By Representatives Prosser, Kunicki, Krug, Ladwig, Porter, Notestein, Urban, Coleman, Hanson, Lazich, Bock, R. Young, Otte, Goetsch, Schneiders, Lorge, Dobyns, Johnsrud, Ainsworth and Lehman; cosponsored by Senators Rude, Burke, Panzer, Buettner, C. Potter and Grobschmidt
.
Read first time and referred to committee on Senate Organization.
Assembly Joint Resolution 59
Relating to: encouraging the administration to develop a sister-state relationship with Belgorod.
By Representative
Dobyns
; cosponsored by Senator Buettner
.
Read and referred to committee on State Government Operations and Corrections.
Assembly Joint Resolution 74
Relating to: the life and public service of Sheriff Fred Schram.
By Representatives Albers, Brandemuehl, Freese and Johnsrud
.
Read and referred to committee on Senate Organization.
The Senate proceeded in a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the State of the State Message.
The President of the Senate in the Chair.
The committee to await upon the Governor appeared with his excellency the Governor, who delivered his message as follows:
Speaker Prosser, President Rude, Members of the Legislature; Constitutional Officers, honorable justices of the Supreme Court, tribal chairmen, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I am proud to come before you tonight to talk about the accomplishments we have made together as a state and about the bold future we are building together.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the state of the state is exceptional.
As I travel across Wisconsin and talk with thousands of people, I am inspired by their abiding belief in an even better future.
I see hope in the eyes of children at Bruce Guadalupe school in Milwaukee's inner city.
I see confidence in the small entrepreneur who's just invested her life savings in a new venture, knowing she will succeed.
I see a sense of security in our mothers and fathers, who have chosen to raise their children in a state where values, character and hard work matter.
And there is reason for the hope that lies within us.
We have built a sense of confidence in the future. For we have proven as a state that if we work hard enough, if we make sacrifices, and if we believe in ourselves -- we can do anything.
We are breaking records that were thought to be unbreakable surpassing milestones thought unattainable. Consider the following:
Welfare caseloads are down 33 percent -- their lowest level in two decades...The American Dream is now within reach of 33,000 more families ...And tonight, we're on the brink of ending welfare altogether.
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Just a few years ago, wolves, eagles and elk were either long gone or dying off. Today, the wolves are back, the eagles are soaring and the elk are bugling across their native Wisconsin....We've preserved more pristine land than any time in our history...And we've cut industrial pollution by 26 percent while our businesses have grown by more than 30 percent.
The future is brighter for our family farmers: We're now assessing farms based on their use instead of their potential value and we're cutting property taxes by $1.2 billion -- putting tens of thousands of dollars in the pocketbooks of our family farmers.
We've begun a modern day industrial revolution. We have more manufacturing jobs today than at any time in our history -- 596,000 of them. That's more than we had in our industrial heyday of the late 70s when Allis Chalmers, Uniroyal and AMC were all operating at top capacity. It is a breathtaking achievement. An achievement most thought would never happen.
And our sports teams are winning like never before.....As you can see, they're bringing home the championship trophies in abundance.
The University of Wisconsin men's soccer team, the UW-Platteville men's basketball team, the UW-La Crosse football team and the Brookfield East boy's soccer team dominated their competition and won national championships in 1995.
We're even daring to talk about another Super Bowl -- and with a straight face. After 23 years, the Green Bay Packers are once again champions -- the NFC Central Division Champions. And they came within 15 minutes of the Super Bowl.
But next year .... We get the Cowboys up at Lambeau Field -- in January. The windchill is minus 20. The turf is frozen hard as a rock. It's snowing and the wind is whistling across the field at 50 miles an hour. And then, we kick their big, fat .... egos all the way back to Dallas.
And after that, we'll bring the Lombardi Trophy back home to Wisconsin, where it belongs.
Wisconsin is already winning, ladies and gentlemen. Wisconsin is Working -- better and stronger than at any time in our history.
What's our secret? An off the field incident affecting the Packers may explain it best.
Just days before the Packers biggest game in nearly three decades, Reggie White's church was burned to the ground in Knoxville, Tenn. It was a horrible tragedy and a dastardly act.
This wasn't our church. This didn't happen in one of our communities. But the next day, the people of Wisconsin were already raising money to help Reggie rebuild his church. As a state, we've raised more than $210,000.
That's the Wisconsin Way.
We're motivated by a commitment to our neighbor. And dedicated to helping people lead better lives.
That's why we are fighting crime....reducing government....cutting taxes. And why we are strengthening our families....reforming education.....ending welfare.
We have a strength of character in Wisconsin that comes from our deep faith and our willingness to fight for the values we hold dear. Unfortunately today, our values and traditions are coming under continual assault.
Right now, I am being sued because I defended the beauty of our Capitol Rotunda with its Christmas tree and menorah. And the same people are suing me in an attempt to throw out our Good Friday holiday.
