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Brief History of Attempts & success to pass a marriage protection bill in Wisconsin
AB 1042 introduced in the 1995-96 session - Died without a public hearing with a Republican majority in the Assembly.
AB 104 introduced 2/18/1997 - Passed Assembly 3/18/97 on a strong bipartisan vote of 78-20. The Senate under a Republican majority refused to take the bill up and it died.
AB 781 introduced 2/22/2000 with 25 Assembly sponsors & 9 Senate sponsors - Public hearing held 3/16/2000. The bill died in the Family Law Committee under Republican leadership with a Republican majority in the Assembly.
AB 753 introduced 1/28/2002 with 41 Assembly sponsors & 8 Senate sponsors - Died in committee with no public hearing with Assembly under a Republican majority.
AB 475 introduced 8/19/2003 & SB 233 introduced 8/20/2003 - AB 475 passed Assembly 10/23/03 on a vote of 68-29 with 2 (Huebsch & Schooff) not voting. 57 Republicans & 11 Democrats voted for the bill and 28 Democrats and 1 Republican voting no. The Senate passed the bill on 11/5/03 on a vote of 22-10 with George not voting. 18 Republicans & 4 Democrats voted for the bill and 10 Democrats; Carpenter, Chvala, Erpenbach, Jauch, Lassa, Meyer, Moore, Plale, Risser and Robson voted against. AB 475 was vetoed by Governor Doyle 11/7/03. An attempt to override the veto failed 11/12/03 on a vote of 63-33 with 3 not voting. 58 Republicans and 5 Democrats voted to override and 33 Democrats voted against overriding. 2 Democrats and 1 Republican did not vote. 4 Democrats that voted for passage of AB 475 voted against overriding the veto. With 3 members not voting, 64 votes were needed to override the veto. The vote was one short of override. Republican DuWyane Johnsrud and Democrat Annette Williams were present that day but left the chambers rather than vote on the issue. Johnsrud had voted against AB 475 originally and Williams had voted for the bill. This failed override vote killed the bill for this session.
2/11/04 Rep Pocan & Sen Risser began circulating a bill dealing with civil marriage that would allow same-sex couples to legally marry in Wisconsin. Their proposal replaces the current terms of husband and wife with the term "spouse" which they say is a more appropriate term. This bill was introduced as AB 992 3/11/04.
AJR 66 & SJR 63 The Defense of Marriage Constitutional Amendment was introduced. A public hearing was held on AJR 66 Thursday February 12. Click on AJR 66 to read the wording of the amendment. The wording of AJR 66 and SJR 63 is identical.
12/18/03 A proposal to introduce a Domestic Partnership Registry in Wisconsin is being circulated for co-sponsorship today in the legislature. This proposal was introduced 3/11/04 as AB 955 and you can click on it to educate yourself to the issue.
2/19/04 The committee was scheduled to vote on AJR 66 today, but did not vote because of a lack of a quorum. The committee vote is necessary before the proposal could go to the full assembly for a vote. The next step for SJR 63 is a public hearing which could take place any day now.
2/24/04 The Assembly Judiciary Committee voted today 6-1 in favor of AJR 66. Rep Hebl voted no and Rep Cullen was not in attendance. The next step is for the Rules Committee to schedule the bill for full floor debate and vote in the Assembly.
3/1/04 The Senate Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy Committee held a public hearing on SJR 63 today in room 411 S of the state capitol. Many people took this opportunity to have their voice heard on this issue. SJR 63 is the senate companion to AJR 66. Both resolutions are identical and would create a provision in the Wisconsin Constitution to say that marriage is between one man and one woman. Action Wisconsin carried out a boycott of the hearing so there were not many testifying against the resolution. The committee did not take a vote, but is expected to vote in the near future. AJR 66, could possibly receive a vote in the assembly this week.
3/5/04 The assembly debated AJR 66 from about 4:45 PM on Thursday, March 4, until 9:05 AM on Friday, March 5, when they passed it with no amendments on a vote of 68-27 with 4 paired. Click on ASSEMBLY VOTE to see how your legislator voted. The bill is now in the senate and the Senate Judiciary, Corrections and Privacy Committee voted passage 3-2.
3/10/04 AJR 66 was scheduled on the senate calendar for Wednesday March 10 and Sen Panzer's staff gave us assurance the senate would vote on the bill March 10. However, shortly after 1:00 AM this morning, they adjourned until 10:00 AM March 11 without voting on AJR 66. It appears the stall game is taking place.
3/12/04 The senate began to debate AJR 66 shortly after 3:00 PM on March 11. There was a senate substitute amendment and 12 amendments offered to the bill. The substitute amendment was tabled along with 10 of the amendments. 2 amendments were tabled by unanimous consent of the author. AJR 66 then passed in the senate on a vote of 20-13 at 12:52 AM on March 12 with no amendments. The next step is for AJR 66 to pass in the next session beginning in 2005. If that passes, then it will go to a referendum vote of the people of Wisconsin. If the people pass the referendum, then the constitution will be changed to protect marriage. Click on SENATE VOTE and ASSEMBLY VOTE to see how your legislator voted .
10/21/05 SB 397 & AB 824 were introduced to legalize domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.
11/23/05 The Republican leadership allowed the introduction of the constitutional amendment AJR 67 & SJR 53 for second consideration to protect marriage and scheduled a joint public hearing for 11/29/05. This is the same amendment which was AJR 66 last session.
11/29/05 A joint public hearing was held on AJR 67 & SJR 53 Tuesday November 29, 2005.
12/7/05 The Senate passed SJR 53, the constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage, at 1:38 PM 12/7/05 on a straight party line vote of 19-14. SEN VOTE Before the final vote, 21 amendments were offered, with 18 voted down by a roll call vote, 2 tabled and 1 withdrawn by the author. It was then messaged to the Assembly.
12/13/05 AJR 67 passed Assembly Judiciary Committee today 6-2. Tony Staskusas (D-West Allis) broke rank with his party and voted in favor of marriage between one man and one woman, The resolution now goes to the Rules Committee and is available for scheduling on the Assembly floor.
2/28/06 At approximately 7:25 PM the Assembly concurred with SJR 53 on a vote of 62-31 (which already passed the Senate on a party line vote of 19-14) to protect marriage as a union between one man and one woman. The next step was a state-wide referendum vote at the November 7, 2006 election.
11/7/06 This is the language of the referendum the public passed on November 7, 2006, and the state constitution has been updated with the language.
Shall section 13 of article XIII of the constitution be created to provide that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and that a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.
1/9/07 SJR 2 Equal rights (first consideration) introduced to overturn the constitutional amendment of November 7, 2006. The wording of SJR 2 follows: All persons are guaranteed equal protection of the laws and no law shall discriminate on the basis of sex, gender, race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religion, national
origin, marital status, family status, age, or ancestry. The government shall protect and secure these equal rights of the governed.
12/07 A lawsuite has been filed, and a judge ruled the suite can go forward, challenging the constitutionality of the amendment that was voted on 59% to 41% by the people of Wisconsin November 7, 2006.
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