tenth annual tucson festival of books on c-span2 book tv. >> pennsylvania governor tom what delivered his annual budget address for capital in harrisburg. he is $33 billion state budget included a severance on fractal gas in the state. this is about 20 minutes. [applause] thank you very much. lieutenant governor stagg, leaders, president, leader read, members of the general assembly, invited guest, friends, family and most importantly my fellow pennsylvanians. [applause]

[applause] thank you before i begin, i want to take a moment to congratulate the philadelphia eagles, the city of philadelphia, but all of us in pennsylvania. i know, just like we are sometimes split between parties, we are sometimes split between eagles and steelers. we are all fans pennsylvania and we should all be happy to share in this moment. we now have seven super bowl rings in pennsylvania. [applause]

that is truly something we can be proud of so fly eagles fly just like so many of us have pride in the eagles, the story of the commonwealth of pennsylvania has always been a story about pride. we have always been proud of the work we do. proud of the industries we've built. proud of the communities we grow up in in raise our kids in. proud of the traditions we passed down through the generations. in the commonwealth was headed in the wrong direction. i stood outside this building on that tuesday afternoon and took the oath of office as pennsylvania's governor, i talked about what made our commonwealth a place we are all proud to be from the place

where we build things. a place where you can save for retirement and watch your kids grow up and find jobs of their own, maybe start a business and sign the other side of a paycheck. i believe then as i believe now that the people of pennsylvania have what it takes to restore those values and build our prosperity. what was standing in our way wasn't our work ethic the kind of paralysis in the status quo and they couldn't find a way to make it tough decisions to get back on track. i promised i'd challenge that in harrisburg and that's what i tried to do for the past three years. sometimes that meant challenging the legislature to step out of the comfort zone.

taking on the status quo and doing that, we have already begun to write a new story. it's not a story about we will never get back it's a story about a brighter future. today i challenge you to join me in writing the next chapter of that proud pennsylvania story. where else could that story begin in our schools. long before i was a governor, i was apparent. the know nothing is more important than sending your child to a great school and get them a great education. i was also a business owner who knew nothing is more important than being able to find qualified employees. i knew we couldn't bring back our economy until we brought

back our public education system. i knew businesses would not invest in pennsylvania until pennsylvania invested in its schools. the first thing i did when i got to harrisburg was draw line in the sand on education. over the past three years, we have invested in our schools and reverse the billion dollars in cuts made under the previous administration. cuts to programs like full-day kindergarten and we have already begun to see these investments pay off. today, we have nearly 100,000 students enrolled in full-day kindergarten. we've increased the number of kids able to attend kindergarten by half. our high school graduation rate is more than 86%, making us the national mood leader. we are second in the nation in stem education for preparing our children for jobs for tomorrow. and, we've increased the number of career and technical education students learning

industry recognized certificates by nearly 33%, preparing them for the jobs our employers are trying to fill right now. rebuilding our schools is the beginning of rebuilding our economy. it is just the beginning. for three years now, we've been working to create more jobs that pay in every corner of the state. since i took office, pennsylvania gained nearly 180,000 jobs. in the past year, we led the region and job growth. many of these jobs are from direct investment by the commonwealth. the investments we've made in the shell cracker plant. the port of philadelphia. the online retailer and the steel plant in johnstown are on pace to create more than 15000 jobs. the workforce development partnerships are on trace. [inaudible] over the last years we've repaired or rebuilt 1600 bridges and more than 18000 miles of roadways. over the next decade, we are trying to invest $2 billion more in rebuilding roads, highways and bridges across

our commonwealth. we need our people to get to work and get to market. it's for these reasons i think a company like amazon is considering philadelphia or pittsburgh as their second location. they don't invest in states that don't invest in education and infrastructure. i'm hoping amazon will come here, built here and expand here. [applause] meanwhile, we've gotten rid of burdens and taxes like the franchise tax. with cut red tape that made it harder to build a small business and we streamlined the services we offer so our government can be an ally, not an obstacle for entrepreneurs looking to get started right here in pennsylvania. in fact, this week we followed through on a promise i made last year by launching a one-stop shop for businesses

