A List Of Governor Tony Evers' Accomplishments

Education:

1. Restored Wisconsin's two-thirds funding commitment for public schools.
2. Secured the first increase in special education funding in a decade, $95 million.
3. Increased funding for Wisconsin's technical college system by $25 million, the largest amount in nearly 30 years. Provided $45 million in funding for capacity building in the UW System.
4. Secured the largest general aid increase in 15 years, with numbers one through four combined representing an additional $600 million+ for Wisconsin's schools.
5. Distributed $110 million in federal funds to Wisconsin schools.
6. Secured $1 billion in bonding authority, the largest amount in Wisconsin history, to repair Wisconsin's college buildings.
7. Signed legislation expanding the definition of "minority student" to be more inclusive and modifying eligibility criteria for the minority teacher loan program.
8. Extended the state college tuition freeze for four more years.
9. Signed legislation requiring that state schools provide education on the Holocaust and other genocides. Mandated that September 11th, 2001, be a day observed in schools and discussed in curriculum. 
10. Signed legislation allowing public and private schools to provide warning before fire, tornado, and/or school safety drills.
11. Signed legislation requiring the DPI to include in the annual school report card the percentage of students participating in music, dance, drama, and visual arts for each school district and at the state level.
12. Signed legislation reforming the tier licensing system for Wisconsin educators and allowing for reciprocity to be considered when applying for these licenses. Signed legislation creating an alternative pathway for initial licensure as a special education teacher. Allowed juniors in education programs to receive substitute teacher certification if they are at least 20 and pass background checks.
13. More than doubled the number of credits able to be transferred between Wisconsin higher education institutions (from 30 to 72) and improved the ease of transferring credits between these schools.
14. Established a Task Force on Student Debt that made eight major policy recommendations for addressing the student debt crisis in Wisconsin.
15. Allowed charter schools students to participate in the Early College Credit Program and eliminated the sunset date for grants under the dual enrollment program.
16. Convened a Council on Fincial Literacy that continues to raise awareness about and expand educational opportunities for efforts to ensure young Wisconsinites learn smart money habits for the future.
17. Updated the Foundations of Reading exam.
18. Saw Wisconsin's schools go from 17th in the nation to eighth in the nation.

Tribal Nations:

1. Officially recognized Indigenous Peoples' Day, an alternative holiday to Columbus Day that celebrates indigenous culture.
2. Signed an executive order mandating the state government consult with tribal communities in matters related to their governance as well as on general matters on a regular basis.
3. Raised the flag of the Ho-Chunk over UW-Madison and launched a DOT project to include Native American names for locations on road signs on tribal land.
4. Secured historic gaming compacts allowing the Oneida, St. Croix Chippewa, Ho-Chunk, and Forest County Potawatomi to become the first tribes in the state to allow sports betting in their casinos.
5. Launched a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIW) Task Force to address the disproportionate rate of indigenous women and girls being raped, murdered, and subjected to other forms of violence. Expanded the crime of battery or threat to a court officer or LEO to include tribal court officials. Incorporated tribes into the procedural requirements for when a sexually violent predator is released.
6. Eliminated the disparity between funding per pupil between tribal and non-tribal charter schools.
7. Formally apologized for Wisconsin's role in America's boarding school system after the horrific discoveries at Kamloops in Canada.

Rural Communities:

1. Established a blue-ribbon panel on rural and agriculture issues.
2. Secured $10 million in additional funding for the Rural Critical Care Hospital Supplement. Invested $20 million in EMS services in rural areas.
3. Joined the Bloomberg Opioids Overdose Prevention Initiative, securing $10 million over the course of five years to reduce opioid deaths in Wisconsin. Secured more than $400 million in settlements over the course of 20 years in a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma. Extended the state's opioid prescription abuse prevention programs through 2025. Allowed social workers to specialize in treating substance abuse disorder.
4. Provided $1.6 million in funding for school transportation in rural districts.
5. Invested $9 million in a Dairy Innovation Hub at the UW System. Signed legislation increasing Wisconsin's export of dairy and other agricultural products by 25 percent using $5 million in new funding.
6. Provided $100,000 in funding to research chronic wasting disease. Established a statewide campaign to prevent Lyme disease in wilderness areas.
7. Signed bipartisan WWA-sponsored legislation creating a state-level permit for hydrologic restoration projects to prevent severe flooding that plagues Wisconsin. Established a full-time hydrogeologist position position on the Board of Regents to develop and share groundwater resource information.
8. Announced numerous rounds of pandemic relief totaling well over $100 million for tens of thousands of Wisconsin farmers.
9. Gave farmers $750,000 to implement best management practices. Established a program to provide RFID tags to prevent farmers from losing their animals.
10. Signed landmark legislation preventing localities from banning electric fences on residential property, making changes to county shoreland zoning ordinances and vegetative buffer zone requirements, creating a procedure for the transfer of farmland to beneficiaries upon the death of the owner, and modifying certain restrictions on local land use.

