The committee on Judiciary and Public Safety reported and recommended:
Senate Bill 6
Relating to: impoundment of vehicles used in certain traffic offenses.
Ayes: 5 - Senators Wanggaard, James, Wimberger, Jacque and Hutton.
Noes: 3 - Senators Drake, L. Johnson and Roys.
Ayes: 5 - Senators Wanggaard, James, Wimberger, Jacque and Hutton.
Noes: 3 - Senators Drake, L. Johnson and Roys.
Ayes: 5 - Senators Wanggaard, James, Wimberger, Jacque and Hutton.
Noes: 3 - Senators Drake, L. Johnson and Roys.
The committee on Judiciary and Public Safety reported:
Senate Bill 25
Relating to: court-issued criminal complaints in officer-involved deaths.
Ayes: 4 - Senators Wanggaard, James, Jacque and Hutton.
Noes: 4 - Senators Wimberger, Drake, L. Johnson and Roys.
VAN WANGGAARD
Chairperson
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Petitions and Communications
hist199239Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Tenorio withdrawn as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 15. hist199259Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 22. hist199295Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative O'Connor added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 27. hist199261Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 32. hist199260Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 36. hist199297Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Fitzgerald added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 39. hist199240Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Senators Spreitzer and Habush Sinykin added as coauthors of Senate Bill 42. hist199296Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Fitzgerald added as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 42. hist199258Pursuant to Senate Rule 17 (5), Representative Gustafson added as a cosponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 6. _____________
President Felzkowski appointed Senator Hutton and Senator Dassler-Alfheim to escort his Excellency, the Governor, to the Joint Convention.
Senator LeMahieu, with unanimous consent, asked that the Senate recess until 6:45 P.M. for the purpose of awaiting the Governor’s Budget Address in Joint Convention in the Assembly Chambers at 7:00 P.M., and further, that the Senate stand adjourned, until Thursday, February 20, upon the rising of the Joint Convention.
6:35 P.M.
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Recess
The Senate proceeded in a body to the Assembly Chamber to meet in Joint Convention to receive the Budget Address.
6:45 P.M.
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In Assembly Chamber In
Joint Convention
Senate President Felzkowski in the chair.
The Committee to wait upon the Governor appeared with his Excellency the Honorable Governor Tony Evers, who delivered his message as follows:
7:00 P.M.
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“Good evening, Wisconsinites!
Honorable Supreme Court Justices, Tribal Nation leaders, constitutional officers, members of the Wisconsin National Guard and active and retired members of our armed forces, cabinet members, legislators, distinguished guests, and Wisconsinites joining us from wherever you are, thank you for being with us tonight.
My wife, Kathy is up in the gallery tonight. Kathleen Frances—you are my best friend and sounding board. There’s no one else I’d rather shovel heaps of snow with or lose a game of pickleball to. I love you so much.
Folks, I’m Tony Evers, and I’m excited to be here tonight to introduce my fourth biennial budget as the 46th governor of the great state of Wisconsin.
Wisconsinites, we’re not even 50 days into 2025, but my administration and I have been hard at work doing the right thing for Wisconsin. I’m excited tonight to be able to share some of the good work we’ve been doing, including laying out our state’s policy priorities for the next two years.
Our budget includes my comprehensive plan to lower costs from child care to medication to help working families, seniors, and students. I’m providing nearly $2 billion in tax relief, including eliminating income tax on tips. And my plan invests in public education at every level while holding the line on property taxes to make sure the average homeowner will not see a property tax increase.
I’m announcing plans to stop price gouging on prescriptions and crack down on insurance companies for denying Wisconsinites’ medical bill claims. I also want to invest in fighting PFAS and lead and getting contaminants out of our lands, service lines, bubblers, schools, homes, and child care centers for good. And we’re going to keep fixing the darn roads and infrastructure, building more affordable housing, keeping our kids, families, and communities safe, and expanding high-speed internet.
The budget I’m proposing balances our priorities of investing in our kids and needs that have been long neglected while providing real and sustainable tax relief and saving where we can. So, let’s get to work.
Here in America’s Dairyland, agriculture is a $116 billion industry. Everyone knows farmers, farm families, and producers have been the backbone of our state for generations. So when we heard about President Trump’s 25 percent tariff tax—which could spark trade wars with Wisconsin’s largest export partners, hurt our economy and farmers, and drive up costs for gas and groceries—we got right to work.
Just as that 25 percent tax was set to go into effect, I announced a new plan to help protect Wisconsin’s farmers and our ag industry and bolster our supply chain. Under my administration, Wisconsin is on its way to becoming a top 10 state for ag exports—we can’t afford to lose our momentum because of tariff wars in Washington.