and business owners to access state services. there's a lot more to do, from expanding access to the internet and every corner of the commonwealth to a new workforce program called pa smart that will consolidate our workforce developing efforts into yet another one-stop shop. speaking of our workforce, in this year's budget, i am proposing another major step forward. it's a significant investment in career and technical education to help make pennsylvania a better place to learn, a better place to work, and a better place to do business. [applause] developing a workforce that can compete and win in the 21st century economy is the single best way to help pennsylvania businesses grow and attract new businesses to our commonwealth. it's also the single best thing we can do to help more of our people find better paying jobs, not just tomorrow

but today. indeed these are just jobs, they are careers. everything from welding and machining to coding and advanced manufacturing. careers that can sustain families and enrich communities. these careers aren't reserved for people with four-year degrees. anyone in our state who is willing to put in an honest days work deserves a shot to make a good living. by investing in these programs, we can give them a chance to gain the skills they need to do it. for example, at lcr embedded systems in norristown there is a man named michael rosenberg. he is here today. where are you? michael is there. stand up. >> thank you for being here. [applause] he works on the manufacturing line. he services a major contract. eight years ago, i don't want to do personal but eight years ago he would've never expected to be in the high-level advanced manufacturing position.

he did not have a college degree. he was working in the plant as a janitor. michael was a great employee. a smart guy. he took the work he did to heart the matter what it was. he wanted to do more than just collect a paycheck. he wanted to build a career making things right here in pennsylvania. so thanks to a workforce training program through the department of community and economic development he was able to get additional training on the gummy county community college. with his new skills, he was able to move up to the assembly floor. then he got promoted again to machine shop. here's a guy who had no formal experience in machine shop work until he got this additional training. now he is head of the entire machine shop at lcr. he is a role model to his fellow employees. he is making more money. he's making an even greater contribution, not just to his family and to his employer but to the whole community. there should be a place in pennsylvania future for people like michael. there should be a place in pennsylvania for anyone

willing to work hard to make better life. i hope you're ready to work with me too make that happen. [applause] i'm hopeful because over the past three years we began to see progress in changing the way things work around here. i'm also well aware that progress doesn't always come without an occasional push. when i took office as governor, i knew i had to set a new town in harrisburg and that's why i band anyone from my ministry should from taking gifts from lobbyists. i got rid of pay to play contracting. i refuse to take a salary or a pension. i pay for my own health insurance. the people of pennsylvania had a right to expect much more from the governor. even though they elected a democratic governor and republican legislature, they expected all of us to find ways to work together for pennsylvania and expected us to deliver results. it has always been, yes, it's

always been and always will be, thank you, it has always been and always will be my preference to work with the legislature. when we found ways to do that, we been able to get a lot of things done for the people of pennsylvania. that's how we expanded our response to the opioid crisis, arming law-enforcement with the tools they need to fight this epidemic on the frontlines in helping thousands of people struggling with addiction to get the access to treatment that could save their lives. working together we have reduced the prison population while lowering pennsylvania crime rates. despite this our city still faces issues of violence. we need to work together. legislators, the administration, the attorney general to make our cities and communities safer so violence is never an obstacle to

opportunity. working together is how we enacted a fair funding formula in our education system that takes politics out of the school funding decision and makes sure that your zip code doesn't determine what kind of education you can get. working together is how we solve one of the thorniest problems in harrisburg, refining our system in a way that's fair to our workers and feared for taxpayers so we can stop wasting so much money on wall street fees, meet our obligations and start paying down our debt. that's how we finally made medical marijuana legal so patients in our state can get access to the medicine they need to live without pain. and, that's how at long last we reformed our liquor system and when some of the legislature hasn't mustered up

