work with us. this is an issue brought up in march of last year hearings that we thought we were moving in some direction but then there is some of -- multiple consultation with, and security and we are not any further than march 2011. . .

he also called for extending tax cuts for companies that hire veterans. for the state capitol in springfield, this is half an hour. [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats. please be seated. mr. governor. >> thank you. president cullerton, speaker madigan, leaders radogno and cross, attorney general madigan, secretary white, comptroller

topinka, treasurer rutherford, members of the general assembly, distinguished guests and fellow citizens of illinois, i'm here today to report to you on the state of our state. but before i begin, i know i speak for all of illinois in wishing our senator mark kirk a speedy recovery. [applause] we're all pulling for you, mark. and i also know i speak for all of illinois and all of america in thanking our servicemembers in every branch of service who have volunteered to protect our democracy. we're here today because of you. we are especially proud of the servicemembers of our illinois national guard. in the early morning last

december 18, a convoy of the illinois national guard's 1644th transportation company led by their commander captain michael barton, crossed the desert of southern iraq into kuwait. their unit had made 73 dangerous convoy trips between kuwait and iraq. they drove nearly 4 million miles. their convoy was one of the very last to leave iraq. the war was over. and today, captain barton's wife kelli, and their daughter myleigh are with us. on behalf of a grateful nation and a grateful state, thank you kelli, thank you myleigh, thank you captain barton and thank you servicemembers of the illinois national guard. you are our heroes. [applause]

[applause] i'm very proud to be the commander in chief of the illinois national guard and i'm proud to be governor of our state illinois. almost exactly three years ago to this day, i took the oath of office at this podium during one of the darkest moments in illinois' history. one former governor was in jail. another was under arrest, impeached and removed from office. both my predecessors had disgraced themselves and brought profound embarrassment to the

people of our state. at the same time, our entire nation was in the throes of a massive economic crisis, caused by disgraceful conduct and greed on wall street. our large and small businesses were reeling. our automakers were in dire straits. across illinois, families were losing their jobs, losing their homes, watching their savings disappear. we were off course and adrift, lacking leadership, and weighed down by a culture of corruption. on the day i became governor three years ago, i promised to restore integrity to illinois government. and we have. through tough new ethics laws, campaign finance reform, and establishing the ability to recall a corrupt governor, we have made illinois a more ethical state. but we didn't stop there. by legalizing civil unions, by

raising the standards of nursing home care, by abolishing the death penalty and by protecting the funerals of our military men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion to our democracy, we have made illinois a better state. we have never forgotten we had to help everyday people by building and growing illinois. we have invested in our state, making it a better place to do business. and we have invested in the people of illinois, helping our working families and improving education. the results are in from major export growth and the largest public works construction program in state history to solid gains in education. we're back on course - illinois is moving forward. [applause]

now we all know that the economic storm is far from over. while we have downsized illinois government more than ever before, we continue to face very difficult decisions to restore financial stability to our state. pension reform in the coming year. [applause] we must have. [applause] we took the first step on pension reform in 2010 when we enacted landmark changes that will save taxpayers billions of dollars. but there's much more to do. fixing the pension problem will not be easy, but we have no choice. we must do it together in a way that is meaningful, constitutional, and fair to the employees who have faithfully contributed to the system. that's why i've assembled a pension working group to propose a solution that can be enacted

this year. i will have more to say about these serious matters during my budget address three weeks from today. but we must always remember that strong economic growth is essential to resolving our financial challenges. cuts alone will not get us to a better budget. we must build and grow our illinois economy like never before to keep illinois moving forward. [applause] in the past three years, we've worked together to strengthen our economy and make illinois a better place to do business. we've reformed our workers' compensation system. the reforms we put in place will protect the safety of our workers and save illinois businesses at least a half billion dollars every year. we've also reformed our

unemployment insurance system. we've preserved benefits for unemployed workers while saving businesses $400 million. we've cut red tape for employers that need environmental permits. and we've worked with our union partners to overhaul workplace rules at mccormick place to lower the cost of conventions. already, new conventions are picking illinois and putting our people to work. each of these landmark reforms shows the power of bringing everyone to the table to repair broken systems. that's moving forward. [applause] but we've just begun -- [applause] but we've not just made illinois a better place to do business, we've also invested in our public works our highways, our bridges, our railroads and our schools to make illinois stronger. we've created good-paying jobs while laying the foundation for

future growth. thanks to our illinois jobs now! plan, illinois has the largest capital construction program in our history. over the past three years, we have been building, repairing, and modernizing. every day, you see the fruits of our labor. all across illinois. we have improved 5,948 miles of highways and 842 bridges. in southern illinois, we're building new lanes on route 13. in rockford, we're building a new morgan street bridge. and in east peoria, we're building technology boulevard. we've also built and renovated more than 400 schools from from western wind noise newberger for campus in moline to the new transportation education center at siu in carbondale and from the repurposed cole hall at northern illinois university in dekalb to

the new electrical and computer engineering building at the university of illinois in urbana-champaign. we've also invested in more than 40 public transportation projects. we're working with chicago mayor rahm emanuel to rebuild the cta's red line. we're working with rockford mayor larry morrissey to build new passenger rail from chicago to rockford. we're working with elected officials in the south suburbs and will county to build a new airport. [applause] and we're building high-speed rail from chicago to st. louis and a new bridge across the mississippi river. [applause] all these projects and many more have created thousands of jobs. i want to stay thank you to the

men and women of illinois who are doing this hard work. here in illinois, unlike other states in the midwest, we believe in the right of working people to organize. [applause] your hard work is why illinois is moving forward. speaking of hard work, i would like to salute secretary of state jesse white. for the first time in history, we kept fatalities on illinois highways below 1,000 for three consecutive years. [applause] thank you, secretary white. [applause]

there's a passage in scripture. i want to thank secretary white for his commitment to highway safety and saving lives. we all know that automobiles are essential to the success of the illinois economy. our automakers and their suppliers are thriving today because state government has rose to the occasion and helped meet their needs. three years ago, the ford plant on the south side of chicago had only one shift. in 2010, ford added a second shift and now they have started to hire for a third shift. thank you, ford. [applause] tomorrow i'm traveling to the chrysler plant in belvidere to announce the creation of hundreds of new jobs to

manufacture the new, 21st century dodge dart. thank you, chrysler. [applause] the reason that ford and chrysler are creating new jobs here is because of our skilled workforce. illinois is not only a land of skilled workers. it's also a land of creative entrepreneurs. people like karrie gibson and her company, vintage tech recyclers in romeoville. our investment helped karrie grow her recycling technology business from 1 person to 77 employees. thank you, karrie. [applause] illinois is also a land of technology. we're in the process of laying 4,100 miles of new broadband

fiber optic cable to light up 5,000 of our schools, libraries, businesses and hospitals with world-class information networks. we started illinois' first venture fund to encourage investors to jump into cutting-edge technologies. we've renewed the research and development tax credit, which helps businesses bring new ideas to market. and our innovation council launched an open data initiative which has made more than 5,200 illinois data sets available online. we're going to lead the nation in putting more public data online in one place from communities and universities across the state. already, young innovators like tourmcclusky and elizabeth park have designed smart phone apps using our data to help everyday

people. in both of them here today. i want to thank torre and also bit for their creation and ability. please stand up. [applause] we're going to continue to think big in illinois. today, i'm announcing a $2.3 million dollar investment in ,a new technology center at the merchandise mart in chicago to foster and launch digital start-ups. today, i'm also announcing a $6 million dollar statewide competition to build ultra-high speed broadband in neighborhoods across illinois. through this challenge, we want our neighborhoods to become gigabit communities with internet connections more than

