The following program is a PBS
Wisconsin original production.
You
Welcome to Wisconsin Public Media's
coverage of Governor Tony Evers'
8th and final State of the State
Address.
We are bringing you live coverage
tonight from the Wisconsin State
Capitol in Madison.
In a few moments, the 46th Governor
of Wisconsin will make his way,
already making his way into
the Assembly Chambers.
Evers will speak tonight before a
joint session of the Wisconsin
Assembly and Senate, the State
Supreme Court, his cabinet and
tribal leaders.
Good evening, I'm Sean Johnson from
Wisconsin Public Radio.
And I'm Frederica Freyberg from PBS
Wisconsin.
Tonight, Democratic Governor Tony
Evers lays out his plans for
2026.
He'll be speaking to the 107th
session of the Wisconsin
Legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Devin
Lemahue, who represents communities
along Lake Michigan, including
Sheboygan and Manitowoc, will
provide this year's Republican
response immediately following the
governor's state of the state.
And so the governor is already in
the chambers.
I gotta say, as far as governors go,
he wanted to get out there fast
tonight with this speech, his eighth
and final. He's had a few
budget addresses thrown in there.
He knows the drill and, you
know, see me, you're gonna get
going. Take that for what it's
worth. I think you're going to hear
a lot of the governor
talking about those eight years
tonight and what he sees as his
legacy and his accomplishments.
We could expect this address to
be longer because of that.
He'll be looking back, but also
looking ahead.
He wants the
legislature to get
to work on some of his priorities
for the remainder of
2026.
Yeah, we already know he's going to
send them a little hint that they
should stick around and keep
working on priorities that they can
all support.
We also know that the state assembly
is tentatively scheduled
to adjourn for the
year this week.
So they have different plans on how
2026 is going to go, but
still potential for some big deals
on property taxes and school
funding. We'll see if the governor
gets it those time.
Let's go to Governor Tony
Evers.
Thank you everybody, thank you.
At this time, it is my honor to
introduce the Governor of the great
state of Wisconsin, the Honorable
Tony Evers.
Thank you.
Thank you, thank
you,
hello there Wisconsin.
Last time around, folks,
honorable Supreme Court justices,
tribal nation leaders,
constitutional officers,
Adjutant General Straub, members
of the Wisconsin National Guard,
active and retired members
of our armed forces,
cabinet members, legislators,
distinguished guests, and
Wisconsinites from near and far.
Thank you for taking the time to
join us this evening.
It's gonna be a blast.
So I'm Tony Evers and I'm
honored to be the 46th governor of
the great state of Wisconsin as
I deliver my eighth and
final state of the state address to
you tonight.
A lot of happy faces over
here.
My daughter Katie and my grandson
Keaton, as well as my son
Nick and his wife Linda
are here with us tonight and
my former kindergarten classmate
and junior prom date is
also up in the gallery.
Kathleen Francis, you've
never waved.
Kathleen, Kathleen, Francis,
you've never waved through all the
ups and downs of my 50 years
of public service.
You're a saint.
Thank you for being a saint
Before we begin tonight,
Wisconsin, today is an election day.
If you haven't voted yet
in the spring primary, there's still
time to get registered and vote.
And the good news is, if you go
right now to participate in our
democracy, you can still
catch my full speech afterward
on Facebook, YouTube,
and probably whatever else kids
get their news these days.
Polls are open at 8 p.m.
So go to myvote.wi.gov
Find your place
of
polling, then grab your
photo ID and proof of residence
if you need to register,
and get out to vote.
I'm so humbled and thankful
for the last seven years and
those who helped make it happen.
But tonight, Wisconsin, I want
to focus on the work we still have
left to do.
So I'm going to save my long
list of gratitude for my farewell
address later this year.
And no, legislators, that doesn't
mean my speech got any shorter.
In fact, I think it's probably
longer.
I know many lawmakers are antsy
to end the legislative session and
pack up to get back on the campaign
trail.
By the way, if anybody is running
that wants advice from someone
who won five statewide elections.
Store door!
Right here.
Store door.
Right here.
Folks, I know many of you are up for
the election, but here's the deal.
After years of delivering historic
bipartisan wins for our state,
Wisconsinites have high expectations
for the work we can do together
over the next 10 months.
And they should.
Just look at what we've accomplished
over the last seven years.
My vetoes are often
the focus of news coverage
and even political criticism.
I know Republicans get upset
when I use my veto pen.
To do good things for kids in
schools, for example.
But here's the truth,
here's the truth.
The truth is I've signed over
800 bills as governor and more
than 97 percent of those
bills signed passed
with bipartisan support.
How about that?
And here are just a few
of those bipartisan
bills.
We improved our justice system,
bolstered support for public
defenders and DAs, and
made the largest addition of circuit
court branches in over two
decades.
We made sure firefighters and law
enforcement officers can
access workers' compensation
for post-traumatic stress.
We created a holiday
honoring Hmong Lao veterans,
and our kids now learn about
among an Asian-American history
in schools.
We fixed gaps in the Amber Alert
system through the Prince
Act so that we could locate missing
kids faster.
And folks, this is all barely
a fraction of the more than 800
bills I've been proud to sign
as governor.
We expanded the tax credits to
help lower the costs of child care
for working families.
