proficiently? are we going to allow this? if i say the answer is, no, then let's do something about it. why are we passing our children on when they can't read? holding children back is not the goal. the goal is for every child to learn the basics and to identify and help those who struggle before the third grade. our obligation is to teach our kids to shoot for the stars. we build a child's self-esteem not by convincing them that accepting failure is okay, but by showing them that they can reach any goal. by offering a helping hand when they struggle so they learn to never give up, to persevere and to ultimate triumph and succeed, because every child can learn, regardless of circumstances,

and, frankly, it's up to us to help them. and here's how we'll do it. and here's how we'll do it -- my plan this year calls for a $17 million investment in reading reforms. teachers will assess children early on, kindergarten, first grade, second grade. and those students who are struggling will get immediate help in these early years. more tutoring, more individual attention. we'll put more reading coaches in elementary schools, and while we're on the subject of reading, let me say that helping our children learn is a responsibility that we all share. as governor, i've read books to kids in over a dozen classrooms this past year, and truth be told, as much as i love hanging out with all of you guys, reading to these kids has been my favorite thing to do as governor.

i've gotten really good at sitting crisscross applesa the floor with little ones. teachers need parents and family and family members and friends, all of us, to be engaged. we must all accept the responsibility. today i'm encouraging parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, to read to their children, and to help, i have a special announcement. that luxury jet cost the state nearly half a million dollar as year to operate. now that we sold it, we can use that money on something else.sa amount of money and buy every new mexico first grader a reading book of their very own.

every child will get this book when they leave kindergarten so that every family will have the opportunity to teach their children. every child will have a great book to read over the summer as they prepare for the first grade. as i mentioned, i'm proud of the fact that our education reforms have been embraced, not only by democrats in new mexico, but also by the obama administration. at the top of that list is a reform to reward our best teachers with higher pay. in evaluating teachers we must measure the progress their students make in mastering the basics. that doesn't mean, teachers with the most a students get a bonus. it means we must measure and reward progress. it's the progress that counts. the teacher who takes kids three grades behind and gets them up to grade level has arguably accomplished more than the teacher who has a class full of

overachievers. that's why i'm urging you to support a teacher evaluation system that will identify these great heroes in our schools, and reward them accordingly. there are also several things we can do to raise graduation rates and prepare our kids for college, by assessing kids in the fourth grade to the tenth grade, to catch kids before they fall too far behind. like paying for tenth graders to take the pre-s.a.t., and expanding access to advanced placement classes for low-income students. all of these reforms are important, and i'm willing to work with legislators in both

parties to get this passed. these reforms will help our children reach their goals. give them a better shot at success. more opportunities to live a better life than us. but increasing opportunities for our kids is more than just education. we have to make sure that there are jobs for them here in new mexico when they graduate. last year i promised that we would send a message that new mexico was open for business. and small businesses now know that government is doing a better job at working to facilitate instead of impede job growth, and we saw what can happen when we make ourselves competitive with surrounding states. early last year i came before you to ask that we eliminate the gross receipts tax to level the playing field with texas.

i promise that if we did that union pacific would locate right here in new mexico. we came together in a bipartisan manner and eliminated that tax, and union pacific is now in new mexico creating 3,000 jobs building their new facility and over 600 permanent jobs. t.e. connectivity is now leaving el paso and moving, creating up to 200 jobs. similar story with alaska structures, which also moved operations here from el paso, and later this week, i'll be continuing my work with governors from mexico to make our state, not just texas, a key trade corridor into the united states. [ applause ]

there's tremendous optimism about the economic development in new mexico, and what we're doing along the border. in fact, a texas newspaper has seen what we've done, and they're worried. so said in an editorial. texas worrying about new mexico stealing their jobs. my friends, the more they worry, the better we're doing. we need to keep it that way. lowes also announced it is bringing 600 jobs to albuquerque, and we welcome them with open arms. i recently visited general mills as well, which just finished a $100 million expansion creating

