73rd - Frank Boyle
4900 East Tri-Lakes Road
Superior 54880
Democrat
74th - Gary E. Sherman
P.O. Box 157
Port Wing 54865
Democrat
75th - Mary Hubler
P. O. Box 544
1966 21-7/8 Street
Rice Lake 54868
Democrat
76th - Terese Berceau
4181 Cherokee Drive
Madison 53711
Democrat
77th - Spencer Black
5742 Elder Place
Madison 53705
Democrat
78th - Mark Pocan
309 North Baldwin
Madison 53703
Democrat
79th - Sondy Pope-Roberts
3426 Valley Woods Drive
Verona 53593
Democrat
80th - Brett Davis
1420 Raven Oaks Trail
Oregon 53575
Republican
81st - David Travis
5440 Willow Road
Waunakee 53597
Democrat
82nd - Jeff Stone
5535 Grandview Drive
Greendale 53129
Republican
83rd - Scott L. Gunderson
123 North 2nd Street
Waterford 53185
Republican
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84th - Mark Gundrum
5239 South Guerin Pass
New Berlin 53151
Republican
85th - Donna Seidel
807 South 20th Street
Wausau 54403
Democrat
86th - Jerry Petrowski
720 North 136th Avenue
Marathon 54448-9580
Republican
87th - Mary Williams
542 Billings Avenue
Medford 54451
Republican
88th - Judy Krawczyk
2294 Manitowoc Road
Green Bay 54311
Republican
89th - John G. Gard
481 Aubin Street
P.O. Box 119
Peshtigo 54157
Republican
90th - Karl Van Roy
1010 Coggins Court
Green Bay 54313
Republican
91st - Barbara Gronemus
36301 West Street
P.O. Box 676
Whitehall 54773
Democrat
92nd -Terry M. Musser
W13550 Murray Road
Black River Falls 54615
Republican
93rd - Rob Kreibich
3437 Nimitz Street
Eau Claire 54701
Republican
94th - Mike Huebsch
419 West Franklin
West Salem 54669
Republican
95th - Jennifer Shilling
2608 Main Street
La Crosse 54601
Democrat
96th - Lee Nerison
S3035 CTH B
Westby 54667
Republican
97th - Ann M. Nischke
202 West College Avenue
Waukesha 53186
Republican
98th - Scott R. Jensen
850 South Springdale Road
Waukesha 53186
Republican
99th - Don Pridemore
2277 Highway K
Hartford 53027
Republican
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Oath of Office
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 28 of the Wisconsin Constitution, the Honorable Justice Louis B. Butler, Jr. of the Wisconsin Supreme Court administered the oath of office to the members en masse.
The attendance roll was called by the clerk, and the members, as their names were called, came to the desk to sign the Oath of Office book.
The roll was taken.
The result follows:
Present - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Ballweg, Benedict, Berceau, Bies, Black, Boyle, Colon, Cullen, Davis, Fields, J. Fitzgerald, Freese, Friske, Gard, Gielow, Gottlieb, Grigsby, Gronemus, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Hines, Honadel, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Jensen, Jeskewitz, Kaufert, Kerkman, Kessler, Kestell, Kleefisch, Krawczyk, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krusick, Lamb, F. Lasee, Lehman, LeMahieu, Loeffelholz, Lothian, McCormick, Meyer, Molepske, Montgomery, Moulton, Mursau, Musser, Nass, Nelson, Nerison, Nischke, Ott, Owens, Parisi, Petrowski, Pettis, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Pridemore, Rhoades, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Staskunas, Steinbrink, Stone, Strachota, Toles, Towns, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Van Akkeren, Van Roy, Vos, Vrakas, Vruwink, Vukmir, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, A. Williams, M. Williams, Wood, Young, Zepnick and Ziegelbauer. - 97.
Absent with leave - Representatives Hebl and Suder - 2.
Vacancies - None.
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Representative Vrakas asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for today's session for Representative Suder. Granted.
Representative Turner asked unanimous consent for a leave of absence for today's session for Representative Hebl. Granted.
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Representative Meyer nominated Representative Gard for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representative Kreuser nominated Representative Kessler for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the chair declared nominations closed.
The roll was taken.
