time to leave no doubt. [applause] we must enact legislation to make it clear that child abuse must be reported by anyone who knows or suspects it is taking place. . . ers are being sentenced for other crimes. and any person who gives their car to someone they know does not have a license because of a dwi conviction should face real punishment.

while we're on the subject of public safety, i'm once again asking this legislature to repeal the dangerous law that gives driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. [ applause ] we've seen several fraud operations busted recently. just last year, an elaborate scheme was uncovered in eastern new mexico - where hundreds of driver's licenses were sold to illegal immigrants. the ringleader bragged that he made $30,000 a month. i've put forward a strong compromise to repeal this law and still allow driving privileges for dreamers. it's time to act. the legislature should do what the overwhelming majority of new mexicans are demanding - repeal this dangerous law.

[ applause ] in addition to asking whether the state is safe, businesses often want to know - will they be given a fair shake by those in government? not special treatment, just a fair shake. we've taken some important steps, but can do even more. just as i've prohibited my appointees from lobbying the legislature or the administration after leaving their posts, the same two-year ban should apply to members of the legislature as well. and, in addition, it's time to require those convicted of corruption to be immediately removed from public office. [ applause ] and they should be prohibited from unloading their campaign funds into any place other than donating it to new mexico's general fund.

[ applause ] before i close, it's always the right time to honor and support those who fought so hard to protect our freedom - our veterans. earlier this year, i started a pilot program where we hired a crew of veterans who had recently returned from combat to serve as firefighters. they became well-trained and battled summer blazes in pecos, kingston, and jemez, as well as fires in california and oregon when other states needed our help, showing tremendous skill and unparalleled work ethic.

i'd like to introduce two of those brave soldiers, and now, trained firefighters - husband and wife, brian and tessa filip. [ applause ] thank you for your service, and in honor of it, i propose that we make the "returning heroes" firefighting program permanent. as we continue to provide free mental health services to returning veterans and their families, we must never forget that honoring veterans who are no longer with us is one of the most sacred responsibilities society shares. it's time to start building local veterans cemeteries throughout new mexico, of the highest standard. that way, families of our veterans no longer have to travel great distances to visit

the gravesites of their loved ones. for $600,000, we can build three or four new cemeteries in areas that have large populations of unserved veterans. we'd be the first state to adopt this unique approach to a long-standing problem. it is the least we can do, given all they have done for us. [ applause ] with great challenges come great opportunities. to seize these opportunities, we must come together - republicans and democrats, the legislature and the governor.

i know we can do it, because we have in the past, on very big issues. we came together to close the largest structural deficit in state history, and came together to completely revamp our unemployment insurance system. we came together on education reform, school grading to increase accountability, and making k-3 plus permanent to give struggling kids the help they need. this session we need to do more on education, tackle early childhood literacy, and reform our lottery scholarship to sustain it in the immediate future, and to protect it for the long run. on tax reform, all sides compromised, and we achieved a great deal for the people of new mexico. we cut the business tax rate by 22 percent, closed loopholes, and enhanced film incentives for television series filmed in the state. this session is a short session - only 30 days.

let's put the most pressing issues first - education reform and helping create a diverse and helping create a diverse economy that's less dependent on washington, d.c. while we won't agree on everything, and there will certainly be spirited debates, i am committed to working with you to find common ground, just like we have in the past, because the people of new mexico deserve nothing less. thank you. god bless you all, and god bless the state of new mexico. [ applause ]

>> a local santafe noted that much of the applause came from her own party. common ground might be hard to find on martinez agenda especially on issues that have been fought in previous sessions. pat quin delivering his state of the state address in springfield. he took over in 2009 and was later elected to a full term in 2010 becoming the state's 44th governor. [ applause ]

>> mr. governor, please proceed. >> president cullerton, speaker madigan, leader radogno, leader durkin, lieutenant governor simon, attorney general madigan, secretary white, comptroller topinka, treasurer rutherford, members of the general assembly, and distinguished guests: good afternoon. i'd like to begin by recognizing two public servants who gave their full measure of devotion

to all of us on monday night. illinois tollway worker vincent petrella lost his life doing his job. vincent was struck and killed on i-88 while helping a truck driver in distress. he served with the tollway for 13 years. he leaves his wife sandra and two young children behind. and we ask god to bless his immortal soul. illinois state police trooper douglas balder was with vincent that night. at this hour, trooper balder is battling for his life at loyola university medical center in maywood. we thank him for his ethic of service and we pray for his recovery. please join me in a moment of silence and prayer for vincent petrella and trooper douglas balder. brblth [moment of silence]

in illinois we honor our heroes and we're grateful for their service. i'd like to welcome two more illinois heroes, sergeant brent adkins and sergeant benjamin griest of the illinois national guard. shortly after midnight on monday, january 6, they answered the call. multiple semis had jack-knifed and caused a pile-up on i-57 and i-70 near effingham. the drifts were so thick and the snow falling so hard that even our snowplows could not clear the way and more than 400 motorists were stranded in wind chills of thirty below.

sergeant adkins and sergeant griest traveled from the national guard armory in mattoon through arctic conditions in the middle of the night with their wrecker in tow -- a military vehicle that can lift more than 10 tons. they cleared the road and rescued hundreds of people. thank you sergeants, for getting the job done. just weeks earlier, many of our communities were devastated by deadly tornadoes. eight people lost their lives and 2,265 lost their homes.

six-year old brevin hunter, of washington, illinois, was one who lost his home. brevin warned his mom to seek cover in their family's basement just moments before the tornado decimated their home. he saved her life. brevin and his family are here today. way to go, brevin.

today and every day, we all belong to brookport, gifford, new minden, diamond and washington. emergencies test the preparedness and resilience of our government and our people. and we have been well tested. in the last five years, illinois has been through 11 natural disasters. we've watched droughts plague our farmers -- the backbone of our economy. we saw last april's pervasive flooding in 49 counties. we remember the tragic tornado in harrisburg just two years ago. extreme weather is a reality

with devastating effects and it demands our constant readiness. and each and every time, our state workers, our service members, and our first-responders have gotten the job done. now, natural disasters were not all that we managed in the past five years. some disasters were of the man-made variety. exactly five years ago this day, i was sworn in as governor, at illinois' darkest moment. we were facing an unprecedented triple crisis of government corruption, economic collapse, and financial instability. we had one former governor in jail and another on the way to jail. our economy had plunged into the worst recession since the great depression, brought to its knees by greedy and corrupt financiers. and our financial house was on fire, set ablaze by decades of mismanagement and an utter lack of willingness to make the tough calls. hardworking people in illinois lost their jobs, their homes and their faith in those they had entrusted with their votes.

it was a perfect storm, and it left destruction in its path. we all knew that repairing the damage that had been done over decades would not happen overnight. but over the past five years, we've rebuilt one hard step at a time. and we've been getting the job done. illinois is making a comeback. first, we restored integrity to state government, passing a strong new ethics code, campaign finance reform and a new constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall any governor guilty of corruption.

when i took the oath of office, state government hadn't properly invested in our infrastructure in 10 years. within 10 weeks, we passed the largest construction program in illinois history. so far, we've built and repaired 7,595 miles of road, 1,311 bridges and 978 schools. five years ago illinois did not guarantee equal rights to all couples. our state did not even provide civil unions. today we embrace full marriage equality -- it's the law of the land. and unlike our predecessors, we've made the tough calls to balance the budget. we cut more than one billion dollars in state spending. we overhauled our medicaid program to save taxpayers over two billion dollars. and even as we took hard steps to return illinois to sound financial footing, we did it with compassion, preserving the safety net to protect the most vulnerable.

we also accomplished comprehensive pension reform, something no governor or legislature had been able to do. previous governors and legislators from both parties created the pension crisis. they did not make the required payments into the pension funds. there was no fiscal accountability. and it led to a culture of instability shaking the confidence of taxpayers and businesses. resolving illinois' pension crisis was the tallest task of all. but together, we got the job done. since i took office, we have paid the full pension payment every year. we passed a historic pension reform law for new employees in 2010. ...