60 new and permanent jobs, all while achieving the highest levels of environmental standards. i said last year that i believe we can support the growth of business and protect the environment. we aren't going to help those who play by the rules and punish those who don't. when intel needed an air quality permit, we held them to a high standard, and when they met those high standards, we got them their permit in less than four months. quicker than ever before. but when corporations broke our environmental law, when they tried to sidestep our safeguards, we went after them, collecting over $3.3 million in fines from utility, energy and

oil and gas companies. with sensible, predictable regulations, we can grow our economy and protect our environment. we can do both, and we must do both. we have to do it all, because we are competing with other states. unfortunately, a recent study ranked new mexico dead last in terms of our competitiveness. dead last. it said we had one of the most burdensome tax codes in the country. i've long said government doesn't create jobs. it doesn't. small businesses do. but government can and does create the environment to help small businesses grow. we can do so much more to level the playing field for our small businesses. to put more new mexicans back to work. that's why i am proposing that we exempt roughly half of new

mexico's small businesses, those earning less than $50,000 per year from the gross receipts tax. that's roughly 40,000 of our small businesses. the little ones. the start-ups. this is a bottom line approach. many successful businesses started at kitchen tables with not much more than a savings account from the family and a dream. we freed to invest in a culture of entrepreneurship so more of these family businesses can make it. so they can grow and hire more are new mexicans. i'm also proposing a tax credit for high-tech research and development to attract more high-paying jobs to the state. and this year it's time for us

to stop the double and triple taxation that is crippling our construction and manufacturing industries. this is often called pyramiding. a business-to-business tax that kills jobs in new mexico, because of our tax system, it's cheaper for new mexico companies to hire an out of state corporation for services rather than to hire an in-state firm. it makes no sense. om two other states in the entire country impose taxes like this. and it's time for us to end it. and for the ultimate heroes among us, i am proposing a $1,000 tax credit for employer whose hire veterans returning

home from deployment. these men and women should not fight for our freedoms abroad only to be stuck on the unemployment line when they return home. we are joined today by major john miller as well as -- who is a pilot in our air national guard. 23 years. most recently deployed to iraq and staff sergeant anna du of the national guard who sent all of 2011 deployed as leader in the nato-led peacekeeping mission in kosovo. please stand.

>> we thank you for your service. it is because of your fight it allows to us have differences of opinion and freedom of speech. we are so grateful for what our i awe veterans have done and continue to do for us, but both major miller and staff sergeant du are making a career in the military to eventually retire. these veterans and so many others who i see here today have given us freedom, and i am proposing that we allow retiring veterans to exempt 25% of their pension income from state taxes. ladies and gentlemen, we must

agree, they have earned it. another critical element to turning new mexico around a rooting out corruption. we're making progress, but there is much more we can do. corruption tilts's playing field against honest people and shakes public confidence in their government. that's why i signed an executive order that prohibits state government from doing business with companies involved in corruption. it's why all of my appointees must disclose their financial interests online, and it's why my appointees are barred from

lobbying state government for two years after serving in my administration. public service should be about serving the public. not setting up a future are pay date. that's why i'm once again asking you to close the revolving door that turns citizen legislators into special interest lobbyists. where one day they're serving the public, and the next day they're using those connections to serve special interests. both parties are guilty of this. it's wrong for democrats and it's wrong for republicans. there are a few other common sense measures we can enact. when a public official is convicted of corruption they should be forced to remove themselves from their position, immediately. not ten days or 14 days later. when a politician violates the public trust, they should lose their public pension and be

barred from doing business with the state of new mexico. and when the state goes after a public official for corruption to get taxpayers their money back, taxpayers should not have to defend that person in court and pay for those legal fees. [ applause ] new mexicans expect us to act, to pass these reforms and to state loud and clear corruption in new mexico will not stand. [ applause ] finally, keeping new mexico children and families safe should be a top priority every time our legislature meets. just look around at the little ones that are here in the audience today.

like you, i was horrified over the holidays to read about the tragic and inexcusable cases of child abuse. a child just a few weeks old badly beaten, sexually abused, and eventually left to die. small, helpless little girls, bruised and broken, and left in the bathtub. i have spent my life and career helping those who had no voice, particularly children who had been the victim of senseless cruelty, violence, and abuse. i'm asking you to join me in standing up for those who are unable to stand for themselves. i am asking you to increase penalties for child abuse. those who abuse children should face severe mandatory penalties.

we must also put justice for victims first during every legislative session. senator bill payne and i had the opportunity to meet with a family of michael snyder, an albuquerque man who was murdered by his wife, and then secretly buried him at his home for eight years. michael's sisters terri and laura, as well as michael's mother alleen, are here today. please stand. [ applause ]

michael's wife said, he had simply gone missing. simply had left, and sadly, her secret was kept long enough that the statute of limitations had run out. so this killer will serve only a few years for a murder that should have kept her behind bars the rest of her life. that is not right, and we are going to change the law and fight to ensure that no one is able to murder someone in our state and get off easy or get away with it completely by simply letting out the -- the clock run out. that is wrong. i am confident that we can work together to solve our pressing public safety needs. the democrats, republicans, and andy. we can do it.

