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Bills from the 2025–26 session

Senate Bill 322

A Department of Children and Families program to make payments to child care programs, granting rule-making authority, and making an appropriation. (FE)

Topics: Children and Families, Department of, Day care

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

    Jun 12, 2025

  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, Mar 23, 2026: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs. The committee's chair at the time was Chris Kapenga. 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 Assembly as AB 317. 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 authorizes the Department of Children and Families to establish a program for making monthly payments and monthly per-child payments to certified child care providers, licensed child care centers, and child care programs established or contracted for by a school board. This new payment program is in addition to the current law system for providing child care payments under Wisconsin Shares. The bill requires DCF to promulgate rules to implement the program, including establishing eligibility requirements and payment amounts and setting requirements for how recipients may use the payments, and authorizes DCF to promulgate these rules as emergency rules. The bill funds the program through a new appropriation and by allocating federal moneys, including child care development funds and moneys received under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant program.

The bill eliminates the current law method by which DCF may modify maximum payment rates for child care providers under Wisconsin Shares based on a child care provider’s rating under the quality rating system known as YoungStar.

Read the full summary

Wisconsin Shares is a part of the Wisconsin Works program under current law, which DCF administers and which provides work experience and benefits for low-income custodial parents who are at least 18 years old. Under current law, an individual who is the parent of a child under the age of 13 or, if the child is disabled, under the age of 19, who needs child care services to participate in various education or work activities, and who satisfies other eligibility criteria may receive a child care subsidy for child care services under Wisconsin Shares.

Who's behind it

15 senators are its ⁠. All 15 are Democrats.

44 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 59 names

Authors (15)

Signed on in support (44)

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Jun 12, 2025

    Sent to the Senate Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs.

  3. Jun 12, 2025

    Introduced in the Senate.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Jun 12, 2025 · Senate

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

  2. Jun 12, 2025 · Senate

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Licensing, Regulatory Reform, State and Federal Affairs

  3. Mar 23, 2026 · Senate

    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.

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