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Bills from the 2025–26 session

Assembly Bill 797

Grants for testing privately owned wells and providing education, providing an exemption from emergency rule procedures, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

Topics: County: Finance, County: Health department, Municipality: Finance, Natural Resources, Department of: Environmental protection, University of Wisconsin: Stevens Point, Water: Pollution, Wells

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

    Dec 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 Environment. The committee's chair at the time was Joy Goeben. 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 762. 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.

This bill requires the Department of Natural Resources to create and administer a program to provide grants, not to exceed $10,000 1) to any county, city, village, or town that contains privately owned wells or water supplies to test and map privately owned wells to assess groundwater quality and determine the extent of any contamination and to study and map geologic characteristics and well construction practices to determine any correlation between water quality, geology, and well construction and 2) to county health departments and county land and water conservation departments to provide education and outreach related to well testing. Applicants may apply for a grant individually or jointly with other applicants and may apply for both types of grants simultaneously. The recipient of a testing and mapping grant must share the results of its testing with DNR and the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Center for Watershed Science and Education. The bill also requires cities, villages, and towns that contain privately owned wells or water supplies to inform its residents of the importance of regular well testing.

Who's behind it

44 representatives are its ⁠. All 44 are Democrats.

15 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 59 names

Authors (44)

Signed on in support (15)

What it would cost

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

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Jan 13, 2026

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  3. Dec 23, 2025

    Sent to the Assembly Committee on Environment.

  4. Dec 23, 2025

    Introduced in the Assembly.

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

    Introduced by Representatives Miresse, Palmeri, Billings, Andraca, Anderson, Arney, Bare, Brown, Clancy, Cruz, DeSanto, DeSmidt, Doyle, Emerson, Fitzgerald, Goodwin, Haywood, Hong, Hysell, J. Jacobson, Joers, Johnson, Kirsch, Madison, Mayadev, McCarville, Moore Omokunde, Neubauer, Phelps, Prado, Rivera-Wagner, Roe, Sheehan, Sinicki, Snodgrass, Spaude, Stroud, Stubbs, Subeck, Taylor, Tenorio, Udell, Vining and McGuire; cosponsored by Senators Smith, Spreitzer, Habush Sinykin, Carpenter, Dassler-Alfheim, Drake, Hesselbein, L. Johnson, Keyeski, Larson, Pfaff, Ratcliff, Roys, Wall and Wirch

  2. Dec 23, 2025 · Assembly

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Environment

  3. Jan 13, 2026 · Assembly

    Fiscal estimate received

  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

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