Wisconsin AB 105 / SB 130 (Age Verification)
What it does
The bill required age verification on any site with a substantial portion of material deemed harmful to minors. The original text went further than any other state: sites had to detect visitors connecting through a VPN and block them. The Assembly passed it 69 to 22 in March 2025. After EFF and digital rights groups tore into the VPN provision, lawmakers stripped it in early 2026. The Senate never voted, and the bill failed on March 23, 2026 when the session closed.
Why it matters
This was the first state bill to write a VPN block into an age-verification law. It failed this time, but the logic that produced it has not gone anywhere: age walls do not work when people can tunnel past them, so sooner or later the walls come for the tunnels.
Our take
Wisconsin lawmakers noticed that everyone gets around age checks with a VPN, so they tried to outlaw the workaround. That is the tell. These laws only function if the privacy tools go too, and Wisconsin said that part out loud before retreating.
Votes
- Assembly — Passage (Senate never voted) (69 to 22)
Timeline
- March 20, 2025Assembly passed AB 105, 69 to 22
- February 15, 2026VPN-blocking provision stripped after public backlash
- March 23, 2026Failed to pass before the end of session
Our coverage: all age-verification stories