It's a brand new year, folks.
And I hope all of you had a great holiday season.
You know, I know everyone here has a lot of questions about what's next for me and Kathy
and everybody else.
But here's the good news.
I've got plenty of time to figure it out.
One thing is for sure is that just like the first turn, this one has 1,460 days.
So the issue here is I look forward to answering your questions about life after my retirement
when it gets closer to later this year.
In the meantime, there's lots I'd like to talk about today and accomplish over the next
11 months of this legislative session.
Today I'll lay out my agenda for 2026 and work to get done for the people of Wisconsin
this year.
So let's get started.
We begin 2026 after a year of historic and bipartisan wins for the people of our state
with readily available resources to help us continue moving Wisconsin forward.
Wisconsin closed the last fiscal year with nearly $4 billion in our state's checking
account and $2 billion in our rainy day fund.
I also understand from the Department of Revenue that new projections will soon be released
showing state revenue could be as much as $1 billion above previous estimates.
So let's build upon last year's important work and successes.
Well, every year is a year of the kid for me.
2025 was the official year of the kid.
The very first thing we did in the year of the kid was launch our new Wisconsin office for
violence protection to keep our kids families and communities safe.
This office is now accepting applications for $10 million that I directed which will soon
be going out the door into the end of folks to help stop violence in our communities.
Together, we also delivered on a bipartisan pro-kid budget that invested in our kids at
every age $1.4 billion in spendable revenue for our schools and the largest investment
in our UW system in 20 years.
In the budget, we continued our work to cut taxes on working families, fix that iron
roads, ensure access to healthcare in the rural communities, ensure folks have clean and
safe drinking water, straight from the tap, support our farmers and our state's most
critical industries, and lots more.
Folks, the year of the kid was all about supporting Wisconsin kids and working families who raised
them.
And one of the biggest wins for Wisconsin in 2025 was the work that we did together with
childcare.
Any budget that didn't include direct payments to childcare providers was a non-starter
for me.
It was a top priority for me to get that done in negotiation with Republican leaders.
So our pro-kid budget secured $360 million to support childcare industry and help lower
costs for families.
A third of that investment provided direct payments to providers helping care for nearly
170,000 kids.
We also created our state's first ever state-funded childcare program called Get Kids Ready, which
we're launching today to provide direct payments to providers to get four-year-olds ready for
school.
This was a critical part of our childcare accomplishments in the budget.
Providers can begin applying today to get enrolled for the 26-27 school year at no cost to families.
Our budget was a win for Wisconsin kids, families, communities, and our state's future, but there's
no denying the final budget looked a bit different than the product proposed.
Tomorrow in a letter to members of the legislature all lay out by 2026 agenda and highlight key
priorities and like us to accomplish before the end of the legislative session later this
year.
And there are areas where we can find common ground for bipartisan support.
A top priority for us in 2026 must be addressing rising costs, whether it's prescriptions for
insulin, other daily out-of-pocket costs, or the skyrocketing price of healthcare coverage.
Things are simply not affordable and paychecks aren't going as far as they used to.
It's January in Wisconsin, so let's start with property taxes.
Look, I get it.
Republicans want to blame my 400-year veto on property taxes going up.
The problem with that is Wisconsinites are Wisconsinites.
We're going to referendum before increasing the numbers of years long before I became governor.
The question would be why?
Because of a decade of Republicans consistently failing to meaningful invest in our kids in
K-12 schools, that has consequences for us, including forcing Wisconsinites to raise their
own property taxes so their local school can keep the doors open.
I fought hard to start reversing this trend and remain historic events investments believe
me.
But it still has been billions less than what schools needed and what I requested.
And now schools are going to referendum with even more record numbers.
It's why I'm asking the legislature to approve $1.3 billion in property tax relief to prevent
property tax increases for average Wisconsin homeowners and help lower property taxes for
working families, veterans, and seniors across our state.
Under this proposal, we can make sure the average homeowner will not see the property tax
increase period.
Republican leaders declined to make property tax relief part of our negotiations in the
last budget, insisting on focusing on income tax cuts and income tax cuts instead.
So I urge the legislature to right this wrong from the recent state budget and pass my plan
for over $1 billion in property tax relief to working families, seniors, veterans, and
any others across our state.
