that do going down in the near future?talked o >> no senator, i don't. we keep thinking we have it topped out and we have a plan to get there and then it increases again. trai we've just been chasing this m requirements rabbit for a long e time. we have to get ahead of it.all we have to train more people he than move in and out of the system every year and we haven't been able to do that yet because>> r all the trainers are doing operational support. >> right. on another separate issue, general welsh, if the -- if the s bca levels do go into effect do you see any feasible way to modernize the existing triad-based nuclear problem we have? >> it has to be modernized. the question is, what parts do ss i s you modernize and what do we as a nation expect --forc >> i should say in its entirety. because i think -- i think that we forces some very difficult conversations. we've seen talk here within the last few days of a diad as

opposed to a triad. would it force those kinds of decisions? >> i think it -- i don't think o ha that discussion will ever go away, senator. i'm a believer in the triad but we clearly have to have cu discussions that involve the air force, the navy, the departments the congress, national security counsel and white house to determine, where is the nation going to go with this? we don't have enough money in d our air force and navy to do allry the modernization you would need to do if we took everybody's desire and tried to meet it.ied >> thank you all. >> i want to thank the turn witnesses. for the record -- know the abc but for the record if sequestration returns next year can your service execute the defense strategic guidance? >> no senator -- no, chairman. >>, no xharm. >> no, chairman. >> no, chairman. >> thank your. i want to thank you all for your>> wan very straightforward testimony tio

and candid testimony. and i would like to mention two things with c you. one, and it was referred to compens earlier, the commission on pay/compensation is reporting c they will be appearing before the committee and will be y looking at their recommendations. we're going to need your input as to whether those are doable, a the effect on the military on lo the all-volunteer force on our retirees so i hope you'll -- i know you'll be looking at that commission's recommendations. we're going to need your input and evaluation of it . and finally again, it was g raised by several members, we're se here fighting as hard as we can to repeal sequestration.t w that's a bipartisan effort. but we have to do a better job on acquisition reform. and we're going to be spending a co lot of time on that in this committee.

and i've come to one conclusion already and that is, in the ink he whole process, it requires your input in a much more meaningful fashion. i think you would allf agree with that. after layall if you're responsible, you should play a much greater role in the process. that's one of the conclusions that i think that we're in agreement on and that we would probably try to add to the ndaa, but there's a lot more that needs to be done. and so i'll be counting on you to understand that you'll ah probably be asked some pretty tough questions in the days ahead.rman. so, i thank you for being here. senator reid? >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you. >> i thank the witnesses..

>> if this is the best military in the world why do you keep losing wars? maybe we shouldn't be invading iraq? maybe we shouldn't be liberating libya? look at what your liberation of libya did. i would like to hear from the air force about the liberation of libya. senator heinrich how can you talk about drone strikes? look at what the drone strikes have done to help destroy gannon. now in the midst of a civil war. on news makers this week, vermont senator bernie sanders, ranking member of the budget committee on the president's budget proposal which is due to be released monday.

developing a budget in the republican-controlled congress. fast track trade authority the keystone xl pipeline and presidential politics. news makers sunday at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. eastern on c-span. also sunday, this week's confirmation hearing for attorney general nominee loretta lynch. she testified about the senate judiciary committee. if confirmed, she would be the first african-american female attorney general. you can watch her testimony sunday at 10:30 eastern on c-span. this sunday on q&a, neuroscience dr. francis jensen about recent discoveries on the teenage brain. >> they don't have their frontal lobe area to region. the action and consequences are not very clear to them because their frontal lobes are not readily accessible. they have frontal lobes. it's just that connections can't

be made as quickly for split-second decision making. and don't forget, the mother moneys are changing in the body of both young men and women. and the brain hasn't seen these yet in life until you hit teenage years. so, the brain is trying to learn how to respond to these new hormones running around, and trying to lock onto sinynapses so it's trial and error. this contributes to the roller coaster kind of experience that we watch as parents. >> sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern and pacific on c-span's q&a. new york governor andrew cuomo proposed a $142 billion budget in his state of the state address. it includes new investments in education, infrastructure and tax cuts for homeowners and small businesses.>> thank >> thank you.ch. thank you. all

thank you. you thank you very very much. happy new year to all of you. and to stacy miller, who is a master teacher which identifiest's give literally the best teachers across the state of new york. she's doing extraordinary work. let's give her a round of applause. big welcome to our new lieutenant governor kathy hokele, who is doing a tremendous job already.yo to the new assembly members welcome you. to the. senate members, we welcome them. we've been joined by controller tom danapoli welcome him. attorney general eric nate

schneiderman. pleasure toub beli with you, attorney general. to senate republican conference member dean skalose. assembly speaker sheldon silver, pleasure to be with you, mr. speaker. independent conference leader, to jeff klein. pleasure, jeff. thank you for being hereor.itusins, p to senate minority leader, andreea stewart cousins. pleasure to be with you, andrea.itrian. assembly minority leader, brian kolb. thank you, brian. o fin it we have the members of our fine court of appeals. it's an honor to be with you. thank you, judge.u, very to our host mayor kathy sheehan, thank you very much. to the very tired mayor of the city of new york, who went to paris and back in one day, pleasure to be with you, mayor.

to ail the elected officials who are here today, to my . colleagues, to my friends. thank you all very much for being here today. let me begin by thanking the senate leader and assembly leader for theirng. accommodation for my father's passing. the state of the state address ound m was moved back to accommodate the ceremony around my father's appreci passing. i truly appreciate their consideration in doing that. i also appreciate all the members of the senate all the members of the assembly who came down to pay their respects to my father. it would have meant a lot to him. he had tremendous respect for this body. tre

heartfelt to the cuomo family, thank you for taking the time to come. to alld ph new yorkers, there's been such an inoutpouring of notes and letters and phone calls. my i can't even begin to explain it. and so on behalf again, of my ave sh father and mowy brothers and sisters, we to want thank all new yorkers for the respect that they have shown to my father. now, if my father knew that we ha delayed the state of the state tion on his account, we would not be happy. bud so, what we've actually done is accelerated the budget by moving the budget up five days which

would be five days ahead of pr schedule, which would make my father happy. the good news is, since it's a joint presentation, budget and state of the state, you only have to sit through one presentation. that's the goomyd news. the bad news is, it's a three-hour presentation. t a lot of good work that we've done and a lot of good work that we want to do that we want to talk about today. what is the state of the there's a lot of good work we want to do and we want to talk about today. what is the state of the state? new york state is back and new york state is leading the way forward. and none of this would have happened without the work of the people in this room. look at how far we've come in just a short period of time. 2010 we had an 8.9% unemployment. today it's 5.9%.