100 times faster than today! our goal is to build smart communities that will foster the job engines of the future. illinois is already a leader in green technology. we lead the nation in operating wind turbines with 404 and growing. we believe in wind. [applause] we're also working with argonne national laboratory, the university of illinois, the university of chicago and northwestern university, to develop the next generation of energy efficient batteries. even as we've fostered innovation and the industries of the future, we've also increased export opportunities for illinois businesses to move their goods to new global markets. the illinois economy is the 18th largest in the world and our

state has tremendous potential to grow a whole lot more. we have aggressively pursued export opportunities, from our mighty agriculture to our mighty manufacturing. a quarter of our soybean crop is sold to just one country china. illinois farmers are feeding china's new middle class. thank you, i burkhalter. thank you, illinois farmers. [applause] our manufacturers like john deere in the quad cities and caterpillar in peoria had outstanding years. caterpillar's increase in sales and revenue last year was record-breaking, the largest percentage increase in the last 64 years. and a lot of it was driven by foreign demand for caterpillar products made by illinois workers.

we want to thank caterpillar and think those workers. thank you. [applause] more exports to more foreign markets means more jobs for more illinois workers. our exports have jumped 30% this year almost double the national average. and today, to strengthen that growth, we are announcing an export advisory council made up of private sector leaders and chaired by navistar ceo dan ustian. this council will help us reach our goal of doubling our exports by 2014. navistar has recently added more than 500 new jobs and it employed more than 2,000 union construction workers to renovate its new corporate headquarters in lisle. since 2010, employers like navistar have added almost

100,000 jobs to our economy. illinois businesses have created almost 20,000 manufacturing jobs during this time. us news & world report placed illinois in the top 5 business friendlystates that are gaining businesses. that's good. [applause] careerbuilder ranked illinois as one of the top ten states to find a job. and last year money magazine rated illinois as the top state for making a living. now that is moving forward. .good. we want to keep it going. [applause] and definitely, in an age of big bureaucracy, big corporations and big money, we can't overlook the millions of illinois consumers who need advocates to

look out for them. i want to thank attorney general lisa madigan for joining me in our never-ending battle to protect illinois consumers. thank you, lisa. [applause] we all believe in fighting for the moms and dads and children of illinois. that's why for the first time in a decade, we significantly increased tax relief for working families. thank you representative barbara flynn currie, representative john bradley, representative david harris and senator toi hutchinson. you help get the job done with your colleagues. [applause] by doubling the illinois earned income tax credit and improving the personal exemption, we are providing targeted tax relief to a million working families and their children. people like rhonda jones.

rhonda is a single mom who is raising five children on the south side of chicago. she works as a public high school counselor for a modest salary. she knows what it's like to live from paycheck to paycheck. year after year, the federal and state earned income tax credit has been her saving grace. she uses that extra money to help pay bills and support her kids through school. three of her children are now in college and two more are on the way. thank you, rhonda. thank you for being a great person. [applause] from the moment i took office, my goal has been to advance education for everyone. so we passed landmark education laws that are a model for the nation. laws that improve school report

cards so that parents have more information about the schools that educate their kids. laws that set clear benchmarks for teacher evaluation and put performance above tenure. and laws that lay the groundwork for a longer school day and a longer school year. our education reforms put the children of illinois first. that's moving forward. so, thank you to senator kim lightford, representative linda chapa la via, and the many others who helped lead this effort. [applause] we also took a big step forward by passing the illinois dream act to help high school graduates from immigrant families. in the years to come, more kids will go to college. more kids will chase their dreams. more kids will grow up to be illinois residents who work hard and contribute to society

because of the dream act. i think it's very important that we understand that we all have a stake in the future of illinois. indeed, we are custodians of that future. we owe it to the next generation to continue our progress of the past three years. to create jobs and grow our economy, we must continue to invest in illinois and help everyday people. with this in mind, i am proposing the illinois jobs agenda for 2012 so we can build and grow our economy today and tomorrow. the illinois jobs agenda includes three targeted tax cuts that will build and grow our economy by helping our employers, our working families, and our veterans. first, i propose that we permanently abolish the natural

gas utility tax in illinois. this tax is an unfair, regressive tax that is not based on the ability to pay. regardless of income or whether or not you're making a profit, you pay this tax. by abolishing it entirely, we can provide targeted tax relief to both consumers and businesses. the elimination of this tax will save money for households and cut costs for employers across illinois. illinois will be the only state in the midwest without a natural gas utility tax on manufacturers, retailers and everyday families. in addition, we need to establish a child tax credit in illinois for parents raising children. there's no more important mission in life than raising a child. investing in our families is good for illinois. the illinois child tax credit

will provide $100 of direct tax relief every year to the typical family of four. this targeted tax relief will stimulate consumer demand, which is 70 percent of our economy. and it will create jobs for our local merchants. finally, we must adopt a tax credit that helps our veterans find employment. unemployment for young returning veterans in our country is 30%. that's shameful. our military men and women are heroes who have served our country and they deserve our everlasting gratitude. veterans are committed, disciplined, and experienced. they know leadership, and how to accomplish a mission. we need these heroes in our workplaces! so today i propose a hiring veterans tax credit. we will provide a significant

tax credit for every unemployed veteran of iraq and afghanistan that a company hires. this tax credit will help businesses create jobs. and it will give those jobs to the veterans who have sacrificed so much in serving our state and our country. [applause] the illinois jobs agenda for 2012 will also move illinois forward by investing in education. the best economic tool a state can have is a strong, innovative education system. jobs follow brainpower. so i want to thank lieutenant governor sheila simon for doing an outstanding job on her community colleges report. having visited all of illinois' 48 community colleges, sheila has proposed many good reforms that need to be implemented in

the coming year. sheila and i have a mission in illinois by 2025, we want at least 60% of adults in our state to have a college degree, an associate degree or a career certificate. right now, we're at 43% - better than the national average, but not good enough. if we want 60% of illinois adults to have a meaningful career certificate or degree by 2025, we must invest in our students from birth to higher education. that starts with investing more dollars in early childhood education. [applause] learning begins at birth and those first years of a child's life are the most important.

our youngest and most vulnerable citizens need our strongest support. research has shown that without an early learning foundation, children fall behind in school. illinois, we can't leave our youngest behind. that's why i'm calling for a major investment in early childhood education this year. we've got to do it. clap my last week, president obama called for states to raise the minimum attendance age of students in schools to 18. president obama, we hear you in illinois. we know how important it is to do everything possible to keep our kids in school to earn that diploma. and that's why we must answer the president's call. we must raise the minimum school attendance age to 18 and we must work together this session to do

it. we can do it. [applause] now, at a time when student loan dad in our country is more than credit card debt, too many deserving students don't have access to higher education. while nearly 150,000 illinois students received state map scholarships last year to attend college, just as many qualified applicants were denied because of lack of funding. so today i ask the members of the general assembly to invest invest -- in our students. i urge you to act in the coming year to make a significant investment in more state map scholarships to help our bright young students attend college. [applause]

.. which is vital our economic recovery.

while we have helped thousands of families stay in their homes and find affordable housing, we must do more. so today we're launching the illinois foreclosure prevention network, to connect struggling home owners with every resource available. from counseling to legal assistance and mortgage relief. in the coming weeks i'll get with cook county to announce a major housing initiative that will help return vacant properties to good use. that will move us forward. finally, we have to move forward on clean water. clean water is the life bread of our people and our communities. illinois is blessed with abundant water, from lake michigan to the illinois river to the mighty mississippi, but many illinois residents are living with aging water mains that are nearly 100 years old. and scores of wastewater treatment facilities are in dire need of repair.

