83rd Wisconsin Legislature
| 83rd Wisconsin Legislature | |||||||||
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Wisconsin State Capitol | |||||||||
| Overview | |||||||||
| Legislative body | Wisconsin Legislature | ||||||||
| Meeting place | Wisconsin State Capitol | ||||||||
| Term | January 3, 1977 – January 1, 1979 | ||||||||
| Election | November 2, 1976 | ||||||||
| Senate | |||||||||
| Members | 33 | ||||||||
| Senate President | Martin J. Schreiber (D) until July 6, 1977 | ||||||||
| President pro tempore | Fred Risser (D) | ||||||||
| Party control | Democratic | ||||||||
| Assembly | |||||||||
| Members | 99 | ||||||||
| Assembly Speaker | Edward Jackamonis (D) | ||||||||
| Speaker pro tempore | Michael P. Early (D) | ||||||||
| Party control | Democratic | ||||||||
| Sessions | |||||||||
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| Special sessions | |||||||||
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The Eighty-Third Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 1979, in regular session, and also convened in four special sessions.
This legislative session saw a dramatic overhaul of the Wisconsin judicial system as voters approved a series of amendments to the Constitution of Wisconsin which established the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and collapsed the county courts into the Wisconsin circuit court system. The amendment also established a constitutional basis for the powers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court to administer the state court system.
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 2, 1976. 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 5, 1974.
The governor of Wisconsin for the first six months of this term was Democrat Patrick Lucey, of Crawford County, serving the third year of his second four-year term, having won re-election in the 1974 Wisconsin gubernatorial election. Lucey resigned on July 6, 1977, to accept appointment as United States Ambassador to Mexico. At that time, the lieutenant governor, Democrat Martin J. Schreiber, of Milwaukee County, then ascended to become governor for the remainder of this legislative term.