Thank you for joining us today and I hope everybody
had a good holiday season, a chance to relax at the best. So, you know, as we
look back on 2024, we have accomplished a lot together. I signed nearly 190 bills
into law last year, the vast majority of those had bipartisan support. I signed
fair maps for Wisconsin, undoing a decade of living under some of the most
gerrymandered legislative maps in the US. I approved $73 million in annual tax
relief to reduce childcare costs. For working families has projected that more
than 110,000 taxpayers will see an average of about $650 in tax cuts
beginning this year in 2025. I enacted two pieces of statewide legislation
enabling Wisconsin to receive over $78 million in federal investments to bolster
our EV infrastructure. There are now three new FES charging EV stations
coming online in Ashland Menominee and Chippewa Falls with more to come with a
new year. And we also successfully kept the brewers in Wisconsin to 2050 with a
new lease ensuring future generation will be able to root for the home team
which was finalized and approved just before the holidays and gold brewers.
And we secured a multi-billion dollar investments from key industry leaders
like Microsoft, Eli Lilly, and company Nestle, Purina, Keikomon, and more. In my
last state of the state address, I declared 2024 the year of the worker to
renew our focus on addressing our state's generational workforce challenges.
Through these efforts, we continued our trend of historically low unemployment
and nine counties reported the lowest rates of unemployment on record. We
achieved record high employment and participation in the state's registered
and youth apprenticeship programs and expanded apprenticeship pathways
including the first-ever teacher apprenticeship pilot program. We worked
with Senator Baldwin to secure the state's designation of the U.S. regional tech hub
which is set to bring more than 140,000 jobs and nine billion dollars of
economic development to our state over the next decade. And we helped launch the
U.S. Climate Alliance Climate Ready Workforce Initiative which is working to
train one million new registered apprenticeships across the nation by 2023.
I'm incredibly proud of the work we've done this last year built upon the
efforts of over the last five years. We continued providing tax relief to the
middle class and working families across our state including the child
independent care credit I just mentioned a minute ago that will go into effect
this year. All told through tax cuts I've signed in the law through at my time in
office 86% of Wisconsin taxpayers have seen an income tax cut of 15% or more
with 2.4 million taxpayers receiving relief and Wisconsin taxpayers will see
1.5 billion dollars in annual tax relief primarily to the middle class
targeted to the middle class. Thanks in part due to these efforts and tax cuts I
signed into law as governor. A recent analysis by the Wisconsin policy forum
showed Wisconsin's income tax burden and that means how much of state and local
taxes pay at Wisconsinites pay as a share of their personal income is the lowest
on record. That means we've worked hard and successfully to make sure
Wisconsinites get to keep more of their hard earned money in their pockets. We've
also improved more than 8,600 miles of roads and 2,000 bridges and we have
built more than 17,000 units of affordable housing since I've taken
office and our work to expand access to affordable housing will continue in 25
and 2025 as we implement one of the largest state investments in affordable
housing in our history. As we look forward to 2025 there is as always more work to
do. I look forward to delivering my state of the state address on Wednesday
January 22nd at 7 p.m. We'll talk about the work ahead of us and to lay out our
state's top priorities for 2025. While we had much success in 2024 working to
address our state's challenges of recruiting training and retaining
talented workers our efforts must continue in 2025 to address the workforce
challenges that have plagued our state for decades. We can both help address our
state's workforce challenges and give working families a little breathing room
in their household budgets by making childcare and housing more affordable
and accessible across our state. They can child care and housing more
affordable and addressing our state's looming childcare crisis which could
have really bad consequences for our workforce and our state's economy. It's
been a top priority for me and my administration that will continue to be
that case in the new year. I also continue to be concerned about the
burgeoning crisis of mental and behavioral health in Wisconsin something
that we've been talking about for years. I will again propose robust investments
in my biennial budget to expand access to mental and behavioral health statewide
including in our schools and I urge the legislature to join me in supporting
this important work. It also obviously in everybody in this room is in the same
position ways heavily on me that we're kicking off a new year just weeks after
a school shooting here in Madison at Abundant Life Christian School that took
the lives of Ruby and Aaron injured several and affected countless others
including a student who is still recovering from those injuries. Keeping
our kids our schools our streets and our community safe and addressing gun