the political will to work with me, i have no problem doing it on my own. whether it's expanding medicaid to expand pennsylvanians from cutting our uninsured rate. [applause] from cutting our rate from the lowest it's ever been, expanding opportunities for sanderseniors to stay in the home so they can get the care they need as they age or streamlining agencies and state government. i've done things on my own to help the people of pennsylvania. but harrisburg works better and pennsylvania works better when we all work together to make it work for everyone. when it comes to this year's budget, working together should be easier than in years past. after decades of neglect and years of crisis, we have finally begun to tame the fiscal beast that haunts harrisburg. no one here needs reminding the harrisburg's chronic inability to deal with that crisis has long been the most visible symbol of what's wrong with our state's government. i am proud that we have begun to change that story read some of the work i've been able to do from the governor's office

took a business owners approach to our budget and was able to cut lots of money, $2 billion by streamlining our bureaucracy. saving pennsylvanians another $700 million by cracking down on fraud and abuse. some of the work we've been able to do together like making full pension payments, reforming our, justice system to reduce our prison population and lowering healthcare costs. because we begun to take a new approach to our budget, i can come before you today with a budget that makes the investments we need to make to continue our progress without any tax increases on pennsylvania families. i'm going to keep doing whatever i can do to reduce cost and streamline government but we can do so much more to improve our physical future if we work together. that brings me too the severance tax. pennsylvania is one of the few

states fortunate to have abundant natural resources and we are the only one of those states without a severance tax. everywhere else, texas, oklahoma, louisiana, they are bringing in billions from the oil and gas. it's going to fix roads and keep taxes low. let's understand what a severance tax is. if the tax paid by people outside pennsylvania to use our natural resources. by failing to put in place, we are actually paying states taxes. when we fill up our cars are heat our home. i don't remember ever getting a thank you note from texas or alaska. pennsylvania is blowing most of them out of the water. when it comes to joining every other state we could also join them by bringing billions of dollars into our own coffers.

asking them to pay their fair share for the resources and we can build a better resources for pennsylvania. this is only hard if we choose to make a heart. as rich as our commonwealth is in some natural resources, special interest has put political courage in short supply. i get it. the oil and gas industry are powerful. in the time i've been here, i've seen people in this legislature, even people i disagree with much everything said politics aside to do what's right. i believe you have it in you to do that again. they are counting on you to do it again. i'm not just asking you but

challenging you to do the right thing and pass the severance tax so we can keep making investments to grow our economy and keep writing the proud story of a brighter future for pennsylvania. [applause] after all, the pennsylvania we are also proud of, the place where you can work hard and earn a good living, raise your family and a strong community, watch your kids find opportunity of their own, that wasn't magically bestowed upon us. it was built by people who did hard things together. now it is our turn. it's our turn to make tough decisions with courage and conviction. it's our turn to invest in new technologies, to inspire new activities and industries.

also new opportunities for the next generation. it is our turn to finish writing the next chapter in this story of this great commonwealth. i have never been more proud to be a pennsylvanian. i've never been more confident of our people or our future. if you feel the same way, please consider this proposal as an invitation to build that future together. thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

tonight on c-span2, the director of national intelligence dan coats along with the director of national intelligence agency testify about national security threats facing the u.s. an entire hearing begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2 monday on c-span landmark cases we will explore the 1886 case where a san francisco city ordinance discriminated against a chinese laundromat owner. the unanimous ruling written by associate stanley matthews found in favor of the laundromat owner and establish that the 14th amendment applies to immigrants as well as citizens. examine this case, high course. one family and the

extraordinary adventure of chinese america. law professor at the south texas college of law in houston and founder of the holland institute. watch landmark cases on c-span, cspan.org or listen for the free c-span radioactive. for an additional resource, there is a link on our website to the interactive constitution. coming up in two weeks, on saturday march 24, the march for our lives rally, calling for gun control in the wake of recent mass shootings, that is on the national mall beginning at noon eastern on the 24th. you can see live coverage on c-span.