## Facts

- The City of Milwaukee required municipal employees to reside within city limits as a condition of employment under its charter; violation could result in termination.
- In 2013, Wisconsin enacted Wis. Stat. § 66.0502, broadly prohibiting local governments from imposing employee residency requirements, subject to limited exceptions (including a distance-based exception for certain emergency-response personnel).
- Milwaukee asserted its residency rule remained enforceable under the Wisconsin Constitution’s home-rule amendment, arguing employee residency was a local affair.
- City employees and labor organizations (including police and fire unions) sued for declaratory relief that § 66.0502 made Milwaukee’s residency requirement unenforceable and barred discipline for living outside the city.
- The circuit court granted summary judgment for the employees and unions; the court of appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part.
- The Wisconsin Supreme Court granted review.

## Issues

1. Whether Wis. Stat. § 66.0502 is a law of “statewide concern” that, with uniformity, affects every city or village such that it supersedes a conflicting municipal charter provision under the home-rule amendment.
2. Whether Milwaukee’s charter-based employee residency requirement conflicts with § 66.0502 and is therefore unenforceable.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court held that Wis. Stat. § 66.0502 addresses a matter of statewide concern and, with uniformity, affects every city and village.
- The court concluded § 66.0502 supersedes and preempts Milwaukee’s conflicting charter residency requirement, rendering it unenforceable.
- The court affirmed in part and reversed in part the court of appeals’ decision and left enforcement permissible only to the extent allowed by statutory exceptions.

## Legal Principles

- Under Wis. Const. art. XI, § 3(1), municipal authority over local affairs yields to legislation that (1) addresses a matter of statewide concern and (2) with uniformity affects every city or every village.
- A statute satisfies “uniformity” when it applies on its face to all municipalities of the relevant class in the same manner, even if the practical impact differs because some municipalities previously regulated the area and others did not.
- When a municipal ordinance or charter provision directly conflicts with a valid, uniform statute of statewide concern, the local enactment is preempted and unenforceable.

## Conclusion

The court held that Wisconsin’s statutory ban on municipal employee residency requirements is a uniform law of statewide concern that displaces Milwaukee’s charter rule, so the City cannot enforce its in-city residency mandate except as permitted by the statute’s limited exceptions.


Black v. City of Milwaukee, 369 Wis. 2d 272, 882 N.W.2d 333 (Wis. 2016)