Tech-talkin' Govs: State of the State Addresses and Budget Requests

Again, "Tech-talkin Govs" highlights programs, policies and issues in tech-based economic development that were considered in the following governors' State of the State addresses.



Utah

Michael Leavitt, State of the State, January 28, 2002

http://www.utah.gov/governor/stateofstate.html

• Plans to boost marketing efforts to brand Utah as a world technology player. The state will expand on existing efforts by showing the connection between its technological prowess and its natural, recreational wonders. Over 1,000 days, Utah will organize more than a dozen economic ecosystems, a term which the Governor says will become a Utah trademark. An economic ecosystem is a cluster of related technologies where the elements necessary for prosperity — the ideas, research, capital, workforce and government support — exist in one place.
• Proposes a system of high-tech charter high schools — each named after a Utah scientific entrepreneur and each designed to support one of the economic ecosystems. Four of the six such schools planned would be operational within 1,000 days. 
• Each of the first four schools would have a specific technological concentration: biotechnology; engineering and medical devices; digital media; and, plant and animal genetics. Students would earn both a competency-measured high school diploma and an Associate of Science degree, while learning technology through work with industry and higher education mentors.
• Shortly after the Olympics, suggests deploying regular trade missions throughout the world to leverage the state's Olympic network and attract venture capital.

Wisconsin

Scott McCallum, Budget Reform Act of 2002, January 22, 2002

http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/budget/index.a

• To assist economic recovery efforts, the Governor recommends that funding levels in several important economic development programs be spared from cuts. These programs include:
  • The Wisconsin Development Fund, which provides a wide variety of grants, loans and assistance to businesses and entrepreneurs; and
  • The high-technology business development corporation program, which supports the creation, development and retention of science-based and technology-based Wisconsin businesses.
• Reduce funding for the University of Wisconsin System by one percent in fiscal year 2001-02 and 4.5 percent in fiscal year 2002-03 and require the Board of Regents to seek approval of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Department of Administration for any increase in undergraduate resident tuition for the 2002-03 academic year that exceeds 10 percent.
• Increase funding by $1.2 million for the Higher Educational Aids Board's Wisconsin higher education grants for University of Wisconsin System students. This amounts to a 5.8 percent increase over the amount originally budgeted for fiscal year 2002-03 and a 10.6 percent increase over the fiscal year 2001-02 amount.
• Reduce funding for the Wisconsin Technical College System operations by one percent in fiscal year 2001-02 and 4.5 percent in fiscal year 2002-03 and reduce funding for general and categorical aids by 4.5 percent in fiscal year 2002-03. Higher Educational Aids Board's grants for Wisconsin Technical College System students would be increased by $800,000 in fiscal year 2002-03, a 5.7 percent increase over the amount originally budgeted for fiscal year 2002-03.