So, my plan creates a new ag economist position in state government that can help farmers navigate market disruptions and volatility caused by tariffs. I’m also proposing to double our investments in the Wisconsin Initiative for Ag Exports to help increase exports for our dairy, meat, and crops, and help farmers and producers expand into new markets. And we’re going to build upon our support for meat and dairy processors to help keep our supply chains strong.
We also have to help make sure farmers and producers can get product to market. We just announced 55 new projects across 36 counties to improve rural roads and infrastructure through our Agricultural Roads Improvement Program that we created last session. Tonight, I’m announcing we’re going to invest $50 million to continue that successful program to help ensure our farmers, producers, and ag and forestry industries have reliable roads they can depend on.
I also kicked off the new year declaring 2025 the Year of the Kid across our state. I want everything we do together this year to be focused on doing what’s best for our kids and the families who raise them.
So, I’m asking the Legislature to approve a budget that does what’s best for our kids at every stage, in every way, and no matter where they live in our state. In 2025 the Year of the Kid, I’m excited to be introducing the most pro-kid budget in state history.
An important part of doing what’s best for our kids is reducing exposure to dangerous chemicals and getting harmful contaminants out of our water. Every Wisconsinite should have access to clean and safe drinking water no matter where they live. Tonight, I’m introducing my plan to combat water pollution and improve water quality across Wisconsin. Lead exposure and poisoning is especially dangerous.
There is no safe level of lead exposure for kids—even a small exposure can affect a kid for life, reducing learning capacity and attention span, and affecting academic achievement. So, I approved an emergency rule strengthening our lead standards statewide and announced new investments to support kids and families when they are exposed to lead.
But we should be working to prevent our kids from ever being exposed to lead in the first place. In the last few weeks, Wisconsin has seen cases of lead poisoning in kids who were exposed to dangerous levels of lead at school. At school, folks. That should never happen anywhere in Wisconsin. Period. We have to work together to fix this. Tonight, I’m asking for bipartisan support to invest over $300 million to help get lead out of our service lines, bubblers, schools, homes, and child care centers for good.
And lead is just one contaminant that’s affecting kids, families, and water across our state. Let’s talk about PFAS. ‘Forever chemicals’ like PFAS are chemicals that have been used for decades in things like non- stick cookware, firefighting foam, and even food packaging. PFAS exposure at certain levels can mean developmental delays in kids, increased cholesterol levels, reduced immunity response to infections, and even heightened risk of some cancers.
Addressing PFAS and other contaminants grows harder and more expensive with each day of delay. Republicans and Democrats must work together to finally get something done on this issue. As part of my comprehensive plan to improve water quality statewide, we’re working to strengthen Wisconsin’s groundwater standards for PFAS. And I’m asking the Legislature to support my investment of over $145 million to fight PFAS contamination statewide and provide emergency resources like bottled water to families and communities affected by water contamination.
Cleaning up our water is a key part of our work to keep kids and families across Wisconsin healthy and safe. But we should also invest in preserving our natural resources, increasing outdoor recreation opportunities, and expanding access to public lands for hunting, trapping, and fishing. So, let’s reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program for another decade, and let’s do it with bipartisan support. Let’s deliver on our promise to our kids and grandkids of a better state—and world—than what we inherited.
This budget is about doing what’s best for our kids—yes, by addressing pressing challenges facing our kids today. But we must also work to do what’s best for our kids’ futures, too. Every Wisconsin kid should have access to a high-quality public education from early childhood to our K-12 schools to our higher education institutions. In 2025 the Year of the Kid, I’m urging the Legislature to do what’s best for our kids by approving significant investments in public education at every level in Wisconsin.
Let’s start with higher education. Wisconsin has one of the best technical college systems in the country. So, our budget invests in green jobs, our healthcare workforce, and worker training for artificial intelligence. And I’m proposing nearly $60 million to support our technical colleges and their good work.
But I also want to talk about our universities. This is a make-or-break budget for our UW campuses. I know there’s a lot of talk in Washington about higher education, and look—folks, I can’t speak to what’s happening on other campuses in other parts of our country. But I visit just about every campus every year, so I’ve seen what’s happening on our UW campuses with my own two eyes. And we’re doing things differently here.
Politicians in Washington don’t know a darn thing about what’s going on at campuses across Wisconsin. They don’t understand that our UW System has been part of Wisconsin since we first became a state—it’s enshrined in our state constitution. They don’t know how important our UW System has been to our state’s success or how important it is for our future.
At UW-Eau Claire, they’re working to improve healthcare outcomes and lower healthcare costs in rural areas. UW-Platteville is helping address rural healthcare shortages by training a new generation of physician assistants. UW-Milwaukee and UW-Whitewater are among the top campuses in the country for supporting students who are servicemembers or veterans. Through a workforce-centered program, UW- Parkside has increased graduation rates by about 20 percent. UW-Stevens Point is training more than 1,200 future educators who are supporting classrooms in over 200 different school districts across Wisconsin. UW-La Crosse is partnering with local businesses to make sure the skills they’re teaching meet local employer needs. And I can go on.
