# Wisconsin — What a newspaper may legally charge to publish a legal notice — by US state

For Wisconsin, maximum chargeable rate is not more than the rate issued by the department of administration for the first and subsequent insertions per standard line; how the cap is measured is per standard line, at a rate set annually by the state department of administration; how it changes over time is The standard line rate shall be reviewed annually, the adjustment, if any, to be effective on January 1 of each year to reflect the relevant change in costs of the newspaper publishing industry during the previous year, as determined by the department of administration in consultation with representatives of the daily and weekly newspaper industry of the state; statute is Wis. Stat. § 985.08, recorded from its source on 2026-08-19.

- **State:** Wisconsin _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **Maximum chargeable rate:** not more than the rate issued by the department of administration for the first and subsequent insertions per standard line _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **How the cap is measured:** per standard line, at a rate set annually by the state department of administration _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_
- **How it changes over time:** The standard line rate shall be reviewed annually, the adjustment, if any, to be effective on January 1 of each year to reflect the relevant change in costs of the newspaper publishing industry during the previous year, as determined by the department of administration in consultation with representatives of the daily and weekly newspaper industry of the state _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Statute:** Wis. Stat. § 985.08 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> The fee for publishing a legal notice shall be not more than the rate issued by the department of administration for the first and subsequent insertions per standard line. The charge for the publication of a facsimile ballot shall be computed as if the area occupied by the ballot were set in standard lines. If a legal notice contains tabulated matter, then the fees allowable for the area containing such matter shall be increased 50 percent of the standard line base rate without adjustment for circulation premium. Composed matter shall be interpreted as being tabular when it contains 2 or more justifications per line. The standard line rate shall be reviewed annually, the adjustment, if any, to be effective on January 1 of each year to reflect the relevant change in costs of the newspaper publishing industry during the previous year, as determined by the department of administration in consultation with representatives of the daily and weekly newspaper industry of the state.

## Source

- https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/985/08

Last verified: 2026-08-19. Review by: 2027-08-19.
Part of [What a newspaper may legally charge to publish a legal notice — by US state](https://referencesource.org/legal-notice-publication-rates-by-state/).