95th - Mark Meyer
920 South 16th Street
La Crosse 54601
Democrat
96th - DuWayne Johnsrud
Route 1, Box 91A
Eastman 54626
Republican
97th - Peggy Krusick
3426 South 69th Street
Milwaukee 53219
Democrat
98th - Marc C. Duff
1811 South Elm Grove Road
New Berlin 53151
Republican
99th - Frank H. Urban
3645 Emberwood Drive
Brookfield 53005
Republican
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Oath of Office
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 28 of the Wisconsin Constitution, the Honorable Justice David Prosser of the Wisconsin Supreme Court administered the oath of office to the members en masse.
The attendance roll was called by the clerk.
The roll was taken.
The result follows:
Present - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Balow, Berceau, Bock, Boyle, Brandemuehl, Carpenter, Coggs, Colon, Duff, Foti, Freese, Gard, Goetsch, Gronemus, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Handrick, Hasenohrl, Hebl, Hoven, Huber, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Hutchison, Jensen, Johnsrud, Kaufert, Kedzie, Kelso, Kestell, Klusman, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krug, Krusick, La Fave, Ladwig, F. Lasee, Lassa, J. Lehman, M. Lehman, Leibham, Meyer, Meyerhofer, Miller, Montgomery, Morris-Tatum, Musser, Nass, Olsen, Ott, Ourada, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Plouff, Pocan, Porter, Powers, Reynolds, Rhoades, Richards, Riley, Ryba, Schneider, Schooff, Seratti, Sherman, Sinicki, Skindrud, Spillner, Staskunas, Stone, Suder, Sykora, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Urban, Vrakas, Walker, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, Williams, Wood, Young and Ziegelbauer - 94.
Absent - Representatives Black, Cullen, Jeskewitz, Plale and Steinbrink - 5.
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Election of Speaker
Representative Foti nominated Representative Jensen for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representative Bock nominated Representative Schneider for the position of Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the chair declared nominations closed.
Representative Bock asked unanimous consent that all democratic members of the Assembly be recorded as voting for Representative Schneider for position of Speaker of the Assembly. Granted.
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Representative Foti asked unanimous consent that all republican members of the Assembly be recorded as voting for Representative Jensen for position of Speaker of the Assembly. Granted.
For Representative Jensen - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Brandemuehl, Duff, Foti, Freese, Gard, Goetsch, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Handrick, Hoven, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Hutchison, Jensen, Johnsrud, Kaufert, Kedzie, Kelso, Kestell, Klusman, Kreibich, Ladwig, F. Lasee, M. Lehman, Leibham, Montgomery, Musser, Nass, Olsen, Ott, Ourada, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Porter, Powers, Rhoades, Seratti, Skindrud, Spillner, Stone, Suder, Sykora, Townsend, Underheim, Urban, Vrakas, Walker, Ward and Wieckert - 54.
For Representative Schneider - Representatives Balow, Berceau, Bock, Boyle, Carpenter, Coggs, Colon, Gronemus, Hasenohrl, Hebl, Huber, Hubler, Kreuser, Krug, Krusick, La Fave, Lassa, J. Lehman, Meyer, Meyerhofer, Miller, Morris-Tatum, Plouff, Pocan, Reynolds, Richards, Riley, Ryba, Schneider, Schooff, Sherman, Sinicki, Staskunas, Travis, Turner, Wasserman, Williams, Wood, Young and Ziegelbauer - 40.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Black, Cullen, Jeskewitz, Plale and Steinbrink - 5.
Representative Jensen was elected Speaker of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Hundertmark and Colon escorted Representative Jensen to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by Supreme Court Justice David Prosser.
Speaker Jensen in the chair.
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Remarks by the Speaker
"Thank you very much.
Today is a day for thank you's. Each of us privileged to be on this floor owes a debt of gratitude to the voters of Wisconsin who sent us. Each of us owes a debt of gratitude to the family and friends who sustained us during our campaigns, who celebrated with us at the peaks, who carried us through the valleys and who now proudly stand here with us. We thank you all very much.
I also want to thank our former Speaker, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, for coming home to the Assembly to swear in this new legislature.
Finally, I want to thank my colleagues for once again granting me the enormous honor and great responsibility of being your Speaker.
Over the past four years, this house, the people's house, has led the way in Wisconsin with bold initiatives in welfare reform, tax relief, school choice, and charter schools. And just as Wisconsin blazed a trail for the nation with its progressive reforms at the start of this century, we have taken the lead again at the century's end.
Our record of bipartisan accomplishments here in Wisconsin stands in stark contrast with the poisoned and polarized politics of Washington D.C. Now, we most assuredly will disagree from time to time in this chamber - even vigorously so. For there are issues that are so important to Wisconsin's future that they deserve to be debated passionately. But our debates must focus on policies not personalities, on what is right not who has been wronged. In the end, if we are to be faithful to the oath we took today, we must all work harder at working together.
