Skip to content

Monday, Nov. 28, 2022

Did Wisconsin have one of the least active full-time legislatures in the country during the pandemic?

Hope Karnopp, Wisconsin Watch
yes

An October 2020 review by WisPolitics.com found Wisconsin had the least active full-time legislature during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

That year, the legislature went six months without passing a bill, a USA Today fact check confirmed. Lawmakers passed a COVID-19 relief bill in April but had not taken up any legislation by the fall.

Wisconsin is one of 10 states with full-time legislatures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The bipartisan organization considers states to have full-time legislatures if lawmakers work close to full-time hours, have large staffs and are paid well.

A more recent FiscalNote report also determined Wisconsin had one of the least active legislatures in 2021. The analysis found Wisconsin enacted 121 bills during that session, the sixth lowest overall.  

However, three states with full-time legislatures —Alaska, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania — enacted even fewer bills than Wisconsin.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.