Mar 30, 2026

Wisconsin Wind-down

Jake Beckstrom


Well, I’ve got some sad news, some bad news, and some good news coming out of Wisconsin.

 

First, the sad news: effectively, our window to pass our $5 million Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant Bill during this session of the Wisconsin Legislature is now closed. The State Senate adjourned on Thursday, March 19, 2026 for the last time this legislative session. And once again, our bill was left out in the cold. 

 

The bad news: our author in the Senate, Sen. Van Wanggaard, announced his retirement last week on the Senate's last day.

Wisconsin State Senator Van Wanggaard, the lead author of our bill in the Senate for the last several sessions. Sen. Wanggaard recently announced his retirement.


Although the bill never got passed under his authorship, having a Republican as the lead author in the Senate seemed to give permission for many more Republican Senators and Assembly members to co-sponsor our bill.

 

As for the good news: many other lawmakers who have consistently been against the WI SCI Research Bill in past sessions have also announced retirements in the face of the upcoming election this November.

Some of these lawmakers have created quite the speed-bumps for our bill over the last few sessions; these soon-to-be-retiring legislators include Sen. Steve Nass, Sen. Rob Hutton, Rep. Kevin Petersen, as well as the majority leader of the Senate, Devin LeMahieu.
 

Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos (who holds the record for the longest-serving Speaker in WI legislative history) has also announced his retirement. While Vos was not an explicit opponent of our bill, he didn’t do much to help our cause. On top of all this, Gov. Tony Evers (who has always been in support of our bill) has also announced that he will not be running for governor again this fall.

 

This will be the first time in 16 years that all three Wisconsin leaders (Governor, Senate Leader, and Assembly Speaker) are voluntarily not returning for reelection.

 

Majority control of the Senate may change during this November election where over half of the Senate seats (17 out of 33) will be on the ballot. New district maps were introduced in 2024, which were mandated by the WI Supreme Court to reduce gerrymandering in the state.

Regardless of which party controls the Assembly, Senate, or Governorship after the election, the Wisconsin Cure Advocacy Network will be coming back next session to work on getting our Spinal Cord Injury Research Grant bill passed!

 

We have laid an incredibly solid foundation for our bill over the last six years and continue to maintain excellent relationships throughout the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. We’ve shown that when our bill makes it to the floor it is incredibly popular. Which is why we are not giving up, but digging in and strategizing for the next legislative session. We are confident that whoever is elected to the newly open seats this coming November will see our bill as a great investment for the state as well as the right thing to do for the citizens of Wisconsin. 

 

Best,