we had -- [ applause ] we had chronically low credit ratings. today, the highest credit ratings in four years by all three credit rating agencies. upstate was in a state of decay and decline and alienation. upstate is rebuilding everywhere you go today. taxes and spending were going up, up and up. today we've cut the tax rate to the lowest in 50 years. property taxes that were going up 6% a year were capped at 2% and frozen at that rate. when you look at -- you should applaud that. it was a period -- it was a period of historic progress and it has made our state a better state. and it has made life for people

in our state better. and that's what this is all about at the end of the day. making life better for people and that's what we have actually been doing. now, i won't say it was an easy for years. it was a hard four years. and it has taken a toll. some greater toll on some of us than others. but look at where we were when we started. look at how good dean scalose looked just four years ago. look at shelly. four years ago. he was looking good -- we were like saturday night fever dudes. that's what we were four years ago. and four years later it's really sad. pictures don't lie. no. it's true. it really is true. but we believe, and i'm sure i speak for dean and shelly, it was all worth it and we'd do it all over again, wouldn't we?

new york is now a state of opportunity once sgen and our goal today is to reach even higher. and that's what our 2015 opportunity agenda is all about. economic opportunity, education, public safety, government reform and fairness for all. we start with the economy because business is the engine that pulls the train. it was all about jobs, jobs, jobs. it was four years ago and it is today. it's about to keep the economy growing. in order to keep the economy growing, we have to keep doing what we have been doing that got the economy running in the first place. and in two simple words, it is maintaining the fiscal discipline that we have established. remember where we were four years ago. the state of new york was spending more money than the people in the state were earning. i mean just think about that

concept for a moment. the increase in state spending was going up at a faster rate than new yorkers were actually earning income. and that wasn't one or two years. that was for 50 years, the rate of spending increased -- was higher than the rate of income. we have reversed that trend and actually turned it the other way. the state now spends over the past four years, 1.3%. that compares to 6.8% over the past 50 years. [ applause ]

to keep taxes down. we keep businesses coming our way. and that's exactly what our goal for this year should be. starting with small businesses. small businesses are 98% of all the businesses in new york. small business is where the jobs are being created. that is the life blood. anything we can do to generate small business is what we to want do. we want to have a tax cut for small business that is dramatic. that would take the small business taxes from 6.5% down to 2.35 2.5%, the lowest rate in 100 years, and send a real positive signal.

that will show that new york is continuing to be a pro-job, pro-growth state. the next taxes we have to attack are the property taxes. realize the increase in real estate taxes is due holy to-- wholly in the state of local. these real estate taxes are too high. local government has in many communities been guilty of great waste and duplication. who said that quote? i'll give you a hint. me. secretary hillary clinton fdr ronald reagan, steve aquario. it is not ronald reagan. it is not hillary clinton. it is not me.

it is down to steve aquario and fdr. and if it is steve aquario, he is fired, so it is fdr. but that shows how long this problem has actually been going on. it has been new york's chronic problem. when people complain about high taxes in new york they're talking about the property tax. just remember this -- the number one business tax is the property tax. the highest tax we collect in the state of new york is the property tax. $50 billion total compared to $40 billion for everything else. we attacked it over the past four years. 2011 we capped it. 2014 we froze it. 2015 we're going to cut it. and really respond to the needs of homeowners all across this state. let's pass a 1.7 --

[ applause ] we have proposed a $1.7 billion property tax relief for 1.3 million homeowners who will save an average of nearly $1000 per year. and $1,000 in savings can make a difference in people's lives. we would also extend relief to over 1 million renters in this state. when you put the two together, 2.3 million households just under a million upstate 800,000 new york city, 340,000 in long island, 139,000. this is real, meaningful significant tax relief that will make a difference in people's lives and send a very strong signal that the new york we've brought you for the past four years is the new york we're going to continue.

[ applause ] a growing economy also needs to invest in its infrastructure. we have started a very aggressive infrastructure redesign program downstate with john f. kennedy and laguardia airports. also with stuart and republic airports, planning our regional airports as one unit. we want to make republic and stewart -- republic is on long island. sue stewart is in the mid-hudson. we want to make them tax-free zones so we can bring businesses to republic and stewart and take some of the traffic from jfk and laguardia and move it out to the long island and stewart airport. we want to build four metro north stations in the bronx to open up that side of the bronx. hoorah. i have a name for one of the stations.

diaz station, we're going to call it. ruben diaz station. we'll invest 150 million to construct vertical parking structures at strategic locations in long island and westchester to assist commuters coming in on the lirr. we also propose using $1.2 billion of the settlement funds to protect thruway toll payers for a year so there will be no increase in the thruway toll for the next year and to help finance the tappan zee bridge. we're also working with our partners in washington to secure federal funding to fund the public transportation over the bridge. congresswoman loy has taken the lead in this as well as congressman peter king, and they've been very, very helpful.

infrastructure today is less about roads and bridges in my opinion, and it's more about broadband. a state that doesn't have broadband is not going to be economically successful going forward. believe it or not, we still have 500,000 homes and 4,000 businesses who have no access to broadband. it seems to be in upstate new york and it tends to be in poorer communities in new york city. the last place really we should have the absence is where we have it. we want to invest $500 million leverage $500 million in private sector money from the broadcast providers and let's get new york state fully wired so every business, every home, can compete and let's start doing that now.