>> a strong economy relies on fairness and inclusion. and if we follow this, we will do three things. create more jobs and deliver stronger education and build an economy that works for everyone. of course, economic growth starts with jobs. recovery began in january of 2010 and illinois has added 280,000 private sector jobs. unemployment was at 11.3% at the

height of the great recession. today it is at its lowest point in almost five years. since last may billina has led the midwest and new jobs created. with the strong support of the illinois retail merchandise association, we reformed the workers compensation system and our unemployment insurance system. these reforms have saved hundreds of millions of dollars and we know that we have much more work to do. we will start with a renewed focus on small business. three out of every four illinois employers are small businesses. in the last five years we have helped them through our advantage only program we have provided loans and investment to help small businesses grow. one of them is a battery

manufacture on the southside of chicago. it has leveraged our programs to grow from six full-time employees to 40 employees in just four years. today they are exporting all over the world. including the founder and ceo and with us here today, we thank you and salute you with all of our small businesses for your hard work. [applause] >> they are all getting the job done. but we have to do more to support our small businesses. especially as they did started. new businesses have long paid a 500-dollar fee when they open up shop. let's reduce this be to $39, the lowest in the nation and provide a boost to our innovators. this small but important step

will encourage entrepreneurs to start their business and put more people to work in illinois. but we won't stop there. today i am issuing the executive order to establish a small business advocate whose sole focus is to examine policies and proposals through the lens of how they impact illinois small businesses. let's make life easier for small businesses and make sure that small businesses always mean big business in illinois. [applause] in the past five years we have received minority and women owned businesses and established a new revolving loan program. thanks for the great work of maddy hunter. as we have expanded. and we have expanded contracting goals for these small

businesses. and we have increased the state contracts for women owned forms and transfers by nearly 60% and an increase of 1129 contracts with more than $120 million. in the metro east, african american businesses and workers help to build a new veterans memorial bridge over the mississippi river, which we will soon dedicate. they are getting the job done. modern bridges, modern highways, railroads, and a sound infrastructure is critical to a strong economy. in the last five years the illinois job program have invested more than $31 billion in infrastructure. in this is supported more than 400,000 jobs. thanks to these investments we have constructed the morgan street bridge and we are

building this in 2013. including the expressway and the quantities and construction is underway on a new circle interchange to relieve congestion on the eisenhower kennedy expressways. after years of deadlock, we are moving forward on our plan to build a new self suburban airport. and we are making the iliana expressway a reality to create thousands of jobs and strengthen our position as the largest inland port in the nation. [applause] are clean water initiative, we are investing more than a billion dollars in clean water, including 28,000 jobs along the way. these are good jobs or jobs for welders and truck drivers and operating engineers and painters

and carpenters and laborers. these were replacing ancient water mains and upgrading and building wastewater treatment plants all of our state, including indicator in rockford and spring valley and murphysboro. we have received 91 clean water applications from communities across illinois. this year we will expand our clean water initiative and doubled his investment to include critical storm water and flood control projects. when it comes to creating the infrastructure that we need for a strong economy we have been getting the job done. there is more work to do and we have been making progress when it comes to preparing our workforce for the 21st century jobs. including job lynk.com, our employment opportunity websites and 100 30,000 jobs that are

available right now. many of these jobs will either specific skills. and that is why we are preparing our workers for high skill and demand jobs which is a top priority to help us fill those jobs we have mobilized the education system behind our 2025 goal. we want 60% of our adult workforce to have a degree or a certificate by the year 2025. and we have been reading our targets every year on this mission. since 2008 our community colleges have grown the number of people graduating with degrees. and we can't finish the job if deserving students are not able to afford a college education. so over the next five years, but

stubble the number of math in college scholarships for students needed in illinois. our scholarship program today helps about 140,000 students go to college. students like tamari jackson and howard brown that are here today. doubling the numbers, we can make sure that deserving students in need are equipped to xl 21st entry work is. in another way we can prepare young people to succeed is through workplace experience. that is why we should expand our young adult conservation corps. this will help at risk young people get a job and getting valuable training and work experiences. these young people learn important skills and develop the skills while doing necessary work in state and local parks

and conservation areas all across illinois. there is no question that our veterans already had strong skills. we are making sure that those skills count here in illinois. last year i issued an executive order mandating the assessment of military training against ours eight licensing requirements. thanks to the work that follows the executive order, we have a new funding from the national governors association and in the coming academic year. we will launch the medics to obtain the lpn degrees at joliet junior college.

[applause] and part of our job strategy is investing in the industries that are the future of the 21st century economy. that is why we invested in 1871. the digital hub in the merchandise market has grown over 200 startups and created more than a thousand jobs in this two years. that is why now we are going to invest in a new bio hub with a pharmaceutical medical device and health i.t. startups. the life-sciences in illinois has a 98 billion-dollar economic footprint. and our new bio hub is going to drive even more economic growth into that sector. we should never forget that illinois has always been a manufacturing hub. especially the auto manufacturers and their suppliers. when i took office, chrysler employed 200 people at the belvedere plant. we partnered with chrysler. and now they employ more than 4700 workers at that very same

plant. five years ago ford had just one shift at its plant with a total of 1600 workers and we worked with ford and now they have three shifts with more than 5100 workers. in the last year alone we have promoted illinois around the world and we have gotten results. the company that upgrade water systems moved their north american headquarters after my trade mission to germany with the international manufacture of i.t. with their north american headquarters. after our meetings in japan, they chose illinois for their expansion. after meeting with denmark, the largest water pump manufacturer in the world, they move their

north american headquarters to downers grove and that is more jobs and opportunities for illinois workers. [applause] and the economy also demands quality public education. and that starts with good teachers. teachers change lives for the good. and we appreciate the hard work and we have been getting the job done on education and this includes a report card and teacher evaluation with strong benchmarks and performance that is prioritized. in fact, our reforms have become a model for the nation. but our unfinished job on education started where it matters most.

