I’ve talked a lot about making sure that economic development is a 72-county strategy in Wisconsin, and we have to do more to support the Main Street businesses across our state. As I mentioned during this year’s State of the State Address, there’s more to an economy than counting job creation alone; we have to get to work on building an economy that works for everyone.
At last look, Wisconsin ranked an anemic 40th nationally in terms of best states to start a business, according to WalletHub, and Wisconsin currently lags in small business creation, which is where most family-supporting jobs are created. That’s why we’re diving headfirst into supporting startups and small businesses by creating an innovation and entrepreneurship committee focusing on supporting our small businesses, seeding capital funds, and technology development at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
In addition to supporting our small businesses and startups, we have to focus our efforts on diversifying economic opportunity and industries across our state. The bottom line is that economic development and protecting our environment shouldn’t be mutually exclusive, they should work in tandem, and that’s why we’re setting a goal of having all electricity produced in Wisconsin be 100% carbon free by 2050, and why we’re creating an Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy to work with us on finding a Wisconsin-based solution on this issue.
Creating a clean economy isn’t just about mitigating and adapting to climate change, it’s about producing our own energy to reduce reliance elsewhere, helping Wisconsin families and businesses save money on electricity generation, and transitioning to an economy that will keep our state strong for future generations.
In addition to supporting our small businesses, we also have to work harder to help often-marginalized people re-enter the workforce. That’s among the reasons my budget bans the box statewide to help reduce employment barriers and empower the folks rejoining our communities to have the support they need to be successful.
But truly creating an economy that works for everyone also means connecting the dots – we have to get back to the fundamentals of economic development, and that means tackling the pressing issues facing our state, like fully funding our public schools and fixing our crumbling roads and infrastructure.
Our budget includes historic investments in K-12 education, an $18 million increase for our Wisconsin Technical College System, and invests $150 million more in our University of Wisconsin System. Education is the great equalizer, and I believe every kid should have access to a high-quality education – regardless of their ZIP code – from pre-K to our university and technical colleges system.
Additionally, our budget also includes more than $600 million in new revenue for historic investments in Wisconsin’s transportation and infrastructure and makes a $6.6 billion investment in our state’s transportation needs – the largest in our state’s history – while authorizing the lowest amount of bonding for highway purposes in the last two decades. And it’s why I’ve made significant investments in our state and University of Wisconsin System infrastructure in my capital budget that estimates indicate would create more than 40,000 jobs statewide and $4.5 billion in economic activity.
At the end of the day, we have a lot of work to do in economic development, and we need to make sure we’re thinking about economic opportunity and prosperity holistically. We have to connect the dots on these issues so Wisconsin is a great place to live, work and play.
On, Wisconsin!
Tony Evers
Governor