and there's a new way of thinking about growing jobs in new york city. jobs are coming out of our higher education system. you look anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world, as a matter of fact, where you see regional job growth and it's always linked to the higher education institutions. we're in the process of taking our sunni and kuni system and turning them into commercialization and job generators. you look at stamford university and silicon valley, that was an academic exercise that was actually commercial -- actually commercialized extraordinarily well and started an entire revolution in the economy. that can happen here in new york. but we have to make the investment. we have to invest in suny2020 and cuny2020 to provide

educations and also to jumpstart the economy. we've been doing it. we want to continue to do it with another $50 million investment this year that i believe will reap that dividend. he want to couple that -- [ applause ] we want to couple that with a new york state venture fund of $100 million so new york state can invest in many of those young entrepreneurs and many of those start-up companies and keep them here in new york rather than finding equity in california, texas or florida. let's invest in our home-grown companies and keep the jobs here now. we also have significant reform for our community college system. our community college system in many cases is charging students

exorbitant tuition running up debt, giving them training and education for jobs that don't exist. the person graduates the community college system, has the debt but can't find the job. more and more the community college system we're successful is turning into a training program, almost an apprentice program for a specific industry. that part of the training is they design what they need the skills they need. you go to that community cleernlgs college, you get that degree, you come out, graduate go right into that company. that's what we have to be doing with our community colleges. we want to link them regionally with the employers in that region region, identify specific jobs that are available and then educate and train for those jobs

to make the community college system more rewarding. the past four years we have focused on upstate new york and economic development like never before. i would venture to say there has never been a more concerted effort as developing upstate new york than what we have done over the past four years. upstate was in a terrible cycle of decline. it was losing economic power through no part in its own, economy was changing, business were losing away. when you start to lose economic power, you start to lose people. when you start to lose people you start to lose political power because the loss of population literally, relates to loss of political power, which relates in loss of

government attention. now you are in a downward cycle. that's where upstate new york was for many, many years. and it was not getting the care and the attention it deserved. we reversed that cycle. we made upstate new york a priority. we invested that group political power, that group population, and now you see the reverse. and just the way there's a neglects ive synergy i believe there's a positive synergy. i believe if you go to a lot of these cities in upstate new york, you feel a totally different energy than you felt four years ago. and that is the turn-around we're talking about. you look at where the unemployment rate dropped. historically, the unemployment rate when it dropped, would drop in new york city and it would stay static upstate new york. you look at these unemployment numbers and you see how balanced our economy is. the days where downstate

flourishes and upstate suffers are over. and this is a very balanced picture and a very balanced economy. [ applause ] the regional economic development counsels are workcils are working. they're working very well. it was a new idea to say we're going to organize region by region across the state because there is no one economy. there are regional economies. put everyone at one table. all the politicians, all the business people, all the academics, come up with one regional strategy and then everybody works on that one regional strategy. that's exactly what we've done. it's been a great success, a tremendous amount of work. the former lieutenant governor bob duffy served as chairman of the regional economic development countcils.

he carried the weight on his shoulders. he attended hundreds and hundreds of meetings all around the state and he inspired this process. let's give him a big round of applause and a moment of recognition. stand up bob. come on, stand up! [ applause ] he's the best. we also embarked on a truly ambitious enterprise to turn around western new york. now, western new york, buffalo was the single greatest economic problem in the state of new york. western new york buffalo, north country, and pockets of poverty down south in the bronx, especially. western new york and buffalo had been down for so long, they didn't even believe they could come back.

i remember when i first started speaking to groups in buffalo four years ago, i would give them my best economic development pitch and not a single muscle in a single face would move. they had heard it all before. everybody was liveeaving. the population was shrinking. nothing was going to help buffalo. nothing was going to turn it around. well, we did turn around buffalo. buffalo today, the housing market is way up. you have construction billions and billions of dollars in construction. the private market is flocking to buffalo. they're writing about buffalo internationally as a turn-around phenomenon. that's what happened in buffalo. and it proved to us f you can turn around buffalo, can you turn around anything. and we're going to. and we had a great team --

[ applause ] we had a great team that worked at it every day and made the difference. and i would ask them to stand and let's give them the recognition they return. paul byron brown, mark, howard, and satise. pleasure. we also propose expamdnding our green jobs and environmental programs. the sweet spot for the state of new york is creating jobs and creating jobs in the clean energy, clean environment area. and that's where we want to focus. we want to increase the environmental protection fund to $172 million. we also propose -- we also

propose a $50 million farmland preservation fund, 20 million of which will be death dedicated to the hudson valley, which is one of the precious assets in this state. it is a tourism asset. and we want to keep it that way. and $30 million to strengthen the southern tier's rich and growing agriculture industry, because they need help in preserving their lands. to spur new investment in green jobs in the southern tier, we to want hold a $20 million clean air competition. let's invite companies internationally to bring their best ideas to the southern tooeshgs we will take the best ideas in clean energy companies. we will invest in them if they cite and grow in the southern tier. we did this in buffalo, it it

worked magnificently well. now let's do it for the southern tier. we also want to invest in upstate economy by investing in hubs, to the -- you have to move goods in and out and this investment will make it possible. we also to want invest in the state fair. the state fair is symbolically and economically important. the state fair is just that -- it's the state fair. it gets a tremendous number of investigators from all across the state. to demonstrate the state's development, the state's beauty, the state's resources. the truth is, the state fair makes money for the state, over $130 million. but the state fair in truth

reflects yesterday's new york. it does not reflect today or tomorrow's new york. let's reimagine the state fair. let's invest in it. let's be proud of it. let's get a private sector company to come in and partner with us and invest $50 million and really turn around the state fair the way the state is turning around. ft. drum is a great new york country -- north country asset. we're going to spend $1.5 million to buy an additional 1300 acres for training and $25 million for improvements along route 26. ft. drum is the home to the 10th mountain division, which just returned from serving us proudly in afghanistan. and i -- [ applause ]