UW-Oshkosh supported over 500 Wisconsin small businesses that needed help with digital marketing support efforts. UW-Green Bay is working with school districts to give high school students the opportunity to earn an Associate's degree. UW-Superior’s Small Business Development Center is helping entrepreneurs start or expand their businesses across eight Northern Wisconsin counties. UW-River Falls is expanding hands-on learning opportunities to support our dairy industry here in America’s Dairyland. UW-Madison is leading national efforts to study Alzheimer’s to help improve treatment and find a cure for the more than 110,000 Wisconsinites who live with that cruel disease every day. UW-Stout’s Manufacturing Outreach Center has worked on more than 470 projects with Wisconsin manufacturers across 33 of our 72 counties.
Folks, this is the story of what’s happening on UW campuses. Each and every day, UW is helping improve our daily lives here in Wisconsin and the world over. And our ability to compete and be successful—to have a strong economy and workforce, to retain our homegrown talent, to solve problems in our smallest towns to our largest cities, and to make life better for everyone who calls our state home—depends on our UW System. Period.
Today, after years of attacks and disinvestment, UW is facing campus closures and program cuts, students are facing tuition increases, and faculty and staff are facing layoffs. And with new federal efforts to cut higher education funding, things for UW could get a whole lot worse.
So, tonight, I’m keeping the promise I made to the people of Wisconsin, and I’m asking the Legislature to approve the largest two-year increase for our UW System in state history. We have to get this done, folks.
It’s up to us—each of us, together—to invest in our UW System, to defend it, and to protect its promise for future generations. And, let me be clear to elected officials in this building whose public education at UW helped get you to where you are today: You share in that important responsibility. Don’t tell our kids they don’t deserve to have the same opportunity you did.
Doing what’s best for our kids will always be what’s best for our state. Investing in our kids will pay dividends for their futures—and ours, too. It’s why my pro-kid budget makes significant investments in public education at every level, including our K-12 schools.
The cost of shortchanging our kids is expensive, folks. We cannot afford to fail them. We have a responsibility to improve outcomes for our kids, both within our schools and beyond them. I’ve talked a lot about the work we must do to improve student outcomes in class and how we can finally help shorten the odds. And we have to begin with the basics.
I know some legislators have tried using student outcomes to argue against investing in our kids and our schools. Folks, you’ve got it backwards. The outcomes we’re seeing are exactly why we must do more to do what’s best for our kids.
The Legislature should approve my plan to make sure every kid can get healthy meals at school at no cost, regardless of whether their family can afford it. Why? Because our kids will perform better in our classrooms when we do.
The Legislature should approve my plan to make sure kids can access comprehensive mental health services no matter where they go to school. Why? Because our kids will perform better in our classrooms when we do.
The Legislature should approve my plan to help make sure kids have access to clean drinking water no matter where they live. Why? Because our kids will perform better in our classrooms when we do.
If the state isn’t committed to meeting our kids’ basic needs, then we can’t have serious conversations about improving outcomes. It’s that simple.
If our kids are fed, healthy, and feel safe, they will perform better in class. So, we have to get back to the basics in this budget.
Reading is fundamental. There are a lot of discussions right now about our kids’ reading scores, how we measure student outcomes, and how we improve them, regardless of how they’re measured. These discussions are important. But this Legislature and I approved $50 million in the last budget that could be improving our kids’ reading and literacy if it wasn’t still sitting in Madison today, nearly two years later. So, we can have those discussions, but let’s start by releasing millions of dollars we all agreed would improve reading statewide.
We are going to have to work even harder to reverse these trends and make up for lost time. It’s one of the reasons that, in 2025 the Year of the Kid, I’ll be asking the Legislature to approve $80 million to invest in literacy coaches, tutoring, and other key supports to help improve reading scores statewide.
Doing the right thing for Wisconsin begins by doing what’s best for our kids. So, my pro-kid budget makes the largest investment in Wisconsin’s kids in any budget by any governor in state history.
During my first term, I fought to secure the first special education aid increase in over a decade and the largest increase in funding for special education ever in state history. Tonight, I’m proposing the highest- ever amount of special education aid funding, and we’re going to guarantee the state reimburses special education costs at 60 percent to ensure every kid gets the public education they deserve.
But folks, here’s the truth: our current system isn’t working. Take the Mauston School District, for example. The fate of their school district is on the ballot today, and kids, parents, and educators will be holding their breath tonight to see if their schools will be saved. That’s a reality that’s become all too common. In 2024, we saw an historic number of school referendums on the ballot. And 169 of those referendums passed. Nearly 400 referendums passed statewide in the last four years.
