[1] This was the only legislative session under the legislative redistricting plan imposed by a panel of federal judges in 1982 in the case Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board.

Senators representing odd-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term.

[1] The governor of Wisconsin during this entire term was Democrat Tony Earl, of Marathon County, serving the first two years of a four-year term, having won election in the 1982 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.

Members of the Senate for the Eighty-Sixth Wisconsin Legislature:[3] Members of the Assembly for the Eighty-Sixth Wisconsin Legislature:[3] New districts for the 86th Legislature were defined in the case of Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board, decided by a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

This was the first time redistricting in Wisconsin was performed by a federal court.