Commencement of Wisconsin’s 2025 Legislative Session
Madison, Wis. - The Wisconsin State Legislature is back in session for 2025. Currently, the Wisconsin State Assembly has 99 members with Republicans having a 54 to 45 seat majority. The upper chamber, the Wisconsin State Senate, has 33 total members made up of 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats.
The 2025 legislative session is the first since the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out the legislative maps that the Republican-controlled legislature passed prior to the 2022 elections. The Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out those maps because it said that a majority of the previous legislative districts violated the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirement that legislative districts must be physically “contiguous.” Contiguous, in this case, means that all parts of one legislative district must be connected to other parts of that same legislative district. “Contiguous” districts are considered a way to prevent gerrymandering and keep groups of voters who live in the same areas and have the same interests together, according to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Legislative Priorities
According to party leaders, Democrats in the Wisconsin Legislature are “committed to working hard for Wisconsin families and tackling the issues that matter most to them.” Legislative Democrats introduced a bills package that they are calling the “Lowering Costs, Improving Lives” which they say will help in reducing costs by “reducing the tax burden for fixed and low-income renters and homeowners, cutting the costs of grocery bills for families, and decreasing prescription drug prices.”
Republicans in the state legislature have also expressed their priorities, one of the top ones being adding voter ID requirements to the state constitution. Republicans in the State Senate passed a resolution just two days into session that will have voters decide on putting voter ID requirements in the state constitution. Other priorities for legislative Republicans include proposing a “series of tax cuts” and working on legislation to “improve public safety, make sure that our kids get the education they deserve, and ensure that Wisconsinites have access to quality, affordable healthcare.”