Fourteen months ago, I stood here and told you that my top priority as Speaker would be to reduce the tax burden on Wisconsin families. And since then, we have made a good start.
We cut taxes on our families from the bottom up. First, we eliminated income taxes entirely for lower income families, then we eliminated the marriage penalty for middle class families. We indexed our tax rates so working families don't pay more in taxes just because they got a cost of living raise. We made the premiums for long term care insurance 100% deductible so seniors can afford to stay in their homes and we provided a $3000 tax deduction for tuition so families can afford to send their kids to college. We eliminated capital gains taxes on the sale of a family business to another member of the family so we can keep these businesses in the family and in business. And finally, we recognized that everyone in Wisconsin pays too much in taxes so we cut income tax rates across the board by 2.5%.
In the end, working together, we have reduced the tax bill for our families over the next five years by $1.3 billion. And that is a good start, but it must only be the beginning.
For despite all of our efforts in the last session, Wisconsin's families still work too hard and too long to pay for their government. That is why I pledge to our families that this house will cut taxes again this year... and we will cut taxes again next year ... and we will keep cutting taxes until they are finally in line with our families' ability to pay.
Reducing our families' tax burden is not merely an economic necessity, it is a moral imperative if we are to maintain a civil society. Our democracy is commonly understood as a system of government, but our founding fathers understood it as a system to limit government. They understood that government can never replace and should not ever undermine the real foundations of our civil society: family, faith, and community.
A healthy civil society can only be built on the foundation of strong families. And yet, it has been estimated that every dollar we require a family to pay in taxes costs parents 20 minutes with their children. Simply put, the time parents spend earning the money needed to pay the taxes we levy is time they cannot spend helping their children with their homework, eating a family meal together, reading favorite stories or saying family prayers. It is time lost that frays family ties, puts children at risk and ultimately weakens our families.
In the months ahead, as we work to cut taxes, we must summon the courage to make difficult choices about the state budget so that parents won't have to make even more painful decisions about their family budgets.
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The growth of government and the tax burden has also stifled the role of faith in building up and maintaining our civil society. For thousands of years, we relied on organizations of faith to educate our children, care for our poor, and shape our values. But in the middle of this century, government elbowed faith out of the public square and attempted to fill the "God-shaped hole" in our cultural fabric with legions of bureaucrats, reams of regulations, and a torrent of taxes. Only in recent years, have we finally understood the damaging effects of both the incapacity of government alone to solve so many of our social problems and the dispiriting atrophy of faith-based institutions once so instrumental in healing these ills.
The founders of our republic foresaw a vigorous role for faith in our society to moderate selfish passions and to reinforce shared values. In fact, they viewed this foundation of virtue as essential to the concept of liberty. For too long, though, government has made communities of faith adversaries in its bureaucratic attempts to build a civil society. It is time we welcome back our churches and temples, our synagogues and mosques as full participants in our work to address the pressing issues facing our state.
Our communities have suffered too from an overbearing and outsized government. Government in Madison will never be as responsive to an individual's needs as the neighbor next door. Yet, through high taxation we force people to work longer hours for less pay and make it difficult for them to interact with their neighbors. At the same time, we have offered the false promise of government taking care of neighbors we once viewed as our own individual responsibility.
At this point, I am sure some of you think I am exaggerating how dramatically government has undermined the concept of community. I invite you to think back just three summers ago. In the wake of a serious heat wave that gripped our state, government programs were set up to call elderly residents in our neighborhoods to check on their well being. Now think about that: The government was taking money from you in taxes so that it could check up on your next door neighbor's well-being. Our first response to this crisis was not to rely on families, or neighbors, or fellow parishioners but rather to call on the government.
That same year, in his State of the Union speech, President Clinton proclaimed that "the era of big government is over." But reality has yet to match the rhetoric. Government still too often continues to flail away at problems it is ill-equipped to solve while at the same time hamstringing the efforts of the individuals and organizations that are best equipped to solve these problems.
As we search for the real answers to the challenges that face our state, we will most often find them in our own neighborhoods in the hearts of our families, in the souls of our churches.
So let us begin this new session, this new year, with these resolutions:
For each of us who sits here in this chamber because of the support and love of family, let us resolve today to work this session for stronger, healthier families throughout Wisconsin.
For each of us here who have been lifted by our faith in God, let us resolve to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of all of our society knowing the same restorative power.
And for each of us here who have seen firsthand the dynamic possibilities in our communities, let us resolve to unleash this potential so that as we strengthen our neighborhoods we might also build brotherhood.
In this, the last year of the last decade of the last century of this millennium, let us resolve to rebuild the foundations of our civil society: to strengthen our families, to restore our faith and to reinvigorate our communities."
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Election of Speaker Pro Tempore
Representative Powers nominated Representative Freese for the position of Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the speaker declared nominations closed.
Representative Foti asked unanimous consent that a unanimous ballot be cast with all members of the Assembly be recorded as voting for Representative Freese for Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore. Granted.
