2026-02-17 Senate Journal

hist224615 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Keyeski added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 129.

hist224529 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 216.

hist224799 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Arney added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 284.

hist224530 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 379.

hist224616 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Hesselbein added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 444.

hist224531 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Anderson, Miresse and Arney added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 456.

hist224527 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Sheehan withdrawn as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 578.

hist224991 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Hong added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 628.

hist224745 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Miresse added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 702.

hist224620 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Moore Omokunde added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 716.

hist224621 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Moore Omokunde added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 719.

hist224532 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 722.

hist224994 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Dassler-Alfheim added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 752.

hist224993 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Dassler-Alfheim added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 753.

hist224611 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Joers added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 864.

hist224746 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Miresse added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 895.

hist224619 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Donovan added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 900.

hist224539 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Melotik added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 929.

hist224617 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Drake added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 959.

hist224800 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Dallman added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 969.

hist224537 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 970.

hist224561 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Penterman added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 971.

hist224536 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 974.

hist224533 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Anderson and Arney added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 975.

hist224535 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Anderson and Moore Omokunde added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 976.

hist224538 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representatives Anderson and Moore Omokunde added as cosponsors of Senate Bill 977.

hist224540 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Melotik added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 983.

hist224534 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Anderson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 987.

hist224618 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Drake added as a coauthor of Senate Bill 987.

hist224612 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Moore Omokunde added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 996.

hist224613 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Moore Omokunde added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 997.

hist224614 Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senator Dassler-Alfheim added as a coauthor of Senate Joint Resolution 132.

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Legislative Reference Bureau Corrections

Corrections In:

2025 SENATE BILL 445

Prepared by the Legislative Reference Bureau

(February 17, 2026)

hist224544 1. Page 3, line 1: delete “(2)” and substitute “(3) Construction.”.

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Referrals and Receipt of Committee Reports Concerning Proposed Administrative Rules

The committee on Health reported and recommended:

Senate Clearinghouse Rule 25-072

Relating to redistribution of closed nursing home beds.

hist224659 No action taken on February 17, 2026.

hist224660 Referred to the joint committee for review of Administrative Rules, February 17, 2026.

RACHAEL CABRAL-GUEVARA

Chairperson

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President Felzkowski appointed Senators Nass and Smith to escort his Excellency, the Governor, to the Joint Convention.

Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess and proceed as a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the Governor’s State of the State Address, and further, that the Senate stand adjourned until Wednesday, February 18, 2026, upon the rising of the Joint Convention.

6:40 P.M.

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Recess

The Senate proceeded in a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the State of the State Message.

6:45 P.M.

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In Assembly Chamber

In Joint Convention

7:00 P.M.

Senate President Felzkowski in the chair.

The Committee to wait upon the Governor appeared with his Excellency, the Honorable Governor Tony Evers, who delivered his message as follows:

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State of the State Address

“Hello there, Wisconsin!

Honorable Supreme Court Justices, Tribal Nation leaders, constitutional officers, Adjutant General Strub, members of the Wisconsin National Guard, active and retired members of our armed forces, cabinet members, legislators, distinguished guests, and Wisconsinites from near and far, thank you for taking the time to join us this evening.

I’m Tony Evers, and I am honored to be the 46th governor of the great state of Wisconsin as I deliver my eighth and final State of the State address to you tonight.

My daughter, Katie, and my grandson, Keyton, as well as my son, Nick, and his wife, Landa, are here with us tonight. My former Kindergarten classmate and junior prom date is also up in the gallery. Kathleen Frances, you never wavered through all the ups and downs of my 50 years in public service. You’re a saint. Thank you.

Before we begin, Wisconsin, today’s an Election Day! If you haven’t voted yet in the spring primary, there’s still time to get registered and vote. And the good news is, if you go right now to participate in our democracy, you can still catch my full speech afterward on Facebook, YouTube, and probably wherever else kids get the news these days.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. So, go to myvote.wi.gov, find your polling location, then grab your photo ID and a proof of residence if you need to register, and get out to vote.

I’m so humbled and thankful for the last seven years and those who’ve helped make it happen. But tonight, Wisconsin, I want to focus on the work we still have left to do, so I’m going to save my long list of gratitude for my farewell address later this year. And, no, legislators, that doesn’t mean my speech got any shorter.

I know many lawmakers are antsy to end the legislative session and pack up to get back on the campaign trail—by the way, if anyone running wants advice from someone who’s won five statewide elections, let me know!

Folks, I know many of you are up for election, but here’s the deal: after years of delivering historic, bipartisan wins for our state, Wisconsinites have high expectations for the work we can do together over the next 10 months—and they should. Just look at what we’ve accomplished over the last seven years.

My vetoes are often the focus of news coverage and even political criticism. I know Republicans get upset when I use my veto pen to do good things for kids and schools, for example. But here’s the truth: I’ve signed over 800 bills as governor, and more than 97 percent of the bills I’ve signed passed with bipartisan support.

Here are just a few of those bipartisan bills. We improved our justice system, bolstered support for public defenders and DAs, and made the largest addition of circuit court branches in over two decades. We made sure firefighters and law enforcement officers can access workers’ compensation for post-traumatic stress. We created a holiday honoring Hmong-Lao Veterans, and our kids now learn about Hmong and Asian American history in school. We fixed gaps in the AMBER Alert System through the Prince Act so we can locate missing kids faster. And, folks, this is all barely a fraction of the more than 800 bills I’ve been proud to sign as governor.

