In what was referred to as the "caucus scandal", five legislators, including leaders of both major parties, were eventually implicated and prosecuted for extensive use of state-paid legislative employees for political purposes.

[2][3] Senators representing even-numbered districts were newly elected for this session and were serving the first two years of a four-year term.

[4] Senators representing odd-numbered districts were serving the third and fourth year of their four-year term, having been elected in the general election held on November 3, 1998.

[5] The governor of Wisconsin at the start of this term was Republican Tommy Thompson, of Juneau County, serving the beginning of the third year of his fourth four-year term, having won re-election in the 1998 Wisconsin gubernatorial election.

Thompson resigned February 1, 2001, to accept appointment as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services.