in early childhood. study after study has shown that high quality, early childhood education provides the best return of any public investment i can make. including at risk children. from birth all the way to kindergarten. i have always thought to preserve early childhood education from radical budget cuts and we found a way to invest. $45 million to build early childhood centers including in cicero. leading the nation in the number of 3-year-olds attending preschool. but the status quo is not enough and it's not even close. the reality is that more than one third of the youngest most formidable children don't have the opportunity to attend early

learning programs before they enter kindergarten. that is unacceptable. 50% are more likely to be placed in education and they are 70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime. scripture tells us where there is no vision the people perish. and that is why today i am calling for a bold initiative that will be focused on three key to a healthy child. prenatal care, access to early learning opportunities and strong parent support. this initiative starts before a mother gives birth to her child. by ensuring that she has access to prenatal services throughout her pregnancy. the good news is that the

prenatal care is already available to expectant mothers with moderate incomes are existing programs. yet 25% of our low income mothers are not receiving the prenatal care they need. children pay the price. mothers do not receive prenatal care are three times likely or more likely to give birth to a lowly baby, which leads to increased risks for cardiovascular disease. this includes diabetes, learning disabilities and poor development. also the taxpayers pay the price. the cost of the birth of a baby that is a low weight is five times that of a normal birth. in addition to significant medical needs that burden the system, these children often require early intervention services and remedial education and repetition. and they lose out on the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

so through our initiative over the next five years, we will work with our community partners and schools, hospitals and faith-based organizations to identify expectant mothers and connect them to prenatal services. we can ensure more children are born into the opportunities that they deserve. we can save the taxpayers money. but we won't stop there. when the human brain is forming in a child's early life, it provides a critical window of opportunity to develop key academic and social and cognitive skills that will determine success in school and in life. that is why the second pillar of our initiative is to provide every child with access to quality early learning opportunities. this is especially important for african american and latino children. children like cadence very robinson, a 5-year-old who i

recently met when i visited spencer technology academy on the west side of chicago. she sat on my knee. she told me that she was getting ready for kindergarten. and then she read the numbers on my business card to me. something that she could do, thanks to the head start program she was attending. with strong early childhood education, kids like cadence are set on a path for long-term success. we are really proud of you. thank you very much for what you are doing. [applause] [applause] and we also see the importance of early childhood education. people like christine, raised by a single mom in chicago's hilton neighborhood. her family struggled every month to make ends meet. her mother always knew that she wanted more for her children.

after seeing a flyer, she enrolled christine in an early learning program. she then went to high school and then on to college and last year she completed her master's degree at the university of chicago. today she is a fellow at the latino forum and striving for a career in early childhood. good job, good choice, christine. [applause] [applause] in 2009 i established the governor's office of early childhood development. and as a result we secured the race to the top, allowing us to deliver high-quality early care and education programs. by properly investing in existing early learning programs and making this a budget priority that we can transform

the lives and save taxpayers money. but we can't stop there. a child's parent is a child's first teacher and best teacher. moms and dads away the most important role in promoting the healthy development of their children. not all families, unfortunately, are equipped with the information and the support that they would need to create healthy learning environment. that is why the nerd critical part of our initiative calls for ensuring parents to make sure that they have the support and services that they need. family involvement during preschool is linked with stronger pre-literacy skills and math skills. social skills and a positive attitude. over the next five years we will connect families with a range of services and training opportunities to help them support their children's education. we will expand the home visiting program and build upon innovative community

partnerships in places like east st. louis, north lawndale. once the initiative is fully implemented, mothers will be connected with prenatal care to ensure the healthy birth and development of their children. children and grandchildren in illinois will have access to quality early learning starting up or and parents will have the tools to lead their children toward success in school and college and careers and beyond. illinois can lead the nation in early childhood education. we already have the foundation in place and now is the time to get the job done for illinois liberalist. [applause] [applause] giving our children the best start in life will lead to a stronger economy. but if our economy doesn't work for hard-working families, if it

doesn't build the middle class, then our job is not done. the foundation of a strong economy is a strong middle-class. in illinois we believe that if you work hard and you play by the rules, you deserve a fair shake. every person, no matter what challenges he or she faced as deserves an opportunity. that is why a big part of our blueprint today is ensuring that all illinoisans have the opportunity to pursue their dream and enter the middle class. building a middle class means keeping families in their homes. thousands of hard-working families were in danger of losing their families in the great recession. but we work to fight foreclosure and promote affordable homeownership. we have launched the illinois hardest hit program to help working families keep their home. more than 11,000 families in every county in the state have

received the foreclosure prevention support they needed. we also launched welcome home here as to give military families an opportunity to buy homes after sacrificing so much to protect our freedom. thanks to the welcome home heroes, 1150 military families have access to more than $140 million to help their homes. we have not forgotten about our neighbors with developmental disabilities. which is why we have financed more than 2500 new supportive housing units that provide individuals with disabilities more choices in their communities. and that is why we have honored the example set by the students of downers grove north high school. they have demonstrated what everything and everyone is all about. dan wagner with down syndrome and when she was diagnosed with

leukemia. her friends did not forget her. her lifelong friend nominated her to be the homecoming queen and the students voted for her to be the homecoming queen. and mary, we are so very proud of you. [applause] [applause] [applause] building a middle class also means providing everyone with decent health care. today 144,000 more people have health coverage in illinois who didn't have it one year ago. many more will find coverage in the coming year to get covered

illinois dog. thank you representative lisa fernandez and mary flowers for your health care leadership. this year we really have a job to do for our fellow citizens who are making the minimum wage. $8.25 per hour. our minimum-wage workers are doing hard work. they are putting in long hours. into and to many instances they are living in poverty. that is not right. that is not an illinois value. that is not a fair shake. this is all about dignity and decency and i said it last year and i will say it again that it is time to raise illinois minimum wage to at least $10 per hour. [applause] [applause] weighs in on trent raising wages

for workers who are doing some of the hardest jobs in our society is not just the right thing to do. but it's also good for our economy. including the federal reserve and every dollar increase in the minimum wage. workers spend an additional $2800 in their local community. minimum-wage workers do not admire money in a bank vault. but they spend it quickly and locally. a shot in the arm to our mainstream businesses. let's get this job done. let's make our economy worth it for working families. another way to help our working family is the earned income tax credit. a tax credit that president reagan once said was the best anti-poverty and the best profamily and the best job creation measure we could devise. in the last five years, we have doubled as tax relief for illinois working families. over the next five years we should double it again.

when more people enter the middle class, our economy grows. 43% of all workers in illinois, more than 2.5 million people, have no right to a single earned sick day. among the low-wage workers, the problem is worse. 80% of low-wage workers do not receive any earned sick days. we need to do something about this. we should provide at least two earned sick days for every worker in illinois. we need help our workers. especially so they can avoid the awful choice, dragging themselves with the dead to work for losing a days pay. or maybe even their job. more than 70 years ago president franklin roosevelt said that the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have money, but it's whether we have

provided enough for those who have to live. this, too, is about dignity and decency. let's get this job done for working families. five years ago this very day, i stood before you and i asked for your prayers. illinois was in a state of emergency. and there is no quick exit. there were no easy solutions. recovery on trent required tough medicine and unpopular medicine and it would take time. but like hard issue after hard issue and never giving up, we are getting the job done. illinois is making a comeback. rating agencies are setting positive signals for the first time in recent memory. the backlog of bills is going down. unemployment is at its lowest point since the economy crashed. according to the most recent federal reserve bank report, in the next six months illinois is

projected to have the best economic growth of the five largest states in america. of course, we have financial challenges still ahead. and we will be talking about the best way to meet those challenges with the upcoming budget. but the fact is our recovery is strengthening every day. and we are leading that recovery in a way that cares for working families. hope frances has said we have a financial system which rules rather than service. ..

we have led illinois come back. one not step the time. work to repair decades a damaged commend we are getting the job done. let's keep our shoulder to the will and finished that job of. and it's like the will of the people of the land. thank you. [applause] [applause] >> thank you, mr. speaker. a move that that joint session now arise.

