Wisconsin State Senate

Wisconsin State Senate
Wisconsin State Legislature

Type
Type	Upper house
Term limits	None
History
New session started	January 8, 2013
Leadership
President of the Senate	Mary Lazich (R) Since January 5, 2015
President pro tempore	Vacant Since October 12, 2016
Majority Leader	Scott L. Fitzgerald (R) Since January 8, 2013
Minority Leader	Jennifer Shilling (D) Since January 5, 2015
Structure
Seats	33

Political groups	Governing party Republican (18) Opposition parties Democratic (14)
Length of term	4 years
Authority	Article IV, Wisconsin Constitution
Salary	$50,950/year + $153 per diem
Elections
Last election	November 4, 2014 (17 seats)
Next election	November 1, 2016 (16 seats)
Meeting place

State Senate Chamber Wisconsin State Capitol Madison, Wisconsin
Website
Wisconsin State Senate

The Wisconsin Senate, the powers of which are modeled after those of the U.S. Senate, is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature, smaller than the Wisconsin State Assembly. Together, they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Constitution ties the size of the State Senate to that of the Assembly, by limiting its size to no less than 1/4, nor more than 1/3, of the size of the Assembly. Currently, Wisconsin is divided into 33 Senate Districts (1/3 of the current Assembly membership of 99) apportioned throughout the state based on population as determined by the decennial census, for a total of 33 senators. A Senate district is formed by combining three Assembly districts. Similar to the U.S. Senate, in addition to its duty of reviewing and voting on all legislation passed through the legislature, the State Senate has the exclusive responsibility of confirming certain gubernatorial appointments, particularly cabinet secretaries (as part of the system of checks and balances) and members of boards and commissions. Senators are elected for four-year terms, staggered so that approximately half of the Senate is up for election every two years. If a vacancy occurs in a Senate seat between elections, it may be filled only by a special election. The Senate chamber is in the south wing of the Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison.

Salary and benefits

Senators elected or re-elected in the fall of 2008 will receive an annual salary of $49,943. In addition to their salaries, senators outside Dane County may receive a per diem up to $88 to cover living expenses while they are in Dane County on state business. Members of the Madison delegation may receive a per diem up to $44 to cover expenses. Each senator also receives $75 per month in "out-of-session" pay when the Legislature is in session for three days or less. Over two years, each senator is allotted $66,008 to cover general office expenses, printing, postage and district mailings.

2014 general election

Podium in the Senate

Following the 2014 elections, The Wisconsin State Senate maintained a Republican majority in January 2015 for several reasons. Democrat John Lehman, whose district had become solidly Republican following the 2011 redistricting, announced he would forgo re-election and seek the office of Lieutenant Governor, which he lost. Former Republican Senator Van Wanggaard, who lost to Lehman in the 2012 recall elections, defeated Democrat Randy Bryce, 60% to 40%, in the race to succeed Lehman. Following the retirement of Republican Senator Dale Schultz, Republican Representative Howard Marklein defeated Democrat Pat Bomhack. The Senate has 19 Republicans and 14 Democrats. There had been a vacant seat following Glenn Grothman's election the U.S. House of Representatives, but former State Rep. Duey Stroebel was elected on April 7, 2015 to fill the vacancy in District 20.

Current session

Composition


18	1	14
Republican	Vacant	Democratic

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total

	Republican	Democratic		Vacant
Begin 100th Legislature	19	14	33	0
End 100th	16	17	33	0

Begin 101st Legislature	18	15	33	0
End 101st	17	15	32	1

Begin 102nd^[1]	18	14	32	1
April 7, 2015^[2]	19		33	0
October 12, 2016^[3]	18		32	1
Latest voting share	7001563000000000000♠56.3%	7001438000000000000♠43.8%

Senate officers

Position		Name
	President of the Senate	Mary Lazich
	President Pro Tempore of the Senate	Vacant
	Majority leader	Scott L. Fitzgerald
	Assistant Majority Leader	Leah Vukmir
	Majority Caucus Chair	Sheila Harsdorf
	Majority Caucus Vice Chair	Van Wanggaard
	Minority Leader	Jennifer Shilling
	Assistant Minority Leader	Dave Hansen
	Minority Caucus Chair	Julie Lassa
	Minority Caucus Vice Chair	Kathleen Vinehout
Chief Clerk		Jeffrey Renk

Members

Senator	District	Party	Residence	Current Age	First elected	Next election
Frank Lasee	01	Rep	De Pere	54	2010	2018
Robert Cowles	02	Rep	Green Bay	66	1987	2016
Tim Carpenter	03	Dem	Milwaukee	56	2002	2018
Lena Taylor	04	Dem	Milwaukee	50	2004	2016
Leah Vukmir	05	Rep	Wauwatosa	58	2010	2018
Nikiya Harris Dodd	06	Dem	Milwaukee	41	2012	2016
Chris Larson	07	Dem	Milwaukee	36	2010	2018
Alberta Darling	08	Rep	River Hills	72	1992	2016
Devin LeMahieu	09	Rep	Sheboygan	44	2014	2018
Sheila Harsdorf	10	Rep	River Falls	60	2000	2016
Stephen Nass	11	Rep	Whitewater	64	2014	2018
Tom Tiffany	12	Rep	Hazelhurst	58	2012	2016
Scott Fitzgerald	13	Rep	Juneau	53	1994	2018
Luther Olsen	14	Rep	Ripon	65	2004	2016
Janis Ringhand	15	Dem	Evansville	66	2014	2018
Mark F. Miller	16	Dem	Monona	73	2004	2016
Howard Marklein	17	Rep	Spring Green	62	2014	2018
Vacant	18	Vacant				2018
Roger Roth	19	Rep	Appleton	38	2014	2018
Duey Stroebel	20	Rep	Saukville	57	2015	2016
Van H. Wanggaard	21	Rep	Racine	64	2014	2018
Robert Wirch	22	Dem	Kenosha	73	1996	2016
Terry Moulton	23	Rep	Chippewa Falls	70	2010	2018
Julie Lassa	24	Dem	Stevens Point	46	2003	2016
Janet Bewley	25	Dem	Ashland	65	2014	2018
Fred Risser	26	Dem	Madison	89	1962	2016
Jon Erpenbach	27	Dem	Middleton	55	1998	2018
Mary Lazich	28	Rep	New Berlin	64	1998	2016
Jerry Petrowski	29	Rep	Marathon	66	2012	2018
Dave Hansen	30	Dem	Green Bay	68	2000	2016
Kathleen Vinehout	31	Dem	Alma	58	2006	2018
Jennifer Shilling	32	Dem	La Crosse	47	2011	2016
Chris Kapenga	33	Rep	Delafield	44	2015	2018