the illinois jobs agenda for 2012 will put thousands of people to work, replacing broken water mains. building treatment plans, upgrading sewers, and cleaning up environmental threats. we're going to be working with mayors from chicago and the suburbs, to everybody part of downstate. we believe in clean water. it's very important we understand we work together for something as important as clean water. members of the general assembly, the illinois jobs agenda is a comprehensive jobs initiative for the people of our state, to create jobs and grow the economy, we must enact targeted tax relief for illinois employers, for illinois families and for our veterans. we must invest in college scholarships and early childhood education and 21st century schools.

we must invest in affordable housing for our residents and clean water for our communities. and i look forward to working with you to find the proper funding to meet these urgent needs. by investing in illinois, and investing in our people. we are building and growing our economy. we are moving illinois forward. i know that no reform is easy. reforming our medicaid and reforming our public pension systems will require political courage. by the same token, no major investment is easy. moving forward on the vision that i have laid out today will require true partnership. we have real challenges to tackle, and like all of you, i recognize the severity of our financial situation. but cuts alone will not resolve this situation. we must build and grow our economy. now is the not the time to pull

back. to abandon our children. to abandon our parents, and to abandon the unemployed among us. their well-being is our common cause. [applause] and our commitment to them requires that we join as partners to invest in our state, and invest in our people. i'm proud of what we have accomplished together over these last three years. abraham lincoln once said, i like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. abraham lincoln said, i like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him. so after three years of hard work, and tough decisions, illinois is back on course. illinois is moving forward. and illinois is a place that we can be proud to claim as our

own. i look forward to working with you in the coming year to make the people of illinois even prouder of our state. together, we can make the will of the people the law of the land. thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

august 2009 after jon huntsman resigned to become u.s. ambassador to china. this is half an hour. [applause]

on behalf of the legislate, i welcome governor herbert, first lady. welcome. >> are we ready? lieutenant governor and mrs. bell, president waddoups, speaker lockhart, member office the utah legislature, member office my cabinet, justices of the utah supreme court, utah's first lady, my beautiful wife, jeannette, and my fellow utahns. it's an honor and a privilege to address you this evening. as we assemble in this beautiful and historic chamber, let us take time to acknowledge those who protect our freedoms and keep our homeland safe. this past august, i traveled to iraq and afghan to meet with some of our deployed utah service men and women.

it was a humbling experience. our by, the free exercise of our god-given wrights -- is preserved by the men and women of our armed forces who willingly put themselves in harm's way for god, family, and country. this past year, in the span of just over a month, we lost six utah soldiers, sailors, and marines in afghanistan. these brave servicemen made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of this nation, and the ideals which make it great. we also acknowledge the loss of agent jarred francom, track include killed in the ogden shooting incident few short weeks ago. tonight we have as honored guests in the gallery, family members of those who have lost lives broad. as they stand, please join with

me to acknowledge them and thank them for their loved ones service and sacrifice. [applause] [applause] >> as governor of the great state of utah, i am pleased to report that the state of our state is strong, and growing stronger. i want you to know that i am very optimistic about utah's future. while our national economy continues to struggle, the economy in utah surges ahead.

our unemployment rate continues to steadily fall. we currently have the second fastest rate of job creation in the nation. every sector of our economy is growing again, except one, and i'm proud to say the sector that is not growing is state government. [applause] utah's success is not only consistently recognized, it is increasingly praised by those outside off borders. now, some people have said that i talk about our rankings a little too much. and it may be a fair observation. but i hope you are as proud of utah as i am. we have a great state, we have a great message, and we're making great progress. i believe utah's governor should be the state's chief advocate and champion, and i am simply not going to stop touting utah's

accomplishments. i should point out that our accolades have less to do with me and everything to do with we. indeed, they reflect the efforts of individuals here in this room and many others across the state. some of our recent recognitions including being named the state with the best economic outlook, and the most dynamic economy. and for the second consecutive year, utah has been named the best state for business by forbes magazine. [applause] these rankings speak to utah's economic strength. but this is not just about rankings. it's about economic recovery for the people of utah. my focus is on growing economy, because i know a strong economy fosters healthy communities and

pros suppress -- prosperous families. while recognition is nice, the underlying reasons for the recognition is what is most important. forbes wrote, and i quote, no state can match the consistent performance of utah. it is the only state that ranks among the top 15 states in each of the six main categories on which we rate states, close quote. those six categories are, economic climate, growth prospects, labor supply, business costs, regulatory environment, and quality of life. tonight, i will use the criteria of those economic experts to highlight or prospects. let's start with our current economic climate in 2011, we added more than 36,000 jobs to our economy. our up employment rate has dropped from 7.5 to 6.0.

a full 2-1/2% lower than the national average. gross domestic product, personal income, and business income continue to steadily rise. and utah still leads the nation in export growth. you might remember that last year's state of the state, i challenged our business community to further increase our export growth. and they have responded with vigor. in 2008, we saw a 41% increase in exports. breaking records we set in 2009 and 2010. utah's economic climate is healthy. but we must not relent in our efforts to improve. i recognize there are people who are still hurting financially. i have meat with many of you throughout the state. i want you to know i am committed to working for all of you. there are in fact approximately 80,000 utahns who are looking

for work, and i will not rest, and i know that you, the legislature, will not rest, until every utahan who wants a job can find a job! [applause] >> my goal is to accelerate private sector job creation of 100,000 jobs in 1,000 days. i emphasize private sector because it is the private sector, not government, that creates wealth, creates jobs, and creates opportunities for utah's citizens. government must create an environment where free enterprise can succeed and then get out of the way. [applause] let me give you just one of many examples where business is

thriving in utah's fertile field. started 25 years ago in a garage, lifetime products now employed more than 1,300 people in utah, and was recently court by many other domestic and international locations for a planed expansion. ultimately, lifetime determined that its home state of utah was the best place to invest. this story is repeating itself hundreds of times across our state, and utah's steady job growth reaches far beyond just the wasatch front. last year, i visited 28 of utah's 29 counties, and don't worry. daggett county, i'm headed your way. in my travels i have been amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of our rural employers. for example, in the tiny town of grouse creek, i met heather warr, who is here with her family tonight in order to

supplement her family's ranching economy, heather started an ecommerce business, selling western apparel and foot wear online. her company, standup ranchers.com, now employs seven people, making heather a major employer in a community of 100 residents. [applause] from fiberoptic communications providers to hay exporters to composite manufacturers to online retailers, people are fining unique opportunities and advantages in rural utah. and heather warr exemplifies the innovation and initiative inherent in utah's people. the second cite tieron is growth prospects. utah is a fertile field in which to grow a new company or to relocate or expand an existing

company. this past september, i went to new york to meet with executives from l-3 commune indications, $16 billion high-tech company with locations in 30 states and 20 countries. the purpose of my visit was to convince them to expand their utah operations. and i've got to admit, it wasn't much of a hard sell. l-3 told me they love doing business in utah. in fact their salt lake city unit is one of their most successful and profitable divisions. not by coincidence, just last month, l-3 announced it will be concentrating its growth here in utah, building new office space and hiring hundreds of new employees. [applause] and in the past year expansions of new jobs have been announced not only l-3 but by poo ooh

intern national companies like ebay, boeing, morgan stanley, and pepperridge farms just to name a few. i can say something not many governors can say, our state is growing now, today, and as we look to the horizon, utah's growth prospects are truly bright. anyone who understands the free market knows that there are few things that hinder growth more than onerous taxation. as i did last year, and the year before that, in order for us to sustain our successful economic recovery, i say to you today, and to the people of utah, no new taxes. [applause] and in fact, i want too go one

