The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> Welcome to Wisconsin Public Media's coverage of Governor
Tony Evers eighth 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 Shawn 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
LeMahieu, 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 got to 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,
seem eager to 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 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 those kind. >> 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. Thank you. Thank you. Hello there. Wisconsin. Last
time around, folks, honorable Supreme Court justices, tribal
nation leaders, constitutional officers, adjutant General
Straube, 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 going to 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, it's true. A lot 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. Frances, you never waved.
Kathleen. Kathleen. Frances, 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 to 8 p.m. so go to my vote. Gov.
Find your, find your place of and 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. Sorry. 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 running that wants
advice from someone who won five statewide elections.
Scoreboard right here, right here. Folks, I know many of you
are up for the election, but 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 ten 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. But here's the truth. Here's
the truth. The truth is, I've signed over 800 bills as
governor, and more than 97% of those bills signed passed with
bipartisan support. How about that? And here are just a few.
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 can access worker's
compensation for post-traumatic stress. We created a holiday
honoring Hmong Lao veterans and our kids now learn about Hmong
and 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 tax credits to help lower the cost
of child care for working families. We made it so that
the state park passes can be used for 12 full months,
regardless of when they're purchased. We provided Medicaid
coverage for telehealth services so that folks can
access health care 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 work together
to keep major League Baseball in Milwaukee until 2050. So
future generations of Wisconsin kids will grow up rooting for
the Brewers. 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's debt at the. After.
Excuse me. Excuse me. Thank you. 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. How about that? That's a good thing. 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. And I'm
not only I'm 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. How about that?
I'm also grateful to the legislature that they supported
a key part of my affordability plan last year to help lower
monthly energy 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%
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 this session, including reaching bipartisan
agreement on a plan to get meaningful resources to our K
through 12 schools and provide property tax relief at the same
time. And it must and it must balance these important
obligations a heck of a lot better than 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, excuse
me in child care 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 investments. I directed Wisconsin's seen
record high employment and record low unemployment, and
we've had the highest ever enrollment in our in our
registered in apprenticeship programs ever in state's
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 workforce housing
in Wisconsin history, and my administration has supported
over 30,000 new housing units across the state. Much like how
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 declare 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, seven years, I created the Blue
Ribbon Commission on Rural Prosperity and the Office of
Rural Prosperity, and we worked together to create the
Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports to
increase dairy, meat, crop and other products exports by 25%.
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
generation of state government asking local partners to do
more with less. We also worked 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. >> Good. 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 for to improve
our infrastructure on other things, leaving our roads and
bridges in disrepair. Disrepair. I made a promise to
Wisconsinite that I'd work to fix the darn roads. Even 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 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
are farmers, agricultural industries and rural
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 9600 miles of roads and over 2400
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, a big driver of our tourism
industry 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 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. >> Things are good.
>> Our bipartisan our bipartisan budget last year
also improved my request to create new film office at the
Department of Tourism and a new film tax credit program. I'm
excited to announce we're launching the new program this
week, which will help bolster our travel and tourism
economies and bring exciting creative endeavors right to
Wisconsin's doorstep. >> I'll watch that.
>> 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 and Baraboo to
getting the scoop from students on Smokers 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 and legislature 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
the year of the kid for me, I declare 2025 the official year
of the kid and introduced the most pro kid budget in state
history. And then we went to work.
>> When it. >> 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 child care so more kids and families could access early
childhood education, getting direct support to child care
providers in our state budget was a bright line issue for me,
and negotiation with Republican leaders. I fought hard to make
sure our pro kid budget included $360 million 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 170,000 kids.
>> Yes. >> 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 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 spent and get kids
ready programing, making that part of the day free. For
families. That's a big deal for Wisconsin kids in our future.
And I'm excited to announce tonight that nearly 1400
providers have signaled that they're ready to be part of
this program, an effort that's been 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, 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 or facing
mental health challenges isn't going to be able to focus on
their studies or their 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. Thank you. 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 nonstarter 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 great information here, and that's exactly what
I'm going to do. So I want to talk about how our bipartisan
budget delivers for our K through 12 kids and schools.
And I also want to 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 in high numbers
and 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 course,
Republicans running under fair maps need someone else to blame
for for failing to fund our schools at the levels 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 partners 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 my. >> My four 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 through 12 schools that I
requested over the last four state budgets. If lawmakers
want to have an honest conversation about property
taxes, start their.
Folks a decade plus. 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 through 12 kids and schools. In my budgets,
I fought hard for nearly 1.4 billion in revenue. 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 aide at 42
and 45% over two years. >> But.
>> And there's a big but 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 state's only reimbursing at a rate of about 35%. Instead,
well short of the budget we negotiated, we have a
constitutional obligation. We have a 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. >> And they can'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. >> Thank you.
>> 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 permanent. We could do. 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. And 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. >> Thank you.
