Datcp and DNR
We are making changes to make government more responsive to the people.
That is why we are proposing to convert the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Natural Resources into cabinet agencies.
The existing governing boards for these agencies will be retained as advisory boards. But the current lines of authority are simply too diffuse to deal with modern-day demands.
Take reformulated gas, for instance. This is an issue that happened recently, and it happened very fast. People were getting sick, and the state had to do something about it.
DNR was on top of the issue, and we worked closely with them. But we simply did not have the time to wait and see if the entire board wanted to act. I had to do something immediately.
These are the kinds of pressures we will be facing more and more in the future.
This is what government in the 21st century will be all about ... Responsiveness ... And accountability.
DNR and the Department of Agriculture should not remain insulated from the times ... Or from the taxpayers.
Secretary of State and State Treasurer
The positions of State Treasurer and Secretary of State are no longer policy-making entities, but administrative offices.
Therefore, we propose consolidating the functions of the State Treasurer into the Department of Administration, with the elected State Treasurer heading a new Bureau of the State Treasury ...
And we propose to consolidate all functions of the Secretary of State -- except for the government records division -- into other agencies.
Councils and commissions
We also plan to eliminate a dozen agencies and programs that are no longer essential to state responsibilities ... And to start a sunset process for the more than 170 statutory councils, boards and commissions.
Conclusion
This budget is my number one priority in the weeks and the months ahead.
I will be dedicating my time to working with all of you.
If you have concerns ... If you have questions ... If you want to make changes ... Let's work together.
But I will tell you one thing right now:
I am willing to talk ... I am willing to listen ... I am willing to accommodate when possible ...
But after spending one year putting this budget together, there is one thing I am not going to do ...
I am not going to raise taxes.
Period.
This is the document that most of us campaigned on this last November.
I saw your campaign literature. I saw my picture on a lot of it too, for both Democrats and Republicans.
We said we were going to cut spending ... We said we were going to provide property tax relief without raising taxes ... We said we were going to change government.
That's what we told the people of Wisconsin we were going to do.
Now it is time to deliver.
This budget does that.
Sure, it will be easy to nit-pick and criticize parts of it ... But it is the overall budget that is going to mean a better future for Wisconsin.
I want to work with all of you.
If you think you have a better way of doing something, if you think you have an idea we haven't thought of ... Let's talk about it.
Let's not waste this opportunity to truly create a new government for a new century.
I said in my inaugural address that what we accomplish together in the next four years will serve as a defining moment in Wisconsin history.
People are going to look back at what we do here as one of the most exceptional periods in this state.
We are building a legacy for the future.
No, it will not be easy.
But none of us was elected to do what was easy. We were elected to do what was right.
Raising taxes to fund property tax relief is the easy way out. Any one of us could write that budget in 30 seconds on the back of a napkin.
The challenge we are meeting today is bigger than a billion dollars. It goes beyond dollars and cents ... It goes beyond politics and parties ...
The challenge we are meeting today is the challenge to lead ... To do nothing less than lead this state and this nation into the next century.
Thank you.
tommy G. Thompson
Governor
Adjourned.
12:48 P.M.
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Senate amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 21 offered by Senator Chvala.
Senate amendment 1 to Senate Bill 2 offered by Senator Burke.
Senate substitute amendment 1 to Senate Bill 40 offered by Senator Wineke.
