Assembly Bill 843 aims to establish a citizenship requirement for employment as a law enforcement officer or tribal law enforcement officer in Wisconsin. Currently, the law mandates that deputy sheriffs and police officers at the county and municipal levels must be U.S. citizens, but this requirement does not extend to state-level law enforcement officers. The proposed legislation seeks to close this gap by ensuring that all law enforcement personnel, including state traffic patrol officers and conservation wardens, must be U.S. citizens.

The bill introduces new legal language under section 165.85 (4) (a) 2m., stating that "no person may be employed as a law enforcement officer or tribal law enforcement officer unless that person is a citizen of the United States." This change reinforces the citizenship requirement across all levels of law enforcement in the state, thereby standardizing the criteria for employment in these positions.