young people. we keep our land, air and water clean for them and their children. many believe the whole system is broken and there are no answers. but that's not our washington. here if things don't work, we reinvent them. we fix things, be it computer software, a better strain of wheat, a new airplane or a better, faster, cheaper government. we're built on innovation and we always move fast. that's why we're the home to boeing and microsoft, amazon, starbuck's, nordstrom's, the gates foundation, clean energy companies, global health and the most invent actiive and dynamic people in the world. that's why eastern washington, because of its agriculture, is called the refrigerator of the world. today it's our time. it's our time to practice the courage and compassion that has been handed down to us by our

parents and grandparents. it's our time to rebuild our bridges and highways. it's our time to create jobs now and for the future. it's our time to keep our streets safe, and it's our time to give our young people the education and knowledge they will need to succeed in a world econo economy. we must succeed. you know, i just read a great new book. it's called "that used to be us." it's by tom freedman and michael ha handelbaum. for me, one part really stood out. for generation off generation, america knew how to win in the turns, they write. "win in the turns." what does that mean, exactly? in short, it means the winner hits the gas pedal when everyone else is hitting the brakes. visualize yourself on a racetrack, racing on a sunny

day. all of a sudden you're in a sharp, high-speed turn. when and if you make it through, you find the world around you has utterly changed. the winner of that race, the one with the determination to thrive in that changed world, is the one who sees that sudden turn as an opportunity. the winner takes the risk to pass everybody in the turn and is now leading the pack. that's winning in the turn. in the great economic turn we're in now, some question if our country or state will win this time. when the recession ends, will we be out ahead of the competition in education, infrastructure, economic development? will we come out of this turn in front of the pack and ready to go, or will we be stuck back where fighting for positions with the also rans. also ran? not our washington. we must, we can, and we will be out ahead.

[ applause ] >> we know how to win in the turn. we know how to come out ahead. we've done it time and time again. there was a recession in the early '70s so bad that somebody put up a billboard asking the last person in seattle to turn out the lights. but governor dan evans worked with the legislature controlled by democrats to carry out his washington futures and sent five ballot measures to the voters. the result was new community colleges, water systems for homes, industry and irrigation, new and refurbished recreational properties and expanded public health facilities. democratic legislature, republican governor and the people of washington won in the turn. there was a scary turn in 1983, the worst recession before this one. governor john spellman, a

democratic senate and house, had the courage to protect the future of our children. they approved a penny increase in the sales tax focused on education. again, we won in the turn. and by the way, each time washington survived an economic crisis and rebuilt its future, it has not been about political party, it has been about the future of our great state. [ applause ] >> it's now up to us. this is our time. our time to win in the turn. our time to build a better future for our children and grandchildren. so in the next 60 days, i ask you to do four things. one, use the early start you got in december and quickly pass a budget. two, ask the voters this spring

to approve a temporary half penny sales tax increase for students and their future. three -- [ applause ] >> three, pass my school reforms. and four, pass a major transportation and jobs package. [ applause ] >> first let's solve the budget problem. you made a down payment in december. i know these are some of the most difficult decisions of your careers. but i ask you to finish quickly, because every day the problem gets bigger and the choices get harder. since wall street handed us this mess nearly four years ago, we have cut and cut and cut. a projected $10.5 billion and we're still not done. we have cut k through 12 by 26%.

four-year colleges by 46% and community colleges by 26%. our social safety net is frayed. we have closed five major institutions including three prisons and one juvenile facility. the last time we shut down even one was nearly 40 years ago. now, some states are talking about reforms, but we're not talking. we're reforming. we made our pension system one of the five moos sustainable in the united states. [ applause ] >> our state work force is down nearly 10% and falling. those employees left are working harder with lower salaries and paying more for benefits. i want to thank them for serving, particularly in these uncertain times. [ applause ]

>> we have made the biggest reset of state government in decades. today we are more cost efficient, we are smaller, faster and effective. we are working toward a more sustainable budget in the long term. historic reforms brought flat workers' comp rates this year n and historic lows in unemployment insurance rates. that's good news for our small businesses which have been hurt the most in this recession and which are absolute key to our recovery. [ applause ] >> one of the fastest growing, biggest, and most complicated drivers of our budget is health care. we are reining it in with significant results. we have cut medicaid legislation

to 2.3%, one of the lowest in the country. [ applause ] >> and unlike other states, we have not used this recession to undermine the environmental protections that provide what we value: clean air, clean water and healthy natural resources. [ applause ] >> but all that doesn't mean our work is done. no one comes to public service thinking the status quo is good enough. no one comes to public service saying we shouldn't find a better, more efficient way to do something. it's the whole reason we all serve. and these times amplify the need. this year is no different. while we must cut, we must also find real reforms that will preserve our ability to serve our citizens while modernizing our practices. and while we must cut and reform