>> the president of the set has moved the joint session arise. all those in favor say aye. >> of the examiner pointed out that governor quinn's comments about eleanor making a comeback is not reflected in held local residents feel about current conditions in the state. according to the article governor quinn's approval rating is low among constituents. despite his call for increasing the minimum wage and spending more on early childhood education bill lawyer reportedly remains one of the most financially broke states and the country. no nebraska governor giving his last state of the state address to lawmakers that the state capitol in lincoln. governor evan kemp office in 2005 cyber. his remarks run about 15 minutes. [applause]

>> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. mr. president, mr. speaker, members of the legislature chairman, distinguished guests, friends and fellow nebraska's, to begin my remarks today by thanking our fellow citizens for their dedication and commitment to their communities, our state, and the united states of america . our nebraska values, personal responsibility, family, hard work, and fiscal responsibility have kept nebraska in better shape than the rest of the country. we have learned how to compete in global markets. we strengthened nebraska's education system by focusing on academic excellence and academic

improvement. we care about our children. every legislative session we tackle the tough issues head on, and we made the difficult decisions that moved nebraska forward. we have our responsibility to provide our citizens and future generations with the opportunity to succeed. this session will be no different. the issues that we need to resolve and the course that we need to charge for our state is serious and substantial. not everyone will agree on every issue, but our decisions were greatly impacting nebraska's future success. so let's begin our conversation today about one of those challenging and important issues, health care. president obama said, if you like your current health care plan you can keep it. unfortunately that is simply not true for. millions of americans have received cancellation notices because of their current health

care plan because of obamacare. the implementation has been one disaster after another. deadline after a deadline has been missed. president obama promise the american people that if you already have insurance his plan would reduce your insurance premiums of $2,500 per family per year. again, this is not true. the facts show otherwise. the institute analyze insurance rate changes as a result of obamacare and found that nebraska's will be among the hardest-hit americans. the required parts of the new federal health care law low will cost the state of nebraska more than $200 million in state general funds of the next six years. that is $200 million in funding that could be used for education . president obama and his white house political operatives in trying to pressure nebraska into expanding medicaid, but nebraska

will not be intimidated by the obama administration says. the yen's state supreme court said obama's medicare in beijing is optional. it is up to each state to decide how they want to proceed. the financial reality of expanding medicaid is simple. expanding medicaid will result in less featured above for state aid to education, special education, early childhood programs, the university of nebraska, or state college system, and the community colleges. additionally, the federal government is already trillions of dollars in debt and is unlikely to fulfil its promise commitment. we have seen this happen before. for example, the federal government commitment a special education funding has not been met. we researched a steady the medicaid expansion issue carefully, thoughtfully, and methodically. the irresponsible choices is to

reject this optional medicaid expansion. another important issue that needs to be addressed is nebraska's approach to crime and punishment. there are short-term and long-term components to this issue. allowing the most loyal and criminals to enter into our state prison system and to have their judge impose sentences automatically reduced by one after the use of the current good time program is not sound public policy. as you know, the current law allows violent criminals to automatically receive a good time the moment they enter in nebraska correctional facility. violent criminals should be required target time. i have done all that i can administratively by changing the rules and regulations that allowed the department of correctional services to take away twice as much good time

when a prisoner assaults are corrections official or another inmate. now it's up to you. the nebraska legislature to reform the good times will. the recent murders were a wake-up call for everyone of us. the people of ormoc, the citizens of nebraska should be able to walk the streets of their neighborhood without fear of being shot. another important issue regarding prison capacity is of long term department of corrections services study. this study will provide as valuable information, although the long-term needs of the pre -- state prison system. as the study will not be completed until this summer, it would be premature to recommend what the future needs are for the nebraska correctional system in the meantime we are addressing short-term prison capacity issues. funding for additional security staff, contrasting with county jails, increasing the work ethic

prisoner population and reducing the number of federal detainees in nebraska's prison system. the other critical crime issue that should be addressed and also to some reform and punishment. i am prepared to work with the nebraska legislature, the nebraska supreme court, the department of correctional services and the council of state governments in developing zero long-term prison capacity strategy. there may be opportunities for our state to enact innovative solutions that ensure public safety at a lower cost for our taxpayers. and also look for to of fiber discussion of the proposal to enact a limited supervised release program in order to reduce the number of prisoners who reaffirmed after they leave the state prison system. panera let's discuss the biggest and most important issue facing the state of nebraska, high taxes. why is this issue so important?

tax relief is a major driving force for economic success. nebraska is a strong agricultural economy will continue to exist with unreasonably high property taxes . when agriculture fares poorly, so those rural nebraska. however, when agriculture succeeds camauro nebraska and may street and abreast a flourish. the success of small businesses is also an essential component of nebraska's economic fatality. high taxes split their growth in their ability to create new jobs here is the reality we're facing over the past decade median family incomes and nebraska have declined. food prices are up, health care costs are increasing, and middle-class family take-home pay is him. here's the good news, you can help nebraska families. the nebraska legislature can increase family to copay by

lowering taxes. middle-class families, farmers or ranchers, small business owners need our help. and going to fight for a responsible and meaningful tax relief for restaurants, and i hope you will, too. they're counting on us to help them, you and i both know taxes are one of the toughest and most difficult issues to resolve, but that is what leaders are for, solving complex challenges. tax issues are multifaceted and nebraska. local governments decide property-tax rates. state governments set income tax and sales tax rates. i appreciate the discussion that the tax modernization community had regarding taxes, but it is time for the legislature to act. we don't need more time to study this issue. we already know taxes are too high. high taxes are detrimental to economic growth. it is time for a straightforward

conversation about property and income tax relief. nebraska is no, the legislature does not set property-tax rates. for example, the city council decides the property tax rates, not the center had leaked even though he is chair of the revenue committee. the lincoln public school board sets the property tax rates for help ps, not senator sullivan and even though she is chair of the education committee. the tribasic and arty set property-tax rates for their energy, not senator carlson even though he is chair of the natural resources committee. county boards, overall fire districts to a community college boards, educational service units and other local government entities set property-tax rates, not the legislature. when local government spending increases property taxes go up.

we need our partners and local governments to slow the rate of growth in spending in order to achieve real property tax relief in rural nebraska record high property taxes are hurting our farmers and ranchers because they have experienced dramatic growth in agriculture land values. with an action economic prosperity is a risk. we can help our farmers and ranchers by supporting the nebraska farm bureau proposal to lower ag land valuations from 75% to 65%. that is one part of tax relief. the other challenge is nebraska's high income taxes and the nebraska legislature sets those rates. nebraska's high income-tax rates are among the highest in america , and higher than all of our neighboring states except one. lowering nebraska's income tax

rates is essential to attracting higher-paying jobs. nebraskan needs more middle-class jobs. in the $60,000 to $120,000 a year category. nebraska is -- they need good paying jobs. small businesses need lower income-tax rates to help grow their businesses and increase jobs. nebraska does a significant amount of work to attract new businesses through the nebraska damage program, but we need to do more to help existing businesses grow. the business community supports lowering income tax rates, and i agree with them. taxes are too high and nebraska, and we can do something about it. we can help the rest is middle-class families, farmers, ranchers, small-business owners. it staying the course is not an option unless you support lower

family incomes and more families on food stamps. we need higher-paying jobs to reverse the decline in nebraskas median family income. we need higher-paying jobs to increase the state population and growing jobs requires a more competitive tax environment. when we talk about lowering the top individual tax rate, some will argue that it only benefits the wealthy and the state. that is not accurate. if you are a single person in nebraska with an adjusted gross income of just $29,000 a year, $29,000 a year or a married couple are in $58,000 a year, you are paying and the rest is highest income-tax rate. a middle-class family with one spouse earning $35,000 a year as a teacher and was bouse earning $50,000 a year as a small-business owner pays taxes