>> 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 back. >> 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% of our staff are 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 community 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 is 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 by 20 2129. Excuse me? Get kids out
of Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake and turn Waupan 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. Neither acted either enacting my plan or proposed 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 Lincoln
Hills and revamp Waupan. We also need to make sure the plan
includes evidence based efforts to stabilize our skyrocketing
prison, 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, cheapest option
available. I don't care who gets the credit. Doesn't make
any difference. I'm going to 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 an F
in judicial diversity due to a lack of women and people of
color on our bench. So it was 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 exercised 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 2000 pardons as governor, and
we're not done yet. We also have 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 will 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 US 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. For
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 in I'm announcing
tonight, we're ensuring the state will continue doing so
long after I'm governor. Tonight, I'm announcing that
the state is going to purchase about 225,000 megawatt hours 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 the UW Madison's
Department of Nuclear Energy, Engineering and Engineering
Physics to study nuclear energy as 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, 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 fun. That's going to be a
blast, folks. A key part of our work to build more sustainable
future is building a 21st century workforce to meet 21st
century needs. 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 a workforce training programs focused on developing
our advanced manufacturing and AI workforce in Wisconsin.
Folks, AI is here to stay, so making sure Wisconsin is
prepared to create jobs for the future and meet the rapidly
evolving needs. 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 stop 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. Simple as that. 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 reauthorize the 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 to.
>> Thank you. >> I also repeatedly asked the
legislature to do more to improve water quality and get
contaminants out of lake lead and PFAS out of our water. The
Knights should be able to trust trust the water coming out of
their tap, so we must find common ground on bipartisan,
bipartisan legislation to help Wisconsinites get contaminants
like PFAS out of their 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. I 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 and 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 worried about the people who
suddenly found themselves without jobs due to no fault of
their own. And I'm worried 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 any place 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 about what all this means for
America's Dairyland, which has depended 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, Kohl's gas.
More Americans last year footed the bill for 96% of the cost
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
President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill. If Republican
lawmakers don't approve resources, the state needs to
keep food share payments ER's low. Wisconsin taxpayers could
have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalty
fees to the Trump administration every year under
the B-b-b. And let me be clear, on top of the more than $284
million we've already estimating Wisconsin taxpayers
will have to pay in future budgets, the sooner the
legislature invests in foodshare quality control
efforts, the more time the state has to keep Foodshare
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 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, excuse me,
provide the funding that is needed, Republicans will be
able to blame the penalty. Fees at taxpayers will be 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 for
millions of Americans, many are going to be priced out. I
talked to Kim, a small business owner in green Bay whose health
care coverage went up by 100% this year. Kim says she had
enough money to pay for one month of health care coverage,
and then she's going to go without. Wisconsinites across
our state will be forced to do the same. Congress must fix the
health care 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 health care affordable and accessible would be a great
place to start. It could also 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 Partizan 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, DC, here in Wisconsin, we've worked. We've
worked to lead by example. And a big part of that is the fact
that today, lawmakers are elected under fair maps. I
signed into law. But here's the problem Wisconsin new maps are
redrawn every ten years. While we have fair maps today, we
still don't have a nonpartisan redistricting process in place.
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.
Well, 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.
>> No. >> 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 politics
should stay out of the redistricting from start to
finish. 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 Partizan 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, folks.
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. By Kathy. And I did today you cast your ballot
and I hope you did today. Thank the folks who's making it
happen. >> These folks are our 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
have often Eau Claire 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 of the neighbor because we could. 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. 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
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, our 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 going to 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 the right
thing to do because it's who we are as Wisconsinites.
>> 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, eighth state of the state
address before a joint session of the Wisconsin Assembly and
Senate. >> Senate Majority Leader Devin
LeMahieu, 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 listen 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 and
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 to reach an agreement on something
so big. But, 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 as his legacy. He'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 with 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 Republicans. Have pointed to
400 year veto. And in that same 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 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 LeMahieu leads the Republican
controlled state Senate. He's held this position in
leadership since 2021. Here is Senator LeMahieu 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 of our state is 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. The. If the Democrats were in charge in
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 Reins
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 health care,
education and transportation. Earlier this session, the
Senate passed two important bills that will increase access
to affordable health care. The first proposal extends Medicaid
eligibility for postpartum mothers from 600 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 health care system, including supporting support
for hospitals, long term care and mental health facilities,
those those investments won't solve every challenge facing
our health care system, but they'll make a meaningful
impact across our state. For schools, the bipartisan
biennial budget provided 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 invested 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 Vos 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 LeMahieu with the Republican response.
>> If you'd like to watch tonight's speech from Governor
Tony Evers or Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu again, we
will have it posted later tonight on our website at PBS
Wisconsinite. We will have continuing coverage and
reaction to the state of the state address this Friday at
730 on here and now. >> Wisconsin Public Radio will
also continue to follow developments from the State
Capitol, both on air and online at. We want to thank you for
joining us this evening live from the state Capitol in
Madison. I'm Shawn 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.