Date of enactment: December 6, 2023
2023 Senate Bill 280 Date of publication*: December 7, 2023
2023 WISCONSIN ACT 74
AN ACT to amend 86.19 (1); and to create 86.19 (1p) of the statutes; relating to: tribal nation welcome signs.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in
senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 86.19 (1) of the statutes is amended to
read:
86.19 (1) Except as provided in sub. (1m), (1n), or
(1o), or (1p) or s. 84.01 (30) (g), no sign shall be placed
within the limits of any street or highway except such as
are necessary for the guidance or warning of traffic or as
provided by ss. 60.23 (17m) and 66.0429. The authori-
ties charged with the maintenance of streets or highways
shall cause the removal therefrom and the disposal of all
other signs.
SECTION 2. 86.19 (1p) of the statutes is created to
read:
86.19 (1p) (a) In this subsection, “tribal nation wel-
come sign” means an official sign erected and maintained
by a federally recognized American Indian tribe or band
in this state that the tribe or band determines is necessary
to inform motorists of the territorial boundaries of the
Indian reservation or other land held in trust for the tribe
or band.
(b) A federally recognized American Indian tribe or
band in this state may erect and maintain within the right−
of−way of any highway within the boundaries of an
Indian reservation or other land held in trust for the tribe
or band a tribal nation welcome sign. No sign under this
subsection may be placed within the right−of−way of a
highway designated as part of the national system of
interstate and defense highways. A sign placed under this
subsection is not a traffic control device and is not subject
to the provisions of the Wisconsin manual on traffic con-
trol devices adopted by the department under s. 84.02 (4)
(e).
* Section 991.11, WISCONSIN STATUTES: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor’s
partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.”