MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today took action on 27bills. The bills signed by the governor today include creating an expedited procedure to test for communicable diseases if certain criteria are met, ensuring more consumer transactions are covered by the Wisconsin Consumer Act by updating thresholds to account for inflation, allowing the
Today, the governor signed 12 bills, including:
Senate Bill 461, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 104:
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Broadens and makes permanent the alternative project delivery pilot program (which, under current law, uses a process known as design-build);
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Changes the governing of project selection methods and criteria from state statutes to match existing federal regulations;
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Requires that all technical review committee members have directly participated in the design or construction of highway projects in the state; and
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Modifies the cap on spending for such projects from a maximum of $250 million to $300 million, adjusted annually for inflation, in each fiscal biennium.
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Makes adjustments for inflation to ensure the Wisconsin Consumer Act applies to consumer credit transactions, motor vehicle consumer leases, and other consumer transactions that do not exceed $50,000; and
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Increases the threshold to use the small claims procedure for replevins actions and other civil actions, including money judgments, attachments, garnishments, and personal property liens, to not exceed $15,000.
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The bill’s expanded thresholds would allow for more transactions to be covered by the Wisconsin Consumer Act, allow more actions to be resolved through small claims courts, and update statutory thresholds to account for inflation.
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Creates a penalty enhancer for theft and retail theft if the person has prior convictions for such offenses; and
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Allows for the value of property or merchandise from such violations to be aggregated if they were committed by the same person in a six-month period, and they are committed in the same prosecutorial unit.
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Creates an expedited procedure where a person could be tested for communicable diseases if certain criteria are met to prevent a public safety worker, prosecutor, or correctional staff member from experiencing bodily harm; and
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Provides that if the person is later convicted of a crime related to the ordered testing, the person must be ordered to reimburse the entity that paid the costs of testing as restitution.
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Makes a technical update to the existing sales and use tax exemption for memberships sold to real estate brokers so that the exemption applies when a broker offers to compensate or cooperate with other brokers in brokering property sales.
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Repeals obsolete statutory language that required certain telecommunications utilities to provide basic voice telephone service as an option to residential customers until April 30, 2013.
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Allows the Transportation Projects Commission to approve major highway projects that have submitted draft environmental impact statements or draft environmental assessments to the Federal Highway Administration.
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Modifies the definition of bingo, for the purposes of state regulation, to expand the existing exclusion of certain bingo games where participants do not pay to play and prizes are donated in order to explicitly provide that the exclusion applies to situations where an event host pays another person to conduct the game.
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Imposes civil and criminal penalties on individuals who knowingly file fraudulent unclaimed property claims without the owner’s consent, including a civil penalty equal to the full value of the property and classification of the conduct as a Class 1 felony, with recovery of prosecution costs;
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Requires the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) to post on its website the name and address of each locator service assessed a penalty under the bill, including the amount of the penalty, no later than 90 days after the right to appeal has expired and is required to remain on the website for at least 12 months;
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Allows the DOR to waive, in whole or in part, the civil penalties created under the bill; and
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Authorizes the attorney general, upon request from the DOR, to represent the state or assist a district attorney in the prosecution of cases arising under the bill.
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Increases the maximum fee in municipal court actions to $48.
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Makes numerous changes to laws relating to the use of ATVs, UTVs, off-highway motorcycles, and snowmobiles, including updating equipment requirements, expanding crossing permissions, clarifying operator responsibilities, and reflecting the needs of emergency response.
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