at nebraska's highest income tax rate. if you are a nebraska farmer earning $25,000 a year, your spouse works at the university of nebraska raised $55,000 year, this mill class family also pays taxes at nebraska's highest income-tax rate. helping these hard working the restaurants benefits are middle-class families. senator had lee and members of the revenue committee, you can lower taxes on the breast is a middle-class families to a former store ranchers, and small business owners. i am willing to work with you anytime anywhere to develop a responsible and meaningful tax relief plan. in nebraska can afford to get -- tax relief. to them and providing you to financial status reports that clearly show that we can afford up to $500 million in tax relief over the next three years

because nebraska has a growing economy, strong cash reserve, and we have worked hard to control state spending. of want to share with you one other important piece of financial information. the state of nebraska has $1 billion in cash in its checking and savings accounts. that's right. as i stand before you here today the state of nebraska has over $1 billion in cash. nebraska is overtaxing it citizen's right now, and we need to change that. our choices are clear. we can sit back, do nothing, and put nebraskas economic future risk, are we can act and secure a better tomorrow for nebraska. while we are thinking of a better tomorrow, want to recognize our military personnel

in our veterans who worked to preserve our freedom and of liberty. i am very proud of our veterans and the men and women serving in the nebraska national guard, the reserves and are active duty forces. for their families and all the rest of families. let's continue our hard work to make nebraska in even better place to live, work, and raise a family. the choices we make today are about nebraska's future. we must not mortgage nebraska's future by expanding obamacare is medicaid program. we need to protect nebraska citizens by reforming nebraska's good time, and we need to increase the take-home pay of the residence by providing the tax relief. thank you. [applause]

>> from nebraska news analyst, about half of governor -15 minutes speech was devoted to the idea of cutting taxes, amos is the of going governor focused on last year as well. the nebraska radio network reported that the approach this year was different. governor-and for going last year's call for doing away with the state income tax and focusing instead on the idea of reducing the state's cash reserve and be more prudent in spending. now to south dakota for government to mr. dugard stated the state address. he delivered the speech before the state legislature at the capitol building. he is the 302nd governor of south dakota having been elected in 2010 after serving two consecutive terms as the state's lieutenant governor. his address is an hour and ten minutes.

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you.

thank you very much. it is good to have you back. before i begin to day of would like to recognize a few new legislators who are joining is this year. at the budget address i recognize senator blake a representative dave anderson, and representative chris langer. today i would also like to recognize senator chuck jones and also senator allen flannel. all five of you please stand and be recognized. [applause] [applause] [applause] i can still remember how i felt on my first day. welcome to all of you.

governor is here. there he is at the back. would you stand? welcome, governor. [applause] welcome. this is my fourth state of the state address, just over three years ago in my inaugural address, you might remember a favorite quote that i included for president calvin coolidge. he said this, nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. talent will not. nothing is more common than unsuccessful and metallic. genius will not. unrewarded genius is almost a proper. education will not permit the world is full of educated

derelicts. persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. no, i would never belittle the importance of education or knowledge. neither did president coolidge, but he identified the essential elements of success to the persistence and determination. in other words, artwork. south dakota's believe in hard work. we promote south dakota has a good place to do business, we promote the work ethic of our people. those who do business in multiple states, including south dakota, will often remarked to me that the south dakota and location is the most productive because we know of a worker. in short, s.d. works because south dakota's people know how to work. we succeed and excel because we work hard and stay true to our values. we can be proud of the many ways in which south dakota excels.

clearing the past year objective outsiders have recognized our state for excellence. last april the united states chamber of commerce recognized south dakota as having the nation's best business climate. last june the u.s. department of commerce release their study of regional prosperity and identified south dakota as having no lowest cost of living in the nation. then in july cnbc named south dakota america's top state for business. south dakota's other implement rate fell again last month. the second lowest in the nation. even as nevada and rhode island still struggle with 9 percent unemployment. in some metropolitan areas in arizona, california, illinois, and new jersey have unemployment rates of 12% or worse. only 15 states have recovered all of the jobs those states lost in the recession.

south dakota is one of the. today south dakota has over 10,000 more jobs than we did before the recession. south dakota, in fact, is two and a half% above our pre recession peak. the nation remains about 1% below pre recession levels. south dakota's average personal income growth continues to be among the highest in the nation. in the third quarter of last year personal income growth compared to the same quarter in 2012 was the highest in the nation. we have reached another important milestone as well. our per capita income now exceeds the national average. numbers available for 2012 indicate that the average resident earns about 3 percent more than the average american. one consequence of western and the economy is that 2013 saw a 1% decrease in the number of

people on medicaid. at two and a half% decrease of those enrolled for food stamps. this is the first year in recent memory that enrollments in these programs have dropped. of course not all our economic, and we can be proud of our success in many areas. s.d. continues to be among the nation's best in immunizations and for the percentage of the population who got a flu shot. our young people understand the value of education. our high school graduates go on to college or test of one of the highest rates in the nation. was the students graduate, art student loan default rates shows that those who have to borrow are eager to pay back. and although we must be always mindful of long-term funding needs south dakota's 8,000 miles of paved state highways link for a five for quality.

i stayed bridges break 91 of 100 on the 100-point scale. this year we're going to be completing construction of south dakota's portion of the heartland express weight which we began in 1997. and we have reached an agreement with the city of sault falls to jump-start progress of the northern part of highway 100 which will eventually connect i 29-990 traversing the southern and eastern edges of some false. we also continue to protect our environment. 98 percent of our state's community water systems meet or exceed the national primary drinking water standards. that is the same. we are one of only seven states in the nation that meet all air quality standards. we can be thankful that south dakota is lower suffering from drought. a year ago at this time 100 percent of the state was in drought conditions, and 97 percent of that was severe

drought. today only 4 percent of the state is classified as abnormally dry, not even draw level. and none of the state is even classified allies. we have been raided on the top five states in the nation for our high credit scores will one of the best case in which to retire in for volunteerism. it should be no surprise that an analysis last year of those posted on the internet shows up to cut loose smile more than people in any other state. and as see you smile. there you go. and of course i am very proud of the decisions we have made about our state finances. restructured and balance our budget without using any financial gimmicks. we conservatively estimate revenue and enjoyed modest years of surpluses. one of only a very few states in the nation to have a public pension that is over one under% funded.

last year we refinanced our tobacco resulting in a $43 million present value increase to the education enhancement trust fund. we have done it all without raising taxes. achievements like these in our low debt load led to south dakota being named the best run state in america in 2012. [applause] some of these achievements were caused by could decisions that you made and other governors made over the years, but the real credit should go to the people of south dakota. tell us what kind of lost their water don't. what to regulate and what not to regulate whenever we face a challenge south dakota's roll up our sleeves and work together to

find a solution. two years ago i used my state of the state address to speak to you about work-force. i announced the south dakota work force initiative or south dakota winds, a 20-point plan to give more south dakota is trained and ready to work in a rapidly growing and changing south dakota economy. south dakota wins included four categories of effort, and i would like to briefly up to you on some of the progress we have made in each of these areas of the past couple of years in share new proposals to continue up progress. the first area of south dakota is preparing our youth. we need to prepare are your people to live and work in the 21st century, and we need to give them the information they need to make wise decisions about career choices and academic programs. students need to know that if they enter high need field they will find a job and south dakota, and it will make good