We made it so that the state park
passes can to use for 12 full
months. Regardless of when they're
purchased.
We provided Medicaid coverage for
telehealth services so that
folks can access healthcare
right from home.
We supported peer-to-peer suicide
prevention efforts for kids in
schools.
We invested in helping local
communities prepare for and
prevent flooding before disaster
happens.
And we worked together to keep
Major League Baseball in Milwaukee
until 2050.
So future generations of Wisconsin's
kids will grow up rooting
for the growers like so
many of us have.
Good work, good work,
good work.
We've also managed to do all of
this important work while still
saving where we could and
paying down our state's debt.
We've saved taxpayers over $600
million by paying off
about $3 billion of our
state debt. Thank you very much.
I have to, excuse,
excuse me.
After 30 consecutive years
of our state's checking account
running a deficit, we've ended every
full fiscal year.
I've been governor with a positive
balance.
That's a good thing.
Thanks to our bipartisan efforts to
cut taxes, Wisconsin taxpayers will
see over $2 billion
in tax relief annually
with most of those cuts going
to the middle class.
I not only
kept my campaign promise to
Wisconsinites that I deliver a
10% tax cut for
middle class families.
In fact, middle class taxpayers
have seen an income tax cut
of 23% more
than double what I promised.
Wisconsinites, you're keeping
more of your hard-earned money today
than at any point in the
last 50 years.
I am also grateful to the
legislature that they supported a
key part of my affordability plan
last year to help lower
monthly energy costs
for working families.
Because of our bipartisan work,
Wisconsinites are no longer paying
sales tax on household utility
bills, which is expected to
save Wisconsinites $178
million over the next two years.
Not only are Wisconsinites
keeping more of their hard-earned
money, Wisconsinites are
making more money, too.
Average annual wages in Wisconsin
went up nearly 26 percent
over my first six years in office,
and median wages in 2024
reached an all-time high,
record high.
Giving working families a little
more breathing room in their
household budgets is something we've
worked on together
over the last seven years.
I'm hoping we can continue building
on those efforts in succession,
including reaching bipartisan
agreement on a plan to get
meaningful resources to our K-12
schools and provide
property tax relief at the same
time. And it must
balance these
important obligations a heck of
a lot better.
And the plan Republican leaders sent
me this week.
Another important priority for us
over the last seven years has been
addressing the workforce challenges
that have plagued our states for
generations.
We've been working to build a 21st
century workforce in Wisconsin
that needs to compete in
the 21st-century economy.
We've reduced barriers to joining
our workforce by investing
in childcare
slots for working parents and
making sure that they can get to
and from work.
We're helping over 127,000
Wisconsin workers get career
and skills training, thanks to
investment site directed.
Wisconsin's seen record high
employment and record low
unemployment, and we've had the
highest ever enrollment in
our registered and apprenticeship
programs ever in state
history for several years in
a row.
And by cracking down worker
misclassification, we made sure
over 134,000
workers got the wages and
benefits they were owed.
A key part of our work to support
working families, strengthen our
communities, and grow our state's
workforce has been ensuring folks
have the housing they need in the
communities they work in.
It's about connecting the
dots and expanding access to
affordable housing is an issue I
hear about almost everywhere I go
in Wisconsin.
We work together to pass the
largest state investment in
workhouse housing in Wisconsin's
and my administration has
supported over 30,000 new.
Housing units across the state.
Much like housing,
having access to affordable,
high-speed internet in the 21st
century is a necessity,
not a luxury.
It's why no administration has
done more to expand access
to high- speed internet for working
families than we have.
I declared 2021 a year
of broadband access and created
a broadband access task
force. We also created new tools
to help folks get connected.
And find affordable internet
options.
Thanks to our investments, including
federal funding, I directed more
than 410,000
homes and businesses across
our state will have new
or improved internet.
Supporting our farmers and their
families and our state's
agricultural industries have always
been part of our work over the last
seven years.
I created the Blue Ribbon Commission
on Rural Prosperity and the
Office of Rural Prosparity.
And we worked together to create the
Wisconsin Initiative for
Agricultural Exports to increase
dairy, meat, crop and other
products exports by 25
percent.
Today, Wisconsin is well
on the way to become a top ten
state. For agricultural exports
after being ranked 13th
just a few years ago.
Thanks for the applause, I get to
drink.
And from our smallest rural towns
to our largest cities after a
generation of state government
asking local partners to do more
with less, we also
work together to approve
a historic increase in support
for our local communities.
Thanks to our bipartisan efforts,
Milwaukee is no longer on the brink
of bankruptcy and for
state support for most
municipalities increased over
20%.
To help them meet basic and
unique needs alike.
That's a good thing.
We're also making sure the state
helps support local communities by
investing in infrastructure needs
across Wisconsin that
long have been neglected.
When I took over, our transportation
fund was on the brink of insolvency.
For years, the state spent money
that was meant to improve
our infrastructure on other things,
leaving our roads and bridges in
disrepair.
I made a promise to Wisconsinites
that I'd work to fix the darn roads.
Been out on my annual
pothole patrol as governor to
fix the roads myself.
We approved the largest investment
in local road construction and
maintenance in state history.
Thanks to our bipartisan work,
local partners will receive $600
million in funding this
year.