i visited the 10th mountain division while they were in afghanistan. i'm the person in the picture with the pen in his pocket. i wasn't on really serious duty. but the 10th mountain division is the most deployed force since 9/11. just think about that. and 323 soldiers have been lost by the 10th mountain division defending our freedom. we honor their ak nicesacrifice. we have representatives of them here today and we would ask them to stand so we can honor them. [ applause ]

tourism continues to be a successful jobs generator, especially in upstate new york. at one time we had a very robust "i love new york" advertising campaign. over the years it went away. we started to bring it back. we got more creative in the way we've been marketing the state. we spent over $100 million in advertising over the past four years and our investment has been paying off exponentially. visitor spending is up --

visitor spending is up $8 billion to $62 billion, believe it or not. 8% higher than the national rate of growth. that's watkins glen international, by the way. and that's a very famous new yorker driving that car on that track. license plate number 56 is a clue. our tougher itch jobs increased by 833,000, double the national rate of growth. that's the walkway over the hudson. we want to continue this international attention to upstate new york with our challenges and our $25 million investment in the "i love new york," the adirondack challenges the governor's cup, fishing challenges the promotion of our wine industry which is doing great and we want to continue this effort because it's been reaping

dividends. we also want to expand our global markets as the next step. we want to set up a global export/import bank. the federal government has one. i worked with it when i was in the federal government, but it has a tremendous impact. and if we capitalize our export/import bank with $35 million, i believe we're going to see multiples of that as dividends. we'll be leading trade missions to new york's top economic partners, including canada, china, israel and mexico. i'm going to invite the leaders to come with me on these. we went to israel last year and we had a great trip. this year we're going to be our own version of the three amigos. a little different than the past but the same basic idea. so, we will ride again. we'll also lead a trade mission to xheshg's newest economic

partner, which is cuba. we would like to be one of the first states to cuba just from a competitive point of view economically. let us be the first one there. let us develop the relationship. let us open the markets and let us get opportunities for new york companies. [ applause [ our economy recovery must reach all new yorkers and there are new yorkers still left in the shadow of opportunity. the sad truth is with all the growth in the economy poverty still exists in this country and poverty still exists in the state of new york. two of the poorest communities in the state of new york, and those orange areas are areas where they have poverty greater than 20%, but two of the poorest

are rochester and the bronx. rochester has the highest child poverty rate in the state. and the bronx has the highest overall poverty rate in the state. we want to build on our successful efforts. first at employing minority youth. we have a strikeforce that's been working in the bronx. it's been working very well. we want to add $10 million to get people jobs jobs, jobs. keep them off the street corner. give them a positive path to follow. in rowchester -- [ applause ] in rochester we're creating an anti-poverty task force to lift children and their families out of poverty and we're starting that now. pope paul said if you want peace, work for justice. that's just what we're trying to do. we have the highest income inequality since the '20s. for too many, the dream of

economic mobility has been replaced with the reality of stagnation. many people believe if you were born poor, you're going to die poor. and that is the exact opposite of what the american dream promised. the american dream was all about mobility. wherever you start can you move forward and you can move up. that was the beauty of this country. that's why people came. it didn't matter if you were rich or you were poor, if you were white or black, you came here and you could be whatever you wanted to be. you had a chance to do it. this country never guaranteed success, but it did guarantee opportunity. and that promise is slipping away. we have an agenda that will work to bring it back. first, we believe we should raise the minimum wage. we raised it once. we believe the gap continues to get worse.

we would raise the minimum wage to $10.50 statewide. and new york city, where it's a high-cost area to $11.50. [ applause ] minimum wage is very simple. we believe if you work full time, you should be able to pay the rent and pay for food and not live in poverty. that's the basic promise of employment. and we're not there yet. we are still have a hucker problem in this state and many communities. let's -- in 2015 there's no excuse why any man, woman or child should go hungry in the state of new york.

and to provide housing, affordable housing we want to increase our investment by $486 million. let's do the affordable housing we need top let's do the community development we need so we don't wind up with homeless people in the first place. on the chronic issue of unemployment for minority men, we have an urban youth jobs program that provides the employer with a training subsidy if they hire a young person. we'll pay for the training and we'll also subsidize part of the income. we've hired over 20,000 young men with this program. it works. let's keep it going. and double the funding and double the jobs. four years ago the state's procurement goal for minority of

women was 10%, which was about $800 million in state contracts, that were set aside for women-owned businesses and minority-bonied businesses. we raised that 10% to 20%. last year we surpassed the 20% and we went to 25% which was $2 billion in state contracts that went to women-owned companies and minority-owned companies. this year we wanted to take it to an even new level, a national level, set the highest goal in the nation and go to 30%, $2.4 billion for minority and women-owned businesses. many of our new college graduates face high student loan debt as they begin their career

and it's a trubloubling situation because they have high debt and low wages. we want to help them get on their feet for the first two years. if they come out of college and they have high debt and a job where they earn less than $50,000 per year which is the level at which they probably can't afford to pay off their debt, we'll pay the debt for the first two years so they can get their feet under them and they can get on with their lives. [ applause ] we have -- we have a vast array of not-for-profits and community organizations in this state that are really an untapped potential. that we want to bring into the main stream and we want to develop to access state programs. we want to grow the capacity through a new office of faith-based community development services. going to be led by assemblymen

and pastor kamara. let's give him a round of applause. congratulations. he only gets one yea? let's give him more than one yea. yea! we'll also invest $50 million in the not-for-profit sector on a capacity-building fund to get them to the technical skills they need to do it. education, the great equalizer. and this is the area, my friends, where i think we need to do the most reform and, frankly, where reform is going to be difficult given the situation of the way education is funded in this state. our education system needs dramatic reform and it has for years.

and i believe this is the year to do it. this is the year to roll up our sleeves and take on the dramatic challenge that has eluded us for so many years for so many reasons. we will pursue an ambitious 3-12 agenda. strengthen teacher evaluations reward excellent teachers, transform failing schools, expeditiously but fairly remove ineffective teachers, expand charter schools, pass the etc and the dream act, extend mayoral control continued support for 4-year-olds and pre-k. let's do them one at a time. we want the best teachers in our classroom. every study says the quality of the teacher makes a difference in this school. we must start treating teaching like the profession that it actually is.

