Tuesday, February 13, 2007
6:30 P.M.
Ninety-Eighth Regular Session
The Senate met.
The Senate was called to order by President Risser.
__________________
The roll was called and the following Senators answered to their names:
Senators Breske, Carpenter, Coggs, Cowles, Darling, Decker, Erpenbach, S. Fitzgerald, Grothman, Hansen, Harsdorf, Jauch, Kanavas, Kapanke, Kedzie, Kreitlow, Lassa, Lazich, Lehman, Leibham, Miller, Olsen, Plale, Risser, Robson, Roessler, Schultz, Sullivan, Taylor, Vinehout and Wirch - 33.
Absent - None.
Absent with leave - Senators Ellis and Lasee.
The Senate stood for a moment of silent meditation.
The Senate remained standing and Senator Coggs led the Senate in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the Untied States of America.
__________________
Senator Fitzgerald, with unanimous consent, asked that Senators Ellis and Lasee be granted a leave of absence for today's session.
__________________
President Risser appointed Senators Decker and Roessler to escort the Governor to the Assembly Chamber for a Joint Convention of the Legislature.
Senator Robson, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate adjourn pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1, upon the rising of the Joint Convention.
The chair, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess for the purpose of awaiting the Governor's Budget Address in Joint Convention in the Assembly Chambers at 7:00 P.M.
__________________
The Senate proceeded in a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the Governor's Budget Message.
6:45 P.M.
__________________
Senate President Risser in the Chair.
The committee to wait upon the Governor appeared with his excellency the Governor, who delivered his message as follows:
__________________
“Speaker Huebsch, Speaker Pro Tem Gottlieb, President Risser, Majority Leader Robson, Lieutenant Governor Lawton, Constitutional Officers, members of the Legislature, tribal leaders, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens of Wisconsin.
Tonight, I come before you to submit my budget for the next two years ... a budget with three goals: being fiscally responsible, investing in our shared priorities, and creating opportunity for working families.
It is a plan that not only invests in the needs of all Wisconsinites, but reflects the greatest hopes and aspirations of our people.
My budget says every child ... every family ... should have a chance to get ahead and live the American dream.
This is not a budget for the big oil companies or the big tobacco companies ... it is a budget for the middle class - and those trying to get there.
An opportunity budget ... that cuts taxes on hardworking families.
An opportunity budget ... that is responsible with taxpayer dollars.
An opportunity budget ... that invests in schools and better jobs for our citizens.
An opportunity budget ... that says health care for all of our citizens is within our grasp ... and now it's time to reach for it.
An opportunity budget ... reflecting Wisconsin's values, protecting Wisconsin's priorities, and investing in Wisconsin's people.
Fiscal responsibility
Of course the first thing - the best thing - state government can do to create opportunity for the middle class is to get its own fiscal house in order.
S87
The truth is, this state got itself into a tremendous hole in the 1990s. Expensive new programs, excessive use of one time money, exploding corrections costs, and runaway deficits. To clean up the mess, we sold cars, airplanes, buildings and state property, cut government waste and eliminated overhead. We used our bargaining power to get discounts on everything from office supplies to prescription drugs.
We cancelled and consolidated government contracts, achieving the first reduction in contracting for at least a decade - and saving taxpayers more than $40 million dollars.
Together, as Democrats and Republicans, we balanced two straight budgets.
And because we know that Wisconsin families should keep more of what they earn, we did it all without raising income taxes...
...without raising sales taxes...
...without raising business taxes...
...and we held local property taxes to their smallest increase in a decade. You should take pride in what we did together - providing real property tax relief to Wisconsin families.
As a result, as a percentage of income, the state tax burden in Wisconsin is the lowest in 35 years.
We also stopped the decline in our bond rating. For the first time in six years, our bonds have been given a positive outlook by Standard and Poors.
But despite all of that progress, we still face real, long-term challenges.
Unless we make hard choices now, the choices we'll face in just a few more years will be unbearable: eroding the quality of our schools, laying off thousands of police and firefighters, abandoning our commitment to children and vulnerable families, or higher taxes for everyone.
So this budget begins with more hard cuts - continuing the progress of the last four years. We'll control the cost of prisoner health care, streamline the administration of Medicaid, cut information technology contractors, and sell state property. We'll eliminate duplicative human resource systems and use technology to save almost $100 million throughout government.
Tonight, I'm sending you supplemental legislation to begin that cutting immediately - reducing spending at our largest agencies by 2 percent this year.
Your state government will be leaner, more efficient, and more focused on the priorities of middle class families.
It's taken a long time to recover from the financial mess created in the 1990s, but this is the budget that turns the corner.
Let me show you the progress we're making:
When I took office, the budget I inherited was projected to end hundreds of millions of dollars in the hole.