We expanded tax credits to help lower the cost of child care for working families. We made it so State Park passes can be used for 12 full months, regardless of when it’s purchased. We provided Medicaid coverage for telehealth services so folks can access healthcare right at home. We supported peer-to-peer suicide prevention efforts for kids in schools. We invested in helping local communities prepare for and prevent flooding before disaster happens. And we worked together to keep Major League Baseball in Milwaukee until 2050, so future generations of Wisconsin’s kids will grow up rooting for the Brewers like so many of us have.

We’ve also managed to do all of this important work while still saving where we could and paying down our state’s debt. We’ve saved taxpayers over $600 million by paying off about $3 billion of our state’s debt. After 30 consecutive years of our state’s checking account running a deficit, we’ve ended every full fiscal year I’ve been governor with a positive balance.

Thanks to our bipartisan efforts to cut taxes, Wisconsin taxpayers will see over $2 billion in tax relief annually, with most of those cuts going to the middle class. And I not only kept my campaign promise to Wisconsinites that I’d deliver a 10-percent tax cut for middle-class families. In fact, middle-class taxpayers have seen an income tax cut of 23 percent—more than double what I promised. Wisconsinites, you’re keeping more of your hard-earned money today than at any point in the last 50 years.

I’m also grateful the Legislature supported a key part of my affordability plan last year to help lower monthly energy costs for working families. Because of our bipartisan work, Wisconsinites are no longer paying sales tax on household utility bills, which is expected to save Wisconsinites over $178 million over the next two years.

Not only are Wisconsinites keeping more of their hard-earned money, Wisconsinites are making more money, too. Average annual wages in Wisconsin went up nearly 26 percent over my first six years in office, and median wages in 2024 reached an all-time record high.

Giving working families a little more breathing room in their household budgets is something we’ve worked on together over the last seven years. I’m hopeful we can continue building upon those efforts this session, including reaching bipartisan agreement on a plan to get meaningful resources to K-12 schools and provide property tax relief. And it must balance these important obligations a heckuva lot better than the plan Republican leaders sent me this week.

Another important priority for us over the last seven years has been addressing the workforce challenges that have plagued our state for generations. We’ve been working to build the 21st-century workforce Wisconsin needs to compete in a 21st-century economy. We’ve reduced barriers to joining our workforce by investing in child care slots for working parents and making sure they can get to and from work. We’ve helped over 127,000 Wisconsin workers get career and skills training thanks to investments I directed. Wisconsin’s seen record-high employment and record-low unemployment, and we’ve had the highest ever enrollment in our youth and registered apprenticeship programs ever in state history for several years in a row. And by cracking down on worker misclassification, we’ve made sure over 134,000 workers got the wages and benefits they were owed.

And a key part of our work to support working families, strengthen our communities, and grow our state’s workforce has been ensuring folks have the housing they need in the communities they work in. It’s about connecting the dots, and expanding access to affordable housing is an issue I hear about almost everywhere I go in Wisconsin. We worked together to pass the largest state investment in workforce housing in Wisconsin history, and my administration has supported over 30,000 new housing units across our state.

Much like housing, having access to affordable, high-speed internet in the 21st Century is a necessity, not a luxury. It’s why no administration has done more to expand access to high-speed internet for working families than we have. I declared 2021 the Year of Broadband Access and created a Broadband Access Task Force. We also created new tools to help folks get connected and find affordable internet options. Thanks to our investments, including federal funding I directed, more than 410,000 homes and businesses across our state will have new or improved internet.

Supporting our farmers and their families and our state’s agricultural industries has also been part of our work over the last seven years. I created the Blue Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity and the Office of Rural Prosperity. And we worked together to create the Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports to increase dairy, meat, crop, and other product exports by 25 percent. Today, Wisconsin is well on its way to becoming a top 10 state for agricultural exports after being ranked 13th just a few years ago.

And from our smallest rural towns to our largest cities, after a generation of state government asking local partners to do more with less, we also worked together to approve a historic increase in support for our local communities. Thanks to our bipartisan efforts, Milwaukee is no longer on the brink of bankruptcy, and state support for most municipalities increased over 20 percent to help them meet basic and unique needs alike.

We’re also making sure the state helps support local communities by investing in infrastructure needs across Wisconsin that have long been neglected. When I took over, our transportation fund was on the brink of insolvency. For years, the state spent money that was meant to improve our infrastructure on other things, leaving our roads and bridges in disrepair. I made a promise to Wisconsinites that I’d work to fix the darn roads—I’ve even gone out on my annual Pothole Patrol as governor to fix our roads myself! We approved the largest investment in local road construction and maintenance in state history. Thanks to our bipartisan work, local partners will receive nearly $600 million in funding this year.

We also created a new agricultural roads program with bipartisan support to make sure our farmers and producers can get product to market safely and efficiently by improving local rural infrastructure across our state. It’s already supporting over 90 projects across 48 counties to help improve and repair roads that our farmers, agricultural industries, and rural communities depend on. Folks, all of these efforts have played a key role in our work to fix the darn roads across Wisconsin. And we’ve delivered! Thanks to our work together, my administration has been able to improve or repair over 9,600 miles of roads and over 2,400 bridges across our state.

And it’s a darn good thing we’ve been fixing the roads, because, under my administration, Wisconsin’s been welcoming more visitors than ever before. Investing in our tourism industry has been an important part of our work over the last seven years—and it’s paid off. Wisconsin’s travel and tourism industry has been setting records for three years running. In 2024, we had a hat-trick year: Wisconsin tourism brought in more money, welcomed more visitors, and generated a record-high $25.8 billion in total economic impact.