and please stay engaged in pony and we look forward to the next event. thanks, everybody. that's it. [applause]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> today former service members and advocates discuss the community care program before the senate veterans affairs committee. the hearing is held amid concerns how president trump's executive order on a government hiring freeze could impact veterans access to health care.

watch live on c-span 3, c-span now our mobile video app or online at c-span.org. >> democracy, it isn't just an idea, it's a process. a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its principles. it's where the nation's course is charted, democracy in real-time, this is your government at work. this is c-span giving you your democracy unfiltered. washington state governor bob ferguson's inaugural address touched on the state budget, housing and police funding. governor ferguson served before

being elected. from the state capitol building, this is about 35 minutes. [applause]. [inaudible conversations] >> say i and state your name. >> i, bob ferguson. >> do solemnly swear. >> do solemnly swear. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. >> that i will support the constitution of the united states. and the constitution and the laws of the state of washington. >> and that i will faithfully discharge. >> that i will faithfully discharge. >> the duties of the governor of the state of washington. >> the duties of the governor of state of washington. >> to the best of my ability. >> to the best of my ability. >> congratulations.

[applause]. [applause] >> thank you.

>> ladies and gentlemen, it is now my distinct privilege and pleasure and honor to introduce for the first time anywhere the 24th governor of the state of washington, the honorable bob ferguson. . [cheers and applause] >> thank you very much. thank you very much. thank you very much. [applause]

>> thank you very much, everybody. mr. president, and mr. speaker, distinguished guests and my fellow washingtonians. join me in thanking the high school choir for their beautiful rendition of the national anthem. [applause] >> my mom, betty ferguson passed away last year and before she died she asked father manano to perform her eulogy, and he's close to the family. please join me in thanking father paul. [applause] >> and while my mom and dad are not here, my family is very well-represented. in fact, most of the gallery on

my left is family. [laughter] >> including five of my six siblings. now, i'm number six in that order and given that history, this is a strange experience because i've never spoken this long uninterrupted with my siblings in the room. so thank you in advance, tom, ann, peter, bill, and john, for your restraint this afternoon. and now for my favorite sentence in this speech, i'm excited to introduce all of you to my wife of 20 years, an educator in our outstanding community college system, the new first lady of washington state, colleen ferguson. [cheers and applause]

>> colleen and i are parents to teenage twins who are pleased to have an excused absence from school to join us today. jack and katie, here is the one thing i most want you to remember from this day. being your dad is not only my most important job, but it's a job that gives me the most joy. your mom and i are very proud of you. [applause] i'm here today because i believe in the urgency and the importance of making washington a better place for young people just like jack and katie. and if you talk to anyone in my family, they will tell you that i've always been goal oriented whether it's working on climbing, washington state's 100 highest peaks with jack or

securing wins for washingtonians as attorney general. as your governor, i will continue this focus on measurable and ambitious goals. i will have a bias for action. to that end, let's get straight to the point. we face real challenges as a state and as a people. our state is unaffordable for many washingtonians. we rank 50th, last, per capita in number of law enforcement officers. our ferry system, it's broken. we are confronted with the behavioral health crisis, too many of our residents are unsheltered. house something too expensive and there's not enough of it. our government is bogged down with bureaucracy. despite these and other challenges, i am optimistic. i know that together we can make real progress and increase

opportunities for all washingtonians. now, i admit to being a glass half full kind of guy, but my optimism is warranted for three reasons. first, washingtonians are among the most resilient, dynamic, and innovative people in the world. second, they are represented by dedicated legislators from diverse backgrounds united by a common commitment to help improve our state. and on that note, please join me in welcoming the 20 new members of the washington state legislature. [applause] >> thanks to all of you for the sacrifice i know that each and every one of you make to serve your constituents. and third, washington's history

