WE RESPOND TO YOUR NEEDS 414-271-1440
Exonerated Compensation Reform Bills Are Once Again Pending Before the Legislature
Ray Dall’Osto testifying before Senate Judiciary Committee in support of SB 577 on Dec. 17, 2025.
GRGB and its Milwaukee criminal defense team lawyers have long been involved in efforts to obtain the release of wrongfully convicted persons and help them seek and obtain compensation for wrongful incarceration. These efforts include not only direct representation in court with postconviction motions and appeals, but also representing exonerees with claims for exonerated compensation and joint efforts with the Wisconsin Innocence Project to obtain the release of wrongfully convicted individuals.
However, being exonerated of a crime is just the beginning. Upon release, sometimes after decades of wrongful imprisonment, exonerees are left with little or no resources to rely on as they re-enter society. Over a century ago, Wisconsin became the first state to pass laws to compensate individuals who were wrongly convicted, but those laws have not been updated in decades. Now Wisconsin’s limits on compensation are the lowest of any such statute in the nation.
Former Wisconsin Innocence Project Director Keith Finley provided detailed testimony in support of SB 577
Previous Exonerated Compensation Reform Bills in Wisconsin
Exonerated compensation reform bills were introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature in the 2015 and 2017 legislative sessions, and received favorable bipartisan support in committees in both the Assembly and Senate. Unfortunately, these bills never received a final up-and-down vote in both chambers.
Attorney Keith Findley, director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, and GRGB attorney, Ray Dall’Osto on behalf of the State Bar of Wisconsin, both worked hard on, lobbied, and testified on the previous reform bills. Both Findley and Dall’Osto once again appeared and testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on December 17, 2025, on newly-introduced exonerated compensation reform bills. You can read Ray Dall’Osto’s testimony here and here.
Introduction of Senate Bill 577 / Assembly Bill 583 Raising Exoneree Compensation Caps
Sen. Van Wanggaard (R - Racine) and Rep. Jessie Rodriguez (R - Oak Creek), aiming to ensure better justice for exonerees, recently introduced Senate Bill 577 / Assembly Bill 583. The State Bar of Wisconsin’s Board of Governors supports their effort to fairly compensate those wrongfully convicted for the time and freedom they lost. Both Sen. Wanggaard and Rep. Rodriguez gave heartfelt testimony in support of passage of SB 577 at the December Judiciary Committee hearing. SB 577 was approved by the Judiciary Committee on January 12, 2026.
SB 577’s most notable change is to increase the annual and lifetime caps for compensation that exonerees can receive, from $5,000 per year and $25,000 per lifetime, to $50,000 for each year of wrongful imprisonment with a $1 million cap. In addition, exonerees could be eligible for health insurance for each year imprisoned, with a five-year maximum.
Exonerees may also seek transition assistance from the Department of Corrections, and request that records related to the case be sealed. The bill would also create a timelier process for hearing and deciding compensation claims, and not having exonerees go through the cumbersome process of introduction of a private bill once the Claims Board has made its recommendation for compensation.
It is hoped that the leadership in the Legislature finally allows full votes to be taken, so that critically necessary exonerated compensation reform finally gets enacted in 2026. Ray Dall’Osto urges you to contact your state legislator now to ask them to vote "yes" on SB 577 and AB 583. Your state legislators’ email addresses can be found at www.wisdc.org.
Contact GRGB’s Outstanding Milwaukee Criminal Defense Attorneys
If you have questions for Gimbel, Reilly, Guerin & Brown, LLP’s Milwaukee criminal defense attorneys about exoneration of the wrongfully convicted or exonerated compensation, or you need representation in criminal trials or appeals, contact firm attorneys Jason Luczak, Nicole Masnica, Adam Schleis, Andrew Flood, Patrick Campbell, or Raymond Dall’Osto.
Call us today at 414-271-1440 to learn how we can serve you.
