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Bills from the 2015–16 session

Senate Bill 780

The minimum wage required to be paid to tipped employees. (FE)

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, so it never came up for a vote. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Mar 3, 2016

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  3. Senate vote, not reached

  4. Assembly vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Apr 13, 2016: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Senate Committee on Labor and Government Reform. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

Read the bill

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What it would have done

Summary by the , the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill raises the separate minimum wage required to be paid to tipped employees by $0.95 per year until it reaches $7.08 per hour, one year after which the bill eliminates the separate minimum wage for tipped employees altogether, making tipped employees subject to the general minimum wage.

Generally under current law, every wage paid by any employer to any employee must be not less than the applicable minimum wage established under the statutes.

Read the full summary

However, if an employer of a tipped employee establishes that, when adding the tips received by the tipped employee in a week to the wages paid to the tipped employee in that week, the tipped employee receives not less than the applicable minimum wage (generally $7.25 per hour), the minimum wage for the tipped employee is $2.33 per hour or, with respect to an employee under 20 years of age in the first 90 consecutive days of employment with his or her employer (opportunity employee), $2.13 per hour.

Beginning approximately six months after enactment, this bill eliminates the alternate minimum wage for tipped employees who are opportunity employees and raises the minimum wage for all tipped employees by $0.95, to $3.28 per hour. The bill further raises the minimum wage for tipped employees by $0.95 per year until it reaches $7.08 per hour. Beginning one year after it reaches $7.08 per hour, the bill eliminates the separate minimum wage for tipped employees altogether, making tipped employees subject to the general minimum wage of $7.25 per hour or, for opportunity employees, $5.90 per hour.

Who's behind it

4 senators are its ⁠. All 4 are Democrats.

5 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 9 names

Authors (4)

Signed on in support (5)

What it would cost

State agencies filed a . Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

What happened

  1. Apr 13, 2016

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Mar 31, 2016

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  3. Mar 10, 2016

    1 more representative signed on in support.

  4. Mar 3, 2016

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Labor and Government Reform.

  5. Mar 3, 2016

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Mar 3, 2016 · Senate

    Introduced by Senators L. Taylor, Carpenter, Harris Dodd and Vinehout; cosponsored by Representatives Berceau, Goyke, Milroy and Subeck

  2. Mar 3, 2016 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Labor and Government Reform

  3. Mar 10, 2016 · Senate

    Representative Pope added as a cosponsor

  4. Mar 31, 2016 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

  5. Apr 13, 2016 · Senate

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Terms on this page

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1. More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis. More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor. More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor. More in the glossary

Cost estimate

A state agency's estimate of what a bill would cost or save.

Official term: Fiscal estimate. More in the glossary

From the Wisconsin Legislature's official record, checked Sep 15, 2026. See the source

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor

Cost estimate

A state agency's estimate of what a bill would cost or save.

Official term: Fiscal estimate