demonstrates over and over again that we rise to the challenges placed in our path and we emerge stronger every time. now, that legacy is personal for me and because this is my first time speaking in this chamber and with so many family members here today, i want to share a bit of that history. both sides of my family were here before we were a state. back in those territorial days my great grandparents on my mom's side homesteaded along the river where we carved out a life in the land. and they ventured west with determination and their desire for a future here. their comforts must have been few and far between. on my dad's side, our ancestors made their way to a different territory, vancouver. they created a school for the deaf and the school hired my great-great-great uncle james watson to lead it in those

early years. his wife cecelia joined him in the important work and dedicated their lifers. a few years after, relatives arrive and governor ferry addressed the first inaugural address. and some of now i collect memorabilia of our state's history and i recently purchased governor ferry's inaugural address, signed by him. it's truly amazing, which you can find on ebay. come by my office and check it out this time. and as you can appreciate, this audience can appreciate governor ferry cased daunting obstacles literally creating a state government. ferry understood that if he struck an optimistic tone and declared that with resources

unequal to any other area, a population as enterprising as creative, no reason why the state of washington should not in the near future rank among the most prominent states in the union, nor why the people should not enjoy the priceless blessings of prosperity, health and happiness. more than a century later, governor ferry's family is still here in our state. please join me in welcoming the great-grand nephew of elijah ferry, tom and his wife kathy. [applause] >> history surely vindicated the governor's optimism. washington is indeed among the most prominent and prosperous states in our union, even if

that prosperity is not equally shared by all, but the path to our current status as a world leader in so many economic sectors has not been a smooth, straight line since governor ferry's 1889 address. the great depression hit washingtonians hard, but in his inaugural address in 1933, governor clarence martin also found reason for hope. he said, we are confronted by a great responsibility, but it is reassuring and inspiring to realize that the responsibility is not greater than the opportunity. clarence martin led our state well during those challenging years. jing us today is governor martin's granddaughter janet martin and his great-granddaughter, jennifer hutchings of spokane. thank you for joining me for family services day.

[applause] >> when governor martin delivered that 1933 inaugural address, my family was still reeling from a tragedy and my grandfather, francis had just died unexpectedly while still a young man. his wife, my grandmother, edith hausmann was widowed with five children between the ages of four, my mom, and 12. and they owned a meat market in washington my grandfather operated. and the day after his funeral, edith went to the meat market and took over the business. i don't know how many single moms with five kids were business owners in washington state in 1932, but edith hausmann. i continue to be inspired by edith and the bible i took the oath on a few moments ago belonged to her. she never remarried. edith focused on that small

business and her five children. her four sons all served during world war ii. she ran that business for 20 years before passing it down to one of her sons. and her one daughter, my mom, became a special education teacher in our public school system after marrying her high school sweetheart from everett high school. my parents worked hard and raised seven kids. their lives were undoubtedly very busy, but still found time to be involved politically. in 1963 they were amongst the very first volunteers and supporters of a young state representative who launched a long shot campaign for governor. dad helped organize the 36th district for that candidate, dan evans. my siblings still remember driving around with dad in old volkswagen putting up yard signs and mom and dad held one of the first coffees for dan evans in our home and my dad

has the handwritten guest list for that event. and they helped grass roots efforts for people like us in public life. and mom and dad saw something in dan evans. the '60s was a challenging time and here is what he had to say in our inaugural address. we are at this moment experiencing great challenges, challenges which test an administration, a legislature, and a people. to meet these challenges we cannot be leisurely when the times call for action. a few months ago, dan evans passed away after a life of service. he was one of the greatest washingtonians who ever lived. we are honored today to be joined by one of his children. please join me in thanking dan evans, jr. and the entire evans

family for sharing governor evans and nancy evans with the people of our state. [applause] >> by the way, i met with dan, jr., and told him of one of my favorite possessions, it's a photo of dan evans with my parents, and my mom is pregnant with her sixth child, me. and it's a reminder to meet the challenges, we cannot be leisurely when the times call for action. let us embrace those words during this session. let us have a bias towards action. let us listen to one another, without consideration of party so that the strongest argument prevails. that's how we do our best work and let me be specific with

