Compliance Journal March 2026
Special Focus 2025-2026 State Legislative Update The most active portion of Wisconsin’s 2025-2026 legislative session is coming to a close. While the biennial legislative term does not formally end until January 4, 2027, the last general-business floorperiod is scheduled for March 17 to 19. That leaves only a limited-business floorperiod and veto review to follow. WBA has been active on a variety of issues, and the following article is presented as a review of what has occurred so far this session. A law was passed this session which increased the threshold of transactions subject to the Wisconsin Consumer Act (WCA). Previously, covered consumer credit transactions were those for which the amount financed was $25,000 and below. As of January 1, 2027, that amount will increase to $50,000. This change is discussed in more detail below. Additional issues for the banking industry this session centered around fraud and digital assets. As a continuation of previous sessions, WBA advocated for legislation that would allow financial institutions to pause transactions in cases of suspected elder financial abuse. While a bill was introduced and passed the Assembly, it has yet to make it out of the Senate. As such, no law has been passed this session. However, lawmakers are well-aware that fraud remains a serious issue not just for the banking industry, but across the state. Fraud will remain a top priority in the coming years. Issues surrounding digital assets and cryptocurrency have surged in recent years. This session saw a variety of bills introduced on those topics. Most notably, three bills were introduced this session which were at the forefront. One regulating virtual currency kiosks, another limiting regulation on digital assets, and the third defining staking of cryptocurrencies as not a securities activity. Virtual currency kiosks have been appearing at more and more locations and have been increasingly utilized for fraudulent transactions. WBA supported legislation designed to reduce fraud in this area through daily transaction limits and refunds. Additionally, separate bills were introduced which would limit the ability to regulate digital assets. WBA opposed two bills which were introduced to deregulate certain digital asset related activities. One which would limit the state’s ability to regulate cryptocurrency and another which would classify cryptocurrency staking as not a security. As of writing this article, none of these bills were signed into law this session. Lastly, while the topic of interchange fees is still a top issue for the industry, it did not arise this session. Previously introduced bills would have prohibited financial institutions from charging interchange fees on the sales tax portion of credit card transactions. While a draft was circulated over a year ago, no bill was ever formally introduced. A coalition of retailers put forth an effort to introduce legislation, but their efforts were defeated this session. The rest of this article presents new laws enacted this session. While the change to the WCA is significant to the industry (discussed more below), the remaining laws passed this session are largely only indirectly significant to the banking industry. They may be relevant to bank customers or indirectly influence bank processes and procedures. To that extent, this article presents those selected new areas of law below, along with a short summary, primarily for purposes of awareness.