violence has been a top priority for me and my administration over the last
five years despite continued legislative resistance and inaction. In 2025 this
should be a shared priority that transcends politics and partisanship
in one I'm hopeful to finally receive biennial support and effort. So I look
forward to sharing more details about my budget proposals to address these
pressing statewide challenges and I deliver my 2025-27 biennial budget. That
message will happen on Tuesday February 18th 2025 at 7 p.m. be there it's going
to be something. I'm hopeful that as we ring in a new year in Wisconsin after
fair maps we will see a legislature that's more collaborative more responsive and
reflects the will of the people of the state. Network begins here today. It's
been the last month of my this last year traveling across our state hosting
my biennial budget listening sessions and completing my fifth annual 72 County
tour to hear directly from Wisconsinites about the issues that are important to
them. So today I'm announcing excuse me a provision I'll be including in the
biennial budget to require the legislature to give the people of Wisconsin a
pathway to ensuring the will of the people. It's no secret that since I took
office Republican legislators have repeatedly ignored the will of the
people of Wisconsin a majority of whom support support proposals like restoring
a role and access the safe legal abortion legalizing and taxing marijuana like
we do alcohol funding our public schools and implementing common sense gun safety
reform among many other issues. Instead Republican lawmakers have repeatedly
worked to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that Republicans drafted
Republicans passed all while Republicans refused to give that same power to the
people we served. That's wrong. Republican lawmakers shouldn't be able to ignore
the will of the people and then prevent the people from having a voice when
their legislators fail to listen. We have to change that. Republican lawmakers are
going to continue to try and legislate by constitutional amendment then they
should give Wisconsinites the same opportunity that 26 other states have.
It's that simple. The legislature should give the people that same power to and
that's what I'll be asking them to do in my next budget. So thanks for being here
today and I'm happy to take your questions folks. Yeah in order to do that
it has to be a joint resolution and that and the requirement for that joint
resolution will be in the budget and that would give people the ability like
you know 26 other states to have a ballot initiative brought by the people
of Wisconsin.
Governor you said previously that you would support cutting Wisconsin's prison
population in half but since the pandemic Wisconsin's prison population is the nation upward.
What explains that time and why hasn't the prison population increased more under your leadership?
Well we again we had a pandemic that made things very much more difficult. We will be
addressing that issue in the budget. There's no question about that. We need to have criminal
justice reform and that's one of the things we'll be putting in the budget.
We're getting through this last four years in a you know a very difficult time for our
correctional institutions and the people that are in it and we believe we'll have
some answers for that in this next budget and hopefully we'll get some support for
that.
Oh for sure we should have done it a long time ago. Yes.
See it in any grocery stores you can buy the substance but it's concerning a lot of
parents as teens can get their hands on it easily. We don't know what that bill will look
like but in theory regulating the industry possibly raising the age to 21 to be able
to purchase these products. Is that something we would generally support?
Generally I'll have to take a look at it but we need to address that the issue of marijuana
also. It would be nice to be able to do both things at the same time but I'm open
to that. We have to make it clear to people what's legal and what's not. I think that's
important but in addition to people Wisconsin I don't know the exact numbers 60-70% in
the that have been polled by Marquette University support the legalization of
marijuana it'd be great to be able to take care of those both those things at the same time.
Have you heard any concerns about these products being out there and being easily accessible?
Yes yes yes. Would you like to see some types of regulation? Yes I would but but also I'm saying
it'd be great to deal with this issue of marijuana at the same time. We have to have clarity on what's
happening with what you've brought up but we also the will of the people it seems to indicate
that legalizing marijuana and treating it in a really really appropriate way is something that
we should be supporting also.
I mean if you think about the value of those stewardship fund it is so important to who we
are as Wisconsin and and also the ability to make sure that we have the land available for
people to recreate on and so yes we will be we'll be dealing with that issue in the budget
absolutely. I would veto that part of it yes. We can't we can't stop. I mean people expect
Wisconsin the state of Wisconsin to support the Knowles and Nelson project and it's been great
for the state of Wisconsin it's important for our tourism industry and and so the idea of ending it
is not going to happen.