step further. due to our wise trust fund management and our nation-leading record of helping people move from unemployment back into the work force, utah is in a position to reduce our unemployment insurance tax rates. i call upon you, the legislature to support senate bill 129, sponsored by center curt bramble and representative jeremy peterson to provide this timely tax cut to all of utah's 85,000 employers and allow them to create more jobs and to hire more people. [applause] the tried cite tieron is labor supply, or more aptly put, a skilled and educated work force. i have said before, utah is the best state for business because we have the best people for business. utah has natural advantages with

ourdown, fast-growing tech-savvy, highly educated, bilingual and industrious work force. utah is a proud right to work state and we are going to keep it that way. [applause] in today's global marketplace, educating and graduating job-ready students is an economic imperative. with the help of representative mel brown and senator lyle hilliard, we have expanded earlly intervention programs for at, risk programs to help reach our critical goal of reading proficiency byes of the the third grade. we'll soon introduce additional online courses providing another avenue for high school students to away college credits before graduation, and we're expanding utah futures.org which provides

students with career counseling to ensure the education they receive today will get the them a job tomorrow. my message to students is simple. if you want want a good job, gea good education. now, it is up to us, assembled here, to make sure that they can. [applause] my top legislative priority is to fund the growth and continued innovation in our education system. my budget calls for maintaining base funding and for $111 million in new money for our public schools, including a modest, but well-deserved pay increase for our teachers. [applause]

postsecondary education is increasingly become agnesty in today's global marketplace so i have set a goal that 66% of utah adults will have a degree or professional certification by the year 2020. this is an ambitious goal. but an essential one. remember the goal, 66 by 2020. and i believe working together, we will reach it. the fourth cite tieran is the coast of doing business, particularly the cost of energy, but utah electricity costs are an impressive 31% below the national average we have a competitive advantage over other states. in order to protect that advantage we must secure utah's supply of stable low-cost energy, and we must do it now. with utah's first 10-year

strategic energy plan i put in place last year, we are creating the framework to secure our energy independence. my administration is aggressively promoting responsible energy development in utah. we have demonstrated, in the basin and elsewhere, that developing our energy resources and being good stewards of the environment are not mutually exclusive propositions. [applause] one of the major challenges for energy development is that many of utah's natural resources must be distracted from federally managed public lands. while we have made progress in persuading the federal government to site and permit oil and gas wells, there remains great challenges still ahead. we cannot and we will not let the federal government halt

responsible energy development in utah. [applause] and because we owe it to our children and their children, we must also innovate safer and cleaner ways to distract natural resources and to utilize energy. as governor, i am calling on the private sector and our major universities to lead out. our goal is to create an energy research triangle that launches utah into a new era of energy technology innovation. i firmly believe that all solutions and all opportunities must be based upon principles of free markets and free enterprises. therefore, we will partner with industry and caring citizens to tackle one of the greatest challenges we have with energy development in our state, the issue of air quality.

[applause] we cannot control the weather, but neither can we ignore the human and economic consequences of poor air quality. i am taking the lead on this issue by building partnerships with utah industries and households to set achievable and vital air quality goals. i will be announcing the details of my plan in the coming weeks. i can promise you this. the solutions to our unique utah challenges with air quality will come from utah. [applause] i do believe that together we can all do something to improve utah's air. insure insure now, the fifth category is state regulatory environment. before they invest precious

capital, entrepreneurs want a stable and predictable environment and a responsible government. utah boasts a long history of fiscally prudent governance. in contrast to the federal government, utah has made the tough decisions to keep our fiscal house in order. we balance our budget and we save taxpayers millions each year by protecting our aaa credit rating inch addition, my budget proposal eliminates our remaining structural imbalance and calls for no additional borrowing, those decisions provide the stable and steady environment that the marketplace seeks and needs in order to thrive. in my travels around the state, one of the most common concerns business owners share with me is the cost, the complexity, and the uncertainty created by excessive government regulation. and last year's state of the state you'll remember i ordered a review of all of utah's business rules and regulations. it resulted in 368 proposed rule

changes to improve utah's already laudable regulatory environment. and we will work with you, the legislature, to modify or repeal those rules that no longer serve a compelling public interest. [applause] now, frankly, the vast majority of regulations causing the most harm to utah businesses come from washington, dc. part of that regulatory colossus created by an overreaching out of control and out of touch federal government. i am determined to work with our congressional delegation and my fell gores to tell the washington bureaucrats to get out of the way of utah's economic recovery and stop the senseless flow of owner rouse and misguided regulations from our nation's capital.

[applause] the last category by which forbes judged utah the best state for business is our quality of life. we truly blessed to live in the beehive state. not only are we surrounded by unsenior passed natural beauty. we also enjoy the beauty of strong communities, strong families, and a culture of caring and service. two months ago, a devastating wind storm tore through two counties, leaving tons office debris and millions of dollars of damage in its wake. with the second storm

threatening, local leaders were concerned debris could become airborne and cause further damage. tens of thousands of citizens sprang into action and fanned out across neighborhoods to assist in cleanup efforts. volunteer crews accomplished in days what it would have taken city and county crews months to do. it was a stunning and moving example of the spirit of volunteerism and love of neighbor which permeates utah and which creates so greatly to utah's outstanding quality of life. it is also an impressive example of another utah trait. our self-sufficiency si. in utah, we do not expect others to solve our problems. as a sovereign state, we know that we have an obligation to find utah's solution to utah problems but we have a right to do so. [applause] ...

[applause]

last start tober, in a one-room schoolhouse in grass creek utah, i met a young boy named heston. he'd been taking piano lessons for one year and too much and he would play something for me at it we had lunch. i asked heston if he was named after. one of his classmates piped up and said no, he was named after the track here. [laughter] after lunch heston made his way to the keynote and frankly i was expecting a simple ditty like chopsticks, but instead i got beethoven, dynamic and intricate music emanating from the old upright piano at the talent that for two hours from the nearest

stoplight. after young heston finished his piece diaphanous classmates, are you sure he's only been playing for one year and two months? she assured me that was the case, adding, he's what they call a prodigy. [laughter] by the way, this young prodigy will be playing with us in the rotunda after my address. you can hear him. utah is a state full of gems like heston, gems that when polished and made to sparkle through hard work and the desire to succeed at brilliance to a landscape. in every corner of our state, utah's source of richness and strength is its people. i'm optimistic about utah's future because i believe in utah's people. utah's best days still lie ahead because utah's are willing to put in the hard work necessary to be architects of our destiny. utah is leading the way and

setting examples for the rest of the nation to follow. in the darkest days that the economic crisis, utah's state church of the principles of our great nation and we now see the fruits of that determination. i've spoken to some of my goals and plans for the state. having these goals and plans is important, but frankly, writing things down the paper is the easy part. making it work, implementation and the execution, that is what counts. hard work demands dedication, determination and discipline. everything i do as governor is examined through whether it helps grow the economy and create opportunity for utah's citizens. that continues to be my commitment to you. i will keep my eye on the ball and i will fight for the sound principles of fiscal prudence,

limited government, individual liberty covered with personal responsibility. [applause] whether preparing a household budget for a state budget, whether you are the governor or a small business owner and i have read about, i can say the principles are the same. by hearing the sound principles now, we will build a bright future for tomorrow. not only will utah be the best day for business, we will continue to be a place for communities and families will thrive and prosper. the state of our state is strong. i am committed to making it stronger. i'm honored to service your governor. may god continue to bless you, our great nation and the great state of utah. thank you.