money in that job. over the last two years the state has continued to strengthen an on-line portal for students and parents to research career and academic options. we piloted new programs to remediation to help morse to succeed in post secondary programs, and we organized and promoted career camps and engineering, information technology, healthcare, and the skilled trades to expose students to up nine new career fields. over the past year i focus my attention on the need to offer high-quality ct, career and technical education in our k-12 schools. it is at the intersection of education and economic development. while many of our schools offer good c t e programs, these expensive programs can be difficult to offer and maintain,

especially for smaller school districts. i cannot overstate the importance of these programs. c t e programs are closely aligned with our state's workforce needs from welding and machining to health care and information technology to engineering in biosciences. these programs give students experience so that they understand these are not dirty jobs but opportunities to work with the latest technology hands on an even higher education opportunities are available after high school right here in south dakota and our universities and technical institutes. after the recession ended last year i asked staff from my office and from the department of education to reach out to those who are engaged in ct programs. over the spring, summer, and fall of visit and all for technical restitute as well as high school prayer rooms. they held a series of meetings to listen to over 40 haskell of

ministers and educators, large and small schools and learn about innovation already occurring in our state. fortunately working together to provide c t e is not a new idea for south dakota's schools. northeast technical high school has provided c t e programs for water districts for decades. in northwestern south dakota a consortium of eight school districts uses a fleet of portable c t e land in semitrailers to share pro rims and equipment. in sioux falls the act academy is providing cutting edge programs to students from all districts in that area. we need even more innovation like this. today i am announcing at least $5 million in future funds this year to support a series of governors grants. these grants will help schools join together to strengthen their current ctc offerings.

the department of education issued a request for information disclosed last fall. maybe you heard about it. we receive proposals from 26 districts totaling $20 million in requests. we are working now to narrow down the requests we receive and to sharpen the applications. we can't do it all this year. but i believe these grants are a big step toward creating new opportunities for our young people to learn, work, and live right here in south dakota. this year we are also going to help finance more health care students to take a tool credit courses. more and more high-school c t e programs are a partner in with our technical institutes to provide courses that are worth both high-school credit and post secondary credit. our state universities have also a partner for years with the schools to make dual credit opportunities available. schools cannot typically pay for university or technical institute credit. and in some cases the cost of

the higher ed credits makes these opportunities cost prohibitive for the stephens family. right now a college or tech school credit can be obtained for some courses provided by the high-school if the high school course an instructor are approved by the college or technical. for example, a college dual credit case, a student who passes they're approved high-school course can pay $40 per credit hour and give college credit in addition to the rascal credit. however, with a high-school student taking the course directly from the college such as composition, line, or dual credit, that student pays $300 per credit hour for that business class. the fy15 budget i proposed last december proposed funds to help make these opportunities more affordable. using a combination of state funds and discounts from their regions and technical a institutes' we propose to buy

down the cost of entry level university and technical is two courses. that way students can take these dual credit courses from the universities or from the text was directly at the low $40 per credit hour. tool credit opportunities are a win-win-win-win. students who start college or to schools with some credits already hearing are more likely to complete on time and at less cost. universities and technical institutes get the opportunity to make themselves known to prospective students and to help prepare them for success when they graduate. as schools gain flexibility tougher more opportunities to students at no cost to the district. us tickets more young people who are ready to succeed and live and work here in south dakota. offering training for skilled jobs is the second major area of south dakota. over the past two years we made major strides in this area.

we created and new welding and manufacturing program and mitchell tech. as of this fall 23 of the 24 spots are full. we also expanded the welding program so that more inmates can learn the skills and prepare for a productive life after prison. in the tech schools have created innovative distance based machining involving courses that combined online and hands-on elements. these systems based programs have already served students in seven different south dakota communities. no, our technical institutes tries to teach using cutting edge up today equipment. that can be very expensive. last month as the technical assistance to let me know their highest new equipment upgrades. earlier this month and awarded a reform million dollars in future fund grants to the technical assistance to fund many of the

need of grace and our fourth priority areas. new dynamic monitors use and cardiovascular procedures to computer numerically controlled press brakes and robotics trainers used at manufacturing to telecast projections which is used in satellite communications just to name a few. these are just a few of the funded upgrades which will offer significant improvements to our technical institute programs. in addition today i am announcing that i will be awarding the technical restitute another one-half million dollars , half a million dollars a year for the next three years for scholarships and 29 ypres are various. these scholarships of up to $5,000 for two year programs will be awarded to students who agree to stay in south dakota and work in the high need field for three years. another important work force and the interstate is rural health

care when that is the third area of south dakota. between 2010 and 2020 south dakota will lead over 8,000 new health care workers. this is going to be a challenge because our elderly population is expected to double by 2025. most of our state health professionals are concentrated in the more populated areas. rural areas of the struggling to recruit and retain providers. fifty-three of the state's 66 counties are federally designated as help professional shortage areas, either partially or completely. health care providers who were raised in south dakota, educated and south dakota and on-the-job training and south dakota are more likely to stay in south dakota. we have to work even harder to make that happen for rural areas, and that is where we have been focusing our efforts. we have already made important strides. two years ago we expanded the rural health care facilities recruitment program for fields such as registered nurses and

physical therapists. as a result of this expansion we have 120 health care professionals that were successfully recruited to 49 rural communities, including communities like fall more, stock or, mission and timber like. we also need more capacity in our educational pro grams. in fiscal year 13 we increase the class size of the men school by four students. in my budget this year i am proposing that we add still another 11 students per class. no in five years we will have 60 more than school students being trained in the state that we did before the expansion began. in the future we must work to and residencies to keep these additional medical graduates doing their residency training right here in south dakota. we have also increased the capacity of the physician assistance program a ust from 20 to 25 students and reserve 20 of those spots for south dakota. for the first time we are now

paying preceptors to provide practice experiences for physicians' assistants graduates this has increased the number of willing preceptors and south dakota. my budget proposal for a 415i am encouraging you to provide the same financial incentive for nurse practitioner preceptor. again, if we can keep these graduates doing their on-the-job training after-school and south dakota it is more likely we can keep them working in south dakota. to encourage practice in rural areas the fyi 13 budget included funding to establish the frontier and rural medicine or farm program to give third year medical students a nine months' experience in rural communities. these programs are important because we find that students to have a good girl experiences are more likely to then practice in rural areas. the fourth and final area is our effort to attract more workers

to south dakota. i mentioned in my budget address last month that the new south dakota program designed to recruit workers from other states has worked more slowly than we hoped. conversely, we have seen great success with the decoder rings program which focuses recruiting efforts on inviting former south dakota was to come back no. since it began in 2006 more than 3,000 people have returned to south dakota to accept employment thanks to this program. a small investment and marketing dollars two years ago has led to an 89% increase in annual registrations and a 66% increase in annual job placement in the two-year term. my budget proposal reverts $4 million of the 5 million that was initially appropriated for news of the coast and also proposes to appropriate after million dollars in one time funds to continue to strengthen

the successful dakota program and to lend them the news out the guns program. the issue of work force continues to be a major challenge for our state. our low unemployment rate is a sign of our economic strength, but it also means it is difficult for employers to add more jobs, even if they have the business to justify. over the next several weeks i will be going on the road to carry this message to several communities are of the state. i will address chamber of commerce groups, visit with editorial boards and meet with employers about their work force needs. then after it session ends in the spring and summer we will organize larger work force summits around the state, and i will invite you so that the business and community leaders can come together to review our current efforts to learn about a demographic and workforce trends so that we can learn from them and discuss what we need to do next tests. two years ago south dakota initiated some important efforts