in 2013, this legislation put in place a, quote/unquote, bar exam. an entrance exam for teachers. last year every prospective teacher had to take a 12th grait grade literacy test. of the teachers who took it, 32% failed. a 12th grait grade literacy test. and these are teachers who are about to walk into a classroom. these are teachers who we're giving to our children. we need a real set of standards for entering the profession. and we also want to recruit the best and the brightest. and i believe you have to incentivize for that. we are proposing we will pay

full tuition for suyn or cuny for top graduates if they commit to teaching in new york schools for five years. [ applause ] and we will create a residency program to give teachers early training, just the way we do with doctors. now, everyone will tell you nationwide, the key to education reform is a teacher evaluation system. why? so you know what teachers are doing well what teachers need work, and what teachers are struggling. a teacher evaluation system. new york has talked about it for years and years and years. we were supposed to implement the teacher evaluation system five years ago. in exchange for receiving federal money called race to the

top. the schools were reluctant to do it. last year we said, if a school didn't complete a teacher they wouldn't get state funding. the excess funding. le and behold 100% of the teachers now have a teacher evaluation system. 100% of the schools adopted a teacher evaluation system. that's the good news. we have teacher evaluation systems for every school in the system. the bad news is, they are baloney. now, 38% of high school students are college ready. 38%. 98.7% of high schoolteachers are rated effective. how can that be? how can 38% of the students be ready, but 98% of the teachers

effective? 31% of third to eighth-graders are proficient in english. but 99% of the teachers are rated effective. 35% of third to eighth-graders proficient in math. 98% of the teachers rated effective. who are we kidding my friends? the problem is clear and the solution is clear. we need real, accurate, fair teacher evaluations. we asked the state department of education for their ideas and they gave us their feedback. we accept their recommendations. to reduce the overtesting the students, we will eliminate local examples and base 50% of the evaluation on state exams. second, the other 50% of the evaluation should be limited to independent classroom

observations. teachers may not be rated effective or highly effective unless they are effective in both the test and the observation categories. we will stop local score inflation which has resulted in virtually all teachers being rated by setting scoring bans in the state law. we propose tenure to only be granted when a teacher achieves five consecutive years of effective ratings, and once we have a fair evaluation system, we can incentivize performance. and we will. i believe the teacher evaluation system should be used to incentivize and reward high performing teachers. and if a teacher is doing well incentivize that teacher who's doing well and pay them accordingly. we would pay any teacher who gets highly effective a $20,000

bonus on top of the salary that that teacher is getting paid because we want to incentivize high performance. in 2013, we created the master teacher program which rewards the highest performing teach ersers in the system. today we have some of the best. these are enin are tos to their colleagues. they have achieved the highest tests on scores. these are teachers who go above and beyond and give more to their students than anyone has a right to ask. we're joined by them today. let them stand so we can honor them and thank them for their contribution.

[ applause ] >> for teachers who need support after the evaluation we will offer a teacher improvement plan to get them the help they need. in the unfortunate case we have a chronically ineffective teacher, who despite our help does not improve, we must protect our students by removing the chronically ineffective teacher from the classroom. under the current 3020. a system, it is so hard to remove an ineffective teacher that most districts will tell

you that they don't even try. we will follow sed's recommendation and reform the process to make it easier fairer and faster to remove ineffective teachers from the classroom. we propose allowing a district to remove a teacher after two ineffective ratings unless the teacher can show that the scoring was fraudulent. let's remember, my friends -- i no he these reforms are tough, but the purpose of the education system and why we do this and why taxpayers give us money to fund education is so that we can teach and nurture our children. this was never about protecting and growing a bureaucracy. it was about helping young people. it was not about creating an educational industry that then supports ancillary organizations. let's remember the children in this process, and then we'll

wind up doing the right thing. we must acknowledge that while education should be the great equalizer -- right? education is what made the american dream a reality. my father could go from behind a grocery store and through public education, become governor colin powell grew up in the bronx, through public education could become head of the joint chiefs of staff. for too many, it is now the great discriminator. and the truth is, we have two systems. we have one for the rich and we have one for the poor, and the greatest symbol of disparity is our failing schools. students in failing schools land well behind in virtually every academic category. state average for graduation is 76%. failing school 47%. worse, more than 9 out of 10 students in failing schools are

minority or poor students. 9 out of 10 minority or poor students. there are 178 failing schools in new york state. 77 have been failing for an entire decade. over the last ten years 250,000 children went through those failing schools while new york state government did nothing. just think about that. and that has to end this year. i understand the obstacles to abuse. i also understand what our students need to move forward. we should be ashamed of those numbers. the education industry's cry that more money will solve the problem is false. money without reform only grows the bureaucracy. it does not improve performance.

state average per student -- $8,000. state average in the high-needs district, $12,000. failing district in buffalo, which has been a failing district for many many years, state spends $16,000 per student. so don't tell me if we only had more money, it would change. we've been putting more money into the system every year for decades and it hasn't changed. and 250,000 children were condemned to failing schools by the system. let's end it this year. we'll take another recommendation from sed and propose using the massachusetts model in new york. when a school fails for three years, a not-for-profit or another school district or turnaround expert must take over the school and they must create a plan to dramatically overhaul and improve the entire school.