Together we also created a new
agricultural roads program with
bipartisan support to make sure
our farmers and producers can
get their product to market safely
and efficiently by improving
local road infrastructure across
our state.
It's already supporting over 90
projects across 48 counties
to help improve and repair
roads that our farmers,
agricultural industries and rural
communities depend on.
Folks, all of these efforts have
played a key role in our work to fix
the darn roads across Wisconsin,
and we've delivered.
Thanks to our work together, my
administration has been able to
improve or repair over
9,600 miles of
roads and over 2,400
bridges across our state.
And it's a darn good thing we've
been fixing the roads because under
my administration, Wisconsin's
been welcoming more visitors than
ever before.
Investing in our tourism industry
has been an important part of our
work over the last seven years, and
it's paid off.
Wisconsin's travel and tourism
industry has been setting records
for three years running.
In 2024, we had a hat trick
here.
Wisconsin tourism brought in more
money, welcomed more
visitors.
And generated a record high $25.8
billion in total economic
impact.
A big driver
of our tourism industry's success
is our Wisconsin's outdoor
recreation economy.
Biking and hiking, camping and
canoeing, fishing and hunting,
snowmobiling and skiing, you name
it, outdoor recreation
is part of our DNA as
Wisconsinites.
It's also become an
$11 billion industry
that drives and supports local
jobs and economies across
our state.
I propose creating our state's
ever first Office of Outdoor
Recreation, and we work together
to get it done so that Wisconsin now
has a dedicated office to support
this critical economic
industry.
Thanks, everyone.
Our bipartisan budget last
year also improved my request to
create a new film office at the
Department of Tourism and a new Film
Tax Credit program.
I'm excited to announce we're
launching a new program this
week which will help bolster
our travel and tourism economies
and bring exciting, creative
endeavors right to Wisconsin's
doorstep. Thank you. God bless you
all.
Folks, we've gotten a lot done for
Wisconsin over the last seven years.
Our work during the year of the kid
is another good example.
From teaching science in Baraboo
to getting the scoop from students
on Smoker's Corner as principal
in Tomah to the decade
I spent as state superintendent to
becoming your governor, I've
devoted most of my life to
doing what's best for our kids.
After watching
Republican, a Republican governor,
a legislator, legislature,
excuse me.
Shred my education budgets
as state superintendent.
I knew we could do more and
better for our kids
Our kids are why I got into this
gig in the first place.
So while every year is a year of
the kid for me, I declared 2025
the official year of a
kid and introduced the most pro-kid
budget in state history.
And then we went to work.
When it comes to doing what's best
for our kids, we have to start
early.
A top priority for me during the
year of the kid was to lower
the cost of childcare so more kids
and families could access early
childhood education.
Getting direct support to childcare
providers in our state budget
was a bright line issue for me
in negotiation with Republican
leaders.
I fought hard to make sure our
pro-kid budget that included
300.
And 60 million dollars to support
our child care industry and
working families more than one
third of which will go directly to
providers to support care
for nearly one hundred and
seventy thousand kids
Thank you.
We also created our state's
first-ever fully state-funded
child care program called
Get Kids Ready.
Get Kids ready is a new
first-of-its-kind program in
Wisconsin to help give
four-year-olds a boost
getting ready for kindergarten.
So here's how it works.
Qualifying child care providers will
focus on making sure kids have
the academic, physical,
and social-emotional skills that
kids need to be successful in
school.
And in return, the state pays
child care providers directly
for the time kids spend and
get kids ready programming,
making that part of the day free
for families.
That's a big deal for Wisconsin kids
and our future.
And I'm excited to announce tonight
that nearly 1,400
providers have signaled that
they're ready to be part of this
program.
An effort that is
projected to help as many
as 24,000 kids
across Wisconsin get a
head start on their education in
just the first year.
How about that?
Good work.
Good work!
A key part of our work to do what's
best for our kids includes making
sure our kids can bring their
best and full self to
our schools and our classrooms.
A kid who's hungry or facing
mental health challenges isn't going
to be able to focus on their studies
or their coursework at school.
It's why I fought hard to secure
$10 million for food security
and $30 million to help
support mental health resources.
In schools across our state.
When I delivered my State
of the State address last year, I
said I'd be asking the legislature
to make meaningful investments
in public education at every level
from early childhood to our
universities.
And I made sure that's exactly
what our bipartisan budget did.
Republican lawmakers who spent the
better part of two decades waging
war on higher education
and the Wisconsin idea planned
to cut our UW system by
nearly $90 million and
that was a non-starter for me
and many other people.
I fought hard to make sure the final
budget I signed included the largest
increase for our University
of Wisconsin system in
nearly 20 years and over $1 billion
for UW projects across
our state.
Folks, I declare 2025
the year of the kid because I wanted
everything we did last year to be
focused on doing what's best for
our kids at every age and every way
and no matter where they live
in our state.
But Wisconsin, I've always promised
to give you straight information
here and that's exactly what I'm
going to do.
So I wanna talk about how our
bipartisan budget delivers for
our K through 12 kids in schools.
And I also wanna talk about the ways
that fell short.
And the work the legislature must do
to make good on the bipartisan
promise we made to our kids
in the last budget.
