FW ECOL 515: Natural Resources Policy (Fall 2024) : Wisconsin laws
Wisconsin laws (statutes)
The laws of Wisconsin are drafted and passed by the Wisconsin State Legislature and collected in the Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations.
- The electronic Wisconsin Statutes are updated frequently–update information should be at the top of the page.
- Statutes are organized into numbered chapters by subject. The chapters are grouped by broad subject matter.
Citations to the Wisconsin Statutes
A citation to the Wisconsin Statutes looks like this: Wis Stat. § 26.30(2).
| Component of the citation | Wis. Stat. | § | 26 | . | 30 | (2) |
| What the component refers to | Wisconsin Statutes | Symbol for “section.” Can insert in documents by selecting “insert” and “symbol” or special character;” it’s part of “Latin-1 supplement” set. | Chapter (in this example, 26 is about "Protection of Forest Lands…") |
Section’s location within a chapter | Subsection |
Related sites
Executive Orders: Executive Orders of the Wisconsin governors, going back to 1965.
Environmental Law: Wisconsin Law, Regs, and Cases: a research guide from the UW-Madison Law Library.
How bills become laws in Wisconsin
About the Legislature: Follow the Process, from the Wisconsin State Legislature.
A Citizen's Guide to Participation in the Wisconsin State Legislature, prepared by the Wisconsin Legislative Council staff, 2023.
- Includes a link to the PDF guide How to Find Legislative Documents and Follow the Legislative Process, 2019, which focuses on tracking legislation the current legislature is considering.
Researching the history of Wisconsin legislation
- Legislative History Research in Wisconsin / Research Wisconsin Legislative History, from the Wisconsin State Law Library's set of Tutorials.
- The UW-Madison Law Library has created a guide to creating a Wisconsin Legislative History.
Librarian
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Government Information Specialist
Laws and regulations from other states
State Legislatures, State Laws, and State Regulations: Website Links and Telephone Numbers: list from the Law Librarians' Society of Washington DC.
- At the end of the list of states, there's an excellent list of other state government information links.
Hein Online Session Laws Library
- Subscription database; available on- and off-campus to UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.
- Contains exact replications of the official bound session laws (acts) of all 50 states from inception, as well as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. All states are available back to inception.
How laws and regulations differ
- Simplified comparison of laws and regulations, October 2024Compares federal laws and regulations; and Wisconsin laws and administrative rules