Record, the secondary record, the artifacts. Thats whats really fun about it is that we just weave it all together. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to cspan. Org. Wisconsin Governor Scott walkers seventh state of the state address includes the economy, Health Care Coverage for lowincome residents, and initiatives aimed at helping students, veterans and the disabled enter the workforce. At this time, it is my honor to introduce the governor of the great state of wisconsin, the honorable scott walker. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker voss, speaker pro tem august, pro tem roth, assistant majority leader vukner, minority leader schilling, minority leader barka, Supreme Court justices, constitutional officers, tribal leaders, members of the cabinet, members of the legislature, distinguished guests, and most importantly fellow citizens of the state of wisconsin, it is my honor to appear before you today to report on the state of our great state. First i would like to introduce the first lady of wisconsin, my wife, tonette. Thank you for all that you do for the people of the state of wisconsin. And next to her, our sons matt and alex. Were proud to have both of them here today. And next to our family is the adjutant general of the Wisconsin National guard, Major General donald dunbar. On behalf of the citizens of this great state, i want to thank you and the more than 10,000 strong members of the Wisconsin National guard. At the start of december i had the opportunity to travel overseas to visit wisconsin troops in the National Guard, reserves, and on active duty in places like kuwait, the united arab emirates, afghanistan and germany. Then at the end of last month general dunbar and i traveled to Guantanamo Bay to visit members of the 32nd military Police Company from the Wisconsin ArmyNational Guard. I am so proud of the men and women from wisconsin. Please remember all, all of our Service Members in your prayers now and in the future. I also want to thank the members of our National Guard for all that they do within our state. Last summer parts of northern wisconsin were paralyzed by severe storms and floods. Roads and bridges washed out. Lives devastated by loss. We sent in the National Guard and acting quickly, they were on the ground working together with state and local agencies to help in the recovery. It was an amazing team effort. I joined the local residents from that area in thanking everyone who responded and helped in their time of need to all to all of our men and women in uniform we appreciate all that you do, here and abroad, on behalf of all of us i want to say thank you to each and every one of you and to your families. Tonight i am happy to report that the state of our state is strong. More people were employed in wisconsin last year than at any point in the history of our great state. Unemployment levels are the lowest in more than 15 years. And the percentage of people working in wisconsin is one of the highest of any state in the country. We are working and winning for wisconsin. In the kenosha area, joshua, a former marine staff sergeant, was hired as a Maintenance Technician at colbert packaging. The company Just Announced in october it was relocating to kenosha and plans to hire 100 employees this year. Over the past 3 years, 7,900 jobs have been created in this county, alone, that borders the state of illinois. In addition to the 1 billion in Capital Investment and more than 9. 5 million square feet of development. In the fox valley, amy was hired in the Hr Department at ameriquip in keel. She joins us here today along with ameriquip ceo mike vander zanden. Thank you for joining us. Now, amy specializes in recruitment and works with our Technical Colleges on youth apprenticeships. Since 2011 ameriquip has invested more than 20 million into improvements for its facilities and the company most recently doubled its welding capacity. These stories show the faces of record employment in the state. Which begs the question, are we, you, me, us, are we better off than we were six years ago . The answer is a resounding yes. Thats right. It may seem hard to believe now but during the four years before we took Office Wisconsin had lost 133,000 jobs and the Unemployment Rate peaked at 9. 2 . When we first took office, the biggest challenge in our state was helping to create more jobs. Today weve more than recovered the jobs that departed during the recession. Wages are up. More than 50,000 new businesses have been created. And Unemployment Rate, well, its down to 4. 