If it means I have to go to court to defend the traditions that make us great, so be it. As long as I am governor, I will fight to defend and elevate the values that are the fabric of our state.
For it is these values and the commitment to our neighbors that keeps Wisconsin winning.
But there are still more battles to fight. More victories to claim.
The great architect Daniel Burnham once said: "Make no small plans. For they have not the power to move the minds of men."
In Wisconsin, we make no small plans. We make grand plans...And we implement them.
Wisconsin Works.
Economy/Taxes
Our success begins with a strong economy -- Providing opportunities for our workers, families and children.
Wisconsin is in the midst of its longest sustained period of growth ever. We've created more than a half-million jobs. And 2.8 million people are working -- the most in our state's history. In fact, we have more people working today than the entire population of Arkansas!
As a result of our winning economy, our annual unemployment rate was 3.7 percent last year -- the lowest in 30 years. The last time our jobless rate was so low a gallon of gas cost 35 cents, Neil Armstrong had just walked on the moon and state Representative Scott Walker was in his terrible twos.
And who would have thought we'd ever see a headline like this one from the Wisconsin State Journal last month: "Worried about jobs? Not in Wisconsin."
1996 isn't even a month old and we're already doing more to top 1995.
Tonight, I'm proud to announce that even more jobs are coming to six of our communities with the help of our Department of Development:
Wisconsin Rapids will get 370 more jobs at Advantage Learning Systems.
Shawano ....312 new jobs at Aarowcast
Oconto Falls .... 150 jobs at Cera-Mite Corporation.
Boscobel ... 99 jobs at American National Can Corporation
Bellevue.......200 jobs at Krueger International.
And in Marinette....350 new jobs at Karl Schmidt Unisia.
That's nearly 1,500 new jobs for the people of Wisconsin! Thanks for believing in Wisconsin.
When it comes to creating jobs and growing our economy, Wisconsin works.
New Government, New Century
We've created a new government for a new century: a government to serve the people, not the bureaucracy. It's a government that works.
We've created the polar opposite of Washington government. While Washington is doing less with more, Wisconsin is doing more with less.
There's no better example of this new government than the Lena story. Just a few weeks ago, the small village of Lena was devastated when the Stella Foods cheese factory caught fire. Stella employed 300 in a village of 590 and purchased milk from 350 farmers.
Within hours of the fire, we were there. I was on the phone with Lena and company officials throughout the day, as well as Rep. John Gard. Seven state agencies rushed to Lena's aid.
The State Patrol and emergency government ....The Departments of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Development, Health and Social Services, and Labor....All working in unison to help Lena deal with its crisis.
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This is what I mean by a government serving the people.
And we're doing more to help Lena. This past Friday, we offered Stella a strong economic assistance package to help them rebuild and keep Lena working.
Of course, the real heroes of this story are the people of Lena. They didn't sit around feeling sorry for themselves. They began rebuilding.....picking up the pieces.....neighbor helping neighbor.
And Stella displayed great corporate citizenship in the way it cared for its workers during a time of crisis.
The people of Lena capture the essence of the Wisconsin spirit.
Wisconsin Works
Property Taxes
People trust Wisconsin government because we keep our promises -- even on tough issues like property tax relief. We just delivered to the people of Wisconsin a Taxpayers Triple Crown of less taxes, less spending and less government.
Since statehood, the people who have served in this building have tried unsuccessfully to cut property taxes, leading to creation of the sales tax and income tax.
That all began to change in 1993, when we finally enacted cost controls on local governments.
And this session, we accomplished what the skeptics deemed impossible: We reordered our budget priorities. We made tough spending cuts. We took the heat for doing what was right.
The result is two-thirds funding of public education in Wisconsin and $1.2 billion of property tax relief for our families.
Now, I know some are trying to discount the magnitude of this achievement. But consider just how far we've come: For decades property taxes increased by double digits every year. But this December, school property taxes will drop an average of 25 percent.
And that's just the average. Look at La Crosse -- 31% school property tax cut. Green Bay 36% cut. Milwaukee -- 36% cut. Eau Claire -- 33% cut.
Working with me, the new majority in the Legislature broke a 148-year cycle of annual, oppressive property tax increases.
We promised relief. We delivered relief.
Of course, our job is not over. It never will be.
Maintaining 2/3rds funding of our schools will continue to be the greatest fiscal challenge we face. The next budget won't be easy, nor will the one after that.
But the State Assembly today made a major downpayment on continued property tax relief by passing a bipartisan bill, authored by Rep. Mike Powers, creating a property tax relief account endowed by a $210 million surplus.
A surplus made possible solely because state government is spending less and managing better.
Taxpayers can spend their money more wisely than government can.. any day. And taxpayers will spend it on what truly matters in their lives: An education for their children....A bigger home...A more comfortable retirement.
