We welcome to the chamber tonight, a family-owned business that shares our state's birthday and exemplifies the enduring strength of Wisconsin's people.
Bentley and Sons is one of 11 existing Wisconsin businesses founded in 1848. Joining us tonight are Tom Bentley, his wife Virginia and his grandson Todd who is a business major at the university. If Todd goes into the family of business, he would be its sixth generation. We wish all these companies an even more prosperous next 150 years.
But more importantly, our Sesquicentennial is a time to look forward at the great potential that remains untapped in this young state called Wisconsin.
So it is with great honor and even greater hope that I come before you this evening to deliver the Annual State of the State Address.
For, ladies and gentlemen, this is the state of the state: The most visionary, vibrant and vigorous state in America.
We are young. We are bold. We are strong.
And we are charging forever forward.
Ladies and gentlemen, as great as our state stands today our greatest days lie on the horizon. Tonight, I will unveil another aggressive and innovative agenda; the path to lead us toward that horizon.
There, we will find financial security in the cutting-edge jobs of tomorrow.
The world's best schools for our children.
A pristine environment.
And the safest, healthiest families in America.
This is the Wisconsin Dream, a dream rooted in the family -- inspired by youth and built by experience.
So in this Sesquicentennial year, we look to the past for wisdom and we look into the eyes of our children for inspiration.
In the youth of Wisconsin, we see our future. And we boldly pursue their dreams, for they are the Wisconsin of tomorrow.
Economy:
I am the Youth of Wisconsin. My dream is to have an exciting, adventurous job when I grow up.
Ladies and gentlemen, more people are working today than any time in our history. Six straight years of record employment.
We have the strongest work ethic in America, with the highest percentage of people working in the nation. Three out of every four people work in Wisconsin. More than any other state!
At 3.4 percent, our unemployment rate has been below the national average since Ronald Reagan was president - 11 straight years. In fact in November, we had 10,000 more job openings in the state than we had unemployed workers.
What's most exciting about our economy, however, is that it is raising the standard of living equally for all Wisconsinites.
While others just talk about economic growth for all, we're making it happen in Wisconsin.
We have the fourth smallest gap between the rich and poor in America, bucking a national trend that sees this gap widening. During the past decade, income grew at the same rate for low-, middle- and high-income families -- between 10 and 12 percent.
Our poverty rate is the fifth lowest in the nation, with the average income for our poorest families 45 percent higher than the national average.
In Wisconsin, the poor are getting richer.
No state in the nation is attacking poverty more aggressively than Wisconsin with W-2. W-2 is succeeding beyond our most optimistic projections, as even some of our harshest critics are seeing the value of expecting work in return for benefits.
The public housing complex used to be a place where families collected their welfare checks. Now, it's becoming a place where people come home after a hard day's work. Just take a look at the Hillside Terrace Public Housing complex in Milwaukee where the number of working families grew from 17 percent to 55 percent.
Tonight, we announce our most remarkable news yet in welfare reform. 1997 ended with only 18,655 families remaining on public assistance. An 80 percent reduction - and our lowest welfare caseload since 1969 - the last year the Beatles performed together.
W-2 works and so do our families.
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But what's most exciting about W-2 is what the people tell us. Last week, I had lunch with a group of women who left welfare. Their stories and faces are an inspiration to every person in W-2.
One woman bragged about the new car she bought. And another was so proud to show me her pager - something most of us would love to toss in the trash. But to this woman, the pager meant she was so important that her boss needed to know how to find her.
Then there was Tina Miller, a mother of three who had been on and off AFDC for 12 years. Tina and her mom first went to Maximus to attain their GED's, but she eventually got a clerical job with the company. She has since been promoted twice and is now a financial employment planner helping other women in W-2 succeed in the workforce.
Tina said, and I quote, "Now that I receive a paycheck, it is twice as much as I have ever received during the time I was on AFDC."
To the men and women in W-2, the message from your peers and myself is simple: You can do it.
If you ever have doubts, just give Tina Miller a call.
And to ensure these women and other working families have the highest quality child care, we propose providing an annual site visit for every certified child care provider, including provisional providers such as relatives. And we want to provide caregivers with smoke detectors, first aid kits, health information and children's books.
As our families are working in Wisconsin, we must never forget that they can spend their money much more wisely than government can.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's why we cut property taxes for the second straight year. And that's why we based the lottery credit on the parcels of property owned, saving farmers millions in taxes. With us tonight is Jerry Bradley of Sun Prairie, a fifth generation farmer whose family filed the deed for their land in 1848. Jerry saw a $1,200 reduction in his property taxes last month.
Working together in this chamber, we cut income taxes by 1 percent
indexed them for inflation to save families $25 million a year
eliminated the state income tax for families earning under $18,000
and did away with the ridiculous marriage penalty.
And thanks to our booming economy, we have a surplus that will help us provide another $180 million in tax cuts tonight.
Together, we're providing real tax relief touching the everyday lives of real families. And we're fostering further economic growth in our state.
The cutting-edge jobs of tomorrow are being spawned right here in Wisconsin, as high-technology jobs are the fastest growing in the state, up 27 percent last year.
Nowhere is this growth more evident than in West Central Wisconsin, where high technology companies now dominate the local economy.
Time Magazine recently profiled Chippewa Falls in a story on the revival of small cities in America. Time said it singled out this titanic little city because:
"The city was once a lumber capital and now it's into microchips. What we liked about Chippewa Falls was its affordable housing, Leinenkugels beer, good winter sports and a mix of work and recreation."
Please welcome to the chambers Chippewa Falls Mayor Virginia Smith along with its economic development leaders Jim Schuh, Mike Jordan and John Regetz.
