65th Wisconsin Legislature

The Sixty-Fifth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 8, 1941, to June 6, 1941, in regular session.

This legislative term coincided with the United States entrance into World War II. This session also represents the first time the Legislature failed to pass a redistricting act on schedule. Ultimately, no redistricting would occur in Wisconsin in the 1940s.

Senators representing even-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 even-numbered senators were elected in the general election of November 5, 1940. Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of a four-year term, having been elected in the general election of November 8, 1938.

Major events

 * January 6, 1941:
 * Second inauguration of Julius P. Heil as Governor of Wisconsin.
 * At his State of the Union address, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented his Four Freedoms as fundamental human rights.
 * January 20, 1941: Third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States.
 * January 21, 1941: The keel of the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) was laid down at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
 * March 11, 1941: The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
 * April 1, 1941: Wisconsin voters ratified an amendment to the state constitution allowing real estate taxes to be paid in installments.
 * May 27, 1941:
 * U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed an unlimited national emergency.
 * The Germany Navy battleship Bismarck was scuttled and sunk after being damaged in battle with British Navy off the coast of France.
 * June 14, 1941: All German and Italian assets in the United States were frozen.
 * June 22, 1941: Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, invading the Soviet Union and breaking their non-aggression pact.
 * July 1, 1941: Commercial television was authorized in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission.
 * July 8, 1941: Wisconsin U.S. representative Stephen Bolles (WI-01) died in office.
 * August 14, 1941: The United States and United Kingdom issued the Atlantic Charter, describing their goals for a postwar world.
 * October 30, 1941: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt approved a $1 billion lend–lease aide package for the Soviet Union (over $20 billion adjusted for inflation to 2023).
 * December 7, 1941: Naval forces of the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Navy at Pearl Harbor.
 * December 8, 1941: The United States declared war on Japan.
 * January 7, 1942: The German Army abandoned their attempt to take Moscow after a three-month battle.
 * January 20, 1942: At the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, officers of the Nazi German government decided that the Final Solution to the "Jewish Problem" would be deportations to extermination camps.
 * March 9, 1942: The first prisoners of war arrived at Wisconsin's Fort McCoy.
 * March 18, 1942: U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9102, creating the War Relocation Authority.
 * April 26, 1942: The German Reichstag met for the last time, dissolving and declaring Adolf Hitler supreme judge of the German people.
 * May 8, 1942: Imperial Japanese forces completed the conquest of the Philippines, taking roughly 100,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war.
 * June 4, 1942: United States Navy aviators sank all four of Japan's fleet carriers present at the Battle of Midway.
 * November 3, 1942: Orland Steen Loomis (P) elected Governor of Wisconsin.
 * November 8, 1942: About 100,000 men of the United States and allied nations under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower landed at various points along the coast of North Africa.
 * November 9, 1942: German Army forces controlled roughly 90% of the city of Stalingrad, representing the closest the Germans would come to capturing the city.
 * December 2, 1942: At a lab below Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi created the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction as part of the Manhattan Project.
 * December 7, 1942: Wisconsin governor-elect Orland Steen Loomis died of a heart attack.
 * December 11, 1942: Wisconsin Supreme Court justice George B. Nelson resigned.
 * December 12, 1942: Wisconsin governor Julius P. Heil appointed Elmer E. Barlow to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to succeed the retired justice George B. Nelson.
 * December 29, 1942: In a unanimous decision, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the lieutenant governor-elect, Walter S. Goodland, would be sworn in as the next governor in place of the deceased governor-elect.

Major legislation

 * 1941 Joint Resolution 18: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to allow payment of real estate taxes in installments. This amendment was ratified by voters at the April 1941 election.

Sessions

 * Regular session: January 8, 1941 –June 6, 1941

Senate leadership

 * President of the Senate: Walter S. Goodland (R)
 * President pro tempore: Conrad Shearer (R–Kenosha)
 * Majority leader: Maurice Coakley (R–Beloit)
 * Minority leader: Cornelius T. Young (D–Milwaukee)

Assembly leadership

 * Speaker of the Assembly: Vernon W. Thomson (R–Richland Center)
 * Majority leader: Mark Catlin Jr. (R–Appleton)
 * Minority leaders:
 * Andrew Biemiller (P–Milwaukee)
 * Robert Emmet Tehan (D–Milwaukee)

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

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

Senate committees

 * Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Labor –F. R. Fisher, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Committees – M. Coakley, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Contingent Expenditures – T. G. Brown, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Corporations and Taxation – M. T. Murray, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Education and Public Welfare – W. A. Freehoff, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Highways – M. Mack, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on the Judiciary – J. Peters, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on Legislative Procedure – C. Shearer, chair
 * Senate Standing Committee on State and Local Government – R. Schlabach, 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 – R. H. Burns, 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 – E. F. Hilker, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Highways – D. C. McDowell, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance and Banking – J. C. McBride, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on the Judiciary – M. Catlin, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Labor – A. R. Ludvigsen, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Municipalities – L. T. Niemuth, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Printing – C. W. Fowell, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Public Welfare – E. W. Hanson, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Revision – C. F. Westfahl, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Rules – M. Catlin, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on State Affairs – A. E. Austin, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Taxation – E. A. Heden, chair
 * Assembly Standing Committee on Third Reading – W. F. Miller, 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: Winford H. Johnson

Assembly employees

 * Chief Clerk: Arthur L. May
 * Assistant Chief Clerk: Edward J. Walden
 * Sergeant-at-Arms: Norris J. Kellman
 * Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms: Phillip K. Lalor