Racial Justice:

1. Saw his lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes, become the first black lieutenant governor in the state as well as the highest-ranking black Wisconsinite.
2. Signed an executive order bolstering diversity, equity, and inclusion in state government hiring. 
3. Vetoed a GOP bill that would have banned the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools, legislation that attempts to erase and whitewash the brutal history of slavery.
4. Oversaw the installation of a Vel Phillips statue in the Wisconsin Capitol, celebrating a famous civil rights and feminist pioneer in Wisconsin with the first statue of a black woman in any state capitol in the nation. Flew the Juneteenth flag over the state capitol building, building on momentum that ultimately led to Juneteenth becoming a national holiday.
5. Signed police reform legislation banning the use of chokeholds, requiring departments to post their use of force policies, requiring the state to issue an annual report on use of force instances, setting parameters for LEO use of body-worn cameras, creating criminal penalties for use of force violations, establishing a duty to intervene against violations committed by fellow officers, and allocating $600,000 to establish a state-level COPS program. Signed an executive order directing law enforcement agencies to update their use of force policies. Signed legislation allowing PIs and security guards to carry tasers as nonlethal alternatives to firearms.
6. Removed Wisconsin National Guard troops from the U.S.-Mexico border and joined a multistate lawsuit challenging the state of emergency at the border.
7. Signed legislation reforming the education and licensing processes for foreign language interpreters.
8. Led the fight against a Trump administration proposal to deport Hmong refugees, a proposal that was ultimately stopped.

LGBT2SQIA+ Rights:

1. Annually flew the Pride flag over the Wisconsin State Capitol to demonstrate Wisconsin's acceptance of the LGBT2SQIA+ and remind state legislators who they are working against.
2. Signed an executive order banning discrimination against LGBT2SQIA+ individuals in the hiring process for the state government.
3. Signed an executive order banning the use of state funds for conversion therapy in Wisconsin and vetoed GOP legislation protecting the practice.
4. Prevented the passage of GOP-written legislation banning transgender girls from playing sports, banning transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming healthcare, and other despicable bills working their way through state legislatures across the country.
5. Directed state agencies to use gender neutral language in official communications and began offering gender neutral options for parents on birth certificates.

Infrastructure:

1. Made a historic $500 million investment in Wisconsin's roads, highways, and public transportation, the largest investment in state history.
2. Secured $105 million in infrastructure funding from other states to invest in Wisconsin.
3. Increased funding for water infrastructure projects in state parks by $5.5 million.
4. Secured $150 million in funding for broadband, which, when combined with federal funding, will secure universal broadband for Wisconsinites. Created a telephone company tax exemption for property used to expand broadband. 
5. Signed legislation allowing municipal governments to provide electric scooters for public use and establishing the rules for their use. Signed legislation defining e-bikes and establishing a regulatory framework for rider safety.
6. Signed legislation establishing the regulatory framework for developing 5G in Wisconsin.
7. Established a permanent source of funding for the Citizens Utility Board, which represents customers in rate case and utility funding cases.
8. Updated the contractor certification requirements for builders and remodelers who work on single-family homes.