[applause] [applause]

discussed reforms happening in the states health care and education systems. following his remarks, the governor took questions from the audience. this is 55 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you very much for that warm introduction. if i might, i'd like to just take a moment and ask you to join me in acknowledging our friend, gayle ackermann and the tremendous contribution she is made to the city club and to our state. she is not obviously able to be with us today. i hope she's the name out there.

i guess i do think the upcoming thank you for all you've given to the state of oregon. [applause] when i was working on my remarks i sat at home, apparently i was talking out loud in my son apparently overheard me and logan wonders man. he's taking shakespeare and he said to have got this quote i think you should put in your speech. so here it is. it is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. and you know, that's pretty good. [laughter] if i had to summarize the message that i want to leave you today, i probably couldn't do it any better than that. i'm very proud of what we've all accomplish together this past year and i'm proud that we have not shied away from different challenges in education and

health care in the budget and i'm very proud and deeply grateful that we have such tremendous bipartisan leadership in ceylon that is chosen to the problem-solving ahead of partisanship. other things are tremendous and i am committed to continuing the spirit of collaboration going forward because we still have a long, long way to go. for example, i am stuck on this image from an oregonian article that came out last october with an image of an extension cord, an extension cord that runs from the house of one cook county resident to her neighbor and ovides her power because she has been without heat for six months after losing her job and exhausting unemployment benefit in getting pushed to the edge. the extension cord is a fragile lifeline for her, but also a very harsh reminder that we are at a high point or near the high point if you may in our state and we are at or near the low

point to provide these vital services. the extension cord is also a symbol. it's a symbol of our interconnectedness is oregonian, a symbol we are all in this together and together we will weather this economic uncertainty and emerge stronger and more united than when we began. because this story is all about the women's landlord that has cut her rent and not to keep her from going homeless and also about her neighbor who is sharing her power and might of the fact that she is two months behind in her mortgage payment because she too has lost her job. so my optimism about oregon's future hazard in places like cook county where despite double-digit unemployment and 80% unemployment, the words of trying to ring true that oregon is a citadel of this. and it is. and we this together. it's also true that extension cords and good neighbors can only go so far. the more and more oregon's are

pushed to, the more we can pay the price. urgency of everything we've undertaken over this past year is rooted in my belief and i hope the shared belief embedded in this recession is a profound opportunity for change. the kind of change absolutely essential to secure a future and change based on are spirit and the state and our shared commitment to one another. i'm here to tell you that that vision still stands and oregon's best days still ahead of us and many of the things we need to move forward are already underway. but i spoke to the last time i think tenement ago. i focused on two things. the first was trying to ensure we get the private sector economy going again in the second was the importance of transforming the way we provide public services starting with health care and education and we've made significant progress on both of those friends.

when i spoke to the oregon business summit last month, i focused on what the states trying to do to be a good partner to get the economy moving again for large businesses and small entrepreneurs as well. and while we still have a long way to go, we are definitely making progress on that front. treasurer ted guida was here talking about the mess or cannot come a proposal for the legislature next february but i think is very important to hope sure if the fiscal health of our state by providing access to capital to our business community. the point i want to make today is all of our efforts to job creation and economic development will be futile in the long-term unless we can fundamentally transform our system of public education in our care system. public education because none of us should be willing to accept a high school graduation rate is 65% of the fact that 40% of kids to private schools not ready to learn for the fact that this

generation of oregon children may be the first in history to be less well-educated than their parents were tears around the united states. health care because we can no longer simply stand by and pay more and more and more to hyperinflationary system that's not making us healthier as the population. dollars that businesses could otherwise be using to create jobs and families could use to feed on mortgages and out of debt mistake could use to invest in education and children. last session, with strong leadership, the legislature set the stage for fundamental changes in both our system of public education and health care system. changes i think are absolutely crucial to follow through on to secure our long-term economic future. in education the creation of uric and education investment board penrith education that promotes professional development for teachers and more learning opportunities for children, the legislature to a first step to create a unified

p. 20 education system that shifts the focus on funding institutions based on enrollment to funding students based on success. for the first time, funding and governance will be aligned across the entire continuum of early childhood to post secondary education for social and economic object is. the legislature created in early learning council focused on changing and restructuring the fragmented and inefficient system we use to provide early childhood service is learning. each two years he spent almost a hundred million dollars on programs for children zero to five or six state agencies and dozens of local programs come up with these programs not coordinated. in many cases they don't measure outcomes and they are disconnected in many cases from the k-12 system and health care services. the average cost for a trial is $15,000 every two years, but less than half of the average

children services are getting. only 25%, maybe 30% capacity at risk ezell made untrue meet benchmarks. there's programs out there, headstart been one of them. to continue to support a system that spends that much money and produces these kinds of outcomes should simply no longer be except one oregon. and health care related foundation for the state's first health insurance exchange will provide easy to compare information to individuals and small businesses about affordability and quality of various health insurance products. the public corporation has been appointed and confirmed a meeting on a monthly basis. the bipartisan leadership in legislature committed to reforming the model through which we deliver health care services to reduce your after your cost increases while improving health outcomes for oregonians. the business plan for a new coordinated care organizations,

the primary tool through which this transformation will take place shifts the focus on financial incentives from the emergency room and after-the-fact to wellness and prevention and early intervention and community-based management of chronic conditions like diabetes and congestive heart failure. the potential savings of this plan are enormous. $3 billion over the next five years. that will allow us to ensure most vulnerable citizens continue to have coverage, that we have more resources to invest in either area seek education and we can provide a model for the private commercial health insurance market. but in both education and health care, success to date is based on setting the stage for change. now comes the hard work of implementation. ongoing success depends on working together in the next year in the same way worked with each other in the last year and bring into the legislature next month tools to implement to move

forward the work we party started. before trying to specific legislative matters, i would term a new change is. it always makes somebody uncomfortable. if you recall the last time i was here, i offered you an analogy by comparing the development of a successful business to the systems through which we provide public education and health care. if you recall we had an art exercise around that. i may just refresh you. a successful business results from a climate in which investment producers gross and not the circumstances, the business climate in which the business operates changes if the business doesn't design a new business plan to reflect circumstances rather than old ones that flattens often begins to decline. a successful business when it sees the world changing redesigns its business model to take advantage of new circumstances rather than the old and builds a new growth

curve. for a period of time the old growth model and in that area between them has been called the area of paradox and the area attorney and anxiety and a lot of concern because people know what you're doing isn't working but they don't know what the alternative is so they continue to cling to the status quo even though it takes them over the edge. i believe now more than ever that is exactly what we find ourselves in oregon today, particularly with health care and education in this area of paradox that we are well down the road to creating transformational change, to build new business models for both of these services based on today's realities, not realities of the 20th century. we've reached a critical moment in time. some have suggested we've come too far too fast. what i hear for oregonians as we have not come far enough. we're not going to lose our nerve at this critical moment in time. we will forge ahead together

with reform efforts with urgency driven by precarious situations that say citizens in communities throughout the state. 21 oregon county sees double-digit unemployment. one out of every four children in the state of ours goes hungry. half of african-american are living in poverty. imagine a six-year-old showing up for the first day of kindergarten unable to match any spoken or written words, not aware that print is written from left to right and unable to sound out words. imagine not. imagine the incredible disadvantage that child has an imagine trying to do all of that when they're hungry and not getting enough to eat. you may not know any of those children personally, but you see them every time you drive past an elementary school in the state of oregon.

