Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 15 - Structure of the executive branch.
15.09 - Councils.

15.09 Councils.
(1) Selection of members.
(a) Unless otherwise provided by law, the governor shall appoint the members of councils for terms prescribed by law. Except as provided in pars. (b) and (c), fixed terms shall expire on July 1 and shall, if the term is for an even number of years, expire in an odd-numbered year.
(b) The terms of the members of the council on recycling shall expire as specified under s. 15.347 (17) (c).
(c) The terms of the members of the off-highway motorcycle council shall expire on March 1.
(2) Selection of officers. Unless otherwise provided by law, at its first meeting in each year every council shall elect a chairperson, vice chairperson and secretary from among its members. Any officer may be reelected for successive terms. For any council created under the general authority of s. 15.04 (1) (c), the constitutional officer or secretary heading the department or the chief executive officer of the independent agency in which such council is created shall designate an employee of the department or independent agency to serve as secretary of the council and to be a voting member thereof.
(3) Location and frequency of meetings. Unless otherwise provided by law, every council shall meet at least annually and shall also meet on the call of the head of the department or independent agency in which it is created, and may meet at other times on the call of the chairperson or a majority of its members. A council shall meet at such locations as may be determined by it unless the constitutional officer or secretary heading the department or the chief executive officer of the independent agency in which it is created determines a specific meeting place.
(4) Quorum. Except as otherwise expressly provided, a majority of the membership of a council constitutes a quorum to do business, and a majority of a quorum may act in any matter within the jurisdiction of the council.
(5) Powers and duties. Unless otherwise provided by law, a council shall advise the head of the department or independent agency in which it is created and shall function on a continuing basis for the study, and recommendation of solutions and policy alternatives, of the problems arising in a specified functional area of state government.
(6) Reimbursement for expenses. Members of a council shall not be compensated for their services, but, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, members of councils created by statute shall be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, such reimbursement in the case of an elective or appointive officer or employee of this state who represents an agency as a member of a council to be paid by the agency which pays his or her salary. Members of the agricultural education and workforce development council may not be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
(7) Reports. Unless a different provision is made by law for transmittal or publication of a report, every council created in a department or independent agency shall submit to the head of the department or independent agency, upon request of that person not more often than annually, a report on the operation of the council.
(8) Official oath. Each member of a council shall take and file the official oath prior to assuming office.
History: 1971 c. 211; 1977 c. 29; 1977 c. 196 s. 131; 1979 c. 34, 346; 1983 a. 27, 388, 410; 1985 a. 84; 1989 a. 335; 1991 a. 39, 189; 1993 a. 184; 2003 a. 260; 2007 a. 223; 2009 a. 2; 2011 a. 233; 2015 a. 170.

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