Republican Scott Walker was sworn in on Jan. 3 as Wisconsin’s 45th governor, replacing outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle.
Also sworn in were new Republican majorities in the state Senate and state Assembly, which will make it easier for Walker to advance his agenda.
As he promised during his campaign, Walker hit the ground running and immediately declared an economic emergency in the state and called the Legislature into a special session to pass several jobs initiatives.
During his campaign, Walker pledged to enact numerous pro-business measures that he said would result in the creation of 250,000 jobs by the end of his four-year term in office.
“We need to send a message from Main Street to Wall Street that Wisconsin is open for business,” Walker said.
According to the latest state Department of Workforce Development report, the state had 2,736,700 non-farm jobs, on a seasonally adjusted basis, in November. That number is subject to later revision, and the December jobs number will not be available until mid-January. However, the preliminary November jobs number is a good estimate for the starting point for Walker’s job creation goals. To meet his goal of creating 250,000 jobs, the state must have grown its non-farm employment to 2,986,700 by January of 2015, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Several of Walker’s cabinet appointments have business backgrounds, including Secretary of Commerce Paul Jadin, Department of Natural Resources Secretary Cathy Stepp, Department of Workforce Development Secretary Manny Perez, Department of Financial Institutions Secretary Peter Bildsten and Department of Regulation and Licensing Secretary Dave Ross.
Walker’s first job creation proposals include a plan to replace the state Department of Commerce with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), a public-private partnership that would promote commerce and handle economic development activities for the state. The regulatory duties currently assigned to the Department of Commerce will go through a line-by-line review process to determine their impact on public safety or public health before being reassigned to other agencies or eliminated, Walker said.
Walker also proposed to overhaul the state’s regulatory environment. Under Walker’s proposal, the governor would have to approve all new administrative rules and a state agency could not create rules more restrictive than regulatory standards or thresholds passed by the Legislature. Also, the rules could be challenged in the circuit court where the plaintiff resides. Currently, a citizen can only challenge an administrative rule in Dane County Circuit Court.
“For too long the overregulation of business has stifled job growth within our state and repelled job creators from others,” Walker said.
Walker also said he wants to eliminate the state tax on health savings accounts.
“Employees and small businesses need to have the flexibility provided by HSAs, and there’s no reason they should be taxed,” he said. “This will make health care more affordable for folks who use HSAs.”