I also want the legislature to address the fact that despite having bipartisan agreement
and commitment to increase special education reimbursement rates of 42% available state
funding will not cover that percentage for our kids and our schools.
This has to be fixed before the legislature goes home this year.
I'm calling on the legislature to invest in necessary funding to ensure that our agreed-upon
percentages for special education funding of 42% in this year and 45% in 26-27 are met
or better yet to make the appropriation some sufficient as I had repeatedly proposed.
There's more we can do and should do to give Wisconsinites a little breathing room in
their household budgets by helping lower everyday out-of-pocket costs.
The legislature should reconsider adopting my proposal to exempt basic family needs like
diapers, incontinence products, over-the-counter medication, toothpaste, response, and so on
from sales tax.
We also know that because Republicans in Congress have failed to extend tax credits
under the Affordable Care Act and many Wisconsinites this year will see the cost of healthcare
coverage go up by thousands of dollars.
Wisconsin can't afford to pick up the whole tab to fix this issue, but we should still
be doing everything we can to help make sure Wisconsinites can get the healthcare they need.
I'm also asking the legislature to approve a plan to lower costs for prescriptions and
medications and crack down on price gouging and health insurers.
My less-for-Rx plan in the last budget and hopefully this budget will lower costs for life-saving
prescription drugs in insulin.
We capped insulin, copays at $35 and eliminate the sales tax on over-the-counter medications
to save Wisconsinites $70 million over the next two years alone.
I know there's bipartisan support for tackling prescription drug prices and price gouging.
I'll work with any legislature who wants to get this done.
A super-majority of the legislature and I also agree that new moms should get Medicaid
coverage for 12 months instead of just a lousy 60 days.
I'm hoping 2026 will be the year the speaker finally decides to let that bill make it to
my desk.
I also hear from folks who feel like they're not getting a fair shake from their health
care coverage.
Claims are denied all often too often.
It's often hard to get a straight explanation why people have to wait or drive for you
or hours and days to get the care that they need.
Medical costs and bills, especially when they aren't covered by insurance, are straining
household budgets, especially seniors.
I'm asking the legislature to consider passing common sense ideas like auditing insurance
companies for denying claims at high rates.
Holding insurers accountable for Wisconsinites get health insurance.
Coverage that pay for, cracking down on prior authorizations that require doctors to get
permission before they prescribe the care that they know you need.
I also think we should create new standards to expand the health care services and procedures
that insurance companies are required to cover.
2026.
Let's make sure Wisconsinites' insurance will cover more health care and services and
procedures with no delays, no hassles, and no questions asked.
I'm also optimistic that this year we'll be able to address several critical priorities
that went unaddressed in the final 2527 state budget that the legislature ultimately sent
to my desk.
I'm asking the legislature to approve the necessary funding to reopen to homeless veterans facilities
in the main bay in Chippewa Falls, which was removed from the by-end of the budget.
Additionally, we all know chaos and recklessness in Washington are hitting Wisconsin farmers
and producers hard.
That's why I'm asking Republicans to provide $1 million each year in additional one-time
funding for the Wisconsin initiative for agricultural exports.
We must do more at the state level to help increase exports for our dairy meat and crops
and help farmers and producers expand into new markets.
I also want the Republicans to approve funding.
I requested to help address domestic and intimate partner violence in the state and support
crime victims and survivors.
Last year, 99 domestic violence victims were murdered in Wisconsin.
That is outrageous.
I asked the legislature last year to approve $66 million to help fill the Volca federal
funding gap, but it was removed from the Republican lawmakers doing the process.
I am urging the legislature to make it a priority to get this done in 2026 so we can ensure
victims and survivors receive the support they need and deserve.
My administration has also spent the last several months in conversation with Republican
lawmakers to reach a compromise that will ensure the $125 million we approved more than two
years ago now to fight PFAS.
We'll actually finally be released and get out the door to folks across our state.
I'm optimistic that we may soon have a proposal that members of the legislature on both sides
of the aisle can support.
Let's get this done so that we can make this another bipartisan win for the people of Wisconsin.
And if we can, I'm confident we can do the same thing to renew the Knowles Nelson stewardship
program before it expires at the end of this fiscal year.
