In his fourth State of the State Address, Governor Jim Doyle tonight unveiled his Affordability Agenda, a plan to make Wisconsin a more affordable place to live for middle class and working families.
“From health care to education to building a high-tech, high wage economy, Wisconsin is moving forward. But middle class families are worried that they won’t be able to afford to live where they love to live, right here in Wisconsin. We can do more for them, and we must do more. It’s time to fight for Wisconsin’s working families. It’s time to end the middle class squeeze,” Governor Doyle said.
A Record of Progress: “Wisconsin is Moving Forward”
Governor Doyle highlighted the success of the past three years, including creating 140,000 new jobs, balancing the budget without raising taxes, cutting taxes for veterans and manufacturers, ending the state tax on Social Security benefits, and passing a property tax freeze while protecting our schools. He detailed significant spending cuts made by his administration, and success in increasing the number of four-year-old kindergarten programs, arresting 135 sex offenders in the last three months, and protecting 85,000 acres of land through the Stewardship program.
“Today, our economy is growing, new businesses are opening, home values are up, incomes are up, exports are way up, the gas tax is going down, our budget is balanced, and our schools remain the envy of the nation,” Governor Doyle said. “My fellow citizens, I can report to you tonight: Wisconsin is moving forward.”
The Affordability Agenda: Overview
The Governor’s Affordability Agenda includes initiatives designed to reduce the cost of health care, education, and energy for Wisconsin families. In addition, it includes a Living Wage Tax Credit to help working families get out of poverty.
“Even though we’ve made real progress for real people, we know there’s more to do -- particularly for middle-class families who are getting squeezed,” Governor Doyle said. “Too many of our neighbors are struggling to pay their bills, their taxes, and do the best they can for their kids.”
Making Wisconsin More Affordable for Working Families – Health Care
Under Governor Doyle’s leadership, the state has seen success in lowering prices on prescription drugs, creating health care co-ops, and expanding tax deductions for health insurance premiums to make health care more affordable.
Building on that success, the Governor’s Affordability Agenda contains four measures designed to deal with the cost of rising health care:
- Healthy Wisconsin, an initiative that reduces health care costs by making catastrophic care more affordable for families and businesses. The Governor noted that 50 percent of health care costs are incurred by five percent of the population. By setting up a catastrophic health insurance pool and allowing businesses to buy in, the plan will help reduce costs for everyone. In New York, a similar initiative helped reduce premiums for some businesses by as much as 30 percent.
- A statewide expansion of Family Care, enabling more than 11,500 Wisconsin seniors and individuals with disabilities to remain in their own home instead of going to nursing homes. The Governor has set a goal of reducing the use of nursing homes by 25 percent in eight years. By expanding Family Care, Governor Doyle wants to completely eliminate waiting lists for community-based long-term care services within the next five years.
- BadgerCare Plus, an initiative to give every child in Wisconsin access to affordable, comprehensive health care coverage regardless of the family’s income. Families would be enrolled in managed care. BadgerCare Plus also provides access to pregnant women who make under $48,000 a year to help ensure that every child in Wisconsin is born healthy; and
- Calling for anti-dumping legislation to outlaw the practice by large companies like Wal-Mart of shifting their healthcare responsibilities to taxpayers by dropping health care coverage of their workers.
“In Wisconsin, health care should be a birthright – not a ticket to bankruptcy,” Governor Doyle said.
Making Wisconsin More Affordable for Working Families – College
The Governor also unveiled a bold new proposal called the Wisconsin Covenant, designed to encourage college enrollment and raise achievement in elementary and secondary education.
“Anyone who knows me will tell you my first priority as Governor has been education,” Governor Doyle said. “And that is why, as part of my Affordability Agenda, I’m proposing an historic new commitment to make college more affordable for hardworking Wisconsin families and give our students added incentive to succeed in the classroom.”
The Wisconsin Covenant will be open to any eighth-grade student that has some level of financial need. Students must sign an agreement to maintain a B average in high school, complete a specified core curriculum, and apply for state and federal financial aid. Students who meet these requirements will receive a financial aid package that meets their full financial need for tuition to any University of Wisconsin system school that they are accepted into.
Similar programs have been implemented in Indiana, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. The Governor challenged the business community and private foundations to help fund this initiative. North Carolina has had considerable success in partnering with private businesses, non-profits, and individuals to fund its version of the Wisconsin Covenant.
