Relating to: mandatory wearing of masks in state capitol.
hist125928Senator LeMahieu moved that Senate Resolution 2 be laid on the table. The question was: Tabling of Senate Resolution 2?
The ayes and noes were demanded and the vote was: ayes, 20; noes, 11; absent or not voting, 1; as follows:
Ayes - Senators Ballweg, Bernier, Bradley, Cowles, Darling, Felzkowski, Feyen, Jacque, Kapenga, Kooyenga, LeMahieu, Marklein, Nass, Petrowski, Roth, Stafsholt, Stroebel, Testin, Wanggaard and Wimberger - 20.
Noes - Senators Agard, Bewley, Carpenter, Erpenbach, Johnson, Larson, Pfaff, Ringhand, Roys, Smith and Wirch - 11.
Absent or not voting - Senator L. Taylor - 1.
Tabled.
Senator Smith submitted a resolution for introduction as a privileged resolution.
The Chair ruled the resolution was not privileged, pursuant to Senate Rule 69 and will not be taken up. Senator Smith appealed the ruling of the Chair.
The question was: Shall the ruling of the Chair stand as the judgment of the Senate?
The ayes and noes were demanded and the vote was: ayes, 20; noes, 11; absent of not voting, 1; as follows:
Ayes - Senators Ballweg, Bernier, Bradley, Cowles, Darling, Felzkowski, Feyen, Jacque, Kapenga, Kooyenga, LeMahieu, Marklein, Nass, Petrowski, Roth, Stafsholt, Stroebel, Testin, Wanggaard and Wimberger - 20.
Noes - Senators Agard, Bewley, Carpenter, Erpenbach, Johnson, Larson, Pfaff, Ringhand, Roys, Smith and Wirch - 11.
Absent or not voting - Senator L. Taylor - 1.
Ruling of the Chair stands.
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Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess.
1:37 P.M.
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Recess
2:01 P.M.
The Senate reconvened.
Senate President Kapenga in the chair.
hist125895Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 1 be withdrawn and returned to author. hist125896The question was: Adoption of Senate Amendment 2 to Senate Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 1? Adopted.
hist125897The question was: Adoption of Senate Substitute Amendment 1 to Assembly Bill 1? The ayes and noes were demanded and the vote was: ayes, 29; noes, 2; absent or not voting, 1; as follows:
Ayes - Senators Agard, Ballweg, Bernier, Bewley, Bradley, Carpenter, Cowles, Darling, Erpenbach, Felzkowski, Feyen, Jacque, Johnson, Kapenga, Kooyenga, LeMahieu, Marklein, Petrowski, Pfaff, Ringhand, Roth, Roys, Smith, Stafsholt, Stroebel, Testin, Wanggaard, Wimberger and Wirch - 29.
Noes - Senators Larson and Nass - 2.
Absent or not voting - Senator L. Taylor - 1.
Adopted.
hist125899Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the rules be suspended and the bill be given its third reading. Assembly Bill 1
hist125900Read a third time and concurred in as amended. Senators Nass and Larson, with unanimous consent, asked to be recorded as voting “No” on the question of concurrence as amended of Assembly Bill 1.
Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that all action be immediately messaged to the Assembly:
Messaged.
_____________
Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess until 6:45 P.M. for the purpose of awaiting the Governor’s State of the State address.
2:09 P.M.
_____________
Recess
6:45 P.M.
The Senate reconvened.
Senate President Kapenga in the chair.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Governor Tony Evers delivered his State of the State address virtually. The Senate received the address from the Senate Chamber.
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State of the State Address
“Good evening, Wisconsinites.
Welcome, and thank you for tuning in this evening.
I’m Tony Evers, and I’m incredibly proud to be the 46th governor of the great state of Wisconsin and to deliver my 2021 State of the State Address to you tonight.
The Wisconsin Constitution requires that each year the governor communicate the condition of our state. Now, tonight is probably the first time in our state’s history a governor has delivered a state of the state address virtually and without a live audience. That means there’s good news and bad news: the bad news is there won’t be any applause or boos here tonight, but the good news is that means tonight’s speech will take a heckuva lot less time and since you’re watching at home, you can be as rowdy as you’d like from the comfort of your couch.
To begin tonight, I’d like to acknowledge some individuals who aren’t here with us. The first person’s name is Ben Belzer.
Ben worked in my office, traveling with me about everywhere I went during my first two years as governor. If you’ve seen me out and about, there’s a good chance Ben was by my side—you might’ve even talked to him. And for a good portion of this pandemic, Ben was also in my circle of five until we lost him tragically this past summer. My team and I think of him often, striving always to be more like Ben in word, in deed, and in service. We sure wish he could be with us here tonight. We miss him every day.
Also not with us tonight are the more than 5,000 Wisconsinites who have died due to COVID-19. They were firefighters, healthcare workers, nuns, educators, entrepreneurs, community pillars, students, veterans, volunteers, bird watchers, card players, and Packers, Brewers, and Bucks fans. They were moms and dads, brothers and sisters, friends, and coworkers, and they are loved and missed by many.