A decade of Republicans consistently
failing to meaningful invest,
meaningfully to invest in
our kids and our K through 12
schools has consequences.
Wisconsinites, Wisconsinites have
been going to referendum at high
numbers in years, raising their own
property taxes just to keep
the school lights on.
It started long before I became
governor.
I get Republicans want to blame
my 400-year veto for property
taxes going up.
Why, of course, it's politics, of
coarse.
Republicans running under fair maps
need someone else to blame for
failing to fund our schools
at the level I've asked them
to for about two decades
of my life.
Here's the truth.
Funding our schools is a
responsibility that the state
and local partner share.
Local property taxes go up when
the state fails to do its part to
meet its obligation.
I'll go ten toes with any
lawmaker about school funding.
My 400-year veto
isn't an automatic property tax
increase, folks, because that isn't
how school funding works in
Wisconsin.
The legislature has rejected
over $7 billion for K-12
schools that I requested over
the last four state budgets.
If lawmakers want
to have an honest conversation
about property taxes Start
there.
Folks, a decade plus of
disinvestment can't be undone
overnight, but I've spent the last
seven years working to reverse
that trend.
We secured an additional over
$2.3 billion for
K-12 kids in schools
in my budgets.
I fought hard for nearly $1.4
billion in spendable revenue
we approved in our bipartisan
budget negotiations last year.
That included a net categorical
aid increase That was roughly.
Five times larger than our
previous historic budget.
We also fought for and secured the
largest increase in special
education reimbursement rate in
state's history.
We raised the state's commitment
to reimburse special education
aid at 42 and
45% over two
years.
And there's a big bug here, but
here's the problem.
The legislature refuses to set aside
enough state money to actually
meet those percentages.
So in reality, DPI estimates
the states only reimbursing
at a rate of about 35%
instead, well short of
the budget we negotiated.
We have a constitutional obligation.
We have constitutional obligation
to fund our schools in the state.
Folks, the legislature must approve
the level of funding necessary to
meet the percentages our kids
and our schools were promised in the
last budget.
Period.
We couldn't get it done.
With all the successes that
we've had over the last seven years,
Wisconsinites are eager for us to
continue our progress.
We can't afford for lawmakers to
lose focus on the future we've been
working hard to build together just
because it's an election year.
So I know the legislature would
rather hit the road and take the
rest of the year off, but I'm going
to ask lawmakers to
stick around until our work
here is finished.
There's always more work we can do
folks. Let's start with public
safety.
I wish Republican lawmakers would
have been willing to do more during
the year of the kid to help keep our
kids, families and communities safe.
I was really disappointed that for
all the rhetoric about who cares
about crime and who doesn't care
about crime, Republicans voted
against my proposal to make
the Wisconsin office of violence
prevention.
We could be doing so much
more to address domestic and
intimate partner violence,
for example.
These statistics drive
me nuts.
Domestic violence, homicides
in Wisconsin jumped by 20%
between 2021 and
2022, 20%.
We hit a new record high of
Wisconsinites murdered in domestic
and intimate partner-violence
incidents.
The record only lasted until
2024,
when 99 Wisconsinites
were killed.
They were murdered.
Folks, this trend is
headed in the wrong direction,
obviously.
The legislature cannot find these
statistics acceptable.
Yet, on top of voting not to
make the Wisconsin Office of
Violence Prevention permanent last
year, Republican lawmakers also
voted against my request.
To provide $66 million
for the victims of crime act
programs, many of which
helped survivors of domestic
violence and their families get on
their feet.
I urge.
Thank you.
I urge the legislature to
send bills to my desk to codify
the Office of Violence Prevention
and Fund Victim of
Crime Act programs.
Do this right thing and get it done.
In the meantime, my administration
and I will continue our work however
we can to reduce crime and
violence and help make kids and
families safer.
So one of the things I'm jazzed to
announce tonight is that my
administration will be partnering
with our own Milwaukee
Bucks on a public campaign
to help combat domestic
violence across Wisconsin.
Go Bucks!
Go Bar.
I also want to talk about gun
violence, which is why I created
the Wisconsin Office of Violence
Prevention.
The very first special session
that I ever called as governor was
to ask Republicans to pass
universal background checks
and red flag laws,
two concepts that 80
percent of our state support.
I could spend the rest of my
speech listing everything I proposed
to crack down on gun violence,
keeping guns out of the hands of
violent people.
And making our communities safer.
Instead, I've cut to the kicker.
All of them went nowhere because in
seven years, there's no issue
Republicans have done less
about than guns.
This much is clear.
This much clear.
If Wisconsinites want to get
something, anything done
about gun violence, we must
elect legislators who will
do the damn thing to change
it.
I've also spent years urging
Republican lawmakers to approve
reasonable common-sense policies
to move Wisconsin's corrections,
courts, and justice systems into
the 21st century.
I introduced a sweeping corrections
reform plan last year
that would close GBCI by
2021-29,
excuse me, get kids out of Lincoln
Hills and Copper Lake,
and turn Waupon into a
state-of-the-art vocational
facility.
Republicans quickly dismissed it,
insisting they'd come up with a
better plan and pass that instead.
It's been over a year now and
I haven't seen one either
enacting my plan or propose
a plan of their own.