will turn each school into a community school and develop a management overhaul plan. the takeover entity will overhaul the curriculum override agreements and terminate underperforming staff provide salary incentives, and grant priority for pre-k extended learning community schools, westerly collegeearly college services wraparound services, so we're giving the students the services they need but we're making the changes we have to make. in this mix charter schools provide a viable option for many much our students. we propose giving students in failing schools a preference in the charter school lotteries. the current charter cap is 460. there are 159 slots left. only 24 available slots left for charter schools in new york

city. we want to add another 100 to the cap and allow the cap to be state wide to eliminate any artificial limits on where charter schools are open. to ensure that charter schools are serving all of the public, we will propose an innovative anti- anti-creaming legislation to ensure charters are teaching their fair share of high-needs populations, english language, learning disabled and free lunch, so no one can say that the charter schools aren't taking the same cross section of public students that the public schools have. all students deserve a fair shot at the american dream and that's why we want to pass a $100

million education tax credit for public and private sector partnerships. and let's pass the dream act pore $27 million in this budget and let's make it a reality. if we're serious about fix is this problem, then cities also have to be part of the solution. we're calling on the mayors to join us. let's extend mayoral control in new york city where mayor de blasio has taken control of the school system. let's give him a round of applause. and let's consider the possibility in other cities where we have chronic long-term problems with the education system, and let other mayors step up to the plate and we will work with them in that regard. we know that the earlier students enter a classroom, the more student for success they have.

therefore, we've committed 1 1$1.5 billion to phase in four-day pre-k for 4 year-olds and we are excited about that. we'll invest another $365 million this year in pre-k for 4 year-olds. but we also want to take the next step and we want to start designing programs not for 4 year-olds, but for 3 year-olds. all the studies say the earlier you get them in the better. let new york be ahead of the curve by enrolling 3 year-olds who are now making some of the largest cognitive and behavioral gains. we're going to start this with a $25 million offering for pre-k for 3 year-olds. we know mentoring programs work and make a big difference. and we know that there are citizens who want to help and

will get involved in mentoring. new york once led the way in mentoring which is now become an international phenomenon and was starting really right here in the state of new york which birthed the idea so others could learn from us. i say we should once again lead the way in mentoring and we will. we're goinging to set up a ing toto set up a mentoring commission and it will be led pro bono by mrs. matilda cuomo. stand up. my mother worked on mentoring for many many years and she's now doing it all across the world and she's made a great difference. so let her help new york because it all starts at home, mom. pro bono. you understand why pro bono.

we propose if we pass these reforms, and this is an ambitious reform package. and i understand there's going to be political problems for people on both sides of the aisle. and they will be besieged by lobbyists. and i understand the political consequence of what i'm asking you to do in making these reforms. but, if we want to re-invest in the system, then make it the right system and don't ask the taxpayers of new york to throw good money after bad. we've done that for decades. let's make the hard choices once. let's stand up for the kids once. and if we make these reforms, i am prepared to make a very large

investment in education. by our formula for this year, which is in the budget, our education formula would have the budget go up by 1.7%. which is $377 million. that's what we agreed to last year in the budget when we took the personal income growth formula. so by our existing budget, it would be a $377 million increase. if the legislature passes these reforms, i propose a 4.8% increase in the budget, a $1.1 billion investment in education, because it will be the right education system. again, that's if we actually stand up and pass these reforms.

public safety, 9/11 marked the beginning of our war on terrorism, not the end. if anyone doubted that, paris was a reminder to all of us an it is not paris. the terrorist groups are metastasizing all across the world. it is actually worse than it was in 9/11. and it's only continuing to get worse. terrorists have evolved and they've adapted and we must do the same. this fall we doubled the national guard port and mta police and state police in key areas because of the heightened alert. given the kreerecent attacks overseas, i believe we should continue our surge levels with state troopers, 300 national guardsmen in areas where they have a potent presence which will cost the state $40 million but i believe it is a worth while investment to keep new yorkers safe.

we'll be conducting a security review of our state's counterterrorism capacity mta, airports, train stations, port authority, state police, how they're coordinating and how they coordinate with local authorities, and we're asking ray kelly the state's special advisor on homeland security, to do that for us. this year we'll be investing $15 million to open the nation's first emergency preparedness college in the country. it will be in albany with a satellite campus in oriskeny. literally the first homeland security awareness college will be here in new york. we propose creating a $15 million storm online system to coordinate federal, state and local emergency responses and

efforts when it happens. this is an online system that when there is a snowstorm, when there is a hurricane, a town, a village, a county can go online, give a status of what they need. we can track what they need. it also tracks the costs so when we later go back to be fema for reimbursement, we have an actual record that was done at the same time. we're also going to be training all local emergency personnel in albany so everyone is trained on the same emergency protocol. the towns, villages counties, the state, everyone trained on the same protocol and everybody knows what the other people are doing. in a weather emergency, we need the right equipment. we've learned that the hard way a number of times. we propose investing $50 million in snowplows to keep our roads open. one of the reasons we close

roads is we can't keep up with the amount of snowfall. if we had a higher number of snow plows, we could actually keep up with the higher rate of snowfall. and i think it's worth while investment. also, emergency vehicles. and we want to equip the state's fleet with gps so we know where they are at all times and we know how to deploy them. government reform. we've talked a lot about what we can do today what we have done what we need to do. "we" is us. "we" is the committee that they call government. and the more people trust government the more people trust us the more capacity we have to do good work. and we need to continue to restore the public's trust. it's an unending process in my opinion. let's pass real campaign finance reform. let's pass public financing.

let's pass a pay commission to reduce the influence of money in our government and increase the amount of trust. our social justice agenda has several points. number one, we are proud of the reforms we've made to the justice system including closing more prisons than any time in our history. but new york is 1 of only 2 states in the united states where 16 year-olds are treated as adults for criminal responsibility. 1 of only 2 states. a 16-year-old who gets committed -- who gets convicted of a crime is now put in state prison at 16 years old.

and state prisons are no place for a 16-year-old. and any expectation -- any expectation that you're going to put a 16 or a 17-year-old in a state prison and you're going to rehabilitate them or you're going to teach them or they're going to come out better than they went in is wholly unrealistic. last year we convened a panel on how we should right the injustice. this year the panel came back and said let's raise the age of criminal responsibility to get 16 and 17 year-olds out of the adult prisons where they're being hurt not helped. and let's have a set of facilities and systems for 16 and 17 year-olds. in terms of justice, the promise

of equal justice is a new york promise and it is an american promise. we republican currently in the midst of a national problem where people are questioning our justice system. and they're questioning whether the justice system really is fairness for all and whether the justice system really is color plind. and that's not just new york. it's a problem all across the country. and it's a problem in reality and it is a problem in perception. and if it is a problem only in perception, it is still a real problem. because people have to trust the justice system. and the trust ha is to go both ways. the community has to respect and trust the police. and the police has to respect and trust the community. and we have to work to restore that trust and that respect.