examples how we can work in a bipartisan way. representative connors, i'm excited to work with you to get your homes for heroes legislation to my desk, let's recognize, police officers, firefighters, and other public service and make sure they can access low interest loans to purchase their first home. [applause] >> representative davis, you've developed a robust and balanced package to improve public safety. i look forward to assisting you in this important work. [applause] >> representative dent, thank

you for joining me for lunch at the palace cafe in allensberg, i hear your commitment to supporting washington farmers. that includes ensuring they receive the reimbursement they were assured under the climate commitment act. thank you. [applause] >> representative santos and collins, thank you for stepping up and working on addressing the youth mental health crisis. there's no more important work that we face than this work. [applause] >> senator braun, where are you, senator braun? there are so many faces in front of me. senator braun, i hope to work with you to adopt limits on the emergency powers. we can do that together.

[applause] >> representative reed, your proposal to ensure that every washingtonian with a 3.0gpa receive automatic acceptance into many of our exceptional institutions should be adopted by the legislature and i look forward to signing it. [applause] >> senator holy, thank you for your proposal for a 100 million grant program helping law enforcement agencies hire more well-trained officers to improve public safety. that idea was a cornerstone of my campaign for governor. any budget i sign must include this funding.

thank you, senator. [applause] >> representative menna, i support your legislation prohibiting the national guard from other states from coming into washington state to advance any president's agenda without our permission. texas and montana have adopted similar policies, washington must join them. thank you. [applause] >> and speaking of presidents, let me be very clear. my administration will work with president trump where we can. we will stand up to him when we must, and that most certainly includes protecting washingtonians reproductive freedom.

[applause] >> that's why i'm taking action today to protect those freedoms. the times call for action. immediately following this speech i will sign an executive order directing the department of health to convene a round table of medical providers, reproductive health experts and policy makers to recommend strategy for protecting reproductive freedom. i'm proud of the robust legal protections we have here in washington state, including, thanks to you, the nation's strongest health data privacy law, but i'm confident there's even more that we can do. here during my campaign for governor i had the honor of meeting washingtonians, from all walks of life and the single biggest concern i heard was affordability. washingtonians need more housing, lots more houses. we must make it easier, faster

and less expensive to build housing of all kinds. the times call for action and that's why i'm signing executive order immediately following this speech, directing state agencies to review all regulations that impact housing, permitting and construction and identify any provision that can be streamlined, deferred or eliminated. this issue is critical and that's precisely why i've turned to one of our state's most trusted leaders to lead the task force of my transition team through lt. governor. [applause] >> last week lt. governor presented me with a 42-page report containing 20 recommendations to address this crisis, including many that

reflect ongoing legislative efforts to protect vulnerable renters and small landlords and give local governments tools and incentives to improve housing supply and affordability. [applause] >> adopting these recommendations is one of my top priorities. we must make washington more affordable in other ways. as attorney general my team and i saw an illegal grocery merger that would have increased the price of groceries, of chicken, tuna, and household items like computers and televisions. what would i do with $100 million my incredible team made the corporations pay. i sent those directly to washington families. trust me on this --

[applause] >> trust me on this, i'm taking that same laser focus on affordability to the governor's office. to that end, i'm excited to work with senator rotelli, and berg, every student k-through public schools receives part of their -- as part of their basic education. [applause] right now, if you're a single parent working 40 hours week, making $19 an hour, your child does not qualify for free meals. that is unacceptable and that needs to change. [applause] >> this will improve learning for kids and save time and

money for working parents. another challenge we face is the multi-billion dollar budget shortfall. we should have an open and honest dialog about how we arrived at this shortfall and what lessons we must learn. [applause] >> let us work together to ensure that we correct some of the actions that brought us here, but let me start by sayings that the era of assuming unrealistic growth in revenue is over. [applause] >> to be specific, i will not sign a budget that requires unrealistic revenue growth to balance. moreover, i will policy bills that major spending obligations more than four years after the legislation is adopted.