I still hopeful that we can
work together to pass a bipartisan
bill this year on
a comprehensive, comprehensive,
excuse me, corrections reform.
To set an achievable goal for
GBCI to close, convert
Lickin Hills and reef Ampleau
Pond. We also need to
make sure the plan
includes evidence-based efforts
to stabilize our
skyrocketing
prison population and
reduce likelihood that people
will reoffend, making our
communities safer and saving
taxpayers on correction costs
down the road.
We don't need to ask taxpayers
to pay for a brand new prison.
That won't be done for
a decade.
My plan remains the
safest, fastest, and cheapest
option available.
I don't care who gets the credit, it
doesn't make any difference, I'm
gonna be gone in a few months.
Let's just get it done, please.
In the meantime, I will continue
to exercise my constitutional
powers as governor to do
what I can to improve community
safety and change Wisconsin's
justice system for the better.
Before I took office, Wisconsin got
a F in judicial diversity
due to a lack of women and
people of color on our bench.
So it's important to me to appoint
judges who are a reflection of
the people of our state.
I'm especially proud that no
governor has appointed a
more diverse class of judges in
state history.
More than a third of the judges I
appointed are people of color,
and more than half are women.
I exercise my constitutional
powers as governor to grant pardons
for the first time in a generation.
A pardon is an official act of
forgiveness that signals an
individual has paid their debt
to society, worked to
make amends, and tried to turn their
lives around.
I've issued more grants of clemency
than any other governor.
This month, I'll hit 2,000
pardoms as governor, and we're
not done yet.
We also have important
things to get done this year to
clean up our water and protect our
natural resources.
We make a promise to our
kids and grandkids that we'll leave
them a better state and world
than the one we inherited.
That's the future we've promised
them, and that's the future they
deserve.
And my administration has worked
to lead the way.
For starters, science and
the words climate change have
returned to the Department of
Natural Resources.
I also created the Office of
Sustainability and Clean Energy and
we released the first ever,
Wisconsin's first ever clean energy
plan to help lower energy
bills for working families,
reduce reliance on out of state
energy sources and create
more than 40,000 jobs by
2030.
We also joined the U.S.
Climate Alliance, took the trillion
tree pledge and committed
to planting 100 million
trees by the end of 2030.
We planted over 42 million
and saved over 76
acres of forest land in
just the first four days.
Four years.
Four years!
We created a new Wild Rice
Stewardship Council to help protect
wild rice resources that are
culturally significant and
important food source for indigenous
communities.
And we continue to work and learn
from the tribal nations of
Wisconsin, like Menominee
and Bad River Band, who are
investing in clean and reliable
energy sources to become
energy independent.
Yeah!
For four years the state has
purchased renewable electricity
certificates from Wisconsin
utilities to power our
state agencies.
I want to make sure we continue to
work towards our clean energy goals.
Thanks to the steps I'm
announcing tonight, we're
ensuring the state will continue
doing so long after I'm governor.
Tonight I'm annoucing that the
state is going to purchase about
225,000 megawatt
of renewable energy
every year.
For the next 20 years.
Folks, just.
Folks, just to put that in
perspective, that's enough renewable
energy to power more than
a half million Wisconsin homes.
We're also continuing to explore new
ways for Wisconsin to be a leader
in clean energy.
I'm excited to announce that we're
going to be partnering with
UW-Madison's Department
of Nuclear Engineering
and Engineering Physics to study
nuclear energy opportunities
in Wisconsin.
Nuclear energy is the largest source
of clean power in our country,
and it's a safe, reliable,
carbon-free option to power our
homes and businesses.
This could be a game changer
for our state.
I'm glad this work has received
bipartisan support this session.
Thank you.
Folks,
this partnership on nuclear
energy is the Wisconsin
Idea in action.
Wisconsin Idea has always been
around harnessing the extraordinary
research and innovation that's
happening on UW campuses and
using it to improve
public policy in Wisconsin
and beyond.
It's why I'm also excited we're
continuing the tradition to support
small businesses across our state.
Our newly created Ignite
Wisconsin program is going to make
strategic investments to
advance startups in our state,
targeting sectors to boost our
homegrown innovation.
This includes connecting the dots
to invest in the Wisconsin
Fusion Energy Coalition,
anchored by UW Madison's
fusion research.
So Wisconsin becomes a national hub
for commercializing
fusion energy.
That'll be fun, that'll
be fine.
That's going to be a blast.
Folks, a key part of our work to
build a more sustainable future is
building a 21st century workforce
to meet 21st-century
needs.
If Wisconsin wants to continue to
compete and be a leader in
new and innovative industries,
we must invest in workforce training
to prepare workforce for
the future.
It's why my administration worked
to secure over $7 million
to launch workforce training
programs.
Focused on developing our advanced
manufacturing and AI workforce
in Wisconsin.
AI is here to stay,
so making sure Wisconsin is prepared
to create jobs for the future and
meet the rapidly involving needs
of a 21st century
economy has to be a top
priority.
At the same time we also have to
make sure we don't jeopardize the
work we have done and are
doing to build a more sustainable
future for our state.
Wisconsin is ready for bold and
urgent solutions that will treating
these goals as mutually exclusive.
And that's especially true when
it comes to data centers.
Ensuring our state is prepared
for the 21st century does
not mean abandoning all
our state's history and traditions.
