Wisconsin: Anti-SLAPP Laws

The short answer

Wisconsin does not have an anti-SLAPP statute. If you're sued over speech,
petitioning, or association activity here, there is no special motion to
dismiss, no automatic stay of discovery, and no SLAPP-specific right to
recover attorney's fees. Your only tools are the state's ordinary civil
procedure rules and whatever general defamation-law defenses apply to your
specific facts. A serious reform effort came close in early 2026 but ran out
of time before the legislature's session wound down.

Requirements one by one

Governing law

There is none currently in force. A bill adopting the Uniform Law
Commission's Uniform Public Expression Protection Act, 2025 Assembly Bill
701, was introduced December 1, 2025 with bipartisan sponsors, reported out
of the Assembly Judiciary Committee 8-0, and passed the full Assembly on a
voice vote on February 17, 2026 after the rules were suspended to move it
through a second and third reading the same day. Its identical companion,
Senate Bill 666, was introduced separately in the Senate. Both bills'
recorded final action is the same: "Failed to concur/pass pursuant to
Senate Joint Resolution 1" on March 23, 2026 -- the Senate simply ran out of
its scheduled floor time before taking a vote, not a rejection on the
merits. Because Wisconsin runs on a two-year legislative biennium, no
successor bill can be introduced until the next session convenes in January
2027.

What speech or conduct would have been protected

The 2026 bill would have covered a defendant's communication in a
governmental proceeding, a communication on an issue under consideration or
review by a government body, or the exercise of free speech, press,
assembly, petition, or association rights on a matter of public concern --
Wisconsin's own copy of the national Uniform Public Expression Protection
Act text, down to its exemptions for government-enforcement actions and
commercial sale-or-lease communications. None of that is in force today.
Wisconsin courts have not developed a separate constitutional or
common-law petitioning-immunity doctrine to fill the gap either; a
defendant sued over speech here relies on ordinary defamation-law defenses
under general Wisconsin tort law -- truth, non-defamatory opinion, and, for
a public-figure plaintiff, the actual-malice standard.

The special motion that doesn't exist

The 2026 bill would have let a defendant file a "special motion for
expedited relief" within 60 days of being served, automatically staying
discovery and other proceedings until the motion (and any appeal of it) was
resolved. None of that exists today. A defendant sued over protected speech
in Wisconsin has to use an ordinary motion to dismiss for failure to state a
claim, or a motion for summary judgment after discovery closes -- with no
special expedited timeline and no automatic stay.

Burden of proof

Because there is no anti-SLAPP statute, there is no special burden-shifting
test tailored to speech-based claims. A motion to dismiss is judged under
Wisconsin's ordinary pleading-sufficiency standard, and a motion for summary
judgment is judged under the ordinary genuine-issue-of-material-fact
standard -- the same rules that apply in any other civil case.

Attorney's fees

There is no SLAPP-specific fee-shifting rule. A defendant who wins an
ordinary motion to dismiss or for summary judgment does not automatically
recover attorney's fees for having to defend against a meritless
speech-based claim. Wisconsin's general rule governing sanctions for
improperly filed pleadings and motions, Wis. Stat. § 802.05, remains
available on the same terms as in any other lawsuit, but it isn't tailored
to SLAPP suits and requires its own separate showing.

Right to appeal

There is no special interlocutory appeal right tied to a ruling on a
SLAPP-type motion. Ordinary Wisconsin rules on which orders are immediately
appealable, and which must wait for a final judgment, apply instead.

Exemptions

Not applicable -- there is no statute to carve exemptions from.

What trips people up

"Passed the Assembly" is not the same as "became law." News coverage in
February 2026 reported the anti-SLAPP bill passing the Wisconsin Assembly,
and it's easy to see that headline and assume Wisconsin now has a statute.
It doesn't -- the companion bill stalled in the Senate and both died when
the chamber ran out of floor time in March 2026.