again, we must also realize that it problem demands a courageous solution we must look for new revenue for the state of washington. [ applause ] >> so close tax loopholes to save vital services like the health program for the working poor. it's a matter of fairness. [ applause ] >> and that brings me to my second request. we must protect the vulnerable cedars and the educational disabled. we must educate our students and provide public safety for our families. so i ask you to send two voters, a temporary, three-year,

half-cent sales tax to save those vital services. [ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake. we are about to shred very core services. it is time for all of us here in this chamber to stand up for washingtonians. while i know the sales tax is regressive, you know what i find even more regressive? its cuts in education that will hit our low-income students the hardest. it's more cuts in our social safety net to poor seniors and people with developmental disabilities, and it's cuts to public safety that will impact our poor neighborhoods the most. that's regressive. [ applause ] >> remember, the last time that we raised the state sales tax

was 1983 under a republican governor during the worst recession until this one. so today i ask you to listen to your hearts as well as to your heads. will that 85-year-old woman with failing health who needs health to live and dignity at home find it regressive? will that student who faces the difference between a mediocre education or a great one find it regressive? will that family living in fear of a criminal getting out of prison five months early with little supervision find it regressive? no. they will say it's the right thing to do because it is, and they will remember that we didn't wait for things to get better, we made them better. [ applause ]

>> without the half penny, we lose far more than we gain. we lose our future, we lose our values, we lose our way. like governors and legislators in the past, it's our time to do something very hard. it's our time to ask for sacrifice from everyone, ask everyone to contribute to our future so everybody wins in the turn. how do we win in the turn? how do we lead the rest of the world and the rest of the country? we outpace, we outeducate and we outperform. our businesses, our state, our children and our grandchildren cannot afford any more deep cuts in education. about 411 million of the 494 million the sales tax revenue would go to k through 12 and higher education. [ applause ] >> we need the school day to be

180 days and longer, not 176. we need to help our property poor districts and we need to stop raising college tuition. [ applause ] >> it comes down to four simple words. no education, no job. this is our time to value a quality education just as our parents and grandparents did. so today i urge you to act on my third request and approve school reform. now, as governor, i've been to many schools and i have never seen a great classroom without a great teacher or a great school without a great principal. we have a new evaluation system that's been built from the bottom up. now we must ensure that every classroom throughout our state has a good teacher and every

school has a good principal. our state deserves nothing less. [ applause ] >> we must turn around our failing schools once and for all. we're going to do that by asking our public universities to use bold, innovative programs and partner with low-performing schools. the universities will innovate, research and teach. they'll give our students the educational advantage they need and we'll take their successful work and scale it all across our state. like so many of our reforms, i predict this, too, could become a model for the nation. we cannot address the education gap we have with the rest of the world until we address the one we have right here in our own home state. and speaking of education gaps, thank you for acting so quickly

to make certain that we have trained workers and engineers for our growing aerospace sector, and i'm counting on you to fund those educational opportunities. all of our students, not just those who can afford it, must have more skills and more knowledge if they're going to be able to compete in this century. in business, they find cracks in the system and they fix them. in government, we find cracks in the system and we study them. with achievement, we can move to fix the gaps in high school and college to make sure our students hit the work force not behind, but ahead. that's winning in the turn. when we ask voters to invest in education, let's show them they'll be getting their money's worth. good teachers, good principals, good schools and the most knowledgeable graduates in the united states.

[ applause ] >> speaking of innovation and competition, let's celebrate. let's celebrate our work on early childhood education resulting in a race to the top, an award million. [ applause ] >> but then the government found out what we know. and that is if we invest in early learning and make certain a child is really ready to learn when they hit kindergarten, they're going to succeed in school and in life. we started the department of early learning in 2006 and created a public private partnersh partnership. that small investment will bring returns throughout the life of a child and our state will be better for it. if we invest $411 million in our

schools and colleges, if we implement these innovative reforms, and if we use our can-do spirit, we can give our children the best education in the united states. now, the fourth thing i ask you to do is to create jobs now and for the future by investing in our transportation infrastructure. we have got to step up to proper maintenance of our very transportation system. from highways and bridges to ferries and city streets. when we build roads, they don't take care of themselves. when you buy a car, you pay for it and then you maintain it. you change the oil, you rotate the tires and you make the repairs. it's the same way with our roads, our bridges and our ferries. we bought them new, but unfortunately, we didn't put money aside for maintenance. the consequences for us is a wake-up call. we're facing a $1.6 billion

shortfall over the next ten years just to maintain our state highways. without maintenance that means bad roads, more potholes, more congestion. further, we're facing a $1.3 billion deficit in our ferry system maintenance. i sounded the alarm last year, and without new funding, our ferry system will not survive as we know it. we would completely eliminate five routes and reduce service and runs throughout the entire system just to maintain where we are today. we must act. so today i propose a $3.6 billion ten-year package to create about 5500 jobs a year to maintain our transportation infrastructure across the state. in addition to small fee increases, i will ask you to pass a modest $1.50 fee on every

barrel of oil produced in washington. our oil companies are getting all the profit and leaving us with the bill. we can do better! [ applause ] >> this package will also get money to our cities and counties to fill potholes, to repair roads, to update bridges and keep their buses running. it will give them the option to raise additional money for maintenance and transit. we can't wait until roads, bridges and ferries are falling apart to fix them. we can't kick the can down the road and saddle our future generations with the repairs that we failed to make. this is a year to act and to approve a jobs package and invest our future.

