laws are sold by the director of purchases at cost. THE Wisconsin legislature consists of two houses, the senate and the assembly, the members of both of which are elected by the people in the November general election, from districts into which the state is divided by legislative act after each federal census. There are thirty-three senators, who are elected for terms of four years. The sixteen senators who represent even-numbered districts are elected in the years in which presidential elections occur and the seventeen who represent odd- numbered districts, in the even-numbered years in which there are no presidential elections. The assembly consists of one hundred members, elected for two-year terms. The present salary of both senators and assemblymen is $100 per month throughout their term of office, plus which they receive ten cents per mile for one journey to and from the capitol during each session. They receive no additional compensation either for special sessions or for interim committee service. Regular sessions of the legislature are held in each odd- numbered year, beginning on^the second Wednesday in January. These regular sessions usually last about six months, and during such sessions the legislature may act upon any subject within the functions of the state government. After adjournment of the regular session, the legislature may be convened in special session by the Governor, but in special sessions can act only upon matters specifically mentioned in the call of the Governor. Since 1915 there have been ten special sessions, the longest of which lasted two and one-half months. Each house elects its own officers, except that the lieutenant governor, under the constitution, is the president of the senate, with a casting vote in case of a tie. The corresponding officer in the assembly is the speaker, who is an assemblyman elected by the members. The other officers are a chief clerk and a sergeant-at-arms in each house, elected by the members. The legislature has a total of 105 employees, all of whom are appointed under civil service rules. These employ are under the direction of the chief clerks and sergeants-at-arms of the respective houses. Meetings of the legislature are held in the state capitol in the chambers assigned respectively to the senate and the assembly. Under the rules of the houses daily sessions are held which, unless otherwise ordered, begin at 10:00 A. M., and these sessions usually last until noon or a little later. Frequently the houses begin work earlier than 10:00 A. M. and often hold night sessions. Toward the end of each regular session the houses meet practically continuously. The afternoons of each day, until near the close of the session, are devoted to committee hearings. The assembly has 23 standing committees, the senate 9, but 6 of the assembly committees and 2 of the senate committees have other functions than the consideration of bills. The committees of the assembly are appointed by the speaker and those of the senate upon the recommendation of a committee on committees elected by the senate. In the senate the rule prevails that each senator shall be appointed to one of the committees to which bills are referred and only one such committee, while in the assembly some members serve on more than one. The most important committee of two houses, the joint committee on finance, is a joint body, which acts and votes on all measures jointly. Other committees frequently arrange joint hearings, but act upon all measures independently. All bills upon introduction are referred to committees, which schedule hearings upon them. These hearings are announced in the bulletins of committee hearings, which appear on each Friday and list the hearings of the coming week. All hearings are held in the afternoon beginning at 2:00 P. M., usually in a room in the state capitol assigned to the particular committee. Besides the regular committees, some special committees are appointed during each legislative session. These study special problems or conduct special investigations. Each legislature also creates several interim committees to investigate special subjects. These committees function during the interval between legislative sessions and report their findings and recommendations to the next legislature. Interim committees have no bills referred to them and special committees only infrequently. All bills and joint resolutions introduced in the legislature are printed, usually within one day after introduction. Under the Wisconsin procedure every bill introduced is given a public hearing, is reported upon by the committee to which it was referred, and is voted on in the house of its introduction—in both houses unless "killed" in the first. Amendments may be reported by the committee to which the measure was referred or may be offered by a member on the floor when it comes up for consideration. If passed by one house a bill is sent to the other and goes through the same course in the second house. If concurred in it is enrolled (i.e., printed in act form), signed by the presiding officers of the two houses and the chief clerk of the house in which it originated, and delivered by such clerk to the Governor. The Governor, within six days not counting Sundays or holidays, must either approve or veto the measure, except at the close of the session, when the bills die automatically unless signed by the Governor within ten days. If approved, he reports this fact to the house in which the bill originated and files the original copy, which carries his signature, with the secretary of state. If vetoed, he sends a veto message to the house in which the bill originated. This ends the bill unless it is repassed by a two-thirds vote in each house. After passage and approval by the Governor, acts are published in the official state paper, and usually take effect on the day following such publication, but may take effect at some other time as specified in the measure. Each house of the legislature keeps a complete record of its proceedings known as the "Journal". No verbatim record is kept of the debates in either house, nor of the statements made by persons appearing at committee hearings. A record is kept, however, of the names of the persons appearing, which after the session is filed in the office of the secretary of state, together with the bill and the votes thereon. The acts passed by the legislature are published, usually on the day after their approval, in the official state paper, now the Sheboygan Press. Later the Session Laws are issued in book form by the secretary of state, and soon thereafter the revisor of statutes issues the biennial Wisconsin Statutes in one volume which contains all of the permanent general statutes of the state, including those enacted at the last legislative session. Additional Comments: Compiled by The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library. The Wisconsin Blue Book. Madison, Wisconsin: Democrat Printing Company, 1933. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/wi/history/bluebook/1933/bios/1067gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/wifiles/ File size: 9.1 Kb