Past notable members

Angus Cameron (1863-1864; 1871-1872), former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1875-1885)
Tom Petri (1973-1979), former U.S. House Representative (1979-2015)
Jim Sensenbrenner (1975-1979), current U.S. House Representative (1979-present)
Russ Feingold (1983-1993), former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (1993-2011)
Tom Barrett (1989-1993), former U.S. House Representative (1993-2003) and current Mayor of Milwaukee, WI (2004-present)
Gwen Moore (1993-2005), current U.S. House Representative (2005-present)
Glenn Grothman (2005-2015), current U.S. House Representative (2015-present)

References

↑ Republican Glenn Grothman (District 20) resigned prior to the session start after being sworn into the 114th United States Congress
↑ Republican Duey Stroebel was elected in District 20 to succeed Grothman.
↑ Republican Rick Gudex (District 18) died.

External links

Wisconsin State Senate official government website
State Senate of Wisconsin at Project Vote Smart
Wisconsin State Senate at Ballotpedia
Legislature Salary

Members of the Wisconsin State Senate

102nd Wisconsin Legislature (2015-2017) President of the Senate: Mary Lazich (R) President pro tempore: Rick Gudex (R) Majority Leader: Scott L. Fitzgerald (R) Minority Leader: Jennifer Shilling (D)

Frank Lasee (R) Robert Cowles (R) Tim Carpenter (D) Lena Taylor (D) Leah Vukmir (R) Nikiya Harris Dodd (D) Chris Larson (D) Alberta Darling (R) Devin LeMahieu (R) Sheila Harsdorf (R) Neal Kedzie (R) Tom Tiffany (R) Scott L. Fitzgerald (R) Luther Olsen (R) Janis Ringhand (D) Mark F. Miller (D) Howard Marklein (R) Rick Gudex (R) Roger Roth (R) Duey Stroebel (R) Van Wanggaard (R) Robert Wirch (D) Terry Moulton (R) Julie Lassa (D) Robert Jauch (D) Fred Risser (D) Jon Erpenbach (D) Mary Lazich (R) Jerry Petrowski (R) Dave Hansen (D) Kathleen Vinehout (D) Jennifer Shilling (D) Chris Kapenga (R)

Republican (19) Democratic (14) Wisconsin Legislature Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin State Senate

Wisconsin Legislatures

1 (1848)
2 (1849)
3 (1850)
4 (1851)
5 (1852)
6 (1853)
7 (1854)
8 (1855)
9 (1856)
10 (1857)
11 (1858)
12 (1859)
13 (1860)
14 (1861)
15 (1862)
16 (1863)
17 (1864)
18 (1865)
19 (1866)
20 (1867)
21 (1868)
22 (1869)
23 (1870)
24 (1871)
25 (1872)
26 (1873)
27 (1874)
28 (1875)
29 (1876)
30 (1877)
31 (1878)
32 (1879)
33 (1880)
34 (1881)
35 (1882)
36 (1883)
37 (1885)
38 (1887)
39 (1889)
40 (1891)
41 (1893)
42 (1895)
43 (1897)
44 (1899)
45 (1901)
46 (1903)
47 (1905)
48 (1907)
49 (1909)
50 (1911)
51 (1913)
52 (1915)
53 (1917)
54 (1919)
55 (1921)
56 (1923)
57 (1925)
58 (1927)
59 (1929)
60 (1931)
61 (1933)
62 (1935)
63 (1937)
64 (1939)
65 (1941)
66 (1943)
67 (1945)
68 (1947)
69 (1949)
70 (1951)
71 (1953)
72 (1955)
73 (1957)
74 (1959)
75 (1961)
76 (1963)
77 (1965)
78 (1967)
79 (1969)
80 (1971)
81 (1973)
82 (1975)
83 (1977)
84 (1979)
85 (1981)
86 (1983)
87 (1985)
88 (1987)
89 (1989)
90 (1991)
91 (1993)
92 (1995)
93 (1997)
94 (1999)
95 (2001)
96 (2003)
97 (2005)
98 (2007)
99 (2009)
100 (2011)
101 (2013)

Legislatures of the United States

United States Congress	United States House of Representatives United States Senate

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Other legislatures	District of Columbia American Samoa (H, S) Guam Northern Mariana Islands (H, S) Puerto Rico (H, S) U.S. Virgin Islands

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 127814293 LCCN: n50074322

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