Wisconsin AB 105 / SB 130 (Age Verification)

Wisconsin, United StatesWisconsin AB 105 / SB 130Updated March 23, 2026

Stoppedno longer moving
Bad for your rightsDefeated

Died at the end of session, March 2026

Wisconsin's age-verification bill tried to make adult sites block VPN users. The VPN ban was stripped after backlash, then the whole bill died with the session.

Latest update

Failed to pass before the end of session

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The bill

Read the full billOfficial bill record

Key facts

Where
Wisconsin, United States
Bill number
Wisconsin AB 105 / SB 130
Status
Defeated
Threat
Medium
Last update
March 23, 2026

Topics

Age VerificationCensorship

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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.

What’s at stake

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.

Timeline

  1. Failed to pass before the end of sessionLatest

  2. VPN-blocking provision stripped after public backlash

  3. Assembly passed AB 105, 69 to 22

The record

Votes

  • Assembly: Passage (Senate never voted) (69 to 22)