The state must fulfill its obligation to fund our communities, just like we must fully fund our public schools and invest in clean water—our state, our economy, and our workforce depend on these investments.
At the same time, just because we’re in the greatest fiscal position in state history doesn’t mean we can afford to be careless. Wisconsinites have worked too hard and have gone through too much for us to return to austerity. Now is the time to stay prudent, to save smart, and to be bold with reasonable investments to keep building a lasting legacy of prosperity.
So, cutting taxes is part of our agenda, just as it has been for the past four years. We’ve kept more money in Wisconsinites’ pockets and delivered the largest tax cut in state history—and we can do more. But I also want to be clear tonight: splurging $3.5 billion to hand out big breaks to the wealthiest 20 percent of earners isn’t responsible, folks; it’s reckless.
When we deliver tax relief—and we will deliver tax relief—we’re going to do it responsibly by ensuring we can keep taxes low now and into the future, and we’ll do it without driving our state into debt or causing devastating cuts to priorities like public schools and public safety.
Spending billions on a flat tax isn’t a workforce plan or an economic development plan. We need to bolster the middle class; we need to maintain our economy’s momentum; and we need to reduce barriers to work and recruit and retain talent to address our state’s workforce challenges.
I have a plan to responsibly address all three priorities, and we’ll begin here tonight.
A key priority in our strategy for investing federal pandemic aid was supporting Wisconsin’s small businesses, our workforce, and long-term economic development. And we were successful. A new 2023 report shows that, as a share of aid we received under the American Rescue Plan Act, Wisconsin ranks number one in the country for both aid we directed to support businesses and aid we directed toward economic development.
We invested more than $800 million to provide grants to tens of thousands of businesses to respond to and get through the pandemic—to make health and safety improvements, purchase inventory, afford payroll and rent, and keep the lights on.
Through our successful Main Street Bounceback grant program, I’m proud to announce tonight that we’ve helped more than 8,500 Wisconsin small businesses expand and move into vacant storefronts in communities across all 72 counties. If you travel around the state like I do, you can literally see the transformative impacts these investments have had in corridors and communities across Wisconsin.
Take Fond du Lac, for example, right by where Kathy and I grew up in Plymouth. Some things haven’t changed much over the years—like Edith’s right downtown, where Kathy bought her wedding dress 50 years ago. But other things have changed—even just in the last year alone.
Monica, who owns a jewelry store in Fond du Lac, was one of the 8,500 small businesses that received one of our Main Street Bounceback grants. Monica took a chance, opening her store on a street in Fondy that, at the time, was surrounded by empty storefronts. She thought maybe—maybe—in five to 10 years other shops might fill in around her.
Her shop opened its doors just about two years ago now. Today, Monica’s small business is surrounded by new business storefronts, many of which received our Main Street Bounceback grants. In fact, Monica’s shop is doing so well, she’s moving her business into a bigger space just a few blocks away.
When I visited Monica’s shop, she told me, “I never could’ve done this in Florida or California.” And she’s probably right. But even four years ago, this dream might not have been possible in Wisconsin, either.
When we began our work together, Wisconsin was among the worst states in the country for start-up creation. But, much like downtown Fondy, Wisconsin’s changed a lot since then. Since 2019, we’ve seen significant increases in business start-ups. New business formations increased to more than 71,000—that’s a 42-percent increase between 2019 and 2021.
And that was no accident, folks; our economic recovery plan worked by design. We knew that small businesses make up more than 99 percent of Wisconsin businesses. We knew that small businesses employ nearly half of Wisconsin workers. We knew that small businesses are more likely to hire locally, buy supplies locally, and reinvest locally back into our communities. We fueled our economic recovery by harnessing the ingenuity and homegrown talent we already have right here in Wisconsin. And it’s why our focus must continue to be building our economy from the ground up—starting with our small businesses, our Main Streets, and the hearts of our communities.
Tonight, I’m excited to announce we’re going to continue our Main Street Bounceback program in my biennial budget with a $50 million investment to provide as many as 5,000 eligible businesses with grants up to $10,000 to help afford building repairs and improvements, lease and mortgage payments, and defray other expenses that can be a barrier to someone’s dream becoming a successful business.
We’re also going to ensure our more than 8,500 small businesses who’ve already received Main Street Bounceback grants continue to thrive by investing up to $5 million into providing technical assistance, mentorship, and educational training to these small business owners to ensure they have the support they need to continue their success.