and we're proposing a seven-point agenda to do just that. first of all a state wide reconciliation commission on police and community relations so we can have a dialogue community by community where the community can talk to the police and the police can talk to the community in a safe situation and a safe setting with frankness and candor to work through issues. number two the state should help police forces state wide recruit more minorities into law enforcement. the more the police force looks like the community they're policing, the better the job the police can do. third, we believe we should -- provide race and ethnic data on police action state wide. we have nothing to hide.

transparency works. let's give people the actual facts. number four, we need to do everything we can do to keep our police safe. these are dangerous, dangerous jobs especially during these times. we should fund replacement vests, body cameras bulletproof glass for patrol cars in high-crime areas. fifth, district attorneys may issue a grand jury report or a letter of fact explaining proceedings if there is no true bill on a police fatality. so people know what actually happened in that proceeding and in that grand jury. sixth, i will appoint an independent monitor who will review police cases where a civilian dies and no true bill is issued and the independent

monitor can recommend a special prosecutor be appointed. the independent monitor should have access to the grand jury information which will be protected, but this way the independent monitor can actually make an intelligent recommendation because they'll have all the evidence and they'll have all the facts. i think these seven points will go a long way towards restoring trust, restoring respect both ways, from the police to the community and the community to the police. and let's start now. we'll be working on this over the next several months. but it is a good start. that is our justice agenda. as i mentioned, it is a work in progress and we'll be working with all parties. women are still not treated equally to men. we must pass the full ten-point women's equality agenda that's

been through law. new york state now has more schools being investigateded for sexual assault than any state in the nation. 11 colleges being investigated for sexual assault than any state in the nation. 11 colleges being investigated for sexual assault than any state in the nation. 11 colleges being investigated on how they handle sexual assault, believe it or not. this is just wholly unacceptable and it is repugnant to our basic belief that women have equal rights and we protection women equally. let new york take the lead in protecting these young adults and these students. last fall suny passed a really leading proposal which requires affirmative consent for sexual

relations to ensure -- and ensures a woman's access to law enforcement. all too often when a woman is victimized on a campus, the recourse is campus police, and the tendency is to keep it private because it's embarrassing for the university and all too often justice is not done. the statistics show 1 out of 4 young women will be sexually assaulted while she is in college. 1 out of 4 women. and the rate of reporting is in the single digits. and, to make matters worse the experts believe it's a small number of men who are committing these acts but a high level of recidivism because they're not

being reported. and that is the trap that we're in. so what we did on suny campuses women need to affirmatively consent, and then women are assessed of their rights they can go to the campus police or they can go to the local police or they can go to the state police. and they can treat it as the crime that it is. it's working on suny. it has been working on suny. we want to make it a law that covers every college in the state of new york and we want to be the first state to do that. we have more homeless today than ever before in the history of the state of new york. and that is just simply a disgrace. we want to increase our homeless budget by $403 million a 20% increase in light of the increase in homelessness.

on the numbers this is what the agenda looks like. and this is as simple as the budget is. we've discussed before when it's done right, the budget is a fairly simple exercise. the state total budget would go up 1.7% total. we have 2% spending cap so we are under the 2% spending cap at 1.7%. state agencies are at .6%. that means state agencies are basically flat. parks, state police, department of transportation et cetera. they're basically flat. they're flat because we give a 3.6% increase to medicaid which is the formula amount, and it anticipates the 4.8% to education. for us to afford a 4.8% increase in education and 3.6% on

medicaid and stay under 2%, the rest of the state budget basically has to be zero. and that's our budget. 0% increase with the agencies. 47 4.8% for education. 3.6% for medicaid and it comes out to 1.7%. the new initiatives that are within the state budget, which we went through and how they're funded, property tax renters relief is $350 million. affordable housing, $150 million. suny increase in homelessness, start-up new york, $50 million, not for profit, i love new york was the initiatives we just went through. they are funded from the normal state budget. this year we vp sethave settlement funds of $5.4 billion.

these are funds that were basically a gift from above. they were settlements with law enforcement agencies where the state received the penalty. comes out to $5.4 billion. our proposal for the $5.4 billion is as follows. $850 million is money that we owe the federal government for a discrepancy in past billings which we have been working through for years, but it's going to come out to about $850 million. we would spend $1.5 billion on upstate revitalization. those are the three $500 million revitalization grants to three regions upstate new york. then $3 billion on infrastructure and other investments. the other investments are, as you see here, thruway

stabilization fund. protects this toll for one year and invests in the tappan zee, high-speed broadband, upstate hospitals which are in terrible need of repair an construction. four metro north stations for the bronx. the parking garages for long island and westchester for the long island railroad. government eif infficiencyefficiency, state fair, southern tier farmland initiative. comes out to $3 billion. and that resolves the settlement funds. that is the budget in a nutshell. and the state of the state in a nutshell. one last point, if i might. one of my colleagues who is an assemblyman. we were talking about this outline of these issues the other day and the assemblyman

said, wow, this is going to be really hard, because these issues are not new york issues. these problems are all national problems. and that is true. failing schools are a national problem. struggling older cities is a national problem. questioning of our justice system is a national problem. so he is right they are national problems. but he's wrong if he thinks that we can't solve them. because, my friends, that is precisely what we do here together as new yorkers. and that's what new york has always done. [ applause ] new york is the state that leads and it always has. we were the first state to stand

up for freedom of religion. this state passed an emancipation law before abraham lincoln was even born. we passed the first housing reform to guarantee living conditions in tenements. we passed the first law protecting women's property rights. albany county. first county in the nation that allowed women to sit on juries. right here in albany county. that is new york. because while washington fights and gridlocks, we find compromise and we move forward. why? because washington defines itself by their differences. and we define ourselves by our commonalities. because their politics divide and our politics unite.