I need I need to see the whole bill I need to see the whole bill.
Yeah I think it's somewhat premature to I mean we can make some guesses as to what what might happen
with the new administration of Washington DC. My my goal is to work with that administration
when we can and be in opposition and try to change ideas when when we can't wait when we can't support
it. That may be one of them but I'd have to see that bill before it's way too early for me to say
I'd support it or not. The bottom line is you know in Wisconsin 70 percent of of our
our farm our farms are dealing with 70 percent of the people that may be part of
maybe part of the federal government's idea to move them elsewhere like out of our country.
Think about that. How in the hell would we continue to be the dairy state when there's
nobody there to milk the cows and do the other important work. So that and we've made that clear
but we the overall goal with this administration will be to work with them when they can't and
and work with and to be in opposition and change their minds when we cannot.
You know what what crime speeding violent crime. I think if they're serving time already they
shouldn't be treated any differently. I mean violent crime is violent crime if you end up in a
correctional institution that serving that time is equally important for someone that is documented
and someone that is not. I'm trying to remember the letter I remember getting it. PFAS thing is
simple. Joint finance committee has to release that money. That was passed. It's part of law.
No we will be having a robust budget for public education as as we always have and so whatever's
happening in the courts that's it's that's not going to stop us from making that proposal.
That's a joke.
I mean honest to God that is that is a joke.
And how is the state assisting in security efforts? Oh we're working already on that issue.
So yes we're working with Brown County Green Bay. We you know anticipate it's going to be a good
event but it's an event that we are you know our whether it's our folks at the National Guard.
The folks that we have under our our work you know the people at the state patrol all those
people are working together. It's it's like it's going to be like the the R and C that happened in
Milwaukee that those things have already begun that work on that. It's going to be a great
opportunity for the state of Wisconsin obviously in Green Bay.
It's
no school this no schools would be able to get by just on that small amount of
ability to spend money. They'd have to spend their you know tax money back home.
They would they would likely have to go to referendum even more so so it's a joke and you know the
issue of mental health you know we put that I think 50 million dollars in the last budget
and I know the speaker does feel strongly about mental health issues but that didn't that doesn't
necessarily portray what happened in the budget with the amount of money that we got in the
budget which is a fraction of that 50 million dollars.
Do you think more people may forgive for your budget?
On that piece we're there's going to be more there's going to be more money period for schools.
Go to the update on the audits looking into Milwaukee public schools and if you don't have the
updates do you think MPS overall and the auditors are working fast enough to find some answers?
Yeah it seems like forever doesn't it the but I the audits that we we're that we provided
will be done soon I don't know if that's going to be done before the the budget so hopefully some
information can help us in the budget but yeah I'm frustrated I'm frustrated especially that
they've been working together with look with the city on the issue of police and in the schools
that's part of state law and they have to obey the law so somehow they have to come to a conclusion
on that.
Yeah well we have to work with our friends in Washington DC I mean they're the ones that
control that issue and we will do everything in our power to prevent it from happening.
I mean it's it's illogical for your if you're Republican or Democrat to say well we're going
to mess with America's dairy land because of somebody's idea of what immigration said look like.
We have people working there they're doing a great job our firearms and frankly our manufacturers
also need that work and need those workers so we'll be working with folks in Washington DC to make
sure that doesn't happen.
I don't have a that's a local decision to make it's been successful some people some school
districts feel it hasn't been successful but the fact of the matter is the Milwaukee Public Schools
as as part of the last budget need to finalize that. Now whether individual school districts
make that decision I know some people some school districts feel strongly about having
allowing it to happen and and some some folks are it's a local issue by the line.
What is your number one priority in the budget to get across the finish line?
