67th Wisconsin Legislature

The Sixty-Seventh Wisconsin Legislature convened from to in regular session, and reconvened in a special session in July 1946.
This legislative term saw the end of World War II and the establishment of the United Nations. The term also saw the end of the Wisconsin Progressive Party, which formally disbanded at a 1946 convention.
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 7, 1944. 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 3, 1942.
The governor of Wisconsin during this entire term was Republican Walter Samuel Goodland, of Racine County, serving his second two-year term, having won election in the 1944 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.

Major events

January 1, 1945: Second inauguration of Walter Samuel Goodland as Governor of Wisconsin.
January 20, 1945: [Fourth inauguration of Franklin Democratic Party (United States)|D. Roosevelt|Fourth inauguration] of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States.
February 11, 1945: The Yalta Conference concluded, agreeing to the denazification and postwar partition of Germany, as well as self-determination rights for a liberated Poland.
April 3, 1945: Wisconsin voters ratified two amendments to the state constitution:
* Aboliting the office of justice of the peace in first class cities.
* Allowing the state to take on debt for aeronautical improvements.
April 12, 1945: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office. Vice President Harry S. Truman immediately succeeded him as the 33rd President of the United States.
April 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini was executed by partisans in Milan, Italy.
April 29, 1945: Axis forces in Italy signed an unconditional surrender to the Allies.
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin, Germany.
May 2, 1945: Soviet forces captured Berlin.
May 8, 1945: Representatives of the German Army signed the German Instrument of Surrender, formally ending Germany's part in
June 26, 1945: The Charter of the United Nations was published at the end of the United Nations Conference on International Organization.
July 16, 1945: The first atomic bomb test took place at the Trinity site in New Mexico.
July 21, 1945: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed an order approving the use of atomic bombs against Imperial Japan.
August 6, 1945: U.S. forces detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, killing at least 90,000 people and destroying much of the city.
August 8, 1945: The United States ratified the Charter of the United Nations, becoming the third nation to ratify the document.
August 9, 1945: U.S. forces detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, killing at least 39,000 people.
August 14, 1945: Emperor Hirohito agreed to the unconditional surrender of Japan to Allied forces, ending major combat in
October 24, 1945: The United Nations was established as a sufficient number of nations had ratified the Charter.
March 17, 1946: At a convention in Portage, Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Progressive Party voted to disband. The majority of delegates voted to rejoin the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
March 19, 1946: Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Joseph Martin died in office.
April 2, 1946: Wisconsin voters rejected an amendment to the state constitution which would have removed term limits from the sheriffs.
April 6, 1946: Wisconsin governor Walter Samuel Goodland appointed James Ward Rector to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to succeed the deceased justice Joseph Martin.
April 18, 1946: The League of Nations met for the last time, transferred its mission to the United Nations and disbanded.
August 14, 1946: Wisconsin's senior United States senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., after the dissolution of the Wisconsin Progressive Party, was defeated in the Republican Party primary by Wisconsin circuit court judge Joseph McCarthy.
November 5, 1946:
* Walter Samuel Goodland re-elected Governor of Wisconsin.
* Joseph McCarthy elected United States senator from Wisconsin.
* Wisconsin voters ratified two amendments to the state constitution:
** Removing audit powers from the Secretary of State.
** Assigning audit powers to the Legislature.
* Wisconsin voters also rejected an amendment to the state constitution:
** Allowing public transportation to be used for students to attend private or parochial schools.

Major legislation

July 30, 1945: An Act... relating to aeronautics, and making an appropriation, . Established Wisconsin's Aeronautics Commission.
August 27, 1945: An Act... creating a Wisconsin department of veterans' affairs, providing educational aid, economic aid, medical, hospital, or other remedial care for World War II veterans and their dependents, transferring to said department certain powers, duties, and functions vested in the soldiers' rehabilitation board and adjutant general, and custodian of memorial hall, and making an appropriation, . Created the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs.
1945 Joint Resolution 2: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to abolish the office of justice of the peace in first class cities. This amendment was ratified by voters at the April 1945 election.
1945 Joint Resolution 3: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to allow the state to take on debt to fund aeronautical improvements.
1945 Joint Resolution 47: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to abolish term limits for Wisconsin sheriffs. This amendment was rejected by voters at the April 1946 election.
1945 Joint Resolution 73: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to remove audit powers from the Secretary of State and transfer those powers to the Legislature. This amendment was ratified by voters in two separate questions at the November 1946 election.
1945 Joint Resolution 78: Second legislative passage of a proposed amendment to the state constitution to allow public transportation to be used for students to attend private and parochial schools in addition to existing transportation for public schools. This amendment was rejected by voters at the November 1946 election.