I'm also asking the legislature to take up proposals, many of which already are moving
through the legislative process, including efforts to cut red tape to help speed up affordable
housing projects, restore resources to expedite, license and credential processing, and eliminate
restrictions to enable retired and experienced workers to rejoin our state's workforce.
It's also critically important for the legislature to provide and approve the resources my administration
needs to keep food share payments, the errors lower, and save Wisconsin taxpayers from hundreds
of millions in future costs among other key priorities.
Failing to do so will cost Wisconsin taxpayers over $200 million every year on top of the
more than $284 million it will cost in future budgets.
Sooner, the legislature invests in food share quality control efforts.
But more time, DHS has to keep down our food share error rate and save Wisconsin taxpayers
millions of dollars.
Finally, perhaps one of the areas that was most disappointing in the budget that was sent back
to my desk was the absence of a comprehensive plan to close Green Bay correctional institution.
Today, after today, it's a full year, I believe, after I first introduced my plan to reform our
state's correctional institutions, my plan remains the safest, quickest and cheapest option.
It also remains the only comprehensive plan in existence.
Republican lawmakers still have not offered an alternative plan of their own, except closing GBCI to be
closed by 2029, which is what my plan proposed.
But without any plan actually achieving that important goal.
In October, the state building commission released the $18 million I approved in the budget to enable
DOC to continue its work towards implementing a comprehensive plan for corrections reform.
So here's a simple reality.
If there's no additional action taken yet this session, and once that $15 million in planning dollars is exhausted,
work on designing and building DOC facility projects will stop.
The cost of these projects will only go up, taxpayers are only paying more, and it will only further
delete facility building projects and ultimately the closing of GBCI.
We have to get this across the finish line.
I encourage the legislature to continue to work with my administration to build consensus on
enumerating all the necessary building projects, making statutory changes in policy reforms
to fully realize a facility realignment in the DOC.
So, folks, we have proven that despite these divisive times, we still believe in working together.
Get the good things done for the people that we serve.
I'm hopeful that the legislature is ready to get back to work, continue working together,
spend the next 11 months of the legislation session,
building upon a bipartisan success as we had last year.
We can continue doing the right thing for the people of our state,
and I'm looking forward to getting good things done for Wisconsin this year.
Now with that, I'd be glad to answer your questions.
Governor, were you having additional details on the property tax relief that you're talking about?
What would that look like and how does that play into this topic of reference
as a school student?
Yeah, and there's probably various ways of making it done.
And I'm not necessarily saying it has to be done this way or that way.
All I know is that if we don't do something, we will be in a world of hurt
and the property taxes will continue to grow.
So whether we use it in a way that we have in the past or somebody has a really good idea,
we have the resources available.
We have to make sure that they're used in a proper way.
So I'm hoping for some ways, some different ways of doing things if that's possible.
Senator?
Yes, go ahead.
So AI continues to be an issue that's in front of the legislature.
It's already fine, but federal government is in front of the business.
How can Wisconsin and your administration start using AI and are the agencies prepared for it?
Do they have the infrastructure today or the technology to use it?
Yeah, they already are using it to some extent.
We have more folks that are pretty savvy in this world that are doing probably more than I'm personally doing.
But I agree.
It is a thing.
It's going to be very important.
What we're trying to do is make sure that our higher education institutions
in particular, in particular, UW, Madison, but other campuses too, are on top of things
and making sure that we are also on top of things.
I believe that the staff that I have presently are using it, using it wildly, not wildly,
widely, and we're in a pretty good shape.
But it is important.
We can talk about it in terms of the issues around making sure that it's being used in a good way
to make sure that we're having, continue having a good economy in the state of Wisconsin.
We need to stay on top of it.
We have to make sure that we're not having a blind eye to it.
I think we're in a good shape.
I'm really excited that the University of Wisconsin system is taking us on, as well as the technical college.
Yes?
The Governor, so you said we've got potentially one billion more in revenue growth.
I know it's real quick.
We were projected to have $655 million for a structural balance.
So that's talking to $1.7 billion total.
You want $1.3 billion to go to proper tax relief, but you're not going to get a how it would be spent.
Are you going to buy them a levy?
What's the basic approach?
Yeah.
Buying down a levy.
Governor, would that $1.3 billion be needed if you wanted to have the 400-year veto?
Would this property tax proposal, would you need this if you wanted to have the 400-year veto?
