That's why we are expanding broadband internet services to every part of the state. It means helping family farmers improve their operations to limit run off. And it is about improving staffing and facilities at our state veterans homes.
A solid transportation system is also part of being accountable to the taxpayers. Our budget includes more funding for local governments to fix roads and bridges and potholes than they've seen in more than a decade and a half. It also includes the largest amount ever for rehabilitation of state highways.
This budget gets all of the active major projects outside of southeastern Wisconsin back on track. It adds funding for the work on Interstate 94 from the state line north through Kenosha and Racine counties. And it frees up resources to address the long-term transportation needs of the state, putting in place new reforms that help lower the cost of building our infrastructure.
We are Working and Winning for Wisconsin.
Another part of making government more accountable to the taxpayers comes from rewarding work.
We want everyone who wants a job, to find a job - and a career. For all who are able, we will enable them to work.
Wisconsin Works for Everyone builds off of the positive welfare reform started by former Governor Tommy Thompson under Wisconsin Works or commonly called W-2. We want to ensure that people who are able to work actually enter the workforce.
For starters, that means that able-bodied adults will need to be employed at least 80 hours a month to receive things like food stamps. If not, they ·will need to be enrolled in our job training program.
On top of that, we are working with the new administration and Congress to get approval to expand drug testing for people seeking public assistance. If they fail the test, we provide treatment to get them healthy and back into the workforce.
Employers are eager to find individuals with fundamental employability skills who can pass a drug test. We want to get people back on their feet again and into the workforce.
But let me be clear: Wisconsin Works for Everyone goes beyond traditional welfare reform.
We extend child care benefits so people don't hit a certain income level and then immediately drop off of any assistance. For many, this becomes a deterrent to working more hours or taking a promotion. Our reforms will eliminate the so called "cliff.”
In addition to removing barriers to work, we know that strengthening strong, two parent families is another key to success. With this in mind, we expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to make it more attractive to work and fix the marriage penalty.
The Commission on the Future of the Family reminded us to focus early and often on the "Success Sequence." It is simple: graduate from school, get a job, and wait until you're 21 and married to have a child. Research shows that those who do so are overwhelmingly more likely to succeed.
Another way to reduce poverty is to expand a successful program in Kenosha and Brown counties that works with parents who owe child support to get them employed and paying child support. This is good for the taxpayers, but most of all, it is good for the children.
Wisconsin Works for Everyone also includes changes to make it easier for people with disabilities to enter the workforce without fear of quickly losing assistance. Similarly, we provide a new way to help young adults who age out of Foster Care to enter the workforce.
We also propose expanding career and technical training in our correctional facilities to help transition offenders into the workforce. A good job is one of the best ways to keep people from re-entering the system.
People want to work. It goes against our human nature to think that we should permanently be dependent on the government.
Here in Wisconsin, we are good and decent people. We will help our fellow citizen when they are down and out. But public assistance should be a trampoline, not a hammock.
Part of expanding our workforce also requires removing barriers to employment and to people starting their own small businesses. Our budget creates a panel to review occupational licenses to determine which are truly needed to protect public health and safety and which of those are just barriers to employment.
Wisconsin Works for Everyone will help all those who are able to enter the workforce and pursue a career that is right for them. It's just one more way we are Working and Winning for Wisconsin.
Think about it: More people were employed last year in Wisconsin than at any point in our history. We have one of the highest percentages of people working of any state in the nation. And our unemployment rate is the lowest it's been - well - since Tommy Thompson was governor.
We are Working and Winning for Wisconsin.
With this budget, we are adding another $20 million to the rainy day fund, making it 178 times larger than when we took office. Our outstanding long-term debt is some of the lowest in the country. Our state has one of the only fully funded pension systems in the nation. And our budgets continue to end with surpluses.
We are Working and Winning for Wisconsin.
The common sense reforms that helped build this healthy economy and strong management of our state resources created our positive budget outlook. That's the Reform Dividend.
Now, we are investing the Reform Dividend into our priorities: student success, reduced college costs, care for the needy, maintenance of our roads and bridges, ways to reward work, and lower taxes.
This is a solid budget built on a strong foundation. The Reform Dividend gives us plenty of ways to support our priorities. I ask for your support of this budget. Working together, let's keep moving Wisconsin forward.
Indeed, we are Working and Winning for Wisconsin.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless our men and women in the uniform. God bless Wisconsin. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.”
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Adjournment
The Joint Convention arose.
4:30 P.M.