So, tonight, I’d like to dedicate this address to those who we’ve lost this year and the families—the sons and daughters, moms and dads, grandparents and grandkids, friends, and neighbors left behind—who, on top of everything else this past year, have had to mourn the loss of someone they love.
And I’d ask you to join me briefly in a moment of silence to honor the lives of these Wisconsinites we lost to COVID-19.
Thank you.
As I stood before you and delivered my second state of the state address last year, the world and our state looked much different than it does now.
We were coming off a successful year making a down payment on our priorities like fully funding our public schools, fixing our crumbling roads and bridges, and making healthcare more accessible and affordable. We put $330 million in general school aids—the largest in more than a decade— and funded a $97-million increase for special education—the largest ever. We provided more than
$465 million in new funding for our local roads, highways, and transit aids. And even though my efforts to expand healthcare were rejected by Republicans in the Legislature, we made critical investments in improving mental health treatment, supporting our direct care workforce, and increasing funding for our rural healthcare providers.
So, we began 2020 with our sights set high.
We were announcing a three-pronged plan to address our dairy crisis and support rural communities across our state. We were looking ahead to redistricting on the horizon, creating the People’s Maps Commission to draw our state’s next maps after the 2020 Census and ensure that people choose their elected officials, not the other way around. We were pushing to return to our state’s commitment to two-thirds funding for our kids and our schools, and we were going to increase aid to our most rural school districts while providing $130 million toward reducing property taxes through equalization aid.
Then things changed overnight.
We were going about our daily lives when a novel coronavirus hit, and we had to take urgent, necessary steps to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from spreading.
Suddenly, states and countries were asking folks to shelter in place, kids and educators were learning and teaching from their kitchen tables, and so many began working from home, and those that weren’t were worried about what this virus might mean for them if they went to work each day.
When I delivered my last state of the state address, no one could have predicted the rest of the year would go quite like it did. What we now know about 2020 is that it was among the most unrelenting years many of us have ever experienced.
If someone had said then that our special sessions to address our dairy crisis and provide funding for our schools and property tax relief would be met with inaction—if someone had said then that after visiting all 72 counties my first year in office, last year we’d only be visiting each other virtually and learning to use a thing called Zoom—if someone had said then that in a year’s time, we’d have lost more than 5,000 of our family members, friends, and neighbors due to the worst public health crisis in a century—we wouldn’t have believed them.
I said then that the year would challenge the depth of our empathy and the strength of our selflessness—and it did, but in more and different ways than we could have ever imagined.
Just take a look.
It’s tempting to look back on the year and see a year rife with heartbreak, setbacks, and loss.
Because it was.
From our healthcare workers to our students, Wisconsinites have been stretched to the limit— making immeasurable sacrifices for our neighbors, for our families, for our loved ones, and I know so many are tired.
Our statewide efforts to contain this virus were met with costly litigation and resistance nearly every step of the way.
We were grateful to be able to invest nearly $2 billion in our state’s response. We distributed more than 26 million pieces of PPE and sanitizing supplies to hospitals, long-term care facilities, veteran’s homes, and frontline workers. We provided more than $379 million to help stabilize our economy and support nearly 53,000 of our small businesses, more than 15,000 farms, and our lodging, hospitality, and tourism industries. We invested more than $200 million in helping communities across Wisconsin recover, but we know we have a long way to go to get our economy back on track.
And unfortunately, many of the challenges of 2020 will no doubt carry into this new year.
But as we reflect on these challenges—the magnitude of what this past year presented us, and the work we did together to prepare, adapt, and respond—let us also remember to grant ourselves grace, to permit ourselves perspective, to recognize our own resilience.
Yes, our reverence and our patience and our tolerance have been tested by the times and by each other. Yes, sometimes doing what’s best and what is right lost out to elected officials who chose politics and political interests instead. Yes, there were moments where we could’ve offered a greater empathy, more humility, and better community than what we gave to those who, too, were carrying the burden of the last year.
But despite all of this, we also managed to find strength in the struggles we shared.
We found faith in the kindness of strangers—who brought food and groceries to those who couldn’t leave their homes, packing meals for kids so they wouldn’t go hungry even if they weren’t in school, sewing and donating masks for others who couldn’t afford their own.
We found resolve in the voices of thousands marching and echoing the call and repeat of generations in demand of the equity and justice we promised and have not yet delivered.
We found perseverance in our farmers, growers and farm workers, and producers who kept working to make sure we kept food on our tables, in our Main Street businesses and restaurants who reimagined and retooled to keep customers and our communities safe, in the men and women of our Wisconsin National Guard who have heeded the call to serve time and again—from our statewide testing to working the polls—during what’s been the longest Guard activation in our history.
We found courage in hospital rooms and hallways—in the doctors and nurses and healthcare workers who’ve braced themselves on the way to work and walked through the door anyway, who’ve comforted our loved ones when we couldn’t, who, even today, have never stopped showing up for us.
