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Bills from the 2025–26 session

Assembly Bill 196

Rehired annuitants in the Wisconsin Retirement System. (FE)

Topics: Employee Trust Funds, Department of, Legislature: Retirement Systems, Joint Survey Committee on, Public health, Retirement System, Wisconsin

Stopped in committee

It had a but no committee vote, so it never came up for a vote. The last day for votes this session was Mar 19, 2026. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Apr 15, 2025

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. It had a hearing but no committee vote.

  3. Assembly vote, not reached

  4. Senate vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 23, 2026: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It sat with the Assembly Committee on Local Government.

Read the bill

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The same bill was also filed in the Senate as SB 170. That version died when the session ended.

What it would have done

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

Under current law, certain people who receive a retirement or disability annuity from the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and who are hired by an employer that participates in the WRS must suspend that annuity and may not receive a WRS annuity payment until they are no longer in a WRS-covered position. This suspension applies to an annuitant who 1) has reached his or her normal retirement date; 2) is appointed to a position with a WRS-participating employer; and 3) is expected to work at least two-thirds of what is considered full-time employment by the Department of Employee Trust Funds.

This bill allows such an annuitant who is hired by a WRS-participating employer as an employee or to provide employee services to not suspend his or her annuity for up to 60 months. The bill also requires WRS-participating employers that hire such annuitants to make payments to ETF equal to what they would have paid as required contributions for each rehired annuitant if the rehired annuitant had suspended his or her annuity. Under the bill, these payments are deposited into the employer reserve account.

Read the full summary

If the annuitant does not suspend the annuity and does not become an active WRS-participating employee, in the case of state employment, the annuitant is not eligible for group insurance benefits provided to active WRS-participating employees and may not use any of his or her service in the new position for any WRS purposes. If the annuitant opts to again become an active WRS-participating employee, the annuitant is eligible for all group insurance benefits provided to other participating employees and may accumulate additional years of creditable service under the WRS for the new period of WRS-covered employment.

The bill also repeals two obsolete provisions related to WRS annuitants returning to WRS-covered employment during the public health emergency declared on March 12, 2020, by executive order 72, which ended on May 13, 2020.

Because this bill relates to public employee retirement or pensions, it may be referred to the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems for a report to be printed as an appendix to the bill.

Who's behind it

14 representatives are its ⁠. 13 are Republicans and 1 is a Democrat.

34 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 48 names

Authors (14)

Signed on in support (34)

What it would cost

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

Versions and amendments

Every text the Legislature printed for this bill, including proposed changes. Each opens on the Legislature's site.

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Sep 8, 2025 to Mar 19, 2026

    22 more representatives and 5 senators signed on in support.

  3. May 28, 2025

    The committee held a public hearing.

  4. May 6, 2025 to May 13, 2025

    1 more representative and 1 senator signed on in support.

  5. Apr 24, 2025

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  6. Apr 21, 2025

    1 more representative and 1 senator signed on in support.

  7. Apr 15, 2025

    Sent to the Assembly Committee on Local Government.

  8. Apr 15, 2025

    Introduced in the Assembly.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Apr 15, 2025 · Assembly

    Introduced by Representatives Wittke, Kitchens, Rodriguez, Novak, Brooks, Knodl, Kreibich, Kurtz, Melotik, Murphy, O'Connor, Penterman, Steffen and Ortiz-Velez; cosponsored by Senators Marklein, Cabral-Guevara, Feyen, Pfaff, Quinn and Habush Sinykin

  2. Apr 15, 2025 · Assembly

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Local Government

  3. Apr 16, 2025 · Assembly

    LRB correction

  4. Apr 21, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative J. Jacobson added as a coauthor

  5. Apr 21, 2025 · Assembly

    Senator Keyeski added as a cosponsor

  6. Apr 24, 2025 · Assembly

    Fiscal estimate received

  7. May 6, 2025 · Assembly

    Senator Spreitzer added as a cosponsor

  8. May 13, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative McCarville added as a coauthor

  9. May 28, 2025 · Assembly

    Public hearing held

  10. Jun 30, 2025 · Assembly

    Assembly Amendment 1 offered by Representatives Wittke, Kitchens and Rodriguez

  11. Sep 8, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Mursau added as a coauthor

  12. Sep 9, 2025 · Assembly

    Representatives Tucker and Moses added as coauthors

  13. Sep 10, 2025 · Assembly

    Representatives Maxey and Fitzgerald added as coauthors

  14. Sep 11, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Allen added as a coauthor

  15. Sep 15, 2025 · Assembly

    Senator James added as a cosponsor

  16. Sep 16, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Udell added as a coauthor

  17. Sep 19, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Andraca added as a coauthor

  18. Sep 24, 2025 · Assembly

    Representatives Stroud and Vining added as coauthors

  19. Oct 1, 2025 · Assembly

    Senator Ratcliff added as a cosponsor

  20. Oct 7, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Joers added as a coauthor

  21. Oct 22, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Behnke added as a coauthor

  22. Nov 14, 2025 · Assembly

    Senator Larson added as a cosponsor

  23. Nov 18, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Billings added as a coauthor

  24. Nov 20, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative DeSmidt added as a coauthor

  25. Jan 20, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Sinicki added as a coauthor

  26. Jan 22, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Tranel added as a coauthor

  27. Jan 23, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Doyle added as a coauthor

  28. Jan 27, 2026 · Assembly

    Senator Carpenter added as a cosponsor

  29. Jan 29, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Neubauer added as a coauthor

  30. Feb 3, 2026 · Assembly

    Senator Roys added as a cosponsor

  31. Feb 3, 2026 · Assembly

    Assembly Substitute Amendment 1 offered by Representative Wittke

  32. Mar 6, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Brown added as a coauthor

  33. Mar 19, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Anderson added as a coauthor

  34. Mar 19, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Subeck added as a coauthor

  35. Mar 19, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative Emerson added as a coauthor

  36. Mar 23, 2026 · Assembly

    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