There's no fallback common-law petitioning immunity here. Some
no-statute states still give defendants a narrow constitutional or
common-law defense against retaliatory suits over government-directed
speech. Wisconsin courts haven't recognized a comparable doctrine; the
reported cases in this area are decided on ordinary defamation grounds
(truth, opinion, actual malice), not any SLAPP-specific immunity.

A new attempt can't happen until January 2027 at the earliest.
Wisconsin's legislature runs on a two-year cycle, and this bill died with
its current biennium's floor calendar. Watch for a reintroduced bill when
the next two-year session convenes, rather than expecting another vote
before then.

Common questions

If I'm sued over something I posted online criticizing a local business,
can I get the case thrown out quickly? Not through any SLAPP-specific
procedure -- Wisconsin doesn't have one. You'd need to win an ordinary
motion to dismiss or for summary judgment on the merits, which takes longer
and doesn't come with an automatic discovery stay or fee award.

Is a Wisconsin anti-SLAPP law likely to pass soon? There's no way to
know for certain, but the 2026 bill came unusually close: it passed the
Assembly unanimously out of committee and on a voice vote on the floor. It
simply ran out of Senate floor time before the session's calendar closed,
so a similarly-drafted bill reintroduced in the next session (starting
January 2027) would have a real head start.

Can I use another state's anti-SLAPP law if I'm sued in Wisconsin?
Generally no -- a state's anti-SLAPP statute is that state's own
procedural/substantive tool and doesn't travel with you into a Wisconsin
court just because you're being sued over online speech.

Statutes and sources

• 2025 Wis. A.B. 701, proposed Wis. Stat. § 802.065(2) (never enacted) —
  "Except as otherwise provided in par. (c), this section applies to a
  cause of action asserted in a civil action against a person based on any
  of the following: 1. The person's communication in a legislative,
  executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental proceeding. 2.
  The person's communication on an issue under consideration or review in a
  legislative, executive, judicial, administrative, or other governmental
  proceeding. 3. The person's exercise of the right of freedom of speech or
  of the press, the right to assemble or petition, or the right of
  association, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or the constitution of
  this state, on a matter of public concern. (c) This section does not
  apply to any of the following: 1. A cause of action asserted against a
  governmental unit or an employee or agent of a governmental unit acting
  or purporting to act in an official capacity. 2. A cause of action
  asserted by a governmental unit or an employee or agent of a governmental
  unit acting in an official capacity to enforce a law to protect against
  an imminent threat to public health or safety. 3. A cause of action
  asserted against a person primarily engaged in the business of selling or
  leasing goods or services if the cause of action arises out of a
  communication related to the person's sale or lease of the goods or
  services." Source:
  https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/proposaltext/2025/REG/AB701.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05). This bill died without a Senate vote and was never
  enacted.
• 2025 Wis. A.B. 701, proposed Wis. Stat. § 802.065(3), (9), (10) (never
  enacted) — "(3) SPECIAL MOTION FOR EXPEDITED RELIEF. Not later than 60
  days after a party is served with a complaint, cross claim, counterclaim,
  3rd-party complaint, or other pleading that asserts a cause of action to
  which this section applies, or at a later time on a showing of good
  cause, the party may file a special motion for expedited relief to
  dismiss the cause of action or part of the cause of action... (9) APPEAL.
  Notwithstanding s. 808.03 (1), a moving party may appeal as a matter of
  right from an order denying, in whole or in part, a motion under sub.
  (3). The appeal must be filed not later than 14 days after entry of the
  order. (10) COSTS, ATTORNEY FEES, AND EXPENSES. Notwithstanding s. 814.04
  (1), on a motion under sub. (3), the court shall award court costs,
  reasonable attorney fees, and reasonable litigation expenses related to
  the motion as follows: (a) To the moving party if the moving party
  prevails on the motion. (b) To the responding party if the responding
  party prevails on the motion and the court finds that the motion was
  frivolous or filed solely with intent to delay the proceeding." Source:
  https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/proposaltext/2025/REG/AB701.pdf
  (accessed 2026-07-05). This bill died without a Senate vote and was never
  enacted.