By Representatives Owens, Cullen, Freese, Hutchison, Kelso, Ladwig, Miller, Plale, Ryba, Seratti, Sinicki, Turner and Walker; cosponsored by Senators Roessler, Fitzgerald, Moen and Wirch.
Read and referred to committee on Senate Organization.
Assembly Joint Resolution 12
Relating to: urging the members of the Wisconsin delegation to the U. S. Congress to support proposed federal legislation that would provide revenues to Wisconsin from the development of oil and natural gas resources on the outer continental shelf.
By Representatives Johnsrud, Jensen, Musser, Hasenohrl, J. Lehman, Sykora, Porter, Spillner, Albers, Goetsch, Vrakas, Ward and Montgomery; cosponsored by Senators Clausing, Schultz, Burke, Breske, Cowles and Decker.
Read and referred to committee on Agriculture, Environmental Resources and Campaign Finance Reform.
Assembly Joint Resolution 13
Relating to: memorializing Congress to investigate the crisis in the pork industry.
By Representatives Brandemuehl and Ott.
Read and referred to committee on Agriculture, Environmental Resources and Campaign Finance Reform.
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Senator Chvala, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess for the purpose of awaiting the Governor's State of the State Address in Joint Convention in the Assembly Chambers at 7:00 P.M. and upon the rising of the Joint Convention adjourn until Thursday, January 28 at 10:00 A.M.
The Senate stood recessed.
6:50 P.M.
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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:
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Speaker Jensen, President Risser, Members of the Legislature, Constitutional Officers, Honorable Justices of the Supreme Court, tribal leaders, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I thank you and the people of Wisconsin for giving me the opportunity to address this august body of legislators for the 13th time.
The passion for making Wisconsin better that fills this "house of the people" is as invigorating to me today as it was when I was a freshman lawmaker 32 years ago.
To those who are new to this chamber, never take for granted the awesome responsibility the people have bestowed upon you – and never waiver from the challenge of building Wisconsin stronger than any state in America.
Tonight, I have the distinct honor and privilege of delivering the final State of the State address of the 20th century as we bring a glorious chapter in Wisconsin history to a close; eager to start a new one.
My friends, it is with great pride and even greater hope, that I say to you tonight: the state of state at the century's turning point is a state of excellence.
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We're tops in America in the percentage of people working and the lowest unemployed in 30 years, the number of families covered by health insurance, the number of families leaving welfare for work, the SAT and ACT scores of our students, the enhancement of our environment, the low level of crime, the strength of our communities, and the quality of life for our people.
We proudly mark the final year of this century as champions -- symbolized, in part, by the crowning achievements of our sports teams in towns large and small.
In Elroy, we take great pride in our hometown heroes: the Royall High School baseball team that won its first state championship.
And the entire state takes pride in celebrating the 1999 Rose Bowl Champion Wisconsin Badgers. I have the honor of presenting to the people of Wisconsin Coach Barry Alvarez, his team and the 1999 Rose Bowl Trophy.
Barry, you know that I'm an avid Badger fan.
So when CBS football analyst and former New England Patriots running back Craig James said that the '98 Badger team was the worst team ever to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl – I took it very personally.
Let's take a moment to look at the record.
Ron Dayne, Wisconsin Running Back, 1999 Rose Bowl: 27 carries….246 yards…4 touchdowns….Final Score – Wisconsin 38, UCLA 31.
Then there's Craig James, New England's star player in Super Bowl XX….5 carries…1 yard…0 touchdowns. ….Final Score – Chicago Bears 46, New England Patriots 10.
We now know two things, Barry: the Badgers are one of the most exciting teams to ever play in the Rose Bowl.
And Craig James and his New England Patriots are without a doubt the worst team to ever play in the Super Bowl.
Thank you, Barry, and congratulations to the 1998 Badgers on the most successful year in University of Wisconsin football history. Let's give them another round of applause.
These young men are indeed heroes to be held up as an example that anything is possible – no matter what the odds – if you believe in yourself, have the courage to try and the conviction to succeed.
Their endeavors hearken back to another era when Camp Randall was the training ground for the heroes who fought for freedom.
A young man eager to enter life and earn his badge of courage, donned a union uniform and took up arms against what he knew to be an injustice.
At just 16 years of age he quickly found himself in a position of command – a lieutenant.
With a confederate army deeply entrenched on a hilltop, he called on his men to charge into one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War.
His flag bearer was an early casualty. And when a second member of his unit attempted to raise the Wisconsin colors, that soldier, too, fell in the name of freedom.
Under heavy cannon fire, the lieutenant and future Medal of Honor recipient, young Arthur MacArthur of Milwaukee, reached down and valiantly raised our colors himself.
Outnumbered, bloodied and wounded, he turned to his troops and cried: "On, Wisconsin!"
On Wisconsin! Indeed.
Ladies and gentlemen, we stand at the threshold of one of history's great moments. At no time in human history does the dawn of a new century hold such promise and possibility.
No people are more poised to take advantage of the endless opportunities that lie ahead than the people of our great state.
We worked diligently together to prepare our state for this day when we would go forth into a new millennium. Over the last decade, we shucked the status quo, tore down the old and outdated, built the bold and embraced the daring.
