Relating to: authorizing the appointment of assistant district attorneys to provide restorative justice services; authorizing counties and the department of corrections to contract with religious organizations for the provision of services relating to delinquency and crime prevention and the rehabilitation of offenders; inmate rehabilitation; creating the office of government-sectarian facilitation; establishing a grant program for a neighborhood organization incubator; distributing funding for alcohol and other drug abuse services; and making appropriations.
By Joint Legislative Council.
Read first time and referred to committee on Judiciary and Consumer Affairs.
Assembly Bill
543
Relating to: the duty of a motor vehicle operator who is involved in an accident with a person or an attended or occupied vehicle.
By Representatives Stone, Jensen, Brandemuehl, Urban, Hahn, Albers, Handrick, Vrakas, Kelso, Ryba and Nass; cosponsored by Senators Huelsman and Darling.
Read first time and referred to committee on Insurance, Tourism, Transportation and Corrections.
Assembly Bill
550
Relating to: transfer or use of a syringe, needle or similar object used by a person with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or the human immunodeficiency virus, persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or the human immunodeficiency virus having sexual contact or sexual intercourse, and providing a penalty.
By Representatives Gundrum, Suder, Nass, Musser, Kestell, Spillner, Kaufert, Ladwig, Stone, Gunderson and Albers; cosponsored by Senators Darling, Roessler and Drzewiecki.
Read first time and referred to committee on Judiciary and Consumer Affairs.
Assembly Bill
558
Relating to: grants to law enforcement agencies for the purchase of photographic equipment and making an appropriation.
By Representatives Kaufert, Walker, Balow, Jensen, Suder, Owens, Hoven, Gundrum, Coggs, Spillner, Plale, Vrakas, Steinbrink, Montgomery, Ryba, Handrick, Sykora, Albers and Underheim; cosponsored by Senators Drzewiecki, Darling and Zien.
Read first time and referred to committee on Economic Development, Housing and Government Operations.
Assembly Bill
562
Relating to: creating a southeast Wisconsin crime abatement task force.
By committee on Criminal Justice.
Read first time and referred to committee on Judiciary and Consumer Affairs.
Assembly Bill
568
Relating to: classification of jail prisoners for the purpose of determining prisoner housing assignments, the type of prisoner supervision and the delivery of services and programs to prisoners.
By committee on Criminal Justice, by request of Wisconsin Counties Association.
Read first time and referred to committee on Insurance, Tourism, Transportation and Corrections.
Assembly Bill
655
Relating to: the administration and collection of local exposition district taxes, community-wide standards for marriage, taxation of certain inter vivos trusts, correcting a reference to the year in which Sheboygan County was created and prohibiting denial of payment for certain medical or surgical services or procedures.
By committee on Rules.
Read first time and referred to committee on Economic Development, Housing and Government Operations.
Assembly Bill
677
Relating to: restoring the school property tax rent credit for taxable year 2000.
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By Representatives Jensen, Krug, Porter, Meyerhofer, Ladwig, Waukau, Albers, Balow, Seratti, Schooff, Hutchison, Plouff, Ainsworth, Sherman, Owens, Wood, Nass, Bock, Kedzie, Black, Townsend, Berceau, Grothman, Riley, Rhoades, Schneider, Stone, Hebl, Hahn, Sinicki, Walker, Miller, Gundrum, Richards, Jeskewitz, Krusick, Kelso, Huber, Hundertmark, J. Lehman, Kestell, Young, Ott, Ryba, Skindrud, Morris-Tatum, M. Lehman, Cullen, Kreibich, Turner, Montgomery, Ziegelbauer, Ward, Gronemus, Powers, Reynolds, F. Lasee, Boyle, Goetsch, Hasenohrl, Spillner, Carpenter, Olsen, Wasserman, Gunderson, Meyer, Urban, Lassa, Petrowski, Plale, Sykora, Staskunas, Brandemuehl, Coggs, Johnsrud, Steinbrink, Pettis, Kreuser, Underheim, Travis, Leibham, Colon, Handrick, La Fave, Duff, Williams, Hoven, Vrakas, Musser, Freese, Kaufert, Huebsch, Wieckert, Suder and Foti.
Read first time and referred to joint committee on Finance.
Assembly Joint Resolution 95
Relating to: the life and public service of Representative Francis J. Lallensack.
By Representative
Ziegelbauer
.
Read and referred to committee on Senate Organization.
__________________
The Chair, with unanimous consent, asked that Senate Bill 341 be withdrawn from the committee on Labor and referred to the committee on Human Services and Aging.
__________________
The Chair, 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 27 at 10:00 A.M.
The Senate stood recessed.
6:55 P.M.
__________________
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.
Throughout my career, I have worn the title of counselor, representative, minority leader, chairman and governor. Tonight, I come before you with a new title – one far more meaningful to me than any other: Grandpa.