Healthcare:

1. Withdrew Wisconsin from a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act, a lawsuit that would end in ACA being upheld by the Supreme Court.
2. Expanded access to telehealth services by treating them the same as in-person services, expanding Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth visits, and reducing telehealth provider certification requirements.
3. Convened a Task Force on Caregiving to support home care workers and nursing home workers in Wisconsin. Secured $230 million in funding to support nursing home and home care workers.
4. Established the Governor's Health Equity Council to address racial and gender disparities, among others, in healthcare.
5. Extended the popular SeniorCare program, which helps Wisconsinites over 65 afford prescription drugs, for another decade. Established the Task Force on Lowering Prescription Drug Prices to make policy recommendations to combat the rising cost of life-saving medications.
6. Launched the DHS-OCI Health Care Coverage Partnership to improve coordination between state government agencies and expand outreach and enrollment in healthcare coverage. 
7. Doubled funding for existing student mental health programs. Launched a landmark $20 million "Get Kids Ahead" program to invest in K-12 and college mental health resources. Established a grant program for peer-to-peer suicide prevention for students. Required that student IDs include contact information for suicide prevention hotlines. Established a school-based mental health consultation pilot program.
8. Launched a back-to-school health resource for parents. Signed an executive order to combat the youth vaping epidemic in Wisconsin high schools. Signed legislation mandating that the DPI and WIAA work with pediatric cardiologists to develop and distribute information on the risk of sudden cardiac arrest events at youth sporting events.
9. Signed legislation reducing regulations on in-home dialysis providers and increasing transparency in step therapy protocol development as well as continuing the innovative Acute Hospital Care at Home program. Signed legislation allowing pharmacists to administer vaccines, expediting updates to the state vaccine registry, allowing EMS professionals to provide relevant emergency medical care, and making major updates to Wisconsin's 9-1-1 service infrastructure. 
10. Signed comprehensive legislation improving diabetes prevention and care and providing funds to treat related complications.
11. Ratified the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, expanding access to physical therapy. Expanded Wisconsin's medical assistance program to include complex rehabilitation technology like motorized scooters. Signed legislation creating an examination board to make rules for physical therapists. Expanded Medicaid benefits to include group physical therapy.
12. Signed legislation ensuring families of LEOs, firefighters, and EMTs killed in the line of duty continue to receive healthcare coverage.
13. Established a Pharmacy Examining Board to license pharmacy technicians and regulate their activities. Established a regulatory and credential process for genetic counseling.
14. Modernized Wisconsin's psychology licensing laws by streamlining the process, aligning state standards with national ones, allowing PhD graduates in psychology to immediately apply for their licenses, and creating two-year interim licenses for psychologists-in-training.
15. Allowed the state Medicaid program to reimburse patients for private ambulance services.
16. Expanded the MJLCEIS Grant to cover HIV testing and PrEp access.
17. Lowered the minimum organ donor age from 15.5 to 15 and allowed people to apply to be organ donors while applying for hunting licenses.
18. Signed Dillon's Law 2.0 to expand access to epinephrine autoinjectors.
19. Vetoed nine GOP bills aimed at restricting access to reproductive healthcare. Vetoed a bill that would have cut the mandatory training time for nurses in half.

Disability Rights:

1. Signed an executive order and then a law removing the r-word and other derogatory language toward the disabled from Wisconsin government websites.
2. Signed legislation banning discrimination in organ transplantation on the basis of disability. 
3. Permitted churches to install stairway chair lifts to assist individuals with disabilities and improve accessibility for congregational activities.
4. Signed legislation to collaborate with WIBIDA and WSRA to create an informational guidebook about dyslexia and related conditions.
5. Signed legislation eliminating discrimination against voters with disabilities by providing accommodations for verbal and physical disabilities at polling places.
6. Signed legislation expanding and increasing adoption assistance for children with special needs and their siblings and families.