I never believed that before that 400-year veto, we were going to referendum all the time.
They can use that as an excuse if they want to.
Let's just get this time.
I don't believe that it has anything to do with it.
Yes?
Talk about affordability issues.
Speaker Boss, voting the idea of no tax on tips or overtime pay.
Is that something you could buy into?
Possibly, but let's look at that in a more universal way.
I'm willing to take a look at that, but we're also making sure that it's not just that.
Yes?
What are the latest discussions with the Republican leaders on keeping the SNAP error rate down?
Yeah, I know we're involved with conversations about it.
We just need to come to some conclusions so that we can keep that error rate down so that we're not going forward
and we're going to be having significant amount of money set aside for that.
I think we're in a good position as far as conversations.
We just need to get a final bill.
Yes?
Governor, we've seen conversations with community mobile protests about data centers coming into the communities.
We've seen proposals from both sides of the aisle on this.
What do you think the states roll out to be and regulate that activity?
Yeah, it's obviously a very important topic.
I personally believe that we need to make sure that we're creating jobs for the future in the state of Wisconsin.
That's all important, but we have to balance that with my belief that we have to keep climate change in CHAC,
and that includes environmental issues.
I think that can happen.
We got two sites arguing it at the same time, but I think if we keep open minds,
we can keep the environmental piece in a good place.
That's really important for me, but easily and equally important is the fact that we have to have jobs for the future.
I know that's an issue all across the state of Wisconsin, and the good news is that people will continue talking about it,
and I think we'll get it in a good place.
Yes?
You're not on the ballot, but obviously the big midterm election.
What is your advice to fellow Democrats about what they have been talking about and what issues should they be running on?
Yeah, it's hard for me to provide advice for some of my colleagues.
They're doing what they feel is important, but it is around affordability.
It is wrong having a strong economy.
I think it's absolutely critical that we fund the schools appropriately.
You know what? I think it will help no matter who's running for election.
Republicans and Democrats actually spending some time not getting out of town as early as possible.
Let's do some things for the people of Wisconsin.
I just think it's bad politics to say, well, we're done in February.
We're done in March, and we'll see you at the polls.
That doesn't work. I don't think that's a good message.
We have the opportunity to do some good things.
All the things I've talked about today, let's put them in the place.
Let's think about it. Let's have some conversation around it.
Let's have a bipartisan solution.
I can tell you the last budget, was it my budget?
Hell no, it wasn't even close to my budget, but it was a bipartisan budget.
There were a lot of things in there that we felt are really important,
and I think the people of Wisconsin appreciated that.
I also believe that maybe all these things can't be done before the end of February or March.
Having people running for office and actually doing work,
I think that can happen simultaneously.
We need to get work done to the people of Wisconsin.
Do you plan on issuing any prison commutations in your final year of office?
We're looking at that.
The lieutenant governor says proposing attempting to ban federal immigration arrests in public places,
like courthouses, schools.
I'm curious first, is that even possible from a state or your level?
Is that something you're considering?
Obviously, what you saw and are seeing across our country is very difficult to watch.
Obviously, the president has different ways of approaching this,
but I'm open to do whatever, but the bottom line is we have to trust the people of our states.
I'll use Minnesota as an example.
Should the people in Minnesota or Minneapolis be part of the investigation,
hell yes.
It's their thing.
It's their person that was shot to death.
I just think the idea that the federal government is no different than anything else.
When the federal government comes in and talks about things in terms of you're going to do this or act
at the state level, I don't get every Republican or Democrat.
You're going to fight against that because you want to be part of that conversation.
There's none of that going on.
I think that's a huge mistake on the president's on the president, by the president.
At the end of the day, I'm hopeful that we're in a good place.
I said this publicly so many times, I could probably say it in my sleep.
Our state will be destroyed economically if suddenly we decide anybody undocumented is going home
or has to leave Wisconsin.
It has to leave the Wisconsin home.
You think about dairy farmers.
You think about anything agriculture in the state of Wisconsin.
It is absolutely the majority of the work is done by people that are undocumented.
Think about what our state will look like.
Whatever good things are happening right now in this state will automatically
appear if they start coming into Wisconsin and taking on undocumented folks.
The folks that are doing work in our agriculture industry are our colleagues, our friends.
