Dear Governor Evers,
Congratulations on a successful inauguration!
When each of us ran for the Wisconsin State Assembly, we promised to work hard to get things done for our constituents and the entire state of Wisconsin. We know that during your campaign you promised the same thing and we look forward to helping you accomplish our shared priorities.
At the beginning of the New Year, it’s customary to lay out new goals. We thought it would be helpful for you to understand our desire to work with you on a host of issues that you indicated you would like to pursue during your campaign last fall.
Income tax reductions – Wisconsin’s tax burden is still stubbornly high and we look forward to working with you to reduce the income tax in our state: Even though we have had substantial tax cuts over the past eight years, we agree with you that more work needs to be done to reduce the tax burden in our state.
Enhancing high speed internet access – Access to high-speed internet is a major economic catalyst for growth and business expansion in our state. Passing a bill that enables 5G rates for our state and a more rapid deployment of rural broadband connections remains a high priority for our caucus.
Pre-existing condition coverage quarantee – Our intention is to have the first bill we pass be an assurance that Wisconsinites with pre-existing conditions be guaranteed that they can’t be denied health insurance due to a previous health condition.
Support for K-12 education – Over the past eight years, Assembly Republicans have supported record investments in education, totaling over $40 billion. Providing adequate resources to our public, choice, charter and homeschooling families is a very high priority for us and we look forward to working with you to meet the historic two-thirds funding threshold that Assembly Republicans set as a goal for the next state budget.
Expanding SeniorCare to cover flu shots – Assembly Republicans have continually fought to keep the innovative SeniorCare program even when others wanted to eliminate it entirely. We look forward to working with you to update the program to ensure seniors get the health care they need.
Preventing homelessness – We want to build upon our bipartisan successes on addressing homelessness from last session and work with you to make sure every Wisconsinite has a place to call home.
Addressing the debt level in our transportation fund – Few things are more important to the long-term health of our economy than good roads and bridges. Wisconsin has become far too reliant on debt to finance our highway needs as revenues from other sources have stagnated. We recognize that both sides must be at the table as we work to craft a transportation budget that funds our priorities and generates sufficient revenues to not burden the next generation with unsustainable levels of borrowing.
Childcare Affordability – Working mothers and fathers know very well the expensive and increasing cost of quality childcare for their children. We want to work with you to ensure parents who want to go back to work are able to do so by providing more options for affordable childcare. We agree that childcare should not be a further obstacle in providing for your family.
Clean Water – Access to clean drinking water is a vital resource for every Wisconsin citizen. We have to ensure that government oversight is effective in protecting the ground water supply in this state. We can work with you to promote effective and efficient government oversight that protects this valuable resource while maintaining common sense industry regulations across the state.
Investments in our infrastructure – State government currently owns more than 6,000 buildings in Wisconsin. We need a top to bottom review to determine how many of these buildings are necessary and if savings can be found to reduce the cost to taxpayers. For the buildings state government needs to utilize, we hope to work with you to insure our state-owned facilities are well maintained and effectively managed.
Attracting qualified employees – As Wisconsin’s workforce continues to age, we know we must attract and retain highly qualified employees. We understand the very intense pressure that every employer is under with record low-unemployment and rapidly rising wages and both public and private sector industries must be competitive. Over the past four years, state employees have received raises with larger increases in high-demand areas while we implemented programs to encourage growth within the workforce. We look forward to working with you to continue to attract new talent to our state and provide competitive wage increases to state employees working in high demand fields.
This list certainly doesn’t touch on every issue facing the state but we know these issues should be able to attract bipartisan support. While the voters of Wisconsin chose divided government in the last election, they didn’t choose inaction. The citizens of Wisconsin expect us to work together to solve problems and address issues such as the ones we outlined above.
We hope you take this letter as sincere and a gesture of our goodwill to work for everyone in the state of Wisconsin.
Sincerely,
Robin J Vos Speaker
Jim Steineke Majority Leader
Kyler August Speaker Potem
