64th Wisconsin Legislature

The Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 11, 1939, to October 6, 1939, in regular session.

This session saw a significant reorganization of several state government functions, including the creation of the Department of Taxation, the Department of Public Welfare, the Department of Securities, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. This legislative term also coincided with the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

Senators representing odd-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term. Assembly members were elected to a two-year term. Assembly members and odd-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 8, 1938. Senators representing even-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 3, 1936.

Major events

 * January 2, 1939: Inauguration of Julius P. Heil as the 30th Governor of Wisconsin.
 * February 10, 1939: Pope Pius XI died from a heart attack.
 * March 2, 1939: The 1939 papal conclave elected Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli as the next pope, he then took the papal name Pius XII.
 * March 15, 1939: German forces occupied the remaining independent portions of Bohemia and Moravia, abolishing the Republic of Czechoslovakia.
 * April 1, 1939: The Spanish Civil War came to an end when the last republican forces surrendered to the fascists.
 * April 3, 1939: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Reorganization Act of 1939, granting the president powers for two years to reorganize the executive branch.
 * July 1, 1939: The Executive Office of the President of the United States was established using the powers under the Reorganization Act of 1939.
 * July 4, 1939: Wisconsin U.S. representative Harry W. Griswold (WI-03) died in office.
 * August 2, 1939: Albert Einstein signed the Einstein–Szilard letter to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, advising him of the potential use of uranium to construct an atomic bomb.
 * August 23, 1939: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed pledging non-aggression between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and dividing eastern Europe into spheres of influence for the two empires.
 * September 1, 1939: German forces began the Invasion of Poland, inititating World War II.
 * September 3, 1939: The United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Australia, and India declared war on Germany.
 * September 23, 1939: The recently completed Mississippi River Bridge at La Crosse, Wisconsin, was opened to traffic.
 * October 8, 1939: Germany officially annexed western Poland.
 * October 21, 1939: The first meeting of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Uranium, a precursor of the Manhattan Project.
 * November 4, 1939: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing the sale of weapons to the United Kingdom and France.
 * November 30, 1939: Soviet forces invaded Finland, initiating the Winter War.
 * December 10, 1939: The Green Bay Packers won the 1939 NFL Championship Game.
 * March 5, 1940: Leaders of the Soviet Union signed the order leading to the Katyn massacre, mass executions of Polish intelligentsia.
 * March 12, 1940: The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the Winter War. Finland made territorial concessions to the Soviet Union.
 * April 9, 1940: German forces began Operation Weserübung, invading neutral countries Denmark and Norway.
 * May 10, 1940:
 * German forces began the invasion of the Low Countries and the Battle of France.
 * Neville Chamberlain resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in favor of Winston Churchill.
 * May 16, 1940: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt requested from Congress credit of $900 million for the construction of 50,000 airplanes per year.
 * May 17, 1940: German forces fully occupied the Netherlands, ending the Battle of Netherlands.
 * June 4, 1940: The Dunkirk evacuation ended after safely evacuating 338,226 British and allied soldiers from German-occupied Europe.
 * June 10, 1940: Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France.
 * June 13, 1940: Paris was declared an open city to avoid destruction.
 * June 22, 1940: France and Germany signed the Armistice of 22 June 1940, ending the Battle of France. France was divided into a German occupied territory covering the north and west of the country, and a free state of Vichy France in the south.
 * July 10, 1940: The Battle of Britain began.
 * July 22, 1940: The United Kingdom refused a peace offer from Germany.
 * September 7, 1940: German air forces began a campaign of carpet bombing in Britain, known as The Blitz.
 * September 16, 1940: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
 * September 27, 1940: Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact.
 * November 5, 1940: 1940 United States general election:
 * Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) re-elected President of the United States. The first and only time a president was elected to a third term.
 * Julius P. Heil (R) re-elected Governor of Wisconsin.
 * Robert M. La Follette Jr. (P) re-elected United States senator from Wisconsin.
 * November 11, 1940: The British Navy launched the first aircraft carrier strike in naval history against Italian naval units at the Battle of Taranto.
 * November 11–12, 1940: The 1940 Armistice Day Blizzard resulted in 154 deaths, including 13 in Wisconsin.
 * December 29, 1940: At one of his fireside chats, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt declared that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."

Major legislation

 * 1939 Act 57: Replaced the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board with the Employment Relations Board.
 * 1939 Act 68: Created the Wisconsin Department of Securities to regulate the sale of stocks, bonds, etc.
 * 1939 Act 85: Renamed the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Markets to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture.
 * 1939 Act 410: Consolidated automobile registration, licensing, inspection, and enforcement with the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles.
 * 1939 Act 412: Created the Wisconsin Department of Taxation and the Wisconsin Board of Tax Appeals.
 * 1939 Act 435: Created the Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare.

Sessions

 * Regular session: January 11, 1939 –October 6, 1939

Senate leadership

 * President of the Senate: Walter S. Goodland (R)
 * President pro tempore: Edward J. Roethe (R–Fennimore)
 * Majority leader: Maurice Coakley (R–Beloit)
 * Minority leader: Philip E. Nelson (P–Maple)

Assembly leadership

 * Speaker of the Assembly: Vernon W. Thomson (R–Richland Center)

Members of the Senate
Members of the Senate for the Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature:

Members of the Assembly
Members of the Assembly for the Sixty-Fourth Wisconsin Legislature:

Senate committees

 * Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Labor –C. Shearer, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Committees – H. W. Bolens, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Contingent Expenditures – M. Duel, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Corporations and Taxation – C. T. Young, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Education and Public Welfare – E. J. Roethe, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Highways – M. Mack, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on the Judiciary – M. Coakley, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Legislative Procedure – E. J. Roethe, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on State and Local Government – B. Gettelman, chair

Assembly committees

 * Assembly Standing Committee on Agriculture – O. R. Rice, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Manufactures – B. M. Engebretson, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Conservation – F. N. Graass, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Contingent Expenditures – E. Grassman, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Education – W. H. Goldthorpe, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Elections – M. Catlin, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Engrossed Bills – H. Youngblood, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Enrolled Bills – C. M. Nelson, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Excise and Fees – L. E. Douglass, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Highways – D. C. McDowell, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance and Banking – M. Catlin, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on the Judiciary – R. W. Peterson, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Labor – A. R. Ludvigsen, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Municipalities – A. F. Hinz, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Printing – W. F. Miller, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Public Welfare – G. H. Hipke, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Revision – A. C. Grosvenor, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Rules – R. W. Peterson, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on State Affairs – C. A. Budlong, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Taxation – M. J. Fitzsimons, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Third Reading – L. T. Niemuth, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Transportation – D. I. Hammergren, chair

Joint committees

 * Joint Standing Committee on Finance –O. Mueller (Sen.) & P. B. McIntyre (Asm.), co-chairs

Senate employees

 * Chief Clerk: Lawrence R. Larsen
 * Assistant Chief Clerk: Thomas M. Donahue
 * Sergeant-at-Arms: Emil A. Hartman
 * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Albert E. Daley

Assembly employees

 * Chief Clerk: John J. Slocum
 * Assistant Chief Clerk: Frederick W. Krez
 * Sergeant-at-Arms: Robert A. Merrill
 * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Phillip K. Lalor