July 2021 Special Session
1:50 P.M. TUESDAY, July 27, 2021
The Senate met.
The Senate was called to order by Senator Marklein.
Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (6), the Chief Clerk made the following entries under the above date. _____________
Petition and Communications
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
EXECUTIVE ORDER #127
Relating to a Special Session of the Legislature on Providing Additional Funding for the University of Wisconsin System, Technical College System, Special Education, and Per Pupil Aid
WHEREAS, in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, we made critical decisions to get our state in the best position to recover, and have seen unprecedented revenue projections enabling us to propose bold solutions to ensure our state and economy would recover from this pandemic;
WHEREAS, Wisconsin is continuing to bounce back from the pandemic, and our continued economic success depends on doing what’s best for our kids by meaningfully supporting our kids and our schools;
WHEREAS, the 2021-23 biennial budget I signed, while it included restoring two-thirds funding for our schools for the first time in two decades and roughly $685 million in additional net general and categorical aids, ultimately did the bare minimum possible in an attempt not to jeopardize $2.3 billion in federal funds when our kids and our schools need it most;
WHEREAS, my administration has worked to reverse the course of eight years of cuts and underfunding to education at every level by investing in special education, school mental health, sparsity aid, and transportation costs;
WHEREAS, I continued this commitment when, alongside the signing of the 2021-2022 biennial budget, I announced that my administration would be investing more than $100 million in federal funds into our kids and our public schools in an effort to account for Republicans’ failure to do enough for our kids in the budget sent to my desk;
WHEREAS, using my partial veto authority, I stopped a $550,000,000 transfer to the budget stabilization fund, a fund that already holds a record high balance, to ensure state resource would be available for immediate investment toward improving the lives of Wisconsinites, including making meaningful investments in our kids and education at every level;
WHEREAS, with our state in the strong financial state that it is in, our Legislature has another chance to do the right thing and do what’s best for our kids by making the investments in our kids and our schools that should have been made in the biennial budget;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, TONY EVERS, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the Sate, specifically Article IV, Section 11 and Article V, Section 4 of the Wisconsin Constitution, hereby require the convening of a special session of the Legislature at the Capitol in the City of Madison, to commence at 9:01 am on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, solely to consider and act upon LRB-4297/1 and LRB-4299/1, relating to funding for the University of Wisconsin System, technical college system, special education funding, per pupil aid, and making an appropriation.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed. Done at the Capitol in the City of Madison this twenty-sixth day of July, in the year two thousand twenty-one.
TONY EVERS
Governor
By the Governor:
DOUGLAS LA FOLLETTE
Secretary of State
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Adjournment
Senator Marklein, with unanimous consent, asked that the July 2021 Special Session of the Senate stand adjourned pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1.
Adjourned.
1:51 P.M.