We aren't, and we won't.
Wisconsin must embrace a future
where we don't have to choose
between mitigating climate change
and protecting the environment,
or creating good-paying jobs,
and having a strong economy.
We must do both.
Step forward, guys.
We also couldn't reach consensus
during the state budget negotiations
on a comprehensive plan to
reauthorize the Knowles-Nelson
stewardship program,
the namesake of two Wisconsin
conservation heroes.
The stewardship program which has
been a proud part of Wisconsin's
heritage for decades is
now set to expire at the end
of June.
Let's get a bipartisan bill
done to re-authorize a stewardship
program that both supports land
acquisition and management
of Wisconsin's valuable natural
resources and public lands.
We have to do this, folks.
We have.
I also repeatedly asked the
legislature to do more to improve
water quality and get contaminants
out of, like lead and PFAS
out of our water.
Wisconsinites should be able to
trust the water coming out
of their tap.
So we must find common ground
on a bipartisan legislation
to help Wisconsinites get
contaminates like PFAS,
out of the water and release the
$125 million
we approved over two
years ago.
Now we've gotten a lot done for
Wisconsin over the last seven years,
but tonight I don't want to just
talk, want to reflect on our
work together.
I also want to talk about what's
next. Where Wisconsin goes
from here. What worries me about
our future and actually keeps me
awake at night as governor.
I'm worried about the impacts of
reckless decisions being made in
Washington and that These decisions
will have disastrous consequences
for Wisconsinites, taxpayers.
In the state budget going forward.
I'm worried about the tens of
thousands of federal employees who
are fired for no reason,
including thousands of Wisconsin
workers.
Many serve veterans and our
farmers and agricultural
industries.
I'm worry about the people who
suddenly found themselves without
jobs due to no fault of
their own.
And I'm worrying about
Wisconsinites, especially our
veterans and farmers, who depend
on the services these folks
are supposed, they are supposed to
provide.
I'm also angry when I think about
our neighbors, young kids and
families across the state who aren't
going to school or work or
anyplace else because they're
scared, leaving their home may
mean their family will be torn
apart.
I worry about our kids who are being
traumatized by violence on
social media, in the news, on
our streets and in our
neighborhoods.
And I worry what all
this means for America's Dairyland,
which has dependent.
On the hard work of immigrants for
generations.
And I'm also worried that with
our successful, even with our
successful efforts to help folks
make ends meet, Wisconsinites
are feeling the squeeze due to
tariff taxes and erratic
trade wars.
Prices are going up and things like
school supplies, groceries, coals,
gas, more.
Americans last year footed the bill
for 96%
of the costs from tariffs.
I noted earlier that our state
has seen historic economic
success.
Under my administration with all
your help, which has seen
a budget surplus and rainy day fund
at record high levels.
Based on what's coming, I
worry how long that will last.
I'm worried about the impacts that
President Trump's so-called big,
beautiful bill.
If Republican lawmakers don't
approve resources, the state
needs to keep food share payments
errors low.
Wisconsin taxpayers could have to
pay hundreds of millions of dollars
in penalty fees.
To the Trump administration every
year under the
BBB.
And let me be clear, on top of
the more than $284
million we've already estimated
Wisconsin taxpayers will have to pay
in future budgets.
The sooner the legislature invests
in food share quality control
efforts, the more time the state
has to keep food share airs
down, it's pretty simple.
We can save Wisconsin taxpayers
potentially hundreds of millions of
dollars in penalty fees a year.
We could have to pay the Trump
administration if we don't.
So I'm not
negotiating with Republicans about a
$70 million investment the state
must make right now to
save Wisconsin taxpayers as
much as $200 million in
penalty fees later.
We've been asking for this for
months and it has to get done.
If the legislature fails to
provide the
funding that is needed,
Republicans will be able to blame
the penalty fees at
taxpayers who we forced to pay.
It's not good.
It's pretty simple, let's get it
done.
And that's not all that keeps me
awake. Health care costs are
skyrocketing.
Wisconsinites already don't feel
like they're getting a fair shake
when it comes to insurance coverage.
And now, because of the so-called
Big Beautiful Bill, over
270,000 Wisconsinites
will lose their health care because
Republicans in Congress refuse
to extend tax credits under
the Affordable Care Act that make
health care more affordable millions
of Americans.
Many are going to be priced out.
I talked to Kim, a small business
owner in Green Bay, whose healthcare
coverage went up 500%
this year.
Kim said she had enough money to pay
for one month of healthcare
coverage, and then she's
gonna go without.
Wisconsinites across our state will
be forced to do the same.
Congress must fix the healthcare
crisis they've created.
Or every member of Congress from
Wisconsin and beyond who allowed
this to happen should be held
accountable at the ballot
box.
You know this, I'm not a rocket
science, but I did teach biology.
Maybe if we want to make Americans
and Wisconsinites healthy again,
making healthcare affordable and
accessible would be a great place
to start.
We could also start
by trusting the science, public
health experts and medical
professionals who have eradicated
diseases and found cures and
kept us healthy and safe for
decades.
Folks, public health is not
a partisan issue, and it isn't up
for debate, and real
lives are at stake if we
fail to listen.