Criminal Justice:

1. Recreated the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission. Cut the juvenile population held in the notorious Copper Lake and Lincoln Hills Detention Centers by more than 90 percent, eliminated the use of pepper spray and strip searches, reduced solitary confinement, expanded opportunities for passing time there, and then closed the facilities altogether before constructing a new one. Signed legislation mandating reporting of and restricting the use of seclusion and force in schools; and expanding the oath of office for juvenile facility wardens and superintendents and removing the bond execution requirement. Excluded school data for students in juvenile corrections centers if the majority of students are there for less than an entire term.
2. Overhauled the sexual assault policies related to investigation, reporting, and discipline in the Wisconsin National Guard. Proclaimed April Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Signed legislation to end the rape kit backlog by establishing a framework and timeline for reporting sexual assault and testing rape kits. Signed legislation increasing penalties for sexually violent offenders who commit similar crimes while detained or incarcerated. Vetoed legislation that would have allowed sex offenders to live within 1,500 feet of schools, childcare centers, churches, public parks, or youth centers. Signed legislation requiring human trafficking education for commercial drivers.
3. Signed an executive order expediting, expanding, and streamlining the pardon process and pardoned more individuals than any governor in Wisconsin history. Signed legislation creating a Council on Offender Employment to issue CQEs for ex-offenders.
4. Signed legislation increasing penalties for violent and sexual crimes against the elderly, creating a new crime of elder abuse, allowing the courts to freeze and seize the assets of those who financially exploit the elderly, and allowing the elderly to appear in court for restraining orders via telephone or live video means.
5. Signed legislation in honor of Carlie Beaudin making assault and battery against a nurse or health care professional working in a hospital a class H felony punishable by up to six years in prison. Increased the penalty for intimidating a victim of domestic violence from a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail to a class G felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. 
6. Signed Ethan's Law, banning foster children from being placed in the homes of admitted child abusers. Allowed parties in family actions to agree to certain items prior to obtaining judgement and created a procedure for de novo review of court commissioner reviews of family actions.
7. Oversaw the passage of Marsy's Law, an amendment to the state constitution giving equal rights to crime victims, including notification of victims and their families about parole and bail hearings. 
8. Nearly doubled the private bar rate at the Office of the Public Defender to expand access to legal representation and hired dozens of new full-time assistant district attorneys. Increased pay and allowed the use of state funds for back pay for public defenders. Modified the return of fingerprints to people acquitted or who had charges dismissed and allowed the Department of Hearings and Appeals to provide decisions via email if the appellate consents.
9. Vetoed legislation that would have limited options for offenders to receive probation and parole, toughened penalties for juvenile offenders, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars in new prison space.
10. Signed legislation establishing a five-year minimum sentence for OWI homicides with certain exceptions allowed. Signed legislation establishing an 18-month mandatory minimum sentence for fifth and sixth OWI offenses. Made technical corrections to Wisconsin's "four strikes and you're out policy" related to the revocation of licenses for OWI offenses. Defined a roadside emergency response area and created a new crime of traffic violations causing injury or death.
11. Signed legislation allowing jails to obtain naloxone and related training. Banned state employees from being disciplined for using or possessing a controlled substance. 
12. Created new crimes of mail theft, bestiality, money laundering, swatting, and bringing contraband into prison to keep for oneself (whereas it had previously only been illegal to smuggle contraband for others).
13. Signed legislation establishing a dozen new circuit court branches in the state of Wisconsin. 

COVID/Economy:

