Cspan is your unfiltered view of government were funded by these Television Companies and more including cox. Extremely rare hi. But friends dont have to be. This is when youre connected youre not alone. Cox, cspan as a Public Service along with other Television Providerses, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Wisconsin democratic governor tony highlighted investment and health care during the annual state of the state address in the Capitol Building in madison, this is about 45 minutes. [applause] at this time i introduce to you governor of the state state of wisconsin. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] [cheering] no i didnt see i asked one of the four legislators that were coming down with me to one of them to do aid anybody do that . No, darn it next year. Good evening wisconsin, Honorable Supreme Court justices, tribal nation leaders members of the Wisconsin National guard and active and retired members of our armed forces. Cabinet members, Senate President , majority leader minority leader speaker vass minority leader and legislate stores, distinguished guests, and wisconsinites joinings here and from afar thank you for being here with us tonight im tony proud to be here as the 46th governor of the great state of wisconsin too deliver my 2024 state of the state address. [applause] [cheering] my daughter katy and my grandson keaton are here with us tonight an for a minute i would like to give a special shoutout to my better half kathy who is here as well. [cheering and applause]■t kathy was named at 2023 caregiver hero by social services which is awarded in honor of our good friend governor former governor marty kathy was recognized for her advocacy around alzheimers and other dementia including making executive r and dementia friendly location and Kathy Francis im so proud of you. I love you so much. [applause] thank you. Wisconsin its been one heck of a year and i have much to report but i delivered my 2023 state of the state address a year ago. We are kicking off wisconsins 175th birthday and celebrating 175 years of statehood. Wisconsin is never been in a better fiscal position. [applause] wisconsin i begin tonight with even better news. As we enter 2024, our state has never been in a better fiscal position than we are today better than last year, beaters better than when i took office and better than any year in wisconsin 176 years of statehood. We began this in the best fiscal position in our States History. We set out to prepare a break through budget a rare opportunity to define our prosperity and together we did we needed to take responsibilities for some of our state most important obligations, but we still couldnt afford to be careless or reckless. We needed to make investments in priorities long neglected but we still had to say where we could and stay priewngt and well within our means while still marching towards the future were working hard to build together. Our bipartisan efforts on housing are our good example. I completed my fourth 72nd county tour of wisconsin this past december and been to every county at least four times and sometimes many more and no matter who im talking to or where i go, our Largest Community is our smallest of villages, wisconsinites tell me we need more Affordable Housing and i agree. [applause] building a housing in every corner of our state is critical to make sure wisconsin is prepared to meet the needs of a 21st industry work force and invested in building Affordable Housing units and 2500 last year alone and more than 24,000 Housing Units total. And were not stopping there. This past year, we worked together to invest more than 500 Million Dollars in work force housing, one of the Largest Investments in our States History. [applause] were working every day to make sure our work force economy and infrastructure are ready to meet the needs of of the 21st industy to make sure farmers and manufacturers have the infrastructure they need to get from point a to point b safely when i took office years of this investment that caused roads and bridges to crumble and disrepair so youre darn right weve been fixing the damn roads. [applause] all we have to do is find those orange barrels since 2019 weve improved over 7,424 miles of roads and 1780 bridges including over 900 miles of roads and over 200 bridges last year alone. [applause] weve also worked with our minnesota an federal partners to secure 1 billion in federal funding to support our effort to replace the bridge and superior. It is a critical economic driver for our state and supports our largest port on the great lakes. And ill tell you this its got done you bet and i tell you this weve got this done because theres no one, no one who has been fighting harder in washington to bring this investment back home and tammy baldwin. [cheering and applause] when i was here four years ago i had a plan to address our states dairy crisis, i later probably signed a bipartisan bill creating Wisconsin Initiative for agricultural exports. Were working meet our Ambitious Goals and increasing the value of wisconsins agricultural exports by at least 25 by mid2026. So we Work Together last year to invest two Million Dollars to help promote wisconsin milk and dairy meat, crop and other products around the world. [applause] and also proud that