Skip to content
Bills from the 2021–22 session

Senate Bill 62

Merit pay raises for state public defenders

Became law

The governor signed it on Mar 2, 2021. It's ⁠.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Feb 5, 2021

  2. Committee, passed

    Approved

  3. Senate vote, passed

    Passed Feb 16, 2021

  4. Assembly vote, passed

    Passed Feb 16, 2021

  5. Governor, passed

    Signed

  6. Law, here now

    2021 Wisconsin Act 7

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 10, 2022: “Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor”

Read the bill

Following saves it on this device. New actions show on your Following page. You can also get updates in a feed reader.

What it does

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

Under current law, there is an assistant state public defender pay progression plan, which consists of 17 hourly salary steps, with each step equal to one-seventeenth of the difference between the lowest hourly salary and the highest hourly salary. The plan provides that no salary adjustment under the plan may increase an assistant state public defender's salary by more than 10 percent of his or her base pay during a fiscal year.

This bill allows the Public Defender Board to provide merit-based pay raises under the assistant state public defender pay progression plan in fiscal year 2021-22 that may exceed 10 percent of an assistant state public defender's base pay.

Who's behind it

13 senators are its ⁠. 7 are Republicans and 6 are Democrats.

40 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 53 names

Authors (13)

Signed on in support (40)

How lawmakers voted

There was one vote on this bill.

Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety vote to recommend it

Passed, 7 to 0 · Feb 12, 2021

No member-by-member record exists for this vote. Committee votes and some older sessions record totals only.

Official motion: “Report passage recommended by Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, Ayes 7, Noes 0”. Official record · This vote on its own page

What happened

  1. Mar 10, 2022

    1 more representative signed on in support.

  2. Mar 2, 2021

    The new law was published.

  3. Mar 2, 2021

    The governor signed it. It became 2021 Wisconsin Act 7.

  4. Mar 1, 2021

    1 more representative signed on in support.

  5. Feb 24, 2021

    Sent to the governor.

  6. Feb 16, 2021

    The Assembly passed it too.

  7. Feb 16, 2021

    “Read” (the official wording)

  8. Feb 16, 2021

    The Assembly received it.

  9. Feb 16, 2021

    The Senate passed it.

  10. Feb 16, 2021

    1 more representative signed on in support.

  11. Feb 12, 2021

    The committee voted to recommend passing it, 7 to 0.

  12. Feb 11, 2021

    The committee held a public hearing.

  13. Feb 9, 2021

    1 more representative and 1 senator signed on in support.

  14. Feb 5, 2021

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.

  15. Feb 5, 2021

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Feb 5, 2021 · Senate

    Introduced by Senators Petrowski, Wanggaard, L. Taylor, Carpenter, Feyen, Ringhand, Jacque, Felzkowski, Roys, Darling, Testin, Larson and Pfaff; cosponsored by Representatives Loudenbeck, Born, Schraa, Ramthun, Tauchen, Novak, Snyder, Skowronski, Rozar, Zimmerman, Edming, Mursau, Knodl, James, Doyle, Cabrera, Summerfield, VanderMeer, Dittrich, Sinicki, Milroy, Spiros, Moses, Neubauer, Hong, Duchow, Drake, Tranel, Riemer, Bowen, Andraca, Spreitzer, B. Meyers, Subeck and Brostoff

  2. Feb 5, 2021 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety

  3. Feb 9, 2021 · Senate

    Senator Smith added as a coauthor

  4. Feb 9, 2021 · Senate

    Representative Vining added as a cosponsor

  5. Feb 11, 2021 · Senate

    Public hearing held

  6. Feb 12, 2021 · Senate

    Executive action taken

  7. Feb 12, 2021 · Senate

    Report passage recommended by Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, Ayes 7, Noes 0

  8. Feb 12, 2021 · Senate

    Available for scheduling

  9. Feb 12, 2021 · Senate

    Placed on calendar 2-16-2021 pursuant to Senate Rule 18(1)

  10. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Representative McGuire added as a cosponsor

  11. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Read a second time

  12. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Ordered to a third reading

  13. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Rules suspended

  14. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Read a third time and passed

  15. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Ordered immediately messaged

  16. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Received from Senate

  17. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Read

  18. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Rules suspended to withdraw from Senate message and take up

  19. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Read a second time

  20. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Ordered to a third reading

  21. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Rules suspended

  22. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Read a third time and concurred in

  23. Feb 16, 2021 · Assembly

    Ordered immediately messaged

  24. Feb 16, 2021 · Senate

    Received from Assembly concurred in

  25. Feb 19, 2021 · Senate

    Report correctly enrolled

  26. Feb 24, 2021 · Senate

    Presented to the Governor on 2-24-2021

  27. Mar 1, 2021 · Senate

    Representative S. Rodriguez added as a cosponsor

  28. Mar 2, 2021 · Senate

    Report approved by the Governor on 3-1-2021. 2021 Wisconsin Act 7

  29. Mar 2, 2021 · Senate

    Published 3-2-2021

  30. Mar 10, 2022 · Senate

    Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor

Terms on this page

Wisconsin Act

The number a bill gets when it becomes law, like 2025 Wisconsin Act 12.

Official term: Act. 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

Roll call

A vote where each lawmaker's yes or no is recorded by name.

Official term: Roll call vote. More in the glossary

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

Wisconsin Act

The number a bill gets when it becomes law, like 2025 Wisconsin Act 12.

Official term: Act

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

Roll call

A vote where each lawmaker's yes or no is recorded by name.

Official term: Roll call vote

More in the glossary