to address this challenge. strengthening, addressing health care shortages, trying to bring more workers to our state and other efforts. some of those initiatives have been immediately successful while a few have not worked out as we hoped. we need to recognize that the challenge to work force will not be overcome easily and it will be over, and one-year. i hope to continue to focus on this issue during this legislative session and during the years to come. on another topic, nearly two years ago our state embarked upon a review of the state criminal justice system. the chief justice, legislative and by former the worker to study our prison population and corrections system using a dated german approach. we charge a work group with three clear goals, improve public safety, hold the defenders accountable and save money. the work group recommended and the legislature passed last

session an extensive reform of our system. the public safety improvements act. these reforms included measures to strengthen the fender accountability, offender supervision to ensure sustainability of the reforms and focus prison space on violent and career criminals. i am pleased to report today that over the last ten months the executive and judicial branches have worked tirelessly to ensure diligent, deliberate, and effective implementation. several parts became effective last july. others became operative last fall, and some took effect just two weeks ago in january 1st. now, development teams are still vigorously working on the few remaining issues, but regardless of the difficulty that comes with transformational change, the executive and judicial branches have worked very hard to achieve the goals we set. it is too early to declare victory, but this debt to charlie created oversight council was receiving a very

positive reports on the implementation so far. let me give you an example. holding offenders more accountable requires of focus on those most likely to reaffirm and. one of the policies that took effect last july was current discharge credits. this policy allows comply and parolees to reduce the duration of their parole. thirty days of production every time they complete 30 days upper for compliance. the program has been shown through empirical evidence to reduce recidivism, lower parole violations to reduce caseloads, and allow parole officers to focus on more high-risk offenders. from july through november over 91 percent of eligible parolees of the complaint following all rules and paying their fines and restitution. over 342,000 is a perot credit has already been turned. that is over 937 cumulative

years and equates to about five your parolees supervised by each parole officer. now, experts tell us it will take two or three years to complete implementation. three to five years to see all the results of our combined efforts. however, early data suggests the reforms that you passed will succeed. we continue to closely monitor implementation of the law to ensure that our three goals to increase public safety, offenders accountability, and reduce spending and that. the other major piece of legislation that passed last session was senate bill 235 which greeted the buildings up the code of fund. this important legislation allows the state to partner with local economic development efforts and recognizes the crucial role that housing, infrastructure, and a career in tech had all played in growing our state's economy. they'll already discussed and effort than i made in some of these areas.

building south dakota ensures we continue to focus on these issues in the future. over $4 million in grants have already been awarded since building south dakota took effect last year, and the legislation is also providing extra funding for schools to support endlessly with letters. in the budget address i discussed my proposal to change the funding mechanism, and again by pre funding south dakota with $30 million of onetime dollars, weekend free online dollars for other priorities. many of you wonder what this proposal would mean for the future. in the bill i introduced will ensure those programs are funded for years to come. thanks to your commitment over the past three years to conservative budging south dakota has enjoyed a budget surplus each of the last two years. so long as we stay true to those principles we should expect that to continue more often than not. under current law budget surpluses are transferred into

budget reserves as part of our rainy day fund at the end of the fiscal year. i am proposing to change that in certain circumstances. under my proposal the first priority for surplus funds will be to keep our rainy day funds of 10%, general fund appropriations for the year just ended. once that is that the second priority will be to automatically refund building south dakota said that the program is always fun that at least one year in advance. it is important to remember that $30 million of pre funding have already proposed secures the building south dakota for more than a year into the future. in addition i believe we all agree this program is a very prudent place to invest one time dollars midsession. we are conscientious about investing one time dollars in the years we have them, we automatic funding than i am proposing will never be necessary. my proposal will guarantee that

building south dakota is the first in line for a year in surplus funds when a rainy day funds are adequate. billings of dakota created some important new tools to aid economic development efforts. thanks to our business climate we already seen many businesses expanded and jobs. for example, in the manufacturing sector two texas-based companies and pipeline plastics elsie expanded to take a vintage of the opportunities in the oil and gas fields, especially in north dakota. together they will bring hundred and five jobs in the area. third texas company began production for the new rapid city location last august at 43 jobs. in 2012 a cagey north american operations, a german based company that provides aluminum air cooled heat exchangers added a new addition to its mature

facility to grade space for 215 jobs. last year a tibet based manufacturer of with towers purchased 150,000 square foot building. they are expanding the facility to over 200,000 square feet and will employ up to 250 people this year. we have also seen growth in the financial and professional business services sector over the past three years to cf bank, capital one, and t m1 have all expanded in south dakota. these expenses alone account for about 750 new jobs in south dakota. and we have seen opportunities in agriculture, our state's number one industry, the trestles will cut the ribbon on their new sioux falls plant in april. a processor of edible beans broke crown last october. in 2012 we announced that

programs u.s.a. would build a new cheese processing plant in brookings. construction is on schedule and should open later this year. to ensure a strong build supply invested seven other processing facilities, we initiated a plan to expand our dairy herd through our county site analysis program state officials of work hand-in-hand with local county commissions and landowners to identify the best locations for new livestock operations and that developers. as a result s.d. dairies are in the process of adding 8,000 more counts of they're existing herds. several counties of issued building permits for new areas that could expand our state dairy herd by still another 15,000. by embracing local control and working together with counties to cite these facilities we're capitalizing on the clear economic advantages of livestock .

weather and manufacturing, finance, agriculture, or elsewhere this strong economic growth is due to the hard work of the employers and employees of many companies and the wise decisions you have made to preserve a strong business climate. it is also due to the efforts of local economic developers and their staff of the governor's office. though, before i move on now would like to speak for a moment about the concerns that have arisen surrounding alleged wrongdoing by a former employee of the economic development office. a call for an investigation into this matter less bring, and the release the attorney general findings available to me to the legislature into the public last fall. it could stewardship of public money is very important to me. i know that every legislator in their resolve to cut the shares is concerned. in november faugh by scent every one of your memo explaining that in addition to the attorney general investigation have ordered three separate

independent audits or reviews of the economic development office in response to the situation. one day external auditor is reviewing every disbursement made under several economic develop programs reaching back as far as. this review will verify there was a sign the agreement or approved application and supporting documentation for every person and that each payment was correct and that check or electronic payment was made to the intended recipient to be the second review is being conducted by your department of legislative audit which is independent of the executive branch and reports to you, the state legislature. legislative body is preparing a financial in compliance audit of the fund financial statements for all government funds in the economic development office, again reaching back to 2009. the attorney general has received a court order the probably read in the paper authorizing him to release records he attained during his

investigation to your auditor general stated this on it which will supplement those audits that legislative audit already performs on sound economic development programs. still another third independent auditor is conducting an examination of internal control procedures. this review will look for weaknesses in policies and procedures and will make recommendations to ensure that the economic development programs have adequate internal control procedures in place to safeguard public funds. in addition, members of my team are working closely with the state honors office to improve our internal practices regarding travel reimbursements. proposing rules would require additional justification for travel reimbursement submitted after 60 days and we're implementing new protocols that the agency level. the state auditor is considering

processes to ensure the reimbursements are not duplicated. all of the reviews and audits had discussed are expected to be completed by the end of january. it will be shared with you, the legislature, and the general public. the results are known, will work closely to the side of the station respond to the results and to determine the for the reviews are warranted collapse. this is a serious matter and it deserves serious attention from state officials. is important to be thorough and comprehensive, even if doing so takes more time. michaels moving toward a threefold, to continue to cooperate in any way in the federal investigation, to recover misappropriating state funds it possible and to use extensive audits and reviews to improve our processes. another topic i know many of you have heard about is that, and corestates standards adopted by south dakota in 2010.