administration worked with the great lakes indian fish and Wildlife Commission and tribal nations last year on a new effort to preserve and restore wild rice in wisconsin. Wild rice has been harvested here for thousands of years but threatened by the effects of changing climate and Water Quality we secure nearly 2 Million Dollars to support researching and developing strategies to help conserve this important Cultural Resource for future generations. [applause] serving and protecting our Natural Resources and land continues to be a top priority for my administration. Im also excited to announce tonight that im approving a largest contribution effort in our States History. And partnership with the Biden Administration and Conservation Fund weve approved the conservation easement for the Pelican River forest remaining acres to protect the forest for generations of future wisconsin to use and enjoy. This is a big deal, folks. [applause] wisconsin, this is a future were building and no matter where you live you can see thef. And in wisconsin today, a kid got ready for school, and put on their favorite milwaukee brewery shirt because we worked last year to keep Major League Baseball in wisconsin through 2050 that kid can graduate, and start a family in wisconsin and theyll be able to take their kids out to the ball game or the brewers can still be the home team. [applause] today wisconsin running joining from their tv at home, is using electricity that is 100 solar powered, and carbon free because weve proofed enough Solar Projects across our state 4,000 mega watts worth to power more than 750,000 wisconsin homes with average electricity usage for 365 days straight. [applause] in wisconsin, today volunteer ems an fire providers and receiving increase and two College Safety issues with new ems equipment and incidents in south side of milwaukee will have quicker response times and possible because we Work Together to provide increase in shared revenue, state support that goes directly back to our local communities. [applause] a bipartisan effort included in 20 increase in support to most municipality statewide. Af our state asking for local partners to do more with less today were working to deliver a promise of making sure our communities can meet the unique needs alike. Today [applause] today in wisconsin one of our nation heros has joined our work force after transcigging from service back to civilian life. Went to work today in a good paying family supporting job, right here at home in wisconsin were proud to announce we now rank fourth in the country for successfully helping veterans find employment. [applause] we all have to be proud of that. Wisconsinites this is the state of the state and future we spent years working hard to build together. Let me be clear these results and our accomplishments dont mean doesnt mean our work is finished if anything it is efforts to continue, there is as always more we can do and that work begins in earnest year tonight lets start with these are real threat to our kids our families, our communities these human made chemicals can be toxic to humans and wildlife. And theyve been used in everyday products for more than a half a century. In wisconsin, where we hunt, fish, and want to trust the water coming from our tap, and where our economies rely upon Water Resources for life stock, crops and outdoor reck reck regulation a threat to our way of life and our economy. Thats why i directed 10 Million Dollars into a new statewide program to help contaminates like pifas to get contaminates like pifas out of our water supply and proud to report this program is helped replace our abandoned nearly 500 contaminated water wells across wisconsin. After five years of calling for legislative action we saw the first real and meaningful state investment to specifically address pfas in our States History last year that legislature and i both approved 125 Million Dollar investment to start tackling pfas across our state. Thats great news. Thats great news but heres the law i signed that budget last july today is january 23rd been over 200 days and republicans have not released one cent of that investment. 125 Million Dollar investment to fight pfas statewide sitting right here in madison because republicans refuse to release it thats breathtaking. Republicans, please release this funding so that we can get it out to families, child care facilities, schools, businesses, and communities across the state who need it. [applause] now another area where we must work to do to do more and quickly is talking Mental Health. [applause] i said here last year that i fear the state of Mental Health in wisconsin was a quiet crisis, one i still believe will have cascading effects for generations that goes unaddressed. So i declared 2023 the year Mental Health in wisconsin and yes, we accomplished some important Work Together. We fought hard to secure another 30 Million Dollars in this budget to build upon our successful get Kids Ahead Initiative to provide Mental Health services to Mental Health services to every School District in wisconsin. [applause] but i dont need to remind this legislature that i requested more than 500 Million Dollars last year to help expand access and mental and behavioral state Services Statewide one year after declaring Mental Health ill tell