04/08/2026
Update on the three wake boat bills in the Wisconsin Legislature
On February 9th, 2026, Assembly Bill 1033 (AB 1033) was introduced. It proceeded to a public hearing the next day in the Assembly Committee on Government Affairs. Wisconsin’s Green Fire testified at this hearing in opposition to AB 1033. An amendment during the hearing led to a 7-3 vote, passing the bill out of committee.
Two days later, a pair of opposing Senate Bills appeared: Senate Bill 1024 (SB 1024) and SB 1025. These bills had public hearings the following week on February 19th in the Senate Committee on Transportation and Local Government.
Simultaneous to that Senate hearing on SB 1024 and SB 1025 on February 19th, the Assembly voted on AB 1033. During that process on the Assembly floor, a substitute amendment linked the wakesurfing bill to a sandhill crane hunting season.
The Assembly adopted this substitute amendment then passed the bill.
Back in the Senate, the Chair of the Committee on Transportation and Local Government indicated that SB 1024 and SB 1025 would not go forward and be taken up in the Senate.
Effectively, given the impending end of the Legislative session and the curveball of the sandhill crane hunting amendment, this meant all three bills related to wake boats were dead.
Since no statewide wake boat bill is likely to take effect at this time, Wisconsin will continue in the current situation of statewide boating regulations (100-foot distance from shore and other structures for all watercraft to operate at slow/no-wake speeds, or 200-foot distance for “personal watercraft”), plus the network of local wake-boating ordinances.
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