It's why in the coming weeks I'll
sign an executive order to have
Wisconsin join the World Health
Organization's global response
network.
We must do what we can to keep our
kids, our families, and our
communities healthy and safe.
It's as simple as that.
Wisconsin is as purple as
ever.
But we've shown we can put politics
aside and work together
to get good things done.
Compared to all the chaos,
dysfunction, and recklessness in
Washington, D.C.,
here in Wisconsin, we've
worked to lead by example.
And a big part of that is the fact
that today, lawmakers are elected.
Under fair baps I signed into law.
But here's the problem, Wisconsin.
New maps are redrawn every
10 years.
That means there's no guarantee
Wisconsinites still have fair maps
after the next census.
Wisconsinites and Americans across
our country have watched the
President of the United States put
pressure on Republican legislators
into adopting new maps that
will benefit him.
And as a result, Democratic
legislators have been put
in the unthinkable position to
respond by trying to restore
balance.
It is crazy.
Thank you.
Very few people in this country know
what it means to live under some of
the most politically gerrymandered
maps in Wisconsin, but
Wisconsinites do,
and they know because they lived
it, and we are not
going back.
I know people here disagree
sometimes,
sometimes a lot.
Politics could get in the way of
creating a nonpartisan redistricting
commission that everyone can
support.
But there's one thing that we
all should be able to do to agree
on, which is that
So tonight I'm announcing that I'll
be calling a special session of the
legislature this spring to take up
a constitutional amendment to
ban partisan gerrymandering
once and for all in
Wisconsin.
And let me be clear, I hesitate
to bring this legislation to special
session later this year
in August or September or
October.
Heck, I'm old enough to remember
when the legislature was willing
to meet in December.
I don't know if you remember that.
I do.
Wisconsin has fair, safe,
and secure elections.
We must continue to fight every
effort by any politician to
interfere with or
make it harder for eligible
Wisconsinites to cast their ballots.
And a big part of the reason we have
fair, safe, and secure elections is
because of the amazing
election officials and poll workers
across our state.
So next time...
So next time, like Kathy
and I did today, you cast your
ballot, and I hope you did today.
Thank the folks who's making it
happen.
Make them.
These folks are friends and
neighbors who often volunteer their
time to make sure we can exercise
our most basic and fundamental
rights as Americans.
And they do so out of a sense of
duty. They do it because it's
the right thing to do.
They do it because they're a good
neighbor.
That's extraordinary.
As governor, I often declare
a theme for a year, a topic
or issue I want to focus on.
We had the year of clean drinking
water, the years of broadband
access.
Mental health, workers, and of
course, the year of the kid.
This year, I want to keep it simple.
I want us to focus on our Wisconsin
values of kindness,
respect, empathy, compassion.
I'm declaring 2026
the year the neighbor, because
we-
Get to know your neighbors,
because we all could use a good
neighbor and we could all be
better neighbors.
And we're going to spend the next
year celebrating the neighbors who
make Wisconsin a great place it
is to call home.
Thank you. Thank you very
much.
The first responders who answer
our call in our darkest
hour.
The librarians who help find our
new favorite book.
The teachers who comfort, inspire,
and educate our kids.
The state worker who helped us find
and apply for health care or
job training.
The veterans who served our country.
The farmer who feeds our
families. The nurse taking care of
our loved ones.
The helpers who work every day to
make life just a little bit better
for everyone who lives here.
Wisconsinites are helpers by
nature.
It's in our DNA.
When things are tough, we roll up
our sleeves and get to work.
We shovel a driveway or
bake a casserole, and we show
up for our neighbors because we
know that whether it's unpredictable
weather or the unpredictable
nature of politics, we're all
in this together.
And we're gonna get through this
together, not by alienating
our neighbors but by getting to know
them. By looking out for one another
and maintaining our Wisconsin
values of kindness, empathy,
compassion, and respect because
it's the golden rule, and it's
a right thing to do because it
is who we are as Wisconsin.
Thank you. All right.
Here we go, folks.
I always promise to be a
governor who works for all
Wisconsinites and who does
the right thing when it matters
most.
I'll never stop working to make good
on the promise as long as I'm
governor.
We have lots of work to do, folks,
so let's get back to it.
Thank you, and on, Wisconsin
UW Marching Band,
let her rip.
And so, the University of Wisconsin
Marching Band concludes Governor
Tony Evers' 8th State of the
State Address before a joint session
of the Wisconsin Assembly and
Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Devin
Lemahue, who was elected to the
State Senate in 2014,
is making his way back to our
location as we speak.
He'll provide this year's Republican
response in just a few moments.
So before the senator arrives,
Sean, I just wanted to express
that, again,
the governor had declared this
the year of the neighbor, and yet as
we listened to this pretty long
speech, you said,
there's no deal.
What were you talking about?
Yeah, well, I mean, you've heard
the governor and Republican leaders
for, you know, maybe people haven't
been paying attention to this, but
there have been actual negotiations
going on, it seemed like, at the
Capitol over some kind of a plan
that would reduce property taxes
and increase school funding.
Just listening to the rhetoric
between the governor leaders lately,
it seems like they are fairly far
apart on that, and with the
assembly set to go home in a couple
days, it just makes it
difficult to reach an agreement on
something so big.