They go to our schools.
I've been in schools where 90% of the kids have Spanish-speaking backgrounds or more.
The downtown and some small towns absolutely reflect that.
That's Wisconsin.
That is not just something we come in and decide, well, these people have to go home because why?
I'm very concerned about that.
We keep an eye on it.
We're following it across the state of Wisconsin.
Our agricultural industry will come to an end if what's promised by the president happens.
Governor, the lieutenant governor is proposing to ban civil immigration enforcement actions
in places like courthouses, hospitals, schools, diggers.
Can the state ban that?
We can take a look at that.
I think banning things will absolutely ramp up the actions of our folks in Washington, D.C.
They don't tend to approach those things appropriately.
We're very, very vigilant.
I'm not sure that we have the ability to do what the lieutenant governor is doing or want to do.
We'll see.
Governor, is I welcome in Wisconsin?
I think we could handle it ourselves, frankly.
I don't see a need for the federal government to be coming into our state and making decisions that we can make at the state level.
Governor, the state of the tribes usually takes place in February.
Are there any parts of your 2026 agenda that are specific asks by the tribes or specific for the tribes?
We will continue to discuss that with them.
There's been some changes in leadership on both sides.
We're looking forward to that if there's some things that we can accomplish.
Governor, move back to property taxes.
What would you tell the property owners who say essentially what's happened is you allow school districts to raise their property taxes?
Now you're proposing to have the state come back to that for that money.
Why not just allow those requirements to continue and let individual communities decide for themselves whether they want high property taxes?
Well, I think it's important to recognize that the state has a huge investment in our public schools.
And if we can minimize what happens at the property tax level, we should do everything we can to take care of that.
Yes?
One thing I did not hear you say, Governor, was any mention of PFAS?
How disappointed I would have been in that talk.
I did talk about it.
I'm hopeful that we're going to be in a good place.
There's been discussions with our staff, and I believe we'll be talking about it again this week.
I'm going to ask my question.
How realistic is it to expect that anything to summon people in the next two months?
I think it's real strong.
Why?
Because we've had lots of conversations with Republicans and Democrats in the legislature,
and I think we're close to solving that issue and giving the money out the door.
Governor, you mentioned the Minnesota.
What's going on there with the allegations for all the Trump administration?
Do you have any concerns about Wisconsin programs?
Have you looked at any fraud out of use?
Or is it double check to make sure we're okay?
And secondly, why not hit it with snap rolls to double check?
Why not give them that information to make sure they're fraud going on?
We are in a good place, as you may remember.
2019, something like that.
Our things exploded here on that issue, and we made significant changes as it relates to child care and making that in a better place.
And so we are, as compared to what happened in Minnesota, the money actually goes directly to the parents in this state.
It goes directly and it comes into their card.
It can only be used for child care, and our error rates are real low.
And so, and we have changed our, and it came back from 2019.
We had a very similar thing around child care at that point in time, and we're in a much better place, and our error rates are significantly lower.
Do you have more specifics on how you would lower prescription drugs, for instance?
Yeah, it's a matter of working with the health insurers to make that happen.
On the standing, what part of the paid coverage of speakers is that?
Do you have conversations with them, and so what does that look like?
I'm sorry.
On the postpartum Medicaid coverage, the speakers are sort of, you know, opposed to that.
No, we haven't talked about that.
I mean, everybody but him wants, wants to take care of it.
So I'm hopeful that he'll say, okay, I give up.
We'll see.
Yes?
We've seen the Republican start cracking down on the building committee hearings over the last week in the wake of the week.
We're side shut down.
Would you support us or either give our side back and running?
Or even ways to just increase transparency or the capital in the wake of the public affairs network?
Yeah.
We're open to options there, and hopefully we can get that result.
Good.
On that governor, would you support just giving Wisconsin I the money that's been allocated without matching funds?
Yeah.
No.
I think there has to be some skin in the game.
So earlier this month, the law people formed a law committee judge had to do, and submitted you for a resignation letter.
When you follow that trial, do you think judges should do anything wrong?
Now she handled that and sent her work?
Well, apparently the folks that made that decision felt that she did something wrong.
It's hard to say.
I mean, I wasn't there.
I haven't made that effort to, because I went to court right away, and I didn't want to obviously play a role in it.
