Gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke released her proposal for statewide economic development Tuesday, along with a video in which Burke outlined the plan.
Entitled “Invest for Success,” the plan includes five strategies to jump-start Wisconsin’s economy, including provisions to develop economic clusters, subsidize job training and higher education, facilitate capital investment, encourage global competition and change the balance of the state’s budget.
The proposal lists seven steps to increase higher learning enrollment and affordability. They would increase University of Wisconsin System schools’ capacity and establish an authority to oversee new protocols for refinancing student loans at lower interest rates.
Burke’s strategy for higher education also outlines her plan for increasing the college tuition tax deduction by more than $3,000, allowing families making under $150,000 annually to use the increased deduction to pay in-state tuition and fees.
The economic plan would establish a Wisconsin Innovation Fund as a partnership between UW-Madison researchers and state businesses. The fund will build on existing programs like the Discovery to Product program, which aims to launch companies based on university research.
The proposal would also allow the UW System to participate in classified government research and includes Burke’s intention to veto legislation banning stem cell research.
A strategy for improving Wisconsin’s business climate includes initiatives to maintain current tax rates and decrease state expenditures by conducting audits of the state government and establishing an efficiency commission to recommend savings packages to the state legislature.
Burke also outlined her plan to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over two years and reinstate the Equal Pay Enforcement Act, which she said will close the income gap between women and men in the workplace. First passed in 2009, the state Legislature repealed the act in 2012.
Joe Fadness, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, accused Burke’s family’s company, Trek Bicycle, of outsourcing jobs overseas in a statement released by the Republican Party of Wisconsin Tuesday.
“Ironically, Mary Burke’s plan criticizes outsourcing, begging the question if she will follow her own advice and bring Trek’s 800 employees overseas back to the United States,” Fadness said in the statement.