you are looking to hunger poverty, dozens of kids just trying to make it. so the first time we had the opportunity to do something profoundly important about it, all the research demonstrates that children who are ready to learn a kindergarten, ready to read in first grade and read at a level in a third-grader much more likely to graduate from high school and fine social and economic six s. the fact is early childhood success is the foundation for every one of our economic and educational object gives. five years ago in 2006 the city club issued a report called early care and education, which noted and this is a quote, multiple programs across multiple state agencies with no clearer, and be. that report called on state officials to strengthen oregon's effort to coordinate disparate early childhood programs. that is exactly what early learning bill will do the

legislature. it implements recommendations of the council which you find on their website to streamliner system, to ensure coordination and accountability in their programs focused on outcomes for children and families. every day we delay, every year, 46,000 kids are born in the state in 40%, over 18,000 are at risk. risk we will pay for down the road or school failure, school dropout, social dependency, involved in the criminal justice system, wasted human capital. yet you hear people say, these changes are happening too fast. for who? certainly not for the 18,000 at risk kids. for those kids commit these changes can happen fast enough. [applause] serve local and committed

support next month for legislation to implement the recommendations will allow us to move from diagnosing the problem to actually beginning to solve it and give every child in the states a chance they deserve to be successful and set our state and citizens up for prosperity in the future. the second education bill will introduce is necessary to achieve ambitious subject is the 100% high school graduation. next year's class of kindergarten students as a benchmark. they are the class of 2025. 2025 is the year we've said to have 100% high school graduation in the state of oregon. that is a tall order 13 years from now. just yesterday education we ranked oregon 46 out of 50 states in its k-12 treatment. our choice for the class of 2025 is very clear. we can continue our decade-long

experiment with the no child left behind law and its one-size-fits-all approach to school accountability or we can adopt their own tailored approach to improve student outcomes. we can stick with federal control and an oregon high school graduation rate stuck stubbornly at 65% or we can take responsibility upon ourselves as a state to work together with teachers, parents, district administrators, students legislators and nurture community to devise a system that allows more flexibility while pushing every district in every school to better suit now come. we can continue to label schools and teachers in districts as failures and overland standardized testing as a single measure student achievement or we can recognize there is no single formula for school improvement and instead be concise and meaningful goals on a small number of outcome focused measures like third grade reading at high school graduation and closing the

achievement gap we know it's not to accelerate learning and free up resources for comprehensive education. choice is clear in the time is now. we have the opportunity to seek a waiver in the punitive aspects of the no child left behind law if we can create our own home-grown alternative that provides my accountability and better paths for student success. so the second bill we will submit will establish educational achievement compaqs, which are essential to winning the waiver and also essential to achieving our goal of 100% high school graduation rates by 2025. so the achievement compaqs will replace the federal compliance-based approach and create partnership agreements between the state and educational institution school districts, universities and 20 colleges to express a common commitment to approve certain outcome to the unique circumstances of each school

district for educational institution. it will also allow us to compare progress and outcomes between districts that are comparable and begin to connect funding to outcomes so over time the state can be a smarter investor in education. so if we fail to adapt these achievement compaqs in february, we will be left under the no child left behind long and i think everyone agrees is not a good outcome. if we fail to make the shift, we'll have fun in debates a context, debating a big number with no real information about the relative difference between funding levels in student outcomes. i want to pause a moment and make comments about funding. we need to be very cognizant of the fact that we will not achieve our long-term ambitious education attainment goals without additional resources. as i said before, system of public education is underfunded

at all levels. the capacity of our public universities is going after and dramatically to absorb tens of thousands of new graduates. class sizes and k-12 need to calm down, particularly in the lower levels. classes like vocational and technical training, art, music and p.e. need added that, but we can't allow the debate about funding to be the only debate we have and we can't allow the lack of adequate resources to get anywhere the real discussion about how we can be more effective at the resources we do have. for me to focus on key leverage points like early learning and third-grade reading reading and college completion we know who drive down costs and increase performance. regarding health care, action next month's legislature is equally important to fully implement and build out our new health insurance exchange and allow us to move forward by establishing coordinated care organizations across the state.

there are those who are understandably concerned about how this is all going to work out and if and whether we can realize the savings in our budget. i want to pause again and put this concern into a larger context. the context is what is going on in the capital regarding national debt and implications it has other health upper health care in the state of oregon. caius of all of you have a personal credit card. your credit card has a credit limit. and if you don't pay your bill from your credit limit is reduced for your card is eventually canceled. the federal government also has a credit limit called the debt ceiling set by congress and congress has to reset periodically so we can continue to borrow. at the congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, his credit card is canceled and we default on our national debt and that is playing out today in greece and

italy and other countries in europe and that is something we really want to invite here in our country. your credit limit is based on what your bank thinks he can repay. unfortunately the debt ceiling is not based on apple discussion or rather increasingly on the politics of trying to maintain current programs by raising taxes necessary to pay for them because it is deemed politically risky to cut things like medicare and medicaid in defense spending in the election year, so we wrote those under his credit card. that is exactly the political dynamic we saw playing out last august in a high-stakes game of chicken about whether or not to raise the u.s. debt ceiling to keep us from defaulting on the national debt. in the end, congress kicked the can down the road to 2013, just past the election by the way babies in the debt ceiling $2.1 trillion. but they did almost nothing to address the underlying driver of the u.s. national debt which is the intersection of an aging

population hyperinflationary system. they did create a super committee which utterly failed in charge and triggered $1.2 trillion of debt reduction over a decade. $1.2 trillion is a drop in the bucket compared to what we need. think about it at $1.2 trillion in debt reduction will be accrued over 10 years. we are going to increase national debt by two times almost that much by next january. meanwhile, a year ago this month, the first to 70 baby boomers came on the medicaid program and came at a rate of 10,000 a day every day for the next 20 years. by 2020 average medicare recipient will take $3 out of medicare for every dollar they pay him during their lifetime. my point is regardless of who wins the presidential election and by this part is in a year from now, there is no way to get our arms around the national

debt unless they take on medicare and medicaid. absent any rational pathway to the delivery model, congress will turn off the tap and that is really bad news for a health care industry built on a business model that assumes that the public sector and private employers will continue to finance an inflation rate several hine higher than the cpi. those days are gone forever. that brings us back to her again, where people are concerned about whether we actually realized these cost savings. but think about the shortfall in the billions of dollars, which is exactly what will face if we continue to cling to the status quo. people are still in denial. people who think if we can just tell that this health care reform the problem will go away. it won't. because health care reform is not just about politics. it's about economics. the laws of economics are just

as immutable as laws of physics. the reaction time is just a little blogger. the fact is we are rapidly approaching the end of the runway for health care financing as we know it. here is the good news. you may know for every dollar spent on medicaid the federal government gives us $2. the same token, every dollar received in medicaid saves the federal government to dollars. i was in washington the day before yesterday at the white house with the president health policy adviser and deputy chief of staff and also the head of cms, the agency that oversees medicare and medicaid and we took documentation that we ran through the omb and shows oregon say the federal government's $15 billion over the last 20 years and we can save them $20 billion in the next 10 years with her new health care reform. we asked them for several hundred million dollars a year each year for the next five years to help us make this

transition and the response was extraordinarily positive. [applause] so what that means this will most likely have the resources necessary to make this transition for those dollars will not come to oregon to pop up the current delivery model. he will pull through the care organizations that will produce savings over the next 10 years. selecting early in february to authorize the full bill of the health insurance exchange and not brace expansion of the coordinated care organization gives the only chance we've got to create a health care system that's actually financially sustainable. we have an opportunity to help inform the national debate and also put us in a position to weather the economic storm that is surely coming our way when congress seeks to raise the debt ceiling again a year from now.