“I am asking the University system, the business community, the Legislature, and the people of Wisconsin to join me in this effort,” Governor Doyle said. “When it comes to our children’s future, let’s think big. Let’s make sure that in Wisconsin, every child who works for it can get a world class education.”
Governor Doyle also renewed his call for the Legislature to pass his proposal to raise standards by making a third year of math and a third year of science mandatory for high school graduation.
Making Wisconsin More Affordable for Working Families – Energy Costs
Governor Doyle cited rising utility costs as another primary worry of Wisconsin residents and called on the Legislature to pass an emergency heating assistance package of $6 million for families who make $40,000 a year or less.
Last fall, Governor Doyle doubled state assistance for the low income heating assistance program. Private business and Wisconsin utilities have contributed over $12 million for low income heating assistance and home weatherization.
“This month, thousands of Wisconsin families are struggling to pay their December heating bill, but because they’re not currently eligible for state aid, they are not receiving any assistance,” Governor Doyle said. “We’re in the heart of the heating season, and these working families need help.”
The Governor called for passage of two other bills: a bill by Senator Cowles and Representative Montgomery to implement the recommendations of his Task Force on Renewable Energy – including a requirement to reduce Wisconsin’s dependence on fossil fuels by getting 10 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2015, and a bill authored by Senator Sheila Harsdorf and Representatives Stephen Freese and Barbara Gronemus to increase ethanol use.
The Affordability Agenda: Helping Working Families Get Out of Poverty
The Governor’s Affordability Agenda includes a Living Wage Tax Credit to reward hard work and help families across Wisconsin who are working full-time escape the grasp of poverty.
According to a U.S. Census Bureau report released in August 2005, Wisconsin ranked first in the nation in the growth in poverty. This Living Wage Tax Credit will lift 9,000 families and their 26,000 children out of poverty in Wisconsin.
“This isn’t a handout – it is a refundable tax credit which guarantees that every parent who works full time doesn’t have to raise their child in poverty,” Governor Doyle said. “We can do this, we can do it inexpensively, and we can do it together. I ask you to join me in lifting 9,000 hardworking families and their 26,000 children out of poverty.”
Making Wisconsin More Affordable for Working Families – Good Jobs
Governor Doyle also detailed efforts to promote grow Wisconsin’s economy, noting that the heart of his Affordability Agenda is a focus on job creation.
“With technology, training, trade promotion and new investment, we can revolutionize and modernize Wisconsin manufacturing and expand opportunities for middle class families,” Governor Doyle said.
Building on the regulatory reform and investment initiatives in his Grow Wisconsin plan, Governor Doyle outlined five steps to help manufacturers compete including a new initiative to help upgrade over 100 small and medium-sized manufacturers.
The Governor also laid out a goal of capturing 10 percent of the stem cell market, which could reach $10 billion and create 100,000 jobs by 2015. To help achieve that goal, he directed the Department of Commerce to allocate $5 million of existing resources to find, fund, and recruit stem cell companies that create jobs in the state. He also requested legislation supporting the Biomedical Technology Alliance in Southeast Wisconsin be sent to his desk.
A Call for Reform
Governor Doyle issued a strong call for reform, including:
- Passing the election reform package he announced in April, which requires better trained poll workers, a merger of the Elections and Ethics Boards, and stopping felons from voting illegally.
- Adopting the bipartisan ethics reform package he announced earlier this month – banning all fundraising during the budget, preventing officials from turning right around and lobbying the government they helped run, and making sure that taxpayers don’t have to pay the legal bills of those charged with crimes.
- Passing comprehensive campaign finance reform bill authored by Senators Mike Ellis and Jon Erpenbach two years ago.
“Two years ago, Senators Ellis and Erpenbach offered a blueprint for comprehensive campaign finance reform,” Governor Doyle said. “It would end the phony issue ads, and includes strong public financing. It is bipartisan, it is major reform, and it is time the Legislature passed it.”
Governor Doyle concluded his address by thanking state employees who traveled to the Gulf Coast States to help with hurricane recovery efforts, and recognized Wisconsin troops, saying that they represent “Wisconsin’s finest.”
“Let their patriotism be our inspiration. Let their sense that we’re all in this together be our guide. And let families’ dreams be our cause,” Governor Doyle said. “Let us rededicate ourselves to moving this state forward so that these brave men and women – and all the hardworking families in Wisconsin, can afford to get an education, buy a home, and enjoy all the great things that life in our state has to offer.”