the common core standards are the product of a state let effort by governors and chief education officers to provide a clear and rigorous set of academic standards for mathematics and language arts. the standards were not written by the federal government, are not required by the federal government, and south dakota receive no federal funds that were contingent on adopting a common core standards. we need to have content standards, and we need standards that are rigorous. we need our students to learn english and math, and we also need them to learn how to think independently and solve problems with real-world situations. these were the goals of those who broke away evaluated, and adopted a common core standards. and i support those goals. for many people there, encore has come to mean much one that. it encapsulates our opposition to federal interference in education, are concerned about the privacy of individual

students and our strong belief in local control of our schools. i share those concerns as well, and i hope you will all work together this year to protect our students without undermining the important goals of rigorous and competitive come to standards. i spoke earlier about finances, and all those out to cut his budget picture is good, there is one area of concern. it was an area of concern when i delivered the budget proposal last month. it was a concern a year ago, and it was concerning two years ago. of talking about big franchise taxes. in 2011 when we struggle to balance the budget we and the repayment liability hangover head. it was a bank franchise tax problem. my budget address in 2012i in no is the possibility we might not receive any revenue from bay franchise texas. last month i told you that the

fm and adjusted bank franchise taxes downward for a 414 and that this revenue source is significantly lower than historical levels. it is a bank franchise tax problem. why is this revenue source so unpredictable and so volatile? well, let's understand how the tax works. first, understand how the bank franchise taxes levied. for community banks, banks that do their business primarily in south dakota, the tax is very straightforward and stable. community banks to virtually all their business in south dakota. most of the tax is calculated of virtually all the business. for large interstate and international banks who do business in many places, both inside and outside south dakota, the bank franchise taxes volatile and problematic. those banks need to identify there share of their business activity which should be apportioned to south dakota and then calculate the tax on the

share. s.d. apportioned in uses three factors, property, payroll, and receipts. the first factor is properly, and it is a straightforward calculation. how much property as an interstate bank had in south dakota verses of your work? if the bank has $5 million of property in south dakota and a hundred million of property everywhere in as 5% of its property in south dakota. as a factor. the second factor is payable. that is also very straightforward. if a bank as 10 million of annual payroll pages of the comes and 100 million paid everywhere, it has 10% of its payroll and south dakota. pretty straightforward. the third factor is the receipt factor. that is where we have this problem. our apportionment law was last amended in 1977. before congress approved in the state taking immobile for

personal computers, before the internet, before mobile computing south dakota's three factors have been unchanged since 1977. think about 1977. in 1977 if i were alone a went into the bank, signed papers, and that paid by interest payment to that bank. it was very easy to determine the location of the receipt. ..

>> we need to modernize our statute but i will say that again. maintain not increase. in a recent study banks in south dakota ranked number two of net income, number three of total assets assets, number three return on assets, number three net loans and total deposits. several interstate banks located their home offices in south dakota because of

their stable of regulatory environment. ever baked franchise tax revenue has fallen in recent years. looking back 20 years if you look to the left of actual date franchise tax collections the state has received through 2013 if you look to the right the first two lines are what we have budgeted. today it if we do nothing in this area that is what we will collect at the state level we will have to adjust expenditure bubble down from the budget that i propose. i will bring forward legislation to address this issue in a way that does not, i repeat, it does not impact our south dakota community bank.

it will impact nine very large interstate banks but it will not increase the tax paid by the banks collectively over historical averages. could space increase the collective tax they have been paid historically. i hope i have your support to address this problem but to preserve what modest taxes we have we agree we have more stability, transparency and south dakota will remain one of the lowest tax environments in the country. last summer one of our very

large daily newspapers ran a series of articles describing how citizens were seriously hurt by insurance carrier doing business in our state. after reading an article i ask the secretary of labor to investigate how we regulate the insurance industry of how this could have happened. few weeks later she issued a report that found the commissioner blacks the statutory authority to protect. although they cannot find carriers unless they agree the division cannot affect consumers of their insurance carrier has remedial action they cannot even complain. both long dash mo states have adopted a national model unfair claims fact that carriers need to follow with rejecting claims.

despite proposals to do so in 1994, 1997, 2006, 2007, 2008 dash inch you know, the common-sense regulatory environment there is ever a vital role for government to play the division of insurance will bring more bills to address the deficiency of our landscape. this is the year to get the bills passed i hope you will join me to support them. beyond protecting consumers of government that served in accessible ways is important to us all. these principles of openness , efficiency and accessibility have a better government initiative i began three years ago that for a clear compelling reason should be over

accessible. since it took office there is more information online every economic development grant is listed on wind inspections now might. department of natural resources all information online. the release the invitation list, a couple of minutes ago we took one step to unveil the state web site where the public contract proposed administrative rules to submit the feedback based upon the website for tracking legislation to make it much easier for the public to be involved with the rulemaking process. also will pull platforms to have excellent apps the department of tourism has asked visitors to come to restate now with the 511 app

to check road conditions. now proposing another package of repeal bills it is the nature of government to add to a body of laws but when running you probably did not ask if evicted one dash elected what will you do? that means all log will be passed or measure productivity by the met with -- the amount of bills but less is better we should not place but necessary hurdles before our entrepreneurs. thinks you we have already got a long way to move unnecessary red tape. during 2012 and 2013 use sessions be repealed 378 rules and 990 and outdated

sections of law with more than 148,000 words for almost as long as this speech. [laughter] sorry. now i'm going of script. [laughter] not introducing within 10 bills that repeals even more unnecessary rules that just take up space or create confusion. now for these better government principles that have made a difference in the summer of 2012 we had a problem that driver licensing stations that citizens were experiencing great times of more than two hours some had to play more than three hours. that is unacceptable in july july 2012 i announced a comprehensive plan to make it more efficient we extended hours of operation and to institute aggressive hiring and training programs

and developed a new scheduling system to use the internet to make appointments of self-service kiosk at a number of stations and created a driver's license superstation to handle substantially higher volumes of last year i worked to pass legislation authorizing online driver's license renewals. the steps we have taken have made a real difference only one customer out of 10 was served in ted minutes by last summer for out of denver service into minutes in the last few months we serve eight of 10 customers within 10 minutes of walking in the door. driver's licensing is not the most exciting issue but we have seen real improvement in this area because of changes because a hard-working employees. i want citizens to interact

with all government in a way that is convenient to you deficient and i am proud of the progress made in this area. is south dakota we have a high quality of life because of our great outdoors basis people travel from around the world to share that with us we try to be good stewards of these important resources. 2012 we began the black hills force initiative to address the mountain pine beetle epidemic. legislature appropriated 6.$2 million together we've made tremendous progress. the kasher program provided direct assistance to more than 3800 private landowners cruz have surveyed 189,000 acres almost 300 square miles of forest land and we have treated 417,000 infested

trees for our aggressive action berndt the it operations support from the coastal state governments. there is more to do but we can be proud of progress we've made. even as we seek to protect our natural resources we look forward to a exciting future. i signed a bill to have our first new state parks in 40 years. since its dedication, 12,000 visitors have experienced the scenic vista and walk the trails. last month i had as summit to seek ideas for confronting the recent decline of numbers as we fight the beatles we can identify and have solutions as the world's best doesn't hunting destination. -- doesn't hunting deat