Economic Development:

1. Promote the regulatory reforms included in Job Creation Act I & II.
2. Provide tax incentives for modernization and job growth.
1. Fiscal impact: In the 2007-2009 biennial budget there is a provision that would create a Dairy Processing Facility Modernization tax credit that would cost the state $1.2 million
3. Promote State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) funds be available for start-up and designated-growth companies. 
4. Require the $180 million that SWIB has committed to four venture capital firms be allocated by January 1, 2009.  Currently only $77.7 million of the $180 million has been allocated.
5. Create a taskforce to study SWIB’s entire Wisconsin investing profile.
6. CWI will work to increase state support for the Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership, and other similar organizations that provide business strategies to improve manufacturing and agri-business processes and ultimately productivity.
1. Fiscal impact;  Governor Doyle’s budget contains $1.5 million in funding for the WMEP program. 
7. CWI will also recognize and promote the private sector contributions of organizations, such as the Milwaukee School of Engineering, who are working to promote business excellence.
8. Double the venture capital disbursement per worker by 2012.
9. Support significant increases in the amount of tax credits available under Act 255, currently $12 million, to an eventual goal of $100 million per year.
1. Fiscal impact:  Eventual fiscal impact would be $100 million per year.
10. Broaden the definition of qualified new business ventures at the Department of Commerce to include “business services” as one of the criteria for a business to be engaged.
11. Actively recruit and develop managers for Wisconsin’s growth companies.
12. Promote legislation to create a capital gains exemption for funds reinvested in Wisconsin companies, Wisconsin-only mutual funds or Wisconsin-based venture funds.
1. Fiscal impact;  According to a Department of Revenue estimate a 100 percent capital gains exclusion from the sale or exchange of assets held for at least one year would have reduced state revenues by $123 million in 2005.  Assuming 10 percent of capital gains would meet this criteria potential impact would be $12.3 million.
13. Eliminate the estate tax in Wisconsin.
1. Fiscal impact: If implemented for deaths occurring in 2007, the estimated impact to the state would be $100 million.  For deaths occurring from 2008-2010, under current law, Wisconsin will not collect an estate tax, so there will be no fiscal impact.  For deaths occurring after 2010 Wisconsin’s estate tax is dependent on federal action. 
14. CWI will work to authorize tax exempt financing to fund research and the commercialization of research. 
15. Eliminate Forward Wisconsin as a stand alone entity.  Reallocate state monies previously dedicated to Forward Wisconsin to the Department of Commerce.  Commerce would proceed with request for proposals from the private sector to create a marketing campaign to recruit high wage earners back to Wisconsin.  Initial focus will be on alumni of UW System colleges and private colleges in Wisconsin.
16. Encourage the Department of Commerce to create a comprehensive business recruitment plan targeting high wage industries to addres Wisconsin’s income gap with states like Minnesota. 
    

Transportation;

1. Provide quality infrastructure to transport products, keep families and workers safe, and provide tourists easy access to Wisconsin.
2. Complete the Southeast Wisconsin Highway reconstruction by 2020.
3. Maintain a safe, reliable transportation system utilizing multi-modal transportation sources supported by a segregated revenue source.
4. Expand highway capacity  between Eau Claire and Minneapolis/St. Paul
5. Create a high-speed link between Milwaukee and Chicago by 2015 and between Madison and Milwaukee by 2018.
6. Raise the speed limit to 70 mph on appropriate Interstate Highways.

State Budgeting:

1. Restrain state spending increases. 
2. Restrict transfer of funds from one account to another to balance the budget.
3. Grow Wisconsin’s “Rainy Day Fund” to $500 million.
1. Fiscal impact: Wisconsin’s “Rainy Day Fund” currently has $780,000.  This would have a $499 million fiscal impact.
4. Improve Wisconsin's competitive position in the tax arena by removing Wisconsin from the top ten states for state-local tax burden.  Actively market Wisconsin's more competitive rank on state-local government revenue burden when taxes and fees are considered at the same time.
5. Conduct a tax fairness survey to consider policy changes to Wisconsin’s tax mix.
6. Adopt investment budgeting strategy to better prioritize spending decisions, improve state bond rating and prepare the state for potential economic downturns.  Outcomes must be regularly measured to determine the effectiveness of specific spending decisions.

Education:

1. Enact an education tax credit to encourage public and private market-driven investment in the post-secondary education of individuals.
1. Fiscal impact;  The Legislative Fiscal Bureau fiscal estimate of Assembly Bill 67, which is what this provision is based on, estimates that the tax credit would cost the state $23.1 million annually in revenue.
2. Create a Human TIF to link technical college and university education investment to income growth for the state and individuals.
3. Student aid should be appropriately funded.  CWI will work to ensure that funding for state financial aid appropriations should increase at least at a rate that is linked to tuition increases.
1. Fiscal impact:  According to the Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board and the Legislative Fiscal Bureau the additional cost to fund student aid at the rate of increase in tuition is $10,543,823.
4. Enact an education tax credit to encourage public and private market-driven investment in the post-secondary education of individuals.
5. Provide $109,500 annually to promote education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  Of the total, $61,500 annually would provide grants from a new appropriation for this purpose to school districts to: (a) develop innovative instructional programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; (b) support pupils who are typically under-represented in these subjects; and (c) increase the academic achievement of pupils in these subjects.  The remaining $48,000 annually would increase the Department of Public Instruction’s capacity to provide professional development training for teachers in these subjects
6. Competitive Wisconsin supports providing state funding of $250,000 to expand state high school and middle school participation in Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a national initiative to prepare an increasing and diverse group of students to be successful in science, engineering, and engineering technology careers.  PLTW’s Wisconsin chapter has working partnerships with nearly 100 high schools and middle schools.  Additional state funding will help match existing federal funding and private grants to facilitate the creation of Community Partnership Teams that are essential to develop and sustain local programs in more schools across Wisconsin. 

Energy/Technology:

1. Maintain and enhance a reliable, cost-efficient energy generation, distribution and transmission infrastructure to support present and future businesses.
2. Support policies to enable Wisconsin’s to generate 10 percent of its electricity and transportation fuels from renewable resources by 2015.
3. Support legislation to lift the moratorium on nuclear plant construction in Wisconsin.
4. Encourage private sector solutions to deploy fully broadband or other high-speed technology statewide by 2012.  This will include rural and underserved areas.
5. Encourage private sector solutions to create a “wireless” state by 2012.

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