strengthening megan's law to ensure sex offenders can not live in secret in our neighborhoods, allowing amber alerts to be issued when them in harm's way, and, yes, ending the practice of providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, as well. just last week, a man pled guilty in alamogordo to trafficking humans from pakistan and elsewhere through new york, and into our state. a touch-and-go, to grab our license, to grab our government issued i.d. card and leave. to where? who knows. for what purpose? who knows.

over and over the same story. the fraud, the trafficking, the security threats. i want to thank independent representative andy nunez for sponsoring the bill to repeal this law. thank you, sir. and i want to thank the democratic house judiciary committee chairman al park for working with us last session to cut through and tone down the rhetoric, and to develop a compromise. a bill that does not give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants but does allow foreign nationals who are here legally on a work or student

visa to get that driver's license. that was a good compromise, and it cleared the house last year with bipartisan support. this issue has been debated thoroughly. the desire of new mexicans is clear, and it's time to vote to repeal the law. i'm also asking the legislature to work with me to crack down on repeat drunk drivers. a vehicle in the hands of a repeat drunk driver is a deadly weapon. it's a deadly weapon that we should confiscate. just like they do in the city of albuquerque. we should seize the vehicles of repeat drunk drivers and for those who rack up four, five and six or more dwis who just don't get the message, it's time to

impose more serious mandatory prison sentences that get them off the streets and away from our families. controversial issues like these always stir heated debate, and that's okay, because we have proven that through tough debate we can find common ground. without compromising our principles. on all sorts of issues. we did it last year to protect classroom spending. we did it on school grading. we did it on katie's law and we did it to close the loopholes that allowed out of state corporations to gain the system. we did it together. we should all be proud of these successes, but not for us. but because of what it means to others. i'm reminded of a quote that hangs on my wall today. it motivates me to work for all

of the things we've discussed. it reads -- "100 years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house i lived in, or the kind of car i drove. but the world may be different because i was important in the life of a child." new mexico turned 100 this year. think of where we've been as a state. how far we've come, and 100 years from now, imagine our, what our state will be, and accept the responsibility that we all share, to shape that future, to provide an even greater state for the children and grandchildren of new mexico. i believe there is good reason to be optimistic. new mexicans always rise to the challenge. i would be remiss not to recall

how families, friends and neighbors took care of one another as many battled record-cold temperatures without heat last winter. and the record-breaking wildfires we faced over the summer. i was humbled and honored to watch new mexico's finest battling these blazes with poise, grace, guts and determination. i'd like to have former los alamos fire chief doug tucker and police chief wayne torpy to please stand.

>> we became pretty close friends throughout the las conchos fire. it the community trusted you. they relied on your briefings and on the men and women you trained to handle a crisis of that magnitude. gentlemen, you made new mexico proud. thank you. today i believe that in front of us is an opportunity to make tomorrow better than today. to create a new mexico that reflects our values. a place where those who play by the rules succeed and those who don't are brought to justice. a place where those who have risked their lives to protect our freedom return home to find a state that has protected their jobs. a place where small businesses grow, and where other companies choose to locate.

a place where every new mexico child is taught to chase his or her dreams that when they struggle, they're helped. where they learn to overcome challenges, but never, ever accept failure. it is up to us to seize this moment, to face our challenges and rise once again to the occasion. new mexico's best days are ahead of us. i believe that. i know you believe that. and together we will ensure our children live that. thank you all. god bless you. god bless new mexico and all our work ahead of us.

the nation's governors are headed here to washington, d.c. this weekend to attend the winter meeting of the national governors association. our live coverage begins saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern with the opening news conference. we'll also show you a discussion on growing state economies and we'll hear from the economic development and commerce committees. sunday our coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern with a look at education and early childhood issues. the nation's governors will also talk about hunger and later the changing role of the national guard. and we'll wrap things up on monday at 9:00 a.m. eastern with the closing session featuring nga president neb's governor. live sunday, monday on our companion network c-span. join us later from more american history tv. the focus is historian richard norton smith lectures on the first president from his home in mt. vernon,

virginia. american history tv gets under way tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span3. >> tonight on c-span, from this year's world economic forum, see the heads of the world bank and international monetary fund along with other global leaders as they talk about the future of the world economy. >> no one is immune in the current situation. it's not just a eurozone crisis. it's a crisis that could have collateral effects, spillover effects around the world. and you know, we'll hear from others, but what i have seen and what we have seen in numbers and in forecasts is that no country is immune and everybody has an interest in making sure that this crisis is resolved adequately. >> i have been in public service most of it involved in public finance for over four decades. let me share with you, i've never been as scared