To keep the momentum going in this region, we are investing tonight a $500,000 grant from the Wisconsin Development Fund toward construction of the Chippewa Valley Technical College Manufacturing and Technology Center. The facility will provide space for employee training, product planning and distance education courses. A strong new tool for growing and attracting technology companies.
However, the growth of high-tech jobs stretches beyond the Chippewa Valley. Madison and southeastern Wisconsin remain a flurry of economic activity.
So it makes sense to connect and foster this growth industry in Wisconsin. I am proposing that we designate Interstate 90-94 from the Minnesota border to Milwaukee as the Wisconsin Technology Corridor.
When visitors and business leaders drive through our state on this highway, they will know they are traveling through a state committed to creating the jobs of tomorrow.
To further attract and grow high-tech companies, we must stop taxing the jobs of the future. We must stop taxing business computers as recommended by my Blue Ribbon Commission on Jobs for the 21st Century chaired by Katherine Lyall.
This tax cut, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in this chamber, will literally translate into thousands of high-paying jobs in Wisconsin. And we will do it without shifting the tax burden to homeowners.
In Wisconsin, we can't afford to ignore the great potential of our tourism industry. Therefore, we propose an additional $1.5 million for tourism marketing efforts so we can fully capitalize on the growing drawing power of America's State.
For our farmers, we must open new doors in the global marketplace. Agriculture exports reached a record $2 billion last year, supporting 40,000 jobs, but we are capable of doing much more.
Our strategic marketing plan seeks to double the amount of agricultural exports by the year 2002. And we begin with our greatest commodity -- the product that put Wisconsin on the map and spawned the latest fashion craze in headwear: cheese.
Our Dairy 20/20 early planning grants will help farmers study increasing their herd size, partnering with another farmer, or modernizing their equipment for maximum profitability.
And there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon in our long and hard-fought battle for reform in the milk marketing order system. We won the federal lawsuit prohibiting Washington from using the distance milk is produced from Eau Claire as a basis for milk prices. Now we need Washington to end its appeal and implement reform as ordered.
Eau Claire, Kenosha and southwestern Wisconsin are proud examples of communities who turned economic setbacks into triumphant comebacks. We must now help Ashland and Marinette do the same in the wake of paper industry consolidations.
We can put the full resources of the state at their disposal, including local economic development planning grants, revolving loans, and $1.5 million in tax credits through a Community Development Zone Designation.
And we should create a $2 million rapid response fund so our state agencies have greater flexibility to go into these communities, give workers the help they need and immediately begin attracting new businesses.
The investments we make in growing our economy will go for naught, however, if we don't generate sufficient energy for our state.
The uncertain power supply last summer was inexcusable. Tonight we unveil a sweeping energy reliability plan.
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My recommendations will give Wisconsin the tools we need to both generate and access more power at a cheap cost.
We eliminate cumbersome and outdated reporting requirements, streamline the approval process for construction of transmission lines, and encourage construction of new generating plants to ensure an ample supply of electricity.
Our plan is comprehensive and aggressive. It protects the environment and the consumer. And it keeps Wisconsin's economy charging forward.
Nothing is ever going to turn the lights out on Wisconsin!
While reliable energy is certainly important, our biggest economic challenge is finding people for our jobs. And this requires even greater emphasis on education.
I believe in parents. More than anyone else, parents know what's best for their children and what they need to be successful.
So I want to make sure a lack of money doesn't hinder the education plans our parents make for their sons and daughters.
We pump more money into public schools than just about any state in the nation. It's time we pumped a little money into the family budget for education.
Tonight, we seek to enrich our economy by making it more affordable for parents to educate their children, whether the child is in kindergarten or a senior at the University of Wisconsin.
Our Family Education Tax Package gives parents $100 million in tax breaks to spend on the educational expenses of their children. Families would be eligible for up to a $1,500 tax break per child in kindergarten to 12th grade -- low-income families would get a refundable tax credit, while middle-income families would receive a tax deduction.
If your struggling student needs a tutor; we're going to help pay for one.
If your children need a home computer; it'll be more affordable.
And if your son or daughter wants to be a Badger, money won't stand in the way.
Our plan will give families a $3,000 per child tax deduction for tuition and expenses at any state university, technical college, private college or Minnesota reciprocity school -- a deduction equivalent to an entire year's tuition at most UW campuses.
Wisconsin has the 10th-lowest tuition in the Big Ten. We're pumping more money into financial aid. And now, this tax break will make a college education more affordable than ever in Wisconsin.
This tax package is for our parents, who work so hard to give their children the very best.
Keep our families moving forever forward toward a world-class education. Cut their taxes.
Education:
I am the Youth of Wisconsin. My dream is to go to a great school that makes learning fun and challenging so I can make my dreams come true.
The greatest challenge before our state tonight is to make sure every child in this state - whether rich or poor, suburban or urban - receives the best education in the world.
That's why we are building the world's most challenging schoolhouse of tomorrow, wiring it with the most ambitious technology capabilities in America through TEACH Wisconsin.
As we do so, we must remain dedicated to the fundamentals of education such as reading. This means literally taking a few baby steps.
New science tells us that it is never too early to begin developing the minds of our children. We should begin reading to them at birth, if not before.
Let's help families get off on the right foot toward a world-class education by giving them their child's very first book. My wife Sue Ann suggested we proposed tonight a Wisconsin First Book program, which would send the family of every newborn a Golden Book, welcoming our newest Badger and encouraging the parents to begin reading to their baby.
Educators say good reading habits start at home; now let's start them at the hospital.
Give the gift of reading to our new families.
Learning must be a continual process for our children. Our high standard of excellence applies to all our schools, not just our high schools. We must make every grade count.