Well number number one is multifaceted we we we have to have a for we we have to make sure that
people in the state of Wisconsin have the ability to thrive economically and part of that is a
affordable housing part of that is tax relief part of that is the making sure that our public
schools are strong and and so to say there's one thing that we absolutely have to have I'd say
it's a multifaceted answer it's the same it's the same question that I address around just around
schools themselves yes we need to fund our public schools but children are in schools maybe six
seven hours a day how about affordable housing that impacts those kids how about transportation
that that affects those kids how about health care that affects those children so in order for us
to thrive as a state economically and that has to be an overall goal there's more than one thing
that has to happen and that what I just talked about is just around kids
I think you'll have an answer for that in the next budget
No because I haven't decided if I'm running yet in 2026 that'll that'll that'll I'll be making
that decision sometime post post budget UW system
from cycle to cycle cycle buildings are getting older right falling down
how is the system sustainable where do you get that 800 million if you get that to them
we have 800 million for sure and that's what's going to be in my budget yeah you're right you hit
all the highlights we can't continue to starve our system whether it's higher education or UW
system or the technical college system or our K through 12 system that's part of economic
development so yes we will I made a commitment to to put 800 million dollars in the budget and
it will be there
or do I have a torch
of course I'll look I'll think about all those things but it ain't going to be right today
yeah because I see it I see it already I we uh I anticipate that well well things be
perfect and and everybody's going to get together and Robin Voss and others aren't going to be
complaining about me of course that's all going to happen but I've already seen with
and I've talked to every democratic legislator and I'll be in you know any Republicans I want to
meet with me that will have make that happen but I've already seen a opportunity for some of the
new people on the democratic side reaching out and talking to individuals on the Republican side
about issues that just didn't happen in the past so do I think that there's opportunity
there's certainly opportunities for us to get along better and to accomplish things for the
people of Wisconsin and that's what fair maps are all about as you know there were
when I ran for this office I said we have to have fair maps not gerrymandered democrat maps and
that's exactly what we have and the reason I believe believe so strongly about that is that
the will of the people is the law of the land and we're a purple state and the maps reflect that
and I think as a result of that we will see more collaboration and cooperation so I'm looking
forward to that.
It's unlikely but you never know we'll take a look at it.
I'm sorry.
I think we've done that every time so do it again.
I hate to even talk about things that aren't my purview anymore in the department of public
instruction but I just think there should have been some information and dialogue happening with
all sorts of people before that decision or me because of that change as you just said it's
hard to compare year to year if one year you're doing something completely different and so do I
think it could have been handled better? Yes absolutely you have to have to have in a decision
like this I'm not even sure how many school people knew about it and so I think in retrospect if I
would be have criticism is about the process.
Oh yes.
Was it a mistake? Not telling me at the last minute that even would have been a problem.
I'm just saying the mistake was that there wasn't enough conversation with the stakeholders
with parents ahead of time.
I'm not taking any position on that it's there's at least three people two people running and I
think that's likely a third. Do you think that bill is going to be a way to get that money released
from joint finance or do you think that there's going to be room for negotiation?
I'll do anything to get it done. I mean the idea that we pass we the legislature passes the law
I signed something into law and I mean this isn't the only time this has happened and whatever I
signed into law doesn't really happen because joint finance decides to hang on to that money.
That's wrong that's why we're in court but whatever we can do to get it out if that means
tying it to something else and we move on but it's just wrong-headed to think that that is
appropriate and legal. I just think it's not that's why we're in court but if there's something
we can do in the meantime let's have it.
What we did was the right thing we the people representatives of the Eau Claire area people in
the health care world in Eau Claire asked us to do this and that we did it we did you know the
what came out of the came out of the last budget or the last budget on this was not what the
people in Eau Claire at least the ones that talked to us and then included health care folks
they wanted a broader use of that money so no I mean we're well past the ideas that somehow
I'm going to undo that veto. We need to get that money out joint finance committee does not have
the legal authority to to do what they did and so we're looking forward to a resolution in court.
Do you have plans to do more communication with leaders of the legislature and them
credit legislators? Do you have plans to start that up? Well we'll work with that we'll work with
them anytime that they're available and you know we worked a lot on the budget last time especially
when we talked about shared revenue and we hope to be able to do that in the future.
Thanks so much. Thanks everybody. Have a good day. Have a good year. Thanks.
Any other questions that I can answer for folks just for background I know I distributed that
press really started and had it done for you.