When I look into the eyes of my dear little granddaughter Sophie, I see the Face of the Future of Wisconsin, the hopes and dreams of a new generation with endless potential.
As we begin our journey into a new millennium, Wisconsin steps forward with eager anticipation, confident that our greatest adventures and achievements lie ahead. For this new century offers deeper valleys to explore, wider rivers to swim and taller mountains to climb.
Wisconsin is prepared to conquer them all.
Ladies and gentlemen, I say to you tonight, at the dawn of a glorious new century, the state of the state is revolutionary.
As the foremost laboratory of democracy, Wisconsin is revolutionizing America with the most innovative and cutting-edge social policy in the last 50 years. Bold programs that Washington is adopting for the benefit of the entire nation.
We taught America how to end welfare with compassion through W-2; opened the door to work for the disabled with Pathways to Independence; provided working families with affordable health coverage through Badger Care; sparked an education reform movement by giving parents choice; and developed the blueprint to care for the babyboom generation with Family Care.
Wisconsin is revolutionizing its economy as well. We enter the new century with the highest standard of living in our history. We enjoy record low unemployment of 2.9 percent; a record 2.8 million people working; nearly 800,000 new jobs; record low health uninsured rate of 4 percent; remarkably low poverty rates; and the highest level of homeownership in our state's history – 70 percent.
Tonight, we ignite a new revolution for a new century. And we go forward with inspiration from Gladys Bronson and Olivia Krumrai. Gladys was born in 1900 and Olivia was born in 2000. Please welcome them here tonight, along with Olivia's parents: Becky and Andy. These beautiful ladies unite two centuries and remind us of our responsibilities to past and future generations.
My friends, Wisconsin is where the future begins. Together, let us start boldly carving in stone Wisconsin's Face of the Future.
In the next 50 years, the face of Wisconsin will look distinctively different. It will be older, healthier and more diverse.
Just think about these remarkable changes in demographics and lifestyle.
By the time our nation celebrates its 250 th birthday in 2026, we will be experiencing the most dramatic age shift in American history.
The number of senior citizens will more than double by then. And by 2017, the number of people turning 65 will exceed the number of births in Wisconsin for the first time. We'll be issuing more social security checks than birth certificates.
When Wisconsin celebrates her bicentennial in 2048, minorities will comprise one quarter of our population, rising dramatically from 11 percent today.
To our land of opportunity, Miss Forward will welcome new families and workers from other states and nations who are searching for economic prosperity and the high quality of life we value in Wisconsin.
The way we live, work and play will change as rapidly as our look.
Along with futuristic visions of flying cars and vacations to the Moon, Wisconsin will be more mobile than ever.
A commute to work anywhere in the state will be as long as the seconds it takes to go online. In more populated areas, you'll have a variety of mass transit options to choose from while your electric-powered car is plugged in at home getting recharged.
But if you missed the high-speed Amtrak to work, you can still check your e-mails and voicemails before joining a morning video teleconference, all by using your personal pocket-sized communication center. Today's palm pilot will be tomorrow's office.
Alternative energy supplies such as hydrogen fuel cells will power our homes, businesses and schools. And less fossil fuel consumption means a cleaner environment.
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Finally, our population will be healthier than ever.
Vitamin enriched foods grown here in America's breadbasket will carry more powerful, disease fighting nutrients. Our produce will be easier to grow and more resistant to disease, drought and infestations.
University of Wisconsin-Madison research will decode the human genome and allow for your personal genetic profile to be traced, encoded on a chip and downloaded by a doctor so your illness can be diagnosed and treated. This research will help us solve the mysteries of cystic fibrosis, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
New medical advancements may push the average life expectancy in Wisconsin to more than 100 years by 2048.
And that's certainly good news for me. For Wisconsin will celebrate its bicentennial in the middle of my 16 th term as governor of this great state. I can't wait to throw that party.
And I certainly hope my friends Scott McCallum and Scott Jensen are still here with me. Sen. Risser, I'm not worried about you, I know you'll still be here.
While the four of us might stay the same, Wisconsin is certainly about to embark on its most dramatic era of change.
The rapidly changing face of Wisconsin that we just painted will create tough new challenges:
How will we create the jobs of tomorrow?
How will we fill the gap created by a shrinking workforce?
How will we educate our youth to prepare them for these challenges?
How will we care for a decidedly older population?
And what will the role of government be?
The Face of our Future – and the answers to these important questions – will be determined by the actions we take today, in these hallowed halls and in our cherished communities across Wisconsin.
Our work starts in the same place as at the dawn of the last century, with the economy.
Without a strong economy, we cannot improve education, provide better health care, help the poor and disadvantaged, enhance our environment or protect our citizens from crime.
Ladies and gentlemen, the face of our future economy lies in this little tube and many others like it in laboratories across Wisconsin.
