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Bills from the 2025–26 session

Assembly Bill 227

Inducements to sign or refrain from signing nomination papers, recall petitions, and certain other petitions

Topics: Elections, Elections: Contested elections, Petitions

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, 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 23, 2025

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  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 never got a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections. The committee's chair at the time was Dave Maxey. Chairs decide which bills get a hearing. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

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The same bill was also filed in the Senate as SB 233. 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.

Current law prohibits certain kinds of election bribery, including offering, giving, lending, or providing money or anything of value to an elector or other person to induce the elector to vote or refrain from voting. Under current law, “anything of value” includes an object having utility independent of a political message it contains, the value of which exceeds $1. Election bribery is a Class I felony, the penalty for which is a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed three years and six months, or both.

This bill prohibits as election bribery such inducement of an elector to sign or refrain from signing a petition supporting or opposing a candidate, referendum, or proposition about political or social issues, state law, or proposed or potential legislation, if the petition is related to an election or referendum or is circulated during an election period, as defined in the bill.

Read the full summary

Additionally, the bill prohibits as election bribery such inducement of an elector to sign or refrain from signing nomination papers or a recall petition.

Finally, the bill defines “anything of value” for purposes of a violation of the bill’s provisions to include an object having utility independent of a political message it contains, if the object’s value exceeds $5, rather than 1$.

Who's behind it

26 representatives are its ⁠. All 26 are Democrats.

9 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 35 names

Authors (26)

Signed on in support (9)

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Jun 24, 2025

    1 more representative signed on in support.

  3. Apr 23, 2025

    Sent to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.

  4. Apr 23, 2025

    Introduced in the Assembly.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Apr 23, 2025 · Assembly

    Introduced by Representatives Snodgrass, Rivera-Wagner, Anderson, Arney, Bare, Brown, Clancy, DeSmidt, Emerson, Hong, J. Jacobson, Joers, Kirsch, Madison, Mayadev, Miresse, Moore Omokunde, Neubauer, Ortiz-Velez, Palmeri, Phelps, Roe, Spaude, Stroud, Udell and Vining; cosponsored by Senators Larson, Spreitzer, Carpenter, Dassler-Alfheim, Drake, Hesselbein, Keyeski and Ratcliff

  2. Apr 23, 2025 · Assembly

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Campaigns and Elections

  3. Jun 24, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Sinicki added as a coauthor

  4. 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

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