1. Vaccinated 72 percent of the state's total population and rolled out booster shots to the majority of these residents.
2. Saw the Wisconsin state budget end with a positive balance for the first time in decades and made unprecedented payments of hundreds of millions of dollars on the state debt.
3. Signed a bill eliminating tax benefits for expenses incurred by companies moving out of state, ensuring companies do not profit off of shipping jobs elsewhere.
4. Signed 2019 Act 21, extending the tax statuses that allow Wisconsin Dells, one of the state's most popular tourist destinations, to operate until 2042 and 2044. Used over $200 million in federal stimulus funds for the tourism industry, making Wisconsin the only state in the Midwest to see its tourism industry return to normal and grow even bigger than it was before.
5. Provided more than $2.5 billion in tax relief for small businesses and the middle class, including a 20 percent tax cut for middle class families, resulting in the largest drop in per-capita tax burden of any state in the past 25 years. Allowed proceeds from sales of property by delinquent owners to be returned to the owners under any circumstances.
6. Signed legislation permanently legalizing to-go cocktails that were first introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
7. Saw the unemployment rate hit a state record low of just 2.8 percent by investing tens of millions of dollars in workforce recruitment and development while also vetoing GOP attempts to cut off unemployment benefits early.
8. Signed legislation allowing children to work as caddies and run temporary stands without a license.
9. Signed the Growing Opportunities Act, establishing the framework for a legal hemp industry in Wisconsin as laid out in the 2018 federal farm bill, including licensing, certain individuals prohibited from the trade, and how it relates to CBD and THC.
10. Signed legislation modernizing Wisconsin's unemployment insurance system for the first time since it was established nearly 50 years ago. Made landmark reforms to Wisconsin's workers' compensation and unemployment insurance claims processes.
11. Renegotiated the Foxconn agreement, saving taxpayers an estimated $2.8 billion over the course of five years.
12. Signed legislation allowing homeless and unaccompanied 17-year-olds to contract for admission to a shelter facility or transitional living program. Allowed WHEDA to provide low- or no-interest housing rehabilitation loans to qualified applicants. Established basic requirements for homeowners' associations to protect homeowners. Allowed first-class cities to increase bidding thresholds and build mixed developments. Created a five-year statute of limitations for actions against license real estate providers. Overhauled interior design regulations and licensing requirements.
13. Established a Task Force on Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification to ensure that employees are not misclassified as contractors in an attempt to deny them benefits and rights associated with being an employee of a business.
14. Signed legislation creating new cybersecurity requirements for protecting data collected by the insurance industry. Adopted the model insurance act approved by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners in 2018. Modified accreditation requirements, violation penalties, shareholder and policyholder meeting requirements, and other aspects of the insurance process.
15. Established the Task Force on Retirement Security to make policy recommendations to address the growing crisis of retirement insecurity in the state of Wisconsin.

Environmental Protection:

1. Entered Wisconsin into the Governors' Climate Alliance, a group committed to upholding the goals of the Paris Agreement, cutting carbon emissions in half by 2030, and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
2. Proclaimed 2019 the Year of Clean Drinking Water and launched a Safe Water for All Campaign to celebrate National Water Quality Month in August. Established a central clearinghouse to reduce water pollution with a water pollution credit program.
3. Extended the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Program and secured millions in funding to address PFAS and lead pollution. Signed an executive order establishing a state action plan against PFAS pollution. Established new water quality regulations to reduce PFAS pollution. Took legal action against corporations responsible for PFAS pollution in Wisconsin. Banned the use of Class B and Class A/B firefighting foam with PFAS.
4. Supported and oversaw the protection of nearly 1,000 square miles of Lake Michigan in the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Allowed the raffle of dozens of sturgeon to raise funds to promote sturgeon conservation.
5. Signed an Arbor Day executive order restoring 125,000 acres of forest and planting 75 million trees by 2030 as part of the Trillion Trees Initiative. Expanded and reformed the Managed Forest Land (MFL) program.
6. Shut down four of Wisconsin's seven remaining coal power generating stations in four years and cut the state's reliance on coal energy in half.
7. Authorized the DATCP to provide a cover crop insurance rebate and established a grant program for commercial nitrogen plants.

Preserving Democracy:

1. Struck down legislation passed by the lame-duck GOP session that limited the power of Governor Evers for partisan purposes.
2. Signed an executive order expanding the role of the DOT and DMV in promoting access to voting and working around strict voter ID requirements.
3. Signed legislation allowing the Washington Island Observer and other newspapers burdened by outdated regulations to operate and updating newspaper regulations for the digital era, increasing the flow of reliable local news across the state.
4. Vetoed gerrymandered maps and six GOP voter suppression bills designed to eliminate political competition and reinforce the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

Veterans' Issues:

1. Secured $30 million, the largest state-funded increase ever, in new funding for veteran support programs.
2. Signed legislation recognizing May 14th as a state holiday called Hmong-Lao Veteran's Day in Wisconsin.
3. Prohibited any accredited higher education institutions in Wisconsin from penalizing soldiers, veterans, and their eligible dependents for late tuition payments made by the federal government. Launched a new grant program expanding the range of institutions Wisconsin veterans can use GI Bill benefits to attend.
4. Established a blue-ribbon panel on veterans' issues.
5. Announced $5 million in new funding to help more than 10,000 Wisconsin National Guard members receive mental health treatment.