You know you did hear a lot of
the governor's accomplishments as he
views them in a speech that long you
hear sort of The list of what
he views as his legacy
There's also quite a long list
of things that he would like to do
But is going to have his
work cut out to get accomplished
when the legislature is not in
his party
because the governor has been
talking about how one of his
priorities is property tax relief,
and of course the Republican
majority would also like to see
property tax relief.
The plan that they are working
on at
times with the governor, at times
the majority itself,
is something that the governor said
is going to have to be a heck of
a lot better than what
Republican leaders sent him this
week. He said that in his address.
Yeah, I mean, you've got a couple of
factors that have driven up property
taxes in Wisconsin, a few really,
but a couple that they
can kind of point to the other side
with is that the governor did issue
a veto that extended school
revenue increases for four centuries
and that's something the Republicans
are planning to do, 400-year veto,
and in that scene, or in this last
budget, Republicans didn't include
any general school aid which would
offset property taxes.
So those factors working together
and you have some of the largest
school property taxes we've
seen in three decades.
Just kind of an open question at
this point about whether or not
they'll be able to address that
before they go home for the year.
Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahue
leads the Republican-controlled
State Senate.
He's held this position in
leadership since 2021.
Here is Senator Lemahoe with
tonight's Republican response.
Good evening, everyone.
The state of our state is strong,
but not for the reasons you heard
earlier tonight.
The state our state strong in spite
of the governor, not because of him.
Thanks to strong Republican
majorities here in the legislature,
Wisconsin families have only seen
one example of what state government
could look like with full Democrat
control.
Governor Evers' disastrous 400-year
veto that is driving property
taxes through the roof.
If the Democrats were in charge
of Madison, Wisconsin would be
a very different place.
Jobs would flee to other states
after they repealed the
manufacturers' and agricultural tax
credit.
Our increasingly mobile workforce
would leave for states with lower
income tax rates.
And popular reforms like voter ID
and the Reigns Act would have been
repealed long time ago.
Thankfully, that's not reality.
And thanks to our state legislature,
the state of our state is strong.
Since 2011, we've
cut your taxes by a cumulative $42
billion.
That's more than $7,500
for each person in Wisconsin
that they have left in their pockets
to address rising costs.
Even after these historic tax
cuts, the state continues to
have strong surpluses.
Right now, Wisconsin has a projected
$2.5 billion surplus.
Tax cuts are an important way the
state government can do what's best
for Wisconsin families.
But we also need to invest in core
priorities like healthcare,
education, and transportation.
Earlier this session, the Senate
passed two important bills that
will increase access to affordable
healthcare.
The first proposal extends Medicaid
eligibility for postpartum mothers
from 60 days
to a full year after giving birth.
The second ensures insurance
coverage for supplemental breast
cancer screenings for women with
heightened cancer risks.
That's on top of the 7.8 billion
increase for state budget provided
our healthcare system, including
support for hospitals,
long-term care, and mental health
facilities.
Those investments won't solve every
challenge facing our healthcare
systems, but they'll make a
meaningful impact across our state.
For schools, the bipartisan
biennial budget provided a record
high funding, including the largest
in-state support for special
education.
Roads are a critical part of
Wisconsin manufacturing,
agriculture, and tourism.
So we invest in more than $1 billion
in transportation,
including $303 million for local
roads and bridges.
Tonight, Wisconsin stands at a
crossroads.
As families across the state feel
the impact of rising costs,
the state government has a $2.5
billion surplus.
You know what?
Let me repeat that.
As you and your families are
struggling to pay for groceries,
housing,
utilities, the state government has
$2.5 billion of your
money just sitting here in Madison.
We want to give that money back to
you.
Speaker Voss and I sent a proposal
to Governor Evers to return a
portion of the surplus to
taxpayers through a $1,000
rebate check.
This would come on top of the $1.5
billion in tax cuts for the middle
class and retirees we already
passed last summer.
Our plan would use the remaining
surplus to strengthen our commitment
to special education above what
we promised in the budget and
dedicate $500 million to limit
the property tax impact of
the Governor's 400-year veto.
You know, I love Wisconsin.
I've chosen to live here most of my
life.
I've owned a small business for 20
years. I want to make Wisconsin
even stronger.
We can make our state stronger by
lowering property taxes, supporting
schools, and returning the surplus
to the people who created it, you,
the taxpayers.
The legislature is ready.
It's up to Governor Evers to make
this compromise a reality.
God bless you, and may God continue
to bless the great state of
Wisconsin.
That was Wisconsin Senate Majority
Leader, Devin Lemahue, with the
Republican response.
If you'd like to watch tonight's
speech from Governor Tony Evers or
Senate Majority Leader Devin Lemahue
again, we will have it posted later
tonight on our website at
PBSWisconsin.org.
We will have continuing coverage and
reaction to the State of the State
address this Friday at 7.30
on Here and Now.
Wisconsin Public Radio will also
continue to follow developments from
the State Capitol, both on the air
and online at wpr.org.
We want to thank you for joining us
this evening, live from the state
Capitol in Madison.
I'm Sean Johnson with Wisconsin
Public radio.
And I'm Frederica Freyberg with PBS
Wisconsin.
This concludes our coverage of
Wisconsin's 2026 State
of the State Address.
Thanks for watching.