these bills on the balancing of the budget over a four-year period. now let's talk about the challenge immediately before us, addressing our current shortfall. here is my approach. first, we must prioritize. we cannot simply assume that government's role is to do everything it's always done while continuing to add new programs and responsibilities every year. that's not smart and that's not sustainable. rather, like any family budget, we must be vigilant in assessing existing investment. to determine whether they still make sense and whether they meet our priorities during a budget crisis. and i will start. last week i proposed four billion dollars in budget savings. these savings are in addition

to those proposed in governor inslee's budget. finding shared responsibility and i'm committed to that principle. in my proposal i included a $35 million sweep of the attorney general's office an agency that i care deeply about. to meet these challenges, we cannot be leisurely when the times call for action. these times also call for action to improve the way that state government serves the people. few things frustrate me more than bureaucracy that creates delays, confusion or extra hurdles when people and businesses need questions answered and results delivered. our state employees work hard and we are thankful for that public service. we must do a better job listening to them and to the public to find ways to improve customer service and save money while we are doing it.

[applause] >> i'm in politics because i believe in the power of government to improve people's lives. at the same time, we must recognize government does not always meet that promise so let me be clear, i'm not here to defend government, i'm here to reform it. over the past -- [applause] >> over the past eight weeks i've hired and retained talented cabinet secretary who share my frustration with bureaucracy that interferes with serving the people and my passion for making government work better. senator peterson and speaker jenkins, this is probably a good time to apologize for stealing two of your committee chairs, the representative and senator winn. i know --

[applause] >> i know they will be missed in this building, but their new roles as leaders of two of our biggest and most important state agencies are critical for our success. our mission must be to speed up government, improve customer service and center the people in every decision we make. let me give you an example. if a washingtonian applies for a permit, they need that permit delivered on time. time is -- [applause] >> time is money for that washingtonian and their business. and if the permit is late, why should that washingtonian still pay for it. that changes now. immediately after this speech, i'm signing executive order directing allstate agencies to cut down their permits and license processing times.

we'll establish quick and transparent deadlines for all agencies to meet. and if an hp does not meet its deadline, they'll refund your application fee. [applause] >> i'll have more reforms and improvements to announce in the coming weeks. this is just the start to our important work. recognizing the urgency of making government more efficient, responsive, and centered on the people. that's the commitment i'm bringing to this office, rooted in my values and the lessons learned from our shared history. i've mentioned the names of several governors today who gave voice and vision to the people of washington state in challenging times. and the members of my family who inspire me to action every

day. like all parents, when colleen was pregnant with our twins, we gave a lot of thought to their names. names matter. names have meaning. names symbolize things we care about. i'm proud that my middle name is watson, that name connects me a very personal way to james watson and his unique service to washington territory and washington state. my son jack's full name is jackson murray ferguson, named after two everett men of integrity. scoop jackson and my late father, murray ferguson. now, i tried to convince -- now, i tried to convince colleen to name our daughter edith. true. colleen quite recently pointed

out that edith in the 21st century is an old-fashioned name and she's right as she usually is and we agreed on katie. i sometimes call katie edith anyway. [laughter] >> and i probably always will because i like to remind her about someone very important in our family history, and because i want her to know that the name edith maybe old-fashioned, the qualities like resilience, hard work, common sense, patriotism, practicality, about faith, frugality, service, and sacrifice, qualities of her great-grandma's edith had in abundance. they will never be out of style. indeed, those are the qualities possessed by generations of washingtonians that made our state and territory great.

elijah ferry, clarence martin, dan evans, they all understood this. in his 1965 inaugural address governor evans gave us a road map to solving our challenges. here is what he said, this administration is not frightened by the word liberal nor is it ashamed of the word conservative. it does not believe that the words fiscal responsibility are old-fashioned nor will it fear to spend money if money needs to be spent. that's common sense. that's practical. may those qualities guide us in our work together this session and above all else, let us not be leisurely when the times call for action. thank you for joining me in serving the people of washington state. [applause].