The result follows:
For Representative Gard - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Ballweg, Bies, Davis, J. Fitzgerald, Freese, Friske, Gard, Gielow, Gottlieb, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Hines, Honadel, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Jensen, Jeskewitz, Kaufert, Kerkman, Kestell, Kleefisch, Krawczyk, Kreibich, Lamb, F. Lasee, LeMahieu, Loeffelholz, Lothian, McCormick, Meyer, Montgomery, Moulton, Mursau, Musser, Nass, Nerison, Nischke, Ott, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Pridemore, Rhoades, Stone, Strachota, Towns, Townsend, Underheim, Van Roy, Vos, Vrakas, Vukmir, Ward, Wieckert, M. Williams and Wood - 59.
For Representative Kessler - Representatives Benedict, Berceau, Black, Boyle, Colon, Cullen, Fields, Grigsby, Gronemus, Hubler, Kessler, Kreuser, Krusick, Lehman, Molepske, Nelson, Parisi, Pocan, Pope-Roberts, Richards, Schneider, Seidel, Sheridan, Sherman, Shilling, Sinicki, Staskunas, Steinbrink, Toles, Travis, Turner, Van Akkeren, Vruwink, Wasserman, A. Williams, Young, Zepnick and Ziegelbauer - 38.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Hebl and Suder - 2.
Representative Gard was elected Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Seventh Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Nischke and Toles escorted Representative Gard to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by the Honorable Justice David Prosser, Jr. of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Speaker Gard in the chair.
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Remarks by the Speaker
"Thank you very much for the honor of being elected to lead the State Assembly. It is an honor which I shall treasure the rest of my life. Being sworn in by one of my heroes in life - Supreme Court Justice David Prosser means the world to me also. I want to thank Father Wild for blessing us today and Bobby Arnold for leading us in the national anthem. And special thanks as well to the Honorable Justice Louis Butler for administering the oath to us.
Being elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly is a true privilege and one that few people get to experience. I hope that each of you is able, in a quiet moment sometime today, to reflect upon the significance of this occasion. Signing that grand old book is like touching history. Our names are included with some amazing people who have shared this room.
As someone who has been sworn in here a couple times now - let me tell you it never gets old.
I want to take a moment to thank all the families and friends of each of the members - especially the new members - who made the trip to show support for your loved ones today. Today is a day of celebration and each of us understands the effort it took to get here. You believed in us and for that we are deeply grateful. On behalf of each member here I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for coming.
I am very fortunate to have my own family with me today. This place brought Cate Zeuske and me together and for that I will always be grateful. I want to thank my beautiful wife for the remarkable rock of support she has always been. This job can put tremendous pressure on a spouse. It helps to have someone to lean on who is so strong. I hope everyone gets a chance in his or her life to feel the happiness I do. In addition, God has blessed Cate and me with two great gifts in Libby and John Vincent. It is said, time stops for no one. The four of us have been blessed to be on this journey together and when I see how quickly they have grown I am thankful we have.
I want to thank my Mom and Dad for coming all this way to be here. Someone once said, "I am very blessed. My parents always told me I could be anything I ever wanted. When you grow up in a household like that you learn to believe in yourself." That's exactly the house I grew up in.
Finally, I want to thank my great friends from Marinette, Oconto and Brown County. The faith they have continued to put in me is very humbling. I will work hard to fulfill their expectations.
We begin this session with the tremendous hope that comes with a New Year. As I share a few thoughts of the promise of the new year and session I feel it is important to have a moment of silence for those who have experienced the horrific tragedy of the recent earthquake and tsunami that has caused so much loss of life and pain and suffering in the world. It is an indescribable loss. My hope is that the world will seize this moment as an opportunity to come together and care for each other.
Also, I want to recognize one of our members who is not with us today. Representative Scott Suder is currently on active duty with the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. In addition to Representative Suder, I know that a number of us have family and friends doing the hard work of freedom and placing themselves in harm's way in our nation's war on terror. We owe all of these individuals and the thousands serving by their side an immense debt of gratitude and we pray for their safe return.
Two years ago I stood here and said the journey we were about to embark on was unlike anything most of us had ever been through before but that I was confident people were up to the task.
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I was right. We helped lead our state through difficult economic times and worked successfully to turn the state back in the right direction. I am pleased with the progress we made and are grateful to all of you who were part of that success. By almost any measure, last session was the most productive and bi-partisan in recent memory.
This house passed 538 pieces of legislation. 85% of those bills passed with bi-partisan majorities of 80 votes or more.
