WI tenant right to counsel bill dies

Four days prior to the end of Wisconsin’s 2026 legislative session, AB 1195 was introduced, which would have provided a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.  This bill was part of Rep. Ryan Clancy’s package of tenant protection bills, a package that also included bills on the right to organize, extending the period to cure a rent nonpayment, and providing some eviction record protection.  the RTC bill would have provided tenants facing eviction with a right to counsel at public expense absent waiver of the right.  In order to receive counsel, the tenant would have had to appear in court on the date specified in the summons or request that counsel be appointed by contacting the clerk of court in the county where the eviction action has been brought on or before the return date specified in the summons.  The bill also would have created a civil legal aid board comprised of 9 members to serve staggered 3-year terms,  In determining whether to appoint counsel, the bill instructed the Director of the civil legal aid board to “take into account moneys available… for that purpose” and “prioritize appointing counsel for individuals in the counties in which the most residential evictions occur and to individuals who are disproportionately at risk of eviction.”

However, given the bill’s introduction so close to the end of the session, it unsurprisingly failed to advance.