It is a win-win situation for the state ... it is a win-win situation for our taxpayers.
Bold words. Bold deeds.
Technology
Wisconsin has embraced new technology in the past eight years ... and new technology is going to be our partner as we create a new government for a new century.
When I presented my first budget speech, I suggested we do something.
About registration at the UW. It was the biggest applause line I've ever had.
For anyone who remembers spending hours in line at the old red gym ... you know why.
Eight years later, students can register for classes electronically ... simply by picking up the phone.
These are the kind of innovations that are changing our world at break-neck speed.
Last summer I ran into an old friend who asked me why the UW-Madison dorms were not wired for video. I told him I didn't know ... I'd have to look into it.
As a result of that conversation, a company called Cyberstar entered a bid, and they are now installing a full service telecommunications network capable of delivering video, telephone and computer services at the UW-Madison.
Now the city of Madison wants them to do the same ... and they are negotiating to build a fiber optic network serving 80,000 Madison homes.
I want to introduce to you a man who is making these innovations happen ... Don Jones ... who is here tonight with his wife, Terri, and their son Joseph.
Don and his company Cyberstar are wiring the UW ... they helped create computer access to the library of congress ...
This month he electronically wired the U.S. House of Representatives ... and he is spreading his innovation to countries all over the world ... all from Wisconsin.
With technology, you don't have to be a lobbyist ...
With technology, everyone is an insider ... everyone has access.
Don once told me something I haven't forgotten. in 1943, Thomas Watson Sr., the founder of IBM, said the country would eventually need at the most five computers. Five computers for the entire country!
Humankind has an incredible power to underestimate the power of technology.
We're not going to do that in Wisconsin.
Technology is going to help us revolutionize state government.
Tonight I am announcing the creation of a new information technology fund ... a $40 million investment in the future of this state ... a $40 million investment in a smaller, more responsive, more efficient government.
. We are going to set up kiosks at local shopping centers where you can renew your drivers license ... or pick up a hunting and fishing license.
. We are going to have teleconferencing statewide. this means you and I can meet with people in every corner of the state without them having to drive all the way to Madison. this means we can have a prisoner at Waupun checked by a doctor at the University Hospital without costly transportation and security issues getting in the way.
. We are going to put the entire state justice system on a common computer system. Last year, the state spent $1 million paying for defenders to wait around for their cases to come up. Consolidation will avoid such a waste of time and money.
. We are completely automating truck weighing stations on our highways. No state troopers will have to be stationed. Trucks will be able to drive through, be weighed, and be on their way ... easing traffic, speeding the delivery of goods, and reducing state personnel.
. Unemployment compensation used to mean driving to an office and waiting in a long line. Today in Wisconsin it means picking up the phone. U-C recipients save time and money ... and the taxpayers are saving about $2 million a year.
This is the new government I am talking about ... downsizing to the essential services ... bringing government back to the human level ... where it belongs.
Conclusion
This is my vision for the next four years.
I have set forth some bold initiatives tonight. and they are going to require bold actions.
We have done it before. We will do it again.
These next four years will be the culmination of a journey we started eight years ago.
Everyone here, regardless of party affiliation, regardless of titles, is a traveler on the same journey. We may have charted different courses, but we are headed for the same destination ... the 21st century.
One governor can't do this alone ... one party can't do this alone.
And to those of you in the minority party ... I've been there. For sixteen years I was a minority member of this legislature ... and I know better than anyone else that the minority's voice must be heard.
Tonight, I am asking all of you to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with me into the future.
We've come a long way in eight years.
It's been quite a journey.
S49
It's been quite a journey for me -- standing before you tonight --from a two-room school house in Elroy ... where high technology was indoor plumbing ... and advanced communications was the colored chalk we had for special occasions.
Times have changed.
Wisconsin has not.
What is not done is what we have not yet attempted to do.
We are still a people with the boldness to dream ... the imagination to change ... and the heart to seek a better way.
America stands poised once again on the edge of a new century ... of a new millennium.
And once again, Wisconsin stands ready to show the way.
Thank you.
tommy thompson
Governor
Upon the motion of Senator Ellis the Senate adjourned upon the rising of the joint assembly until 10:00 A.M. Thursday.
7:41 P.M.