Sessions

Regular session: January 10, 1945September 6, 1945July 1946 special session: July 29, 1946July 30, 1946

Leaders

Senate leadership

President of the Senate: Oscar Rennebohm
President pro tempore: Conrad Shearer
Majority leader: Warren P. Knowles
Minority leader: Anthony P. Gawronski

Assembly leadership

Speaker of the Assembly: Donald C. McDowell
Majority leader: Vernon W. Thomson
Minority leaders:
* Leland McParland
* Lyall T. Beggs

Members

Members of the Senate

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

Dist.	Counties	Senator	Residence	Party
01	Door, Kewaunee,		Denmark	Prog.
02	Brown		Green Bay	Dem.
03	Milwaukee		Milwaukee	Dem.
04	Milwaukee (Northeast County		Milwaukee	Rep.
05	Milwaukee		Milwaukee	Rep.
06	Milwaukee		Milwaukee	Dem.
07	Milwaukee (Southeast County		Milwaukee	Dem.
08	Milwaukee		West Milwaukee	Rep.
09	Milwaukee		Milwaukee	Dem.
10	Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce,		New Richmond	Rep.
11	Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas,		Superior	Prog.
12	Ashland, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer,		Glidden	Rep.
13	Dodge		Oakfield	Rep.
14	Outagamie		Appleton	Rep.
15	Rock		Beloit	Rep.
16	Crawford, Grant,		Bloomington	Rep.
17	Green, Iowa,		South Wayne	Rep.
18	,		Fond du Lac	Rep.
19	Calumet		Oshkosh	Rep.
20	Ozaukee		Sheboygan	Rep.
21	Racine		Racine	Rep.
22	Kenosha		Kenosha	Rep.
23	Portage		Plover	Dem.
24	Clark, Taylor,		Marshfield	Rep.
25	Lincoln		Unity	Rep.
26	Dane		Madison	Prog.
27	Columbia, Richland,		Richland Center	Rep.
28	Chippewa		Stanley	Rep.
29	Barron, Dunn,		Luck	Prog.
30	Florence, Forest, Langlade, Marinette,		Amberg	Rep.
31	Adams, Juneau, Monroe,		Sparta	Prog.
32	Jackson, La Crosse,		La Crosse	Rep.
33	Jefferson			Rep.

Members of the Assembly

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

Committees

Senate committees

Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and LaborM. R. Laird, chair
Senate Standing Committee on CommitteesW. P. Knowles, chair
Senate Standing Committee on ConservationT. G. Brown, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Contingent ExpendituresE. F. Hilker, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Corporations and TaxationL. J. Fellenz, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Education and Public WelfareW. A. Freehoff, chair
Senate Standing Committee on HighwaysJ. Miller, chair
Senate Standing Committee on the JudiciaryG. W. Buchen, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Legislative ProcedureC. Shearer, chair
Senate Standing Committee on State and Local GovernmentB. Gettelman, chair
Senate Standing Committee on Veterans and Military AffairsR. Schlabach, chair

Assembly committees

Assembly Standing Committee on AgricultureO. R. Rice, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and ManufacturesE. Grassman, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on ConservationJ. E. Youngs, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Contingent ExpendituresA. A. Lenroot, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on EducationW. W. Clark, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on ElectionsC. E. Collar, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Engrossed BillsH. Youngblood, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Enrolled BillsF. E. Riley, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Excise and FeesF. Pfennig, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on HighwaysH. A. Keegan, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance and BankingB. M. Engebretson, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on the JudiciaryV. W. Thomson, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on LaborG. Benson, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on MunicipalitiesE. C. Krause, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on PrintingJ. C. Chapple, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Public WelfareE. W. Hanson, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on RulesW. J. Nuss, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on State AffairsA. E. Austin, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on TaxationJ. A. Canniff, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Third ReadingF. L. Feierstein, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on TransportationA. Van De Zande, chair
Assembly Standing Committee on Veterans and Military AffairsC. C. Christensen, chair

Joint committees

Joint Standing Committee on FinanceG. H. Hipke & J. Spearbraker, co-chairs
Joint Standing Committee on Revisions, Repeals, and Uniform LawsG. W. Buchen & C. F. Westfahl, co-chairs