Skip to content
Bills from the 2025–26 session

Senate Bill 1179

A home repair program and making an appropriation. (FE)

Topics: Housing, Housing and Economic Development Authority, Wisconsin, Real estate transfer fee

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

    Mar 19, 2026

  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 7, 2026: “Fiscal estimate received”

It never got a hearing in the Senate Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues and Forestry. The committee's chair at the time was Romaine Quinn. Chairs decide which bills get a hearing. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

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.

Embed this on your site

Paste this code into your page. The card shows the latest record each time it loads. Preview the card

The same bill was also filed in the Assembly as AB 916. 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 directs the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority to establish a home repair program for the following purposes:

1. To ensure that residential housing units are fit for human habitation; free from defective conditions or health and safety hazards, including asbestos, mold, pests, and lead; and free from conditions preventing the installation of measures to improve energy or water efficiency and lower utility costs.

Read the full summary

2. To implement energy efficiency measures.

3. To make residential housing units accessible for individuals with disabilities.

The bill requires WHEDA to award grants, not to exceed $25,000 per residential housing unit, to homeowners with annual household incomes of less than 100 percent of the area median income, and interest-free loans, not to exceed $25,000 per residential housing unit, to landlords that, in a landlord’s capacity as a landlord, have an ownership stake in no more than five properties and no more than 15 residential housing units, which the landlord rents for use as affordable housing. In the bill, “affordable housing” is defined in part as housing for occupancy by individuals whose annual household income does not exceed 100 percent of the area median income. Under the bill, WHEDA must prioritize awarding grants to homeowners with disabilities and homeowners with children five years of age or younger, and WHEDA may not award a grant or loan for a residential housing unit that was constructed more than 40 years nor less than 10 years before the homeowner or landlord applied for the grant or loan.

Under the bill, if a homeowner sells a residential housing unit within four years after receiving a grant under the bill, the homeowner is immediately liable to WHEDA for a portion of the grant amount. If a landlord sells a residential housing unit within four years after receiving a loan under the bill, the landlord is immediately liable to WHEDA for the unpaid remainder of the loan amount.

WHEDA may contract with a county or a nonprofit organization to administer the program in the bill and must provide annual reports to the Joint Committee on Finance and relevant standing committees of the legislature on certain information about the program.

The program created under the bill is funded by a portion of the amount transmitted to this state by counties in this state from the real estate transfer fee collected from the conveyance of real property from one person to another.

Who's behind it

6 senators are its ⁠. All 6 are Democrats.

33 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 39 names

Authors (6)

Signed on in support (33)

What it would cost

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

What happened

  1. Apr 7, 2026

    A state agency sent in its estimate of the cost.

  2. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  3. Mar 19, 2026

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues and Forestry.

  4. Mar 19, 2026

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Mar 19, 2026 · Senate

    Introduced by Senators L. Johnson, Spreitzer, Smith, Wirch, Hesselbein and Larson; cosponsored by Representatives Haywood, Bare, Prado, Sinicki, DeSmidt, Stubbs, Doyle, Neubauer, Goodwin, Joers, Taylor, Kirsch, Sheehan, Mayadev, Snodgrass, Subeck, Moore Omokunde, Arney, Emerson, Miresse, Johnson, Phelps, Rivera-Wagner, Palmeri, Madison, Fitzgerald, Roe, Hysell, Brown, Udell, Tenorio, Andraca and Vining

  2. Mar 19, 2026 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Insurance, Housing, Rural Issues and Forestry

  3. Mar 23, 2026 · Senate

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

  4. Apr 7, 2026 · Senate

    Fiscal estimate received

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