1 . In fact, our biggest challenge is not creating jobs but finding people to fill them. We went from a focus on jobs, jobs, jobs to talking about workforce, workforce, workforce. That will be my top priority for 2017 and beyond. During the past four years we invested millions into Workforce Development. This helps people like gary, ryan, and jeff who are part of our wisconsin fast forward program. Today they work at catalyst producing mechanical printing paper. These are just a few of the many people who were trained through the Wisconsin Fast Forward Grant Program and theyre here with us today. Gavin, matthew, kaitlin and brianna are just a few of the students who got a head start on their career through youth apprenticeships offered while theyre in high school. This program has more than doubled since we took office. Thanks to all of you for being here this afternoon. And madeline and jordan graduated from our project Search Program here in wisconsin. Each of them is working. And each of them are part of a program for people with disabilities that has a success rate of 88 . Im proud that the number of project search sites has grown from 2 when we first took office to 18 today. And by this next school year we will have 27 sites across the state. Maddie and jordan, thank you for joining us here today and for being a great inspiration. As you can see and hear, we are working and winning for wisconsin. In addition to a growing economy, im happy to note that our finances are stable. We finished the fiscal year yet again with a surplus. Our Rainy Day Fund is 165 times bigger now than it was when we took office. And wisconsin had the fourth lowest overall longterm debt obligation of any state in the country. Getting our finances under control allows us to reduce the burden on the hardworking taxpayers. Im proud to report that since taking office weve cut taxes by more than 4. 7 billion. That means the cumulative income tax reduction of 1,159 for a typical family. We also cut property taxes. Since december of 2010 the cumulative reduction is 426 for a median value home. Remember this. In the decade before we took office, property taxes went up. 27 . If that trend had continued, the difference is a savings of 1,700. Now, folks, thats real money were talking about. And property taxes as a percentage of personal income in this state are the lowest theyve been since the end of world war ii. Think about that. Since the end of world war ii. Plus heres another piece of really good news. From 2010 to 2014 wisconsin outperformed 43 other states in reducing the overall tax burden. 43 other states. Remember, since taking office weve cut the tax burden by 4. 7 billion, and were not done yet. Just as i promised when running for reelection, property and income taxes will be lower in 2018 than they were in 2010. Thats great news for families like jeffs and patricias, who told me how surprised they were to see their property tax bills going down. Yes, we are working and winning for wisconsin. In addition to providing more tax relief, getting our finances in order allows us to focus on other priorities. For example, we invested more than 18 billion into transportation over the past six years. Put that in perspective. Thats about 2 billion more than my predecessor put into transportation during the previous six years. We also invested more than 14 billion into programs to help needy families, children, and seniors over the past six years. Our reforms allowed us to cover everyone living in poverty under medicaid. No other wisconsin governor has been able to make that claim. In fact, we rank as one of the best states in the nation for Health Insurance coverage. And even though we did not take the obama Medicare Medicaid expansion we actually outrank every one of the states that did and every one of the 21 states that did not. A few years ago they argued we should take the obamacare Medicare Medicaid money. I argued it would hurt taxpayers. What happened in minnesota this past year suggests we were right. Late last year Health Insurance premiums there increased by as much as 67 . The governor of minnesota declared the Affordable Care act is no longer affordable. And just last week he actually called the called on the legislature to spend 313 million to buy down Health Insurance premiums, putting minnesota taxpayers on the hook. In contrast, we have a surplus in medicaid while covering everyone living in poverty, all without putting the taxpayers at risk through a state exchange or by taking the obamacare medicaid expansion. We are working and winning for wisconsin. Our improving financial situation allows us to do more for students preparing for college and careers. Its an imperative that every child have access to education but its also an economic imperative that we need to grow the workforce in wisconsin. We invested in Career Readiness initiatives including fab lab and youth apprenticeships. The state started providing funding for School Districts to do academic and career plans as early as sixth grade. We want every child to prepare a path to a career that is right for them. Across the state our students are doing well. We just started including everyone in the a. C. T. Test. And wisconsin is one of the best states in the country in that category. Students here have some of the best Graduation Rates in the nation. On top of that more than 90 of the School Districts in the state meet or exceed expectations according to the report cards. One of those districts is nina. Today we are joined by students and teachers from nina. And families, particularly lowincome families all across the state, now have more choices for quality education. For many like my family it will be a traditional Public School. For others it will be a choice or a charter school. Some will choose a Virtual School while others prefer to home school their children. Whatever the option, when it comes to making the right choice for their daughters and sons i trust parents. Many of the areas of new investment in our schools are giving students a jump