In the face of a $3.2 billion deficit, we passed a bi-partisan, balanced, state budget - and got it done nearly two weeks ahead of schedule.
Governor Doyle signed 327 of our bills into law. That compares with just 109 bills signed into law in the 2001-02 session and 198 in the 1999-2000 session. That is real progress.
We cut taxes, we passed long overdue regulatory reforms, shored up our energy infrastructure, made venture capital more available, modernized our regulation of financial institutions, passed the comprehensive Agricultural Renewal Initiative, and despite a $3.2 billion deficit, increased funding for public schools $168 million.
I want to thank Governor Doyle for working with us to pass the Jobs Creation Act and sign it into law. It wasn't easy but it has made a difference. Due in part to our efforts on each of these issues Wisconsin has created more than 60,000 new jobs and now leads the Midwest in the creation of manufacturing jobs. State revenues are up, unemployment is down and our economy is growing stronger with each quarter.
Rod Nilsestuen, Governor Doyle's Secretary of Agriculture called last session, "The most productive in the last 25 years."
The Editors of the Sheboygan Press wrote, "Kudos to all the officeholders of both parties who improved the state through their cooperation, compromise and hard work on legislation in the last session."
Now we prepare to move ahead and build on our past success. There is a great deal of work ahead filled with a tremendous promise.
This Assembly has led on the great reforms of the past decade - historic welfare reform and school choice became a reality in this room among other things. And even the rebirth of Lambeau Field happened here. This Sunday that rebirth will be on full display as we get a chance to send the Minnesota Vikings packing. What a way to start the year. By the way, I'm sure you all know the reason the Vikings are purple - If you had been choking for forty-five years you'd be purple too.
Starting today we will continue to lead on the challenges before us. We must stay ever vigilant and focused on doing whatever it takes to create vibrant, private sector job growth. While we have made strides we have a long way to go.
I do not believe Wisconsin can reach it's economic potential by being one of the highest tax states in America. We simply need to be more competitive than we are when it comes to taxes. Our tax burden drives too many jobs out of state and too many families out of their homes.
For many of our workers, the sad reality - even in a rebounding economy - is that their paychecks are not keeping up with their tax bills. We must freeze property taxes and put long-term controls in place on government spending to ensure that government's ability to increase taxes doesn't outpace our families' ability to pay them.
We must work together to reform our Medicaid system and reform health care so families and employers can enjoy top quality health care that is both affordable and accessible.
Our actions can make a difference. For example, in my district, the actions of this Legislature have helped attract many good new doctors to care for those in need of medical care. However, right across the border in Michigan the hospital has closed in some cases and the doctors came to Wisconsin. It is a perfect example of our actions having dramatic impact on the decisions people make. We have made improvements to our medical liability system and now are one of the best states in America for physicians to practice.
Wisconsin can lead in all kinds of other reforms too and we have the opportunity to make that happen.
On health care, we all know there isn't one magic solution that will completely solve the growing costs of health insurance. Instead, there are a number of things that together can give our constituents the relief they need. For example, the time has come to pass into law tax-deductible health savings accounts. We simply must give families every option available to save money and make health care affordability a reality not a luxury.
We have the chance to lead the nation on a major overhaul of our Medicaid system and will do everything we can to try to make that goal a reality. Every state in America is faced with a major financial hardship due to Medicaid program. We must think differently and work aggressively to serve people smarter and more cost effectively. We have the right people in this room to make this goal a reality.
We all know that education is where we spend most of our money. In fact, almost half of our general fund budget is spent on one thing - K-12 education. There isn't even a close second. It is the right priority to have. We face long-term challenges in the way we fund our education system that we will all need to work together on over the course of the next session. However, there are some things we can do right away. One of them is lifting the caps on the school choice program in Milwaukee. These kids are looking for some hope and it is within our power to give it too them. If we don't help them who will?
We will have a host of ideas that we will pass in the first 100 days to continue to make our state more competitive and successful. Economic growth and major reforms are going to be the hallmark of this legislative session. I am confident that each of us understands the gift that has been offered to us. The chance to make a real difference in the lives of people we have known our entire life and in the lives of people we will never meet.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past."
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If we work hard we can be part of something historic over the next two years.
The people of this state have given us a real opportunity to lead Wisconsin at a time when we need action. I am honored to have the chance to work with such a distinguished group of leaders to move Wisconsin forward.
