66.0502 Employee residency requirements prohibited.

(1) The legislature finds that public employee residency requirements are a matter of statewide concern.

(2) In this section, “local governmental unit" means any city, village, town, county, or school district.

(3)

(a) Except as provided in sub. (4), no local governmental unit may require, as a condition of employment, that any employee or prospective employee reside within any jurisdictional limit.

(b) If a local governmental unit has a residency requirement that is in effect on July 2, 2013, the residency requirement does not apply and may not be enforced.

(4)

(a) This section does not affect any statute that requires residency within the jurisdictional limits of any local governmental unit or any provision of state or local law that requires residency in this state.

(b) Subject to par. (c), a local governmental unit may impose a residency requirement on law enforcement, fire, or emergency personnel that requires such personnel to reside within 15 miles of the jurisdictional boundaries of the local governmental unit.

(c) If the local governmental unit is a county, the county may impose a residency requirement on law enforcement, fire, or emergency personnel that requires such personnel to reside within 15 miles of the jurisdictional boundaries of the city, village, or town to which the personnel are assigned.

(d) A residency requirement imposed by a local governmental unit under par. (b) or (c) does not apply to any volunteer law enforcement, fire, or emergency personnel who are employees of a local governmental unit.

History: 2013 a. 20.

Because, by its plain language, this section uniformly affects every city or village, it trumps the city of Milwaukee's charter, and the city may not enforce its residency requirement. Milwaukee Police Association v. City of Milwaukee, 2016 WI 47, 364 Wis. 2d 626, 869 N.W.2d 522, 14-0400.

Although this section abolishes residency requirements generally, it does not create a vested right for law enforcement, fire, and emergency personnel to live wherever they want. Quite the opposite, it grants local governments the authority to adopt a 15-mile radius requirement for those employees. Milwaukee Police Association v. City of Milwaukee, 856 F.3d 480 (2017).