the choice is ours. a lot to do in the next month, but a whole lot to gain. we are well down the road to transformational change in health care and public education and importantly luck changes and a mock trajectory in february so they can turn our attention to other pressing matters facing the state. developing a revenue system that can adequately fund education and shelter us from the boom bust economic cycles that affect us for decades. adopting a tenure energy plan that gives us a pathway to me rps and reduction goals and maximize energy resources. improving public safety to protect and reduce the cost to the state. on federal lands and what we seek over the next 10 years. moving forward will require courage to challenge the status quo. but it's also going to require

us to actually believe in our ability to shape our future. i'm not suggesting that isn't a risk involved with the path they've undertaken here. but there's a lot more risk in the status quo. the riskiest thing we can do i will continue to do what we're doing because we know that will take a senate on a very good place. anytime his decision the best thing you can do is the right thing. [laughter] the worst thing you can do is nothing. i think you now and i now and oregonians know that delay is not some benign and prudent place order. it is a choice. it is a choice to embrace the status quo. it is a choice to abandon dozens of oregon's schoolchildren situates to spend more and more in health education. in short, and it is a if they choose to bear the responsibility we have for the

next generation in a choice to fill the future and we are better than that. not here, not now, not in oregon. we are not going to fail the future we will not abandon the responsibility that we have for the next generation. i want to close with the words of the epic form ulysses, which i think in a very special way captures the struggle of the working people over the last four years, but also captures the resiliency and spirit and commitment to the future. come my friends. it is not too late to see this newer world. so much is taken, much advise them that we are not now the strength which in old days move was in heaven that which we are, one equal temper of heroic art made with a time and date for strong and well to strive, to

seek, to find and not to yield. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> thank you so much, governor for challenging us to do better and inspiring us. and now if you have written a question on an index card at your table, now is the time to raise it up and given how crowded we are, i advise you raise it up high so the staff can see it and collected and bring it out to me. the first question for a speaker by tradition comes from our friday forum post, who today is

city governor, jeanne a crouch. genius crouch pitching instructor is sustainable growth the charter construction, where she focuses on business development, community outreach and sustainability. jeannie has been a member since 2006 and has served with me on the friday forum committee. [applause] >> thank you, melody and governor for being with us today. we really appreciate it. i reached out to a dozen or more people i know in business and education and in government and ask them what he would want to ask you today. and interestingly, the answers coalesced around one topic and that his tax. we can have a prosperous economy and community you alluded to. so the question as, what do they need to do? is it doable? how do we do it and what

specifically will you do to make that happen? [laughter] >> easy ones first. >> i think two things very briefly. first of all i think just about everyone recognizes we have a dysfunctional tax system in a state of oregon and we disagree on what we need to do about it. the moment of opportunity here having been a veteran of two widely unsuccessful efforts to change the tax system is the debates we've had in the 80s and 90s were just about the attacks. there wasn't a larger context. i think more and more people are beginning to understand there is a direct relationship between the depth of the recessions we have a cyclical basis, the capital from our state and our tax structure. so there are three steps.

the first is we have to get the people on opposite sides of the table during the 66, 67 campaign in the same room and recognize we cannot follow the tax problem without all of the employment hurts. that has begun. we had a meeting several months ago with the leadership of major labor and business organization followed up on a couple other meanings. the dialogue is taking place. planning to do joint point to look at various options. and i think we have to decide on the best approach and obviously a number of fat nurse. one has to do with stability come a key element. one is adequacy of bonus equity, largely in the mind of the beholder and the more difficult one to address, but we have to make sure that the relationship between a long-term economic objective in our tax code is not random, but is intentional. and then we have to have a campaign to educate oregonians about the need to do this.

we are moving in that direction and i'm optimistic we'll be a little pull it off. [applause] >> will not take questions from the floor. as always, members are invited to the microphone address their questions. asking questions at the microphone is a privilege of membership, so please identify yourself as a sitting member and ask your question in under 30 seconds or you will see the infamous city club? also, i'll be sure to read at least one index card from the floor. >> good afternoon, city club member coming thank you for your focus on education, which those of us in business now is key to ensuring the regional economy continues to flourish. i'd like to ask you in two parts, what are chances for getting a waiver and no child left behind and how dependent is that waiver on the legislation that you described with? second, if we get the waiver, how long before you see us

moving forward on an organ specific approach? connect the chance of the waiver are very high. i talked to secretary duncan when he was here in the key is we need to demonstrate that if we are going to get rid as a punitive provision of that law, we have to actually have our own real accountability system and we are perfectly capable of doing that and that obviously will be part of the legislation that goes forward in february. the idea is to have the achievement compact to set up in the next school year, 2012, 2013 sclera to collect baseline data so they cannot have a benchmark for which to measure progress. it is a very important. is about taking a child from where they are and making movement forward been using testing not as a blunt instrument, but it did diagnostic tools you can turn around and help each other next week, nasa and the ghetto report

card card in august telling how your kid did. >> afternoon, jamal sorensen, city club member. i'm one of those many people concerned about health care you mentioned earlier. many of us who deal with seniors and people with disabilities are concerned about the severity of cuts to programs, especially home health care which would drastically affect seniors and people with disabilities. aarp and far less damaging cuts save oregon's seniors.org. i wonder if you'd consider those changes before making further cut to seniors and those who care for them? >> well, i can't argue with anything you said. i mean, having taken care of both of my parents and the last few months of their lives, bathing them, feeding them, i understand the important role that home health workers play in our system. i also believe that home health workers and community health workers will be the back room of

a new delivery model that keeps people with chronic illnesses in their home and not the hospital. the reality is we have a difficult budget and chronic unemployment at 9%. we have $310 million less money now than we did in the end of the budget. we will have to make difficult choices. i'm yesterday with legislative leaders with co-speakers in the senate president to begin a process to see how we can do this. there will be some cuts and that's not session. i'm not going to defend the budget will do the best we can to set priorities. but i also think we need to keep our eye on the long haul to make sure the choices we make and this biennium look at the impacts we have in 2013 and 15 to continue to seek waivers to allow us to use the dollars to more efficiently get hundreds of millions of dollars for federal resources into this state, hopefully in this biennium to mitigate some cuts.

i cannot tell you though that some of those cuts are going to take place. >> good afternoon, governor. i want to thank you on the behalf of minority voters. initially ten-month ago we accuse you of not doing anything around equity. 10 months after that, you're doing a great job. >> my work is done here. [laughter] >> this is not mission accomplished, governor. >> the 40% african-american kids you eloquently said in your speech is man-made. when the resource is or again is in an insert minority contract juries cannot ask that, what we have is poverty and communities of color. what are you doing at least now to mitigate and to create answers to opportunity among

communities of color? >> said yesterday afternoon i met with representatives of minority contract is around the state in our conference room, your comments and actually to talk just about that. there are significant -- extra two weeks ago we had a meeting abalone with ceos around the state to talk about a variety of issues about minority contracting and minority businesses in emerging businesses and women-owned businesses it is a couple of robust opportunities coming up. one is this year's the, which will move forward. there will be a lot of contracts with the crc at one of the things we want to do is get some major contractors we know will be involved in around with some minority contractors and see if we can do some mentoring and figure out opportunities embedded in that project to really make progress on the road for creating opportunities, not just for contracting, but growth

is some minority business enterprises. another is a school program is that begins to ramp up. it's on the radar screen. met just yesterday with a group of people focused on the assembly will continue to lean into this. >> anthony peschel, thank you, governor for your innovation and candidness in the state right now. my question is around communication and i prefaced it with given the tense political climate we have right now and origin's unique ballot ballot initiative within our constitution that could undermine some of the things you're planning on doing, what do you plan on communicating to the general public and how do you how do you plan on communicating a lot of your changes, which as you mentioned change be difficult. >> well, you know who ken masiello's, my communications are. we have obviously a very act of

social media operation out of the office, but we're trying to use the networks of various partners we are working with to bring about these changes. but obviously the education association american federation of teachers a tremendous and robust network as does the european school boards association. university system. i happen to have first-hand experience with the effectiveness of the university of oregon outreach network. [laughter] the business association. essentially we try to engage the major stakeholders have been a party to designing to use their networks to reach out and communicate. i was a sign that we are having a series of community meetings around the state this month around the work of the oregon education investment board, including the early learning council. so we are attempting to have a very aggressive community outreach aspect as well.