For Representative Freese - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Balow, Berceau, Bock, Boyle, Brandemuehl, Carpenter, Coggs, Colon, Duff, Foti, Freese, Gard, Goetsch, Gronemus, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Handrick, Hasenohrl, Hebl, Hoven, Huber, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Hutchison, Johnsrud, Kaufert, Kedzie, Kelso, Kestell, Klusman, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krug, Krusick, La Fave, Ladwig, F. Lasee, Lassa, J. Lehman, M. Lehman, Leibham, Meyer, Meyerhofer, Miller, Montgomery, Morris-Tatum, Musser, Nass, Olsen, Ott, Ourada, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Plouff, Pocan, Porter, Powers, Reynolds, Rhoades, Richards, Riley, Ryba, Schneider, Schooff, Seratti, Sherman, Sinicki, Skindrud, Spillner, Staskunas, Stone, Suder, Sykora, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Urban, Vrakas, Walker, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, Williams, Wood, Young, Ziegelbauer and Speaker Jensen - 94.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Black, Cullen, Jeskewitz, Plale and Steinbrink - 5.
Representative Freese was elected Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Albers and Brandemuehl escorted Representative Freese to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by Speaker Jensen.
Speaker Pro Tempore Freese in the chair.
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Election of Chief Clerk
Representative Jensen nominated Charles Sanders for the position of Chief Clerk of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representative Krug seconded the nomination of Charles Sanders for the position of Chief Clerk of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the Speaker declared nominations closed.
Representative Foti asked unanimous consent that a unanimous ballot be cast with all members of the Assembly be recorded as voting for Charles Sanders for Assembly Chief Clerk. Granted.
For Charles Sanders - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Balow, Berceau, Bock, Boyle, Brandemuehl, Carpenter, Coggs, Colon, Duff, Foti, Freese, Gard, Goetsch, Gronemus, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Handrick, Hasenohrl, Hebl, Hoven, Huber, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Hutchison, Johnsrud, Kaufert, Kedzie, Kelso, Kestell, Klusman, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krug, Krusick, La Fave, Ladwig, F. Lasee, Lassa, J. Lehman, M. Lehman, Leibham, Meyer, Meyerhofer, Miller, Montgomery, Morris-Tatum, Musser, Nass, Olsen, Ott, Ourada, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Plouff, Pocan, Porter, Powers, Reynolds, Rhoades, Richards, Riley, Ryba, Schneider, Schooff, Seratti, Sherman, Sinicki, Skindrud, Spillner, Staskunas, Stone, Suder, Sykora, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Urban, Vrakas, Walker, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, Williams, Wood, Young, Ziegelbauer and Speaker Jensen - 94.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Black, Cullen, Jeskewitz, Plale and Steinbrink - 5.
Charles Sanders was elected Chief Clerk of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Spillner and Meyerhofer escorted Charles Sanders to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by Speaker Pro Tempore Freese.
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Chief Clerk's Announcement
Charlie Sanders announced that he has appointed Linda Hanson as Assistant Chief Clerk of the Assembly for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Vrakas and Bock escorted Linda Hanson to the rostrum.
The oath of office was administered by Speaker Pro Tempore Freese.
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Election of Sergeant-at-Arms
Representative Jensen nominated Denise Solie for the position of Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
There being no further nominations, the Speaker declared nominations closed.
Representative Foti asked unanimous consent that a unanimous ballot be cast with all members of the Assembly recorded as voting for Denise Solie for Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms. Granted.
For Denise Solie - Representatives Ainsworth, Albers, Balow, Berceau, Bock, Boyle, Brandemuehl, Carpenter, Coggs, Colon, Duff, Foti, Freese, Gard, Goetsch, Gronemus, Grothman, Gunderson, Gundrum, Hahn, Handrick, Hasenohrl, Hebl, Hoven, Huber, Hubler, Huebsch, Hundertmark, Hutchison, Johnsrud, Kaufert, Kedzie, Kelso, Kestell, Klusman, Kreibich, Kreuser, Krug, Krusick, La Fave, Ladwig, F. Lasee, Lassa, J. Lehman, M. Lehman, Leibham, Meyer, Meyerhofer, Miller, Montgomery, Morris-Tatum, Musser, Nass, Olsen, Ott, Ourada, Owens, Petrowski, Pettis, Plouff, Pocan, Porter, Powers, Reynolds, Rhoades, Richards, Riley, Ryba, Schneider, Schooff, Seratti, Sherman, Sinicki, Skindrud, Spillner, Staskunas, Stone, Suder, Sykora, Townsend, Travis, Turner, Underheim, Urban, Vrakas, Walker, Ward, Wasserman, Wieckert, Williams, Wood, Young, Ziegelbauer and Speaker Jensen - 94.
Absent or not voting - Representatives Black, Cullen, Jeskewitz, Plale and Steinbrink - 5.
Denise Solie was elected Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms for the Ninety-Fourth Regular Session of the Legislature.
Representatives Albers and Schneider escorted Denise Solie to the rostrum.