Our homegrown innovators and entrepreneurs also need homegrown talent to support our local businesses and our local economies—and that’s been a top priority for us these past four years.
We had record-high job numbers in 2022 in key sectors like construction, wholesale trade, professional, scientific, and technical services, and transportation and utilities. Our Registered Apprenticeship program last year had the highest number of participants ever in state history. And last year, we added 14 new career pathways to our Youth Apprenticeship program in construction, agriculture, health sciences, and science and engineering.
We made a groundbreaking investment into three programs designed to address our state’s post-pandemic workforce needs, including our Worker Advancement Initiative and our Worker Connection Program, which helped provide more skills training and career coaching, and connected unemployed workers with available jobs.
We also recognized that we cannot solve our workforce challenges with a one-size-fits-all approach—what Superior needs to support its local workforce and economy might be different from the needs in Platteville and Milwaukee or in La Crosse and Marinette. So, we created the Workforce Innovation Grant program and invested in 27 local projects across our state to help develop long-term, locally-based solutions that meet the unique needs of our local communities and regions. One of those projects at the Wisconsin Forestry Center at UW-Stevens Point is focused on developing the next generation of forestry professionals with skills curriculum in K-12 schools to get more young people into this critical profession. Another project with the Waupaca County Economic Development Corporation is expanding transportation services to make sure workers can get to work around the clock, even third shift.
Tonight, I’m announcing we’re going to continue harnessing our local ingenuity through the Workforce Innovation Grant program with a $100 million investment in my budget to keep developing new, innovative ideas and locally-based projects that will support our workforce and economic development based on what those communities and regions need.
We’re also going to invest $10 million in an initiative led by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to collaborate with industries in every sector of our state’s economy to develop and implement initiatives to retain and attract talented workers.
But we’ll also need investments in targeted industries that we know have been hit hard by the pandemic, including in our healthcare industry. I’ll propose a historic, $50 million investment to bolster Wisconsin’s healthcare workforce–to expand our long-term care providers, increase the number of mental health providers and psychiatrists, and expand the Wisconsin Nurse Educator program to provide high-quality education for our future nurses.
Finally, our state’s Clean Energy Plan provides a blueprint for skills training, apprenticeships, and creating good-paying, family-supporting jobs by investing in new, innovative industries and technologies. So, we’re also going to invest nearly $10 million into expanding clean energy job training and reemployment and reducing barriers for folks joining our clean energy workforce.
But there’s another critical factor that affects our state’s workforce—and I hear about it everywhere I go, no matter which corner of the state I’m visiting. Fifty-four percent of Wisconsinites today live in a child care desert—where there are few to no high-quality options for child care in their neighborhood or community. And even if there is a nearby child care provider, it still might not be affordable for a working family.
If we want to address our state’s workforce challenges, we have to make sure child care is accessible and affordable. And together we will.
So, the first thing I’m going to do is deliver on my promise to expand the Child and Dependent Care Credit, which will provide nearly $30 million in tax relief to more than 100,000 Wisconsinites.
Through our Partner Up! Program, more than 200 employers from Prescott to Two Rivers are helping make child care more affordable for their employees. We also helped stabilize the child care industry through our monthly Child Care Counts Program, providing the financial stability providers needed to stay open and recruit and retain quality staff to care for our kids. All told, we helped more than 3,300 providers across the state keep their doors open; we helped more than 22,000 child care professionals stay employed or become employed; and we helped ensure care continued for more than 113,000 kids across our state. That’s a big deal, folks.
These two programs made a big difference in the lives of kids and working families across Wisconsin. But the reality is that the federal funds that support them won’t last forever. So, we’ll be continuing these programs to keep child care affordable and accessible in my budget. We’re going to provide more than $340 million for Child Care Counts so providers can have the financial stability they need to keep the lights on, pay their workers fair, competitive wages, and continue to provide high-quality care to kids across the state.
We’ll also be investing more than $22 million into the Partner Up! program to expand partnerships between employers and child care providers. Our employers are ready to play a role in ensuring workers have access to affordable child care, and we’re ready to support them.
Wisconsin, we face much work ahead of us, but there is also much opportunity. We can do big things in our next four years together. And if we are inspired, not by power, but by partnership, if we are dedicated, not to selfish interests, but to self-sacrifice, if we can forge new paths, not through conflict, but through collaboration, then together we will.
So, let’s get to work, folks.
Thank you so much. On, Wisconsin!”
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Adjournment
The Joint Convention arose
7:49 P.M.
