Assembly passes bill to raise interest rate on small claims judgments

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The Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would up the interest rate on judgments in small claims cases to 12 percent.

The bill would nearly triple the rate as it adds up under current law, which states that interest will accrue on an unpaid judgment at the prime rate of the fiscal year that the judgment was entered, plus 1 percent. Currently, that would add up to 4.25 percent.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, R-Fond du Lac, and passed out of the Assembly’s judiciary committee on Feb. 3. The full Assembly passed the bill during its floor session Thursday afternoon

Democratic Reps. Dana Wachs, Evan Goyke and Gary Hebl, who all voted against the bill’s passage in the judiciary committee, introduced a substitute amendment Thursday afternoon that would have changed the interest rate to 8 percent. That amendment was killed when all 60 of the Assembly’s Republicans voted to table it.

The bill will now be sent to the state Senate. Follow @eheisigWLJ