And influencing what was going on.
But at least the people on the jury felt that she did something wrong.
But I'm not in a position to say whether I agree with that or not.
But some of the narrative coming out of that was that law enforcement felt that court houses were a safe place to enforce some ice immigration and finding people who are not here in the country.
Do you have a concern that court houses would become a...
Yes, of course.
I have concerns about the whole system, frankly.
So yes, I have concerns about, you know, court houses becoming a safe place for ice to come in and take people in.
What would that concern be?
A concern would be it would cause just, I think, chaos in a place that needs no more chaos than it already exists.
Yes.
Are you mentioning Green Bay Correctional Institute as an unfinished area of business or a budget?
Is there going to be any movement on corrections?
What can we expect to see?
Yeah, I can.
I'm hopeful that we can get that resolved.
I know there's been discussions right along.
I have a good conversation at the building commission that, you know, puts us in a position to do some studying and get some information that we need going forward.
But so yes, there have been discussions. Hopefully we can get this resolved.
We have to.
I don't know what we will do as a state if we don't.
And I think everybody, Republicans and Democrats know that.
Yes, ma'am.
You mentioned the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program.
You know, sort of the funding for that has been stalled.
But there is a pair of bills that would essentially create a new grant program for non-profit surveys, homeless veterans.
If that were, that passed the assembly last year, that made it to your desk.
Would you sign that or just put it back?
I haven't seen it, but whatever we can do to resolve it, that issue should have been resolved during the budget.
So whether that, any of these things I talked about today, if something happens individually, great, if not, then we'll, you know, fight over it.
But yes, we have to get, we have to get that done.
So if they come up with a plan that I feel confident is going to work, and I, you know, I understand that there, that is happening.
I'd be glad to sign it.
What, I'm sorry.
Governor, what is your ideal situation for how many of those veterans sounds?
What would your ideal situation be to make sure that those veterans sounds are funded?
Yeah.
What we had in our last budget?
Yes, sir.
Governor, this will be your last year in office.
I don't know what to think about legacy, but is there something that you want to be, to have done this year, that solidifying the legacy of the things that you want.
Great question.
Legacy has, like this much importance to me, frankly, where I, we've retired for seven years, and we're going to work hard.
If I have anything to talk about today, it's, we have, we have a year left, and it, you know, it's not all about me.
All the things that need, need to be addressed, many of them can be.
And so I, I feel very strongly that what, what the legacy is, is just doing the right thing for people in Wisconsin.
It's quite simple.
You know, do I, my background is obviously public schools.
I love to have magic wand and make that happen.
But there are many other things that are critically important.
And so I don't want to say this is my legacy because I'm not in the legacy.
But what I am in, in the hall for is making sure we leave Wisconsin in a better place than what we had when I took office.
Simple as that.
Yes.
Can I have two more questions, guys?
Do you have thoughts about who in the Democratic primary could best build on the words that you've done?
No.
Not, not getting involved with that.
Do you have an overall price tag for your common court today?
We have been a 1.3 billion for schools, but what's the total price tag?
Yeah.
It's, I don't have a total.
I'm laying out a whole bunch of things, obviously.
Let's just get as many of those things done as possible.
And so whether it's a, whether it's a $3 billion or a $1 billion, let's work together like we did last time and get something done.
And that also means that it may cause people to work more than the end of February and March, April.
I mean, those are all months.
And I also know that you can work in the legislative work on these things and run for office at the same time.
It can happen.
So let's do it.
Thanks.
Can you one more quick follow up to JR's question?
Just up on the fraud.
You haven't ordered anything new for DHS to look into childcare based on what we've seen in Minnesota.
Yeah, we were making sure that we're doing everything we can.
In the childcare world, we are in a good place.
And because of what happened back in 2019 when the system went to hell.
The legislature and the governor at that time took the appropriate steps.
And we have really, and you can talk to the people in the childcare world.
There's lots of people that come, state people that are coming to their offices and their schools on a regular basis.
And so there's lots of auditing going on.
We're providing, obviously, more money.
Great share of the money goes directly to parents in the way of cards.
So they can't be used for any other purpose and paying their bill with the provider.
So I think we're in a good place.
I think we're in a real good place there.
Can you guys?
Thanks everybody.
Enjoy.
Thank you.