Now, our challenge is to go forward -- take the work of the past decade, ply it in a new era, and stake our claim to the undiscovered treasures on the frontiers of possibility.
Tonight, we begin our journey with ambitious initiatives in education, health care, child care, W-2 and transportation – focusing largely on our children, the first pioneers of a new millennium.
Then, in three weeks, I will present to you the remainder of the first biennial budget of the next century. It will feature a visionary package for protecting our environment – including a new Stewardship program – exciting new programs for agriculture and rural Wisconsin, an anti-crime strategy, and a major investment in the University of Wisconsin. We will deliver all this and more, while providing a major tax cut and tax reform.
Our navigational tool for this new frontier will be technology. Let me take a moment, if I may, to talk about the importance of technology -- how our courage and foresight to be pioneers in this arena is making all the difference.
From the schoolyard to the farm field, technology is moving us forward. For example:
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Our homes and offices are now our classrooms. We can take courses from the University of Wisconsin or the Wisconsin Technical College System over our computers during lunch or at night, enabling us to better our lives or further our careers at our convenience.
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Farmers now use satellite technology to apply pesticides or determine how best to plant their crops – a far cry from when high technology for farmers was a horse and plow. For our sesquicentennial this past summer, the Hughes family used guidance from a satellite to carve in their cornfields a giant maze in the shape of our great state. I want to thank Randy and Andrea Hughes and their family for helping us celebrate our birthday in a unique way.
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And technology is itself a rapid-fire business with endless potential in creating new, high-paying jobs for our people – from the manufacturing of computer systems in the Chippewa Valley to the development of biotechnologies here in Dane County.
When I unveil the University of Wisconsin budget next month, it will include a substantial investment in furthering biotechnology research and setting up an incubator for transferring that technology to the private sector – creating more high-tech jobs for our people and providing greater enhancements for our lives.
Think about it – technology even allows us to go back in time and correct our own human errors. (Video of Jerry Rice fumbling against Green Bay Packers) Yep, fumble.
Throughout my speech tonight, you will see more examples of how these advances are changing our lives. Technology will indeed light our way into the third millennium.
So here we go. On Wisconsin – to the 21st century.
Education
Our first stop is the classroom.
No group is more eager and bright-eyed about the future than our children – and they should be. This generation of children will be better educated and prepared for what lies ahead more so than any other before it.
Wisconsin is pioneering new ways of educating our children for a global era.
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Our charter school and school choice programs are bringing parents and educators together, using innovation to prepare our children for the future.
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World-class academic standards and a high-stakes graduation test are setting a high bar of achievement for our students and making sure they cross it.
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Lower class sizes are making sure our at-risk, low-income students get the close attention they need to succeed.
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And our historic investments in public education are making it possible for communities to build new schools and equip them with the technology of tomorrow.
In my budget next month, I will recommend that we require all students to pass a graduation test, increase accountability by requiring DPI to post on its website a report card on each and every school, and invest nearly $50 million to lower class sizes.
And my budget will once again fully deliver on our commitment to fund two-thirds of local schools -- this also includes two-thirds of construction projects passed by referendum.
Helping our communities build necessary schools is just about the smartest investment the state can make. I will not back away from this partnership.
Now, one might ask: How are these reforms and investments paying off? Let me show you two examples – one in rural Wisconsin and one in urban Wisconsin.
This summer, when we brought state government on the road, we visited Mosinee -- a rural community of about 4,000 people that educates all its students in grades 4 through 12 in one large school building.
Yet, with the help of technology, Mosinee is giving its students the same quality education as school districts with far greater resources.
In fact, Mosinee's state-of-the-art distance learning facility is transforming its school into a community center. Students learn everything from robotics to foreign language there during the day. Local businesses use the facility to train employees at night. And doctors from the nearby Marshfield Clinic take advanced courses when convenient. The community even shares the school's new swimming pool, and seniors walk the hallways during the day to stay fit and trim. Everyone uses this building.
This is what the Schoolhouse of Tomorrow will look like in Wisconsin – and a rural community with limited resources is pioneering the way.
Let's visit some of my friends from Mosinee, who are learning French from a teacher in West Salem.
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Bon Soir Mosinee. (Three-way video exchange between governor, Mosinee students and French teacher Janice Nash in La Crosse.)
What's happening in Mosinee showcases just one of the spectacular benefits we are reaping from the groundbreaking TEACH Wisconsin initiative. In less than two years, we've gone from 25% of our school districts being wired to 75%. And we won't be satisfied until we reach 100 percent, so this budget will include another $175 million for TEACH.
Imagine just for a moment, the immense possibilities if all Wisconsin students could use this technology to learn French or German or Japanese. Not too far in the future, I can see a class of students in Mosinee helping a class of students in Paris learn English, while they in turn help Mosinee's children learn French. Now that's a meaningful cultural exchange.
To that end, I am proposing a $350,000 grant program to help every school district make foreign languages available to their elementary school students via the TEACH network. We must expose our children to foreign languages at the earliest years if we really want to prepare them for this global age.
Let's make the world an open book to our children.
Our education reforms and investments are making a profound change in urban education as well.
When we started the nation's first charter school program that included a university, technical college and city government, who would have thought it would spawn America's very first K-12 specialty school in science? Or that this Academy of Science would be in the heart of Milwaukee?