our own bill gates says the way you get ahead and stay ahead is educating more people. attracting more talent and maintaining and building better infrastructure than the other guys. we're better than the other guys. if we aren't, our businesses and our workers will go elsewhere. our transportation system is the life blood of our economy. it moves people to work. goods to market and it promotes our tourism industry. if we don't maintain and grow, we will come to a standstill. so this summer, i convened connecting washington. a task force to look at how to build our economic corridors. this 30-member group realized that our challenge is big and our time is short. it's time for all of us to have a serious conversation with washingtonians about the importance of building new infrastructure. that our businesses and their

employees need. even in these hard times, connecting washington recommended a minimum of $21 billion investment in our vital economic corridors. these projects and more demand serious attention. the columbia river crossing, spokane's north/south corridor. snowqualmie pass. route 127. the 40 mile 405 corridor. the new ferry. and the i-5 area. consider this. consider this. the old and failing columbia river crossing supports $40 billion in commerce a year and 130,000 jobs in warehouses and distribution centers near the ports of vancouver and portland alone.

yet, the northbound bridge was built in 1917. it was built to accommodate horse and buggy. it is still the last stop light on i-5. or consider this, snowqualmie pass is the only direct route for products flowing from eastern washington forarms to puget sound ports. and those ports to eastern washington and beyond. that's $80 billion in cargo through that critical corridor every year. our record of success with transportation projects is strong. from the 2005 voter approved gas tax, we are close to completing all 421 statewide projects. 88% have been completed early or on time. 91% on or under budget. that's real accountability. and we can do it again.

educate ourselves. educate the public. then let's build a better transportation system than the other guys. [ applause ] the people often ask me if we can come back from this great recession. i tell them we can, we will, we are. our ports and their good paying jobs are booming. international trade is surging with year-over-year exports up nearly 30%. our second biggest export is agriculture. new free trade agreements with south panama will open markets for washington. our life science sectors are

spreading beyond puget sound and vancouver. they are spreading around the globe. our software and i.t. industries are thriving. including a double-digit jump in microsoft last quarter. an 8% jump in software jobs. how about the backbone of our manufacturing sector? aerospace with the 650 companies in washington. 2011 was a historic of washington's signature industries to make it happen. it started last february boeing won the $35 billion contract to build a new generation of 200 air force refuelling tankers and all of us, labor, management, democrats, republicans, worked together to bring that contract home with its 11,000 jobs. [ applause ]

in september, the first boeing 787, the game changing composite airplane. 20% more fuel efficient and as high tech as it comes, wasnippo. it is built right here in washington state. [ applause ] in december, the boeing company and the machinists agreed to a historic five-year contract. assuring the 737 max will be built here with a projected 20,000 jobs and $500 million in tax revenue. that was followed by the largest order ever for boeing. 208 airplanes, all of them 737s or the 737 max. we are winning in the turn in the aerospace industry in washington state.

[ applause ] but for us, for state government, what we saw in 2011 reminds us when the economy comes out of this turn, we must already be down the track while our competition hangs back. it's our turn to win in the turn and it's our responsibility. now i ask you to pass the budget. send a revenue proposal to voters. reform education and invest in our transportation infrastructure to create jobs now and into the future. that's a bold agenda. and it involves risk and courage. but i have one more very important request. this is about our values.

our washington has always fought discrimination. it is time for us to do it again. it is time for marriage equality. [ applause ] [ cheers and applause ] let's tell the children of our same-sex couples that their parents' relationship is equal to all others in this state. let's pass a marriage equality bill in the great state of

washington. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, as you labor in the next 60 days, i respectfully ask you to take a minute each day to stop and to reflect. take time to look back and see how we came to be the great state that we are. take time to understand and appreciate what our courageous and visionary parents and grandparents did for us. what governors and legislators and voters did for us when it was their time to act. remember, this is our time. it is our time to give our children what we were given. a good education. our time to modernize transportation and put people to work and make sure they have jobs in the future.

our time to leave no one behind and our time to protect our communities. the future of our state is in our hands now. we have to do what is very hard, but do it we must and together. let's show the people that in our washington, we work together. democrats, republicans and independents. and let history reflect we were determined and we were bold. let's leadve a greater state to our children and grandchildren. thank you. god bless you and god bless the great state of washington. [ cheers and applause ]