85th Wisconsin Legislature

The Eighty-Fifth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 5, 1981, to January 3, 1983, in regular session, and also convened in three special sessions.

This session represents the third time the Legislature failed to pass a redistricting act on schedule. Ultimately, a panel of federal judges would implement a punitive redistricting plan in 1982, and after Democrats gained unified control of government in 1983, they passed a superseding plan.

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 4, 1980. 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 7, 1978.

Major events

 * January 20, 1981: Inauguration of Ronald Reagan as 40th President of the United States.
 * March 30, 1981: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C.
 * April 7, 1981: 1981 Wisconsin Spring election:
 * Wisconsin voters ratified five amendments to the state constitution:
 * Adding a provision for a recall primary when a nonpartisan official is recalled from office and more than two candidates seek the office.
 * Expanding debt options for municipal sewerage districts.
 * Amending the right to bail to allow the legislature to set additional circumstances where bail could be denied or revoked.
 * Updating conflicting language in the constitution relating to special corporations.
 * Removing a requirement for two-thirds vote on any changes to banking law.
 * September 25, 1981: Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court.
 * March 26, 1982: Wisconsin Supreme Court justice John Louis Coffey resigned from office after he was confirmed as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
 * April 6, 1982: 1982 Wisconsin Spring election:
 * Wisconsin voters ratified an amendment to the state constitution allowing the Legislature to make counties financial liable for damages suffered by wrongful acts by sheriffs.
 * April 15, 1982: Wisconsin governor Lee S. Dreyfus appointed Louis J. Ceci to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, to succeed John Louis Coffey.
 * June 9, 1982: A three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin handed down their decision in the case of Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board, imposing new punitive legislative maps on Wisconsin.
 * November 2, 1982: 1982 United States general election:
 * Tony Earl (D) elected Governor of Wisconsin.
 * William Proxmire (D) re-elected United States senator from Wisconsin.
 * Wisconsin voters ratified nine amendments to the state constitution:
 * Removing the words "man" and "men and "his" and "her" and replacing them with gender-neutral words.
 * Removing an exclusion on counting overseas soldiers and sailors from the language on redistricting.
 * Removing obsolete language left in the constitution by the 1881 term-lengths amendments.
 * Removing the requirement for a voice vote in the legislature for the election of their own officers.
 * Removing obsolete language left in the constitution by a 1902 amendment.
 * Removing obsolete language directing Civil War draft substitute payments to go into the state school fund.
 * Removing obsolete language dealing with the transition from the Wisconsin Territory into statehood in 1848.
 * Two amendments removing obsolete language left from the court transition amendments in 1977.

Major legislation

 * March 4, 1982: Joint Resolution ... relating to removal of obsolete provisions regarding transitions from territory to statehood, transitions in offices, legislative districting and elections, the school fund and masculine and feminine gender terminology, Enrolled Joint Resolution 29. This was the second legislative passage of a series of proposed amendments to the state constitution removing obsolete language from the constitution.  These amendments were ratified by voters at the November 1982 election.

Sessions

 * Regular session: January 5, 1981 –January 3, 1983
 * November 1981 special session: November 4, 1981 –November 17, 1981
 * April 1982 special session: April 6, 1982 –May 20, 1982
 * May 1982 special session: May 26, 1982 –May 28, 1982

Senate leadership

 * President of the Senate: Fred Risser (D–Madison)

Senate majority leadership

 * Majority Leader: William A. Bablitch (D–Stevens Point) (until May 26, 1982)
 * Timothy Cullen (D–Janesville) (after May 26, 1982)
 * Assistant Majority Leader: James T. Flynn (D–West Allis)

Senate minority leadership

 * Minority Leader: Walter Chilsen (R–Wausau)
 * Assistant Minority Leader: Don Hanaway (R–De Pere)

Assembly leadership

 * Speaker of the Assembly: Edward Jackamonis (D–Waukesha)
 * Deputy Speaker: Louise M. Tesmer (D–Milwaukee)

Assembly majority leadership

 * Majority Leader: Thomas A. Loftus (D–Sun Prairie)
 * Assistant Majority Leader: Chester A. Gerlach (D–South Milwaukee)

Assembly minority leadership

 * Minority Leader: John C. Shabaz (R–New Berlin)
 * Assistant Minority Leader: Tommy Thompson (R–Elroy)

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

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

Senate employees

 * Chief Clerk: Donald J. Schneider
 * Sergeant-at-Arms: Daniel B. Fields

Assembly employees

 * Chief Clerk: David Kedrowski
 * Sergeant-at-Arms: Lewis T. Mittness