Today, Attorney General Brad Schimel issued a formal opinion to Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jon E. Litscher regarding Wis. Stat. § 301.46(2m)(am), a statute governing law enforcement bulletins for sex offenders with multiple convictions. The opinion concerns the statute’s triggering language pertaining to sex offense convictions “on 2 or more separate occasions.” When there has been a conviction “on 2 or more separate occasions,” the statute requires an agency releasing a sex offender into the community to send a bulletin to local law enforcement. 

Attorney General Schimel concluded that “on 2 or more separate occasions” refers to the number of convictions, including multiple convictions imposed at the same time and based on the same complaint. That interpretation is consistent with the way the Wisconsin Supreme Court has interpreted the “separate occasions” language in an analogous sentencing statute. It also is consistent with the sex offender registration and notification law and its function: to assist law enforcement in protecting the public from offenders that tend to pose greater risks.