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Relating to certification requirements for waterworks, wastewater treatment plant and septage servicing operators.
Submitted by Department of Natural Resources.
Report received from Agency, February 10, 1995.
Referred to committee on Environment and Energy, February 14, 1995.
Relating to the education, experience and examination requirements for registration as a landscape architect and as a professional geologist.
Submitted by Department of Regulation and Licensing.
Report received from Agency, February 08, 1995.
Referred to committee on Business, Economic Development and Urban Affairs, February 14, 1995.
Relating to notification of victims of an opportunity to provide direct input into the parole decision.
Submitted by Parole Commission.
Report received from Agency, February 09, 1995.
Referred to committee on Judiciary, February 14, 1995.
The Chair, with unanimous consent, appointed Senators Ellis, Jauch and Leean to escort the Governor to the joint assemblage of the Senate and the Assembly to give his Budget Address.
Senator Ellis, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess for the purpose of proceeding to the Assembly Chambers to hear the Governor's Budget Message and upon the rising of the joint convention adjourn until
Wednesday, February 15 at 10:00 A.M..
The senate stood recessed.
11:38 A.M.
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The Senate proceeded in a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the Budget 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 budget message as follows:
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Members of the Supreme court, Constitutional officers, Cabinet members, President Rude, Speaker Prosser ...
Ladies and gentlemen ...
Well, we did it.
This budget provides a $1 billion tax cut for the taxpayers of Wisconsin ...
The largest tax cut in state history ...
And we did it without raising the sales tax ... And without raising the income tax.
In fact, I am proposing that we cut the income tax rate for most working people in this state to 6.87% ... The lowest that rate has been since 1931.
Happy Valentine's day!
This document is my Valentine to the taxpayers of Wisconsin.
It is the culmination of eight years of hard work and innovation ...
It is the final step in a long-fought battle for property tax relief.
Everybody said we couldn't do it.
Everybody said we couldn't take $1 billion off the property tax without raising the sales tax ... And without raising the income tax.
And I am here today to tell you that we did it.
When I traveled around this state last fall, I told the people of Wisconsin that the state would assume two-thirds of school costs.
We did.
I told them we would do this without a general tax increase.
We did.
I told them we were going to completely reorganize state government ... Create a new government for a new century.
We did ... With 3,000 fewer state employees as a result.
I told them technology would be our partner in making this new government more accountable and more accessible.
And it is.
And I told them we were going to put forward major initiatives in education, welfare, juvenile justice and corrections.
And we did.
A lot of you supported me on all of these issues last fall.
The people spoke loud and clear on November 8 ... And this budget is the result of their mandate.
This budget is a defining document ... One that will define each and every one of us in this room.
This budget will define whether you are an agent of change ... Or an ally of the status quo.
It will define whether you are looking to the future ... Or looking over your shoulder.
This budget will separate those who -- when they are faced with a challenge -- see a problem ... And those who see an opportunity.
This budget does nothing less than position Wisconsin to lead the way into the next century.
It does this by turning a challenge into an opportunity.
Here is the challenge we faced: to come up with an additional $1 billion for schools in this state.
$1 billion dollars. That's a lot of money.
Now some people, when they hear $1 billion dollars, their first response is "raise taxes!" ... "you've got to raise taxes!"
It doesn't even cross their minds that there might be another way. And it completely escapes them that we've tried their way before:
In 1911, Wisconsin created the nation's first income tax ... For property tax relief.
Did it work? No.
In 1961, we raised the income tax and the sales tax ... For property tax relief.
Did it work? No.
In 1969, we raised the sales tax for property tax relief. In 1982, we raised the sales tax again.
Did it work? No.
Raising taxes to cut other taxes just does not work.
What we accomplish in this budget is unprecedented. For the first time in Wisconsin history, we are cutting the property tax without raising other taxes.
Now, when I sat down to work on this budget, I decided to see it as a one-billion opportunity to improve education in this state ... And to completely re-shape and re-define state government.
It wasn't easy. We had to make some very tough decisions. We had to make some cuts.
I am going to be honest with you. There is some pain in this budget ... Pain that we will all have to share.
But we gave every cut every consideration. They were not arbitrary.
I have been working on this budget since last April ... For almost an entire year.
We have never spent more time putting a budget together ... Literally thousands of hours combing through agency budgets line by line ... Looking for efficiencies ... Looking for programs and positions that are no longer fundamental to our state responsibilities.
As I said, it wasn't easy. But this budget is straightforward ... It is honest ... It is deliberate ...
It turned a tremendous challenge into a tremendous opportunity ...
And it provides the largest single tax cut in the history of this state.
How did we do it?
Here was the problem:
· We had to meet our commitment to pick up two-thirds of the school costs for the state ... A commitment of $1.2 billion over the next two years.
This means school funding will have to increase by more than $250 million for the 1995-96 school year ... And by more than $950 million for the 1996-97 school year.
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· Meeting other advance commitments such as shared revenues, county mandate relief and community aids will require funding increases of about $160 million over the next two years.
In sum, meeting our commitments will mean funding increases of about $400 million in the first year of this biennium ... And approximately $1 billion in the second year.
Revenue growth from our growing economy will cover our obligations for the first year.
