Wisconsin Legislative Council
ACT MEMO
One Ea st Ma in Stre e t, Suite 401 • Ma dison, W I 53703 • (608) 266-1304 • le g.council@le gis.wisconsin.gov • http://www.le gis.wisconsin.gov/lc
Prepared by: David Moore, Principal Attorney May 3, 2024
2023 Wisconsin Act 254
[2023 Senate Bill 874]
Counting Sex Offense
Convictions for Certain Purposes
2023 Wisconsin Act 254 modifies the circumstances under which certain agencies must issue a law
enforcement bulletin with respect to a person with multiple sex offense convictions. It also modifies the
circumstances under which a person with multiple convictions for sex offenses is subject to lifetime
compliance with the sex offender registry. Both changes are retroactive to September 2, 2017.
BACKGROUND
Prior law imposed certain requirements on individuals who have “on 2 or more separate occasions,
been convicted or found not guilty or not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect for a sex
offense, or the solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit a violation, of a federal law, a military law,
a tribal law or a law of any state that is comparable to a sex offense.” These requirements pertained to:
(1) whether an agency was required to issue a “law enforcement bulletin” regarding such an individual;
and (2) whether such an individual was subject to lifetime compliance with the sex offender registry.
Requirements Related to Law Enforcement Bulletins
State law requires an agency with jurisdiction, commonly the Department of Corrections (DOC), to
issue a “law enforcement bulletin” with respect to certain persons when the person will enter the
community, such as when the person is released from confinement in a state correctional institution.
1
A
person regarding whom an agency issued a mandatory law enforcement bulletin is subject to lifetime
GPS tracking.
2
Prior law specified that an agency with jurisdiction must issue a law enforcement bulletin when a
person is entering the community in one of the situations specified in statute and that person has
either: (1) been found to be a sexually violent person under ch. 980, Stats.; or (2) “on 2 or more separate
occasions, been convicted or found not guilty or not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect
for a sex offense or for a violation of a law of this state that is comparable to a sex offense.” Prior law
also required DOC to issue a law enforcement bulletin with respect to an individual who becomes a
resident of this state from another state and who has on two or more separate occasions been convicted
1
Specifically, state law contemplates the use of law enforcement bulletins when: an agency confines the person under
the community residential confinement program, provides the person entering the intensive sanctions program with a
sanction other than placement in a Type 1 prison or jail, or releases the person from confinement in a state correctional
institution or institutional care. Depending on whether an individual meets certain conditions, state law either requires
an agency to issue a bulletin or, alternatively, grants the agency discretion to issue a bulletin when the agency
determines that such notification is necessary to protect the public.
2
Having been the subject of a mandatory law enforcement bulletin is one reason a person may be subject to lifetime
GPS tracking, though a person may also be subject to lifetime GPS tracking for other reasons. - 2 -
or found not guilty or not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect for a violation of a law in
another jurisdiction that is comparable to a sex offense.
3
On September 1, 2017, Attorney General Brad Schimel issued OAG-02-17, in response to a request from
DOC regarding whether DOC’s obligation to issue a law enforcement bulletin with respect to an
individual who has multiple convictions for sex offenses applies if the convictions occur at the same
time or stem from the same complaint. In his opinion, Attorney General Schimel advised that, for this
purpose, convictions on “separate occasions” refers to “multiple convictions, regardless of whether they
were part of the same proceeding, occurred on the same date, or were included in the same criminal
complaint.”
Requirements Related to Sex Offender Registry
State law requires a person who is convicted of a sex offense, as defined for this purpose, to comply with
sex offender registration requirements. The period of compliance is either 15 years after discharge from
the probation or supervision imposed for the sex offense or until the person’s death (lifetime
registration), depending on the circumstances. Prior law provided that a person is subject to lifetime
registration, among other circumstances, if the person has “on 2 or more separate occasions, been
convicted or found not guilty or not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect for a sex offense,
or the solicitation, conspiracy or attempt to commit a violation, of a federal law, a military law, a tribal
law or a law of any state that is comparable to a sex offense.”
In 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court interpreted the meaning of “2 or more separate occasions” for
the purposes of whether lifetime registration is required and determined that “the plain and ordinary
meaning of ‘separate occasions’” in this context does not refer solely to the number of convictions. In
contrast with the Attorney General’s opinion discussed above, the Court concluded that a person who
had been convicted of multiple counts of a sex offense, “based on charges filed in a single case during
the same hearing,” was not convicted on “separate occasions.” [State v. Rector, 2023 WI 41.]
2023 WISCONSIN ACT 254
2023 Wisconsin Act 254 eliminates the language referring to two or more separate occasions, both for
the purposes of when lifetime sex offender registration applies and for the purposes of whether an
agency with jurisdiction must issue a law enforcement bulletin. Under the act, a person is subject to
lifetime sex offender registration requirements and an agency must issue a law enforcement bulletin
when a person “has been convicted 2 or more times, including convictions that were part of the same
proceeding, occurred on the same date, or were included in the same criminal complaint, for a sex
offense ....” These requirements also apply when a person has been found “2 or more times, including
findings that were part of the same proceeding, occurred on the same date, or were included in the
same criminal complaint, not guilty or not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect for a sex
offense ....”
The act specifies that the changes described above first apply to determinations made on September 2,
2017, regarding whether a person has been convicted or found not guilty on two or more separate
occasions.
4
The act requires DOC to identify persons who were released from the requirement to comply
with lifetime sex offender registration requirements, but who would not have been released had the act
3
This obligation also applied to certain other categories of individuals with out-of-state violations, such as a person who
becomes a student in this state or begins carrying on a vocation in this state.
4
September 2, 2017, is the day after the Attorney General issued OAG-02-17. - 3 -
been in effect, and notify these persons that they are subject to lifetime registration. Under the act, the
persons so notified must register as a sex offender within 30 days.
As mentioned above, a person regarding whom an agency issued a mandatory law enforcement bulletin
is subject to lifetime GPS tracking. Accordingly, the act also requires DOC to identify persons who, on
the act’s effective date, were not subject to lifetime GPS tracking but who would have been had the act
been in effect, and notify them that they are subject to lifetime GPS tracking.
Effective date: March 31, 2024
For a full history of the bill, visit the Legislature’s bill history page.
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