[inaudible] >> one question from the floor, from the table. teach for america and other programs like at a place in the future of transforming k-12 education the state? >> any program that helps the professional development of art teaching staff and gives them opportunities to teach in different venues that they not us. i think we are obviously looking for partners and ideas and concepts proven around the country that we can use here in oregon to bolster and accelerate efforts. >> bill dickey, city club member. i first of all want to thank you for your talk with the members to ask their questions. it's a time-honored tradition and i think the members of the club really respect the speakers who monitor the time it and give us a chance to ask questions.

i'm also a business owner who has been suffering. i own a printing company. with a double whammy of the recession in an additional revolution that is sort of hurt the printing industry in general. we have been suffering through a really difficult times trying to figure out how financer company. and so my question -- i've written it down so i don't get it out. >> actually bill brad very -- you touched on this briefly in your talk. one of the things i like about brad. 2010 was his state bank idea. in any event, here's my question for you. what you're doing to support work in businesses who want to examine and debate that don't have the capital to do it? >> the effort we're undertaking with the treasure just is the idea to the average the

resources we have to increase or a best buy and try to free up a lot of private credit sitting in capital, whether that is to return to the program or other marketing sense, to gauge as to essentially try to leverage public resources. we should have a draft of the legislation -- we actually probably have one and i have been to know you so make sure you get a copy of the bill drafting you can look at it, i urge you to come down to salem in the legislature is considering this. the other thing i want to mention that i was fortunate enough to participate in a white house conference on wednesday on and sourcing on basically how then can we bring manufacturing back in that state of oregon and into the united states? it's interesting how many people are thinking about that. folks that make the otis

elevators throughout the manufacturing mexico and brought it back because it separated manufacturing from r&d and manufacturer transportation costs and other ratios is no longer penciling out quite as well. there's a real opportunity and access to capital, but also to be attentional and aggressive to bring the manufacturers offshore back here to the united states and particularly the state of oregon. >> but after now, governor. [inaudible] a lot of people that i listened to were concerned about the elliott state forest decision. do you have a biting questions about the way we tied the funding for river schools to oregon forest? i understand some people have 90% of our forests are gone. that law came into effect when we have more trees and fewer

people in this situation is radically reversed over the last century or so that we've lived with this. what would you do to address the problem of funding rural schools, but not at the expense of the last few trees and also one quick comment. men and forests of the tree. >> will not agree entirely with your last statement. i do think there're vast reaches of federal forests, particularly in the northeast part of the state that will burn down an essay for us that is that bernstein is neither a tree farm very forest. it is charcoal. reduces carbon in the atmosphere, does real damage anything to sensitive habitats. so i think we'd find a place where we can have a conversation

about this. i don't think anyone wants to go when i log over a forest, but we interested the national cycle, particularly in the northeast of our forests to suppress fires. we have hydrated some big fire resistant trees end-of-life stark raving. this is not a natural habitat and fund management to make them healthier can also produce fiber that can be used for a biomass industry and putting people back to work. that's on the east side inside their origin. we have a very strange set of laws enacted piece over time. have to do is default in a man. have to deal with patchwork of forests. we have a very perverse financing mechanism for cutting trees. i think that's an artificial connection and i don't think we have to continue that. we're working very, very hard.

what if counties facing very serious financial issues .. regardless of what happens with the forest on it. a short-term challenge of trying to figure it out to maintain a financial integrity of our counties, particularly in southwest oregon may longer-term challenge should tolerate to measure in a way that makes sense. i personally feel of the lands were bundled and there are parts that are plantations have been operative plantations. if we use is going forward as an opportunity to provide a responsible production capacity and not part of state, they said their lands if we can bundled them up around ecosystems, watersheds or we can create a big conservation can as well. and for that to happen, we have to basically find a table of space to sit down and have a conversation about that. i'll close this by saying were essentially creating a spot in my office to have a person working full time on forestry issues and at the top of the

list is trying to address this growing crisis down in southwest oregon. >> hi, mary boca line. it is a killer at lunches. and i wanted to ask about an issue that seems to have almost disappeared from the mainstream media these days, unless you listen to democracy now, you heard almost nothing about the durban conference on climate change, for example. so what about climate change? what is the state doing to show leadership in the absence of the federal government's role ms? 's >> well, a couple of things. and my remarks to the oregon business summit, i talked a little about beginning to add and integrate into european business elements of what i call a sustainable economy. an economy that seeks economy

and jobs by replenishing our national environment. i think what we are talking about in terms of the management of some of these is an element of a conservation economy and there is a restoration economy out there as well. i've done a lot of work developing a very real market for ecosystem services. the three biggest elements that contribute to greenhouse gases are power generation, transportation and environment. our cool schools initiative is trying to prove the roi investing and large scale which are bits of our environment from a debt-financed mechanism. i think that we are developing a ten-year energy plan to try to guess a pathway forward on both renewables, head of a rps and reduction goals. the big nut to crack long-term

as our transportation set their. we are making some steps towards washington and california is putting an ev recharge stations around the state. we are taking steps and if we can develop a common set of policies on the west coast, we can move the national debate forward. i think the debate at the national level is stalled out as is the responsible debate about health care and other things. there thinks he can on the west coast were definitely doing some in the state of oregon. >> susan stoltenberg number. also direct drive impact northwest, which is a social service that has thousands of folks that are positively affect it by good vision with regard to health care, education and early learning. my question is three fold and you partially answered one of them. most of the families we serve need housing.

second thing, a lot of folks we served as most of the children we serve have. to need jobs. they are underemployed and unemployed. and it so we can them, all the early childhood, the best education in the world are not going to be looked to be received by those children. and the third part of that is mental health. so let me give you jobs, not to my satisfaction, but if you could extrapolate, but what about the immediate need or basic needs for housing and mental health? >> i didn't talk about jobs potentially. i want to talk about issues we have to move forward with the 2012 february session. i did talk about jobs last month at the oregon business summit.

your point is very well taken that there are service is absolutely essential for children and families in houston is one of them, hunger is another one. but we attempt to do the early learning council. if you like on the website and look at the delivery mechanism as we envision it is organized around elementary school areas, where family resource manager would work to connect those families with whatever those services happened to be, whether that be housing challenge or mental health issues. there's no question that a whole lot of investments and mental health independent services. you've got to treat the entire family. their services in an event overpeer the problem is they are not connected, not integrated in many of these contracts at the state state to provide services are not performance-based contracts. adults around how many people they serve, not whether people benefit from the service.

that is where a lot of the resistance is. everyone will argue that needs to be changed as long as the revenue stream doesn't go to someone else for iraq to change what i'm doing. we do have to change the entire system. the other thing i want to make reference to is the first lady is fleeting a very aggressive initiative to focus on poverty and to actually develop a poverty policy. a lot of programs that address poverty. poverty is an underlying contributing pratt dared to all the other else's bad part of it is a social services issue, parties the jobs issue. as the economy begins to recover, we've got to be intentional about workforce community workforce agreement and creating opportunities and pathway opportunities for people who are living in poverty to get back into the work force. [applause]

..