start on their careers. Our initiatives are helping many students get through college sooner and into the workforce, earning College Credits in high school also helps reduce the cost of higher education. In addition to reducing the time needed to receive a degree, we need to focus on the price of going to college in the first place. For the past four years we froze undergraduate instate tuition for students at all, at all university of wisconsin campuses. A typical student saves more than 6,300 over four years when compared to the trend before the freeze. Tonette and i still have a son at the university of wisconsin, and we appreciate the freeze just like families do all across the state. Now, during the decade before our freeze tuition went up 118 . Ironically, some of the people who were around when the uw tuition went up by more than 8 on average each year now want the state to create a new government bureaucracy to refinance student loans. But heres the good news. We found a better way to help people with high debt. Our administration worked with wisconsins very own Financial Institutions to promote reFinancing Options available to knows with student loan debt. Wisconsin Credit Unions and banks offer refinancing at rates that are the same or better than what is offered by many governmentsupported programs in other states. I encourage anyone, anyone whos dealing with student loan debt, to visit lookforwardwi. Gov. Thats lookforwardwi. Gov. To find out what free Financing Options are available in your area. We also provide the greatest amount of needbased Financial Aid in wisconsin history. Were making college more affordable. And at the same time the university of wisconsin is thriving. The uw system had the largest overall budget in history this year. U. S. News world report moved the ranking of uw madison up on their list of the best public colleges in the country. They also gave positive mention to ten, to ten other uw colleges. In addition, we invested nor into the Wisconsin Technical College system. Our blueprint for prosperity plan opened 5,000 more slots for students in high demand areas. And this past spring we expanded the wisconsin Grant Program. Our Technical Colleges continue to be a super option for so many students looking for a rewarding career. We are working and winning for wisconsin. [ applause ] now, last year i spoke about plans to travel the state as part of a longterm planning process called 2020 vision. Throughout the past year i held listening sessions in every county to hear about where we would like the state to be in the next 20 years. From students to retirees. I heard from a diverse mix of people. Teachers, Small Business owners, farmers, factory workers, Law Enforcement veterans, Technical College staff, local officials, community activists, health care professionals, nonprofit leaders, clergy, parents. Union leaders, bloggers, tourism directors. Weve got a crosssection of different ages, backgrounds, professions and yes, political beliefs. On top of that were connecting in other ways too. For example, we will host another Facebook Live session next tuesday, january 17th at 4 00 p. M. Feel free to join us at facebook. Com governorscottwalker or follow us on twitter govwalker. Several suggestions came out of listening sessions across the state. Student success, Accountable Government and rewarding work with consistent themes. These are the areas well talk about today and these will be the focus of our next day budget. As promised, we will increase funding for public education. I love Public Schools. Both of my sons [ applause ] both of my sons graduated from Public Schools in the city of waletosa. I graduated from Public School in the small town of duleman. And my nieces are attending Public Schools today well, its about time theyre out. So theyre probably out of Public School right now. But i want strong Public Schools. In fact, i want Great Schools for every student in the state. Our budget will include a significant increase for Public Schools. We will also help rural schools that have unique challenges such as transportation costs, Broadband Access, and declining enrollment. College affordability was also a major issue at our listening sessions. But it wasnt just students who raised it as a concern, as theyre concerned about the cost of higher education. It was parents, grandparents, educators and many others. Thats why im pleased to announce that our 2017 through 2019 state budget will do more than just freeze tuition. We will actually cut thats right, cut tuition for all wisconsin undergraduates throughout the uw system. Thats right. Were working and winning for wisconsin. In addition to Student Success we heard people say they want a government that is accountable to the taxpayers. Overall, many of our listening sessions, many of the people at our listening sessions took pride in the fact that were selfreliant here in wisconsin. With this in mind well continue our efforts to streamline government, to make it more effective, more efficient, and more accountable to the people. Access to highspeed and Reliable Internet Service is something we heard about at nearly every listening session. Therefore, im proposing the state invest 35. 5 million more to expand our Broadband AccessGrant Program and for our efforts to hel