you tonight as governor and as a grandfather, my concerns have not changed and my fears have not waned. Ns. I am here to report highly concerning levels of anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts. That is still especially true for teen girls in lgbtq kids but one third of her High School Kids still experience feelings of sadness and hopelessness. Nearly every day while one in 10 teens have attempted suicide nearly half of lgbtq use seriously, seriously considered suicide. Today at one and six kids experience is a serious episode of depression in 2023. I used to be one in seven. My administration and i are not going to let up on our work on this issue in 2024. We are going to double our efforts take a whole of government approach. Tonight i am announcing i am creating Interagency Council on Mental Health and directing wisconsin state agencies to Work Together to reduce barriers and address gaps and Mental Health services. Were going to develop a statewide Mental Health action plan to address the root causes of our Mental Health crisis, increase awareness and reduce stigma and to build capacity for us to expand access to Mental HealthServices Statewide. [applause] [applause] [applause] our states Mental Health challenges are very, very significant. Lets do more and urgently make a difference on this issue in 2024 but we have to and i am optimistic we will because our kids are leading the way. Students are doing amazing work three student led program called raise your voice. It is part of an effort led by wisconsin to educate, support, empower youth to talk openly about Mental Health by the program at Merrill High School began with just eight kids and then it grew. These students have helped expand the program to other mental schools and high schools across the region with more than 200 members. Males raise your voice advisors and founding students are here in the gallery tonight. Please join me in recognizing them it lets readers solve tonight to do the work to support our kids. Where are they . [applause] [applause] now, as we continue looking toward the important work we have to do before us in 2024, there are also good things on the horizon. We have important elections coming up this year including one in november. Its clear i believe we should make it easier not harder for every eligible wisconsinite to cast their ballots. [applause] and yet i will continue to veto any efforts by politicians to abuse the power to interfere with our elections just as i always have it. But. And the comet would still be announcing new steps im directing my administration to take to help ensure every eligible wisconsinite has the opportunity to participate in the most precious and fundamental function of our democracy, the right to vote. And there is more good news for a promise from the beginning i would never stop fighting for fair. I stand here tonight i have never been more hopeful that will wisconsinites head to the ballot box later this year will be voting under legislative maps and affair responsive reflect the will of the people of the state. [cheering] [applause] [cheering] [applause] and i want the folks at home to understand why they are important. Because when elected officials, gerrymandered themselves they can comfortably ignore the overwhelming majority of wisconsinites who support common sense policies. Red flag laws expanded paid family leave. And that is wrong. [applause] its happened on the issue of reproductive freedom and wisconsin over the last two years is another good example of why we need fair apps for a decade 60 of wisconsinites on average have consistently said they support abortion being illegal in most cases. And yet each time ive asked republicans to restore wisconsinites reproductive freedom to what it was the day before the Supreme Court overturned a row they said no. Because of that wisconsin women spent over a year experiencing firsthand what its like to live in the state that bands nearly all abortion even in cases of rape or incest. Today thanks to the lawsuit democrats filed days after the Supreme Court decision wisconsinites now have the same reproductive freedom and wisconsin that they did on june 23, 2022 before roe was overturned. [applause] but make no mistake the freedom wisconsinites just got back are already under attack. Republicans are advancing a bill that would ask wisconsinites to strip themselves of some of the basic reproductive freedoms that were recently restored to them. In cases and no exemptions in cases of rape or incest. Folks, wisconsinites have been abundantly clear. It is another example republicans last candidate for governor wanted to take the same freedoms and more away. You might notice hes not here to live in the state of the state address. [applause] so i want to speak directly to women in wisconsin tonight. I will veto any bill that takes away your reproductive freedom or makes Reproductive Health care and the less acceptable than it is today. [cheering] [applause] every wisconsinite should be able to access the healthcare they need and when they need it. And yes that includes contraception. That summer at the food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive pill for use without a prescription which is expected to be available in stores and online later this year. And that is great n