that's the difference between albany and washington. because we have a different belief. we believe in community and we believe in the concept that we are all connected. we don't believe we are all individuals on our own. we believe there is a connection that binds us, that there is a core that connects me to you to you, to you, and that cord weaves a fabric, and when one of us is raised, we're all raised, and when one of us is lowered, we are all lowered. and those are not just words. that is the way we live. that is the way we operate. lieutenant governor was talking about the snowstorm in buffalo. seven feet of snow. it was an impossible situation. it overwhelmed everything. and people from all over the state dropped everything and came to buffalo to help. and there was a national

guardsman, i went up to the national guardsman to shake his hand to say thank you. and he said, governor, you don't remember me. we met in the north country. no need to say thank you. you came to help us when we had hurricane irene. it was a plow truck from nassau county and i climbed up on the step and i shook hands with the plow truck driver. i said, how long did it take you to get here? 13 hours to drive a plow truck from nassau county to buffalo. i said, wow. i said you know we are so grateful. and he said, no, governor, everybody came to us when we had hurricane sandy. everybody came and we're just repaying the favor. new york city sent us 100 -- new

york city mayor de blasio sent up a hundred firefighters and all the equipment. and the same thing with the fdny. i said thank you for coming. and the firefighter just said after 9/11 when the entire world showed up to help us the new york way is one for all, and all for one. and i thought, you know what? it is that simple. and it comes down to that simple wisdom and the buffalo coins we made for the people who helped during buffalo say exactly that all for one, one for all. and that really is the new york way. that really is the new yorkoshgew york credo, the power of we. the power of we. putting the differences aside, finding the commonalities and coming together. that's how we've been governing. because we believe despite our

differences at the end of the day, we are one state. we're upstate, we're downstate, but we're all one state. we're democrats, we're republicans, but we're one state. we're gay, we're straight, but we're one state. we're black, we're white but we're one state. and that's how we govern. and that's how we come together. and that's how we forge an agreement. and that's what makes this state so special and that's why i am so honored to be the governor of this great state. because the problems are not any one region or any one person. young girl who sleeps in a homeless shelter tonight is our daughter. the farmer in the southern tier who is struggling to make ends meet that farmer is our brother. the child that lives in poverty in rochester today is our child. that's how we govern, because that's how we live.

as usual the man who said this best was a new yorker and a former governor. he was a statesman and he was a visionary and he was a giant. he was your friend, and he was my father. and he said, and i quote "those who made our history taught us above all things the idea of family of mutality, the sharing of benefits and burden, fairly for good of all. it is an idea essentially to our success, and no state or nation that chooses to ignore its troubled regions and people while watching others thrive can call itself justified. we must shall the family of new york, feeling one another's pain, sharing one another's blessings, reasonably, equitably, honestly fairly, without regard to geography or race, or political affiliation.

my father was right then and he is right now. that is the new york spirit. that is the new york essence. that is what makes us special and makes us the greatest state in the nation. that is the philosophy that has brought us four years of balanced budgets and four years where this state has seen more progress than in the past 40 years. and that is the philosophy that's going to take this state to new heights with the good work of this body working in partnership partnership, working together, and working with respect for all of us. we are going to make this state a better state. and, pop wherever you are, and i think i know where, for all the ceremony in the big house and all the pomp and circumstance, please.

don't let me forget what makes new york new york. thank you and god bless you. next, south carolina governor nikki haley's fifth state of the state address, her first since being re-elected to a second term last november. she talked about new worker training programs to help residents get certification in fields where there is a shortage of qualified workers. she also outlined a proposal to raise infrastructure revenue. this comes to us courtesy of the state's public educational broadcasting network, south carolina etv.

>> please be seated. please be seated. ladies and gentlemen of the joint assembly and honored guests i'm proud to present to you the honorable nikki haley, governor of south carolina. >> thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. mr. speaker mr. president, ladies and gentlemen of general

assembly constitutional officers, and my fellow south carolinians, tonight we have come together to discuss the state of south carolina, the success we have enjoyed and the challenges we face. but we must first acknowledge, as we do every year that without the selfless sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who have dedicated their lives to protecting our freedoms this night would not be possible. so now please join me as we pay tribute to those who gave the last full measure of devotion in the service of their state and country. captain james e. chaffen iii. can't girard.

>> investigator holmes n. smith jr., sumter. patrolman 1st class robert blajkzczak somerville. laurent briton charleston. lieutenant john m. burns myrtle beach. firefighter/paramedic, kellen a. fleming fleming, chesnee. to all south carolinians and their families, know that we will never forget.

many of you enjoyed the festivities of last week. we want to thank you for making it a special time for our family and the state. we are thankful that michael has been home from deployment for over a year now. he continues to be very involved with youth challenge, advocating for adopted children and managing the mansion grounds. all while keeping a smile on his face. please help me welcome and thank the coolest first man ever, michael haley. and what would haley family fun night be without two really fun kids. michael and i realized recently that four years from now they will have spent half of their childhood in public life.

they continue to take it in stride and make us both very proud. they are 16 and 13 years old now. please help me welcome two little ones that make me proud to be their mom, rena and nalon. >> one of my favorite parts of giving this speech each year is being able to recognize some of the people who have helped make south carolina the special place that it is. when we started our administration four years ago, we thought it was very important to highlight people in our state that make us smile. we will always have changes in government but for all those changes we have selfless people

who in the same of service and out of love for our great state give south carolina a good name. i know there's been a lot of chatter about who charleston's next mayor will be. but before we get too far down that road, we should take a moment, stop, and appreciate what we have. here tonight is a man who has built a legacy of service in the low country and across south carolina. he has served as the mayor of charleston for nearly 40 years and he has helped transform that city into the most popular destination in america. a crown jewel of not just our state, but of our nation. he has decided to step down as mayor, but he will forever be remembered as one of south carolina's great gentlemen and devoted public servants. i ask that you join me in welcoming mayor joe riley and thanking him for his lifetime of service to south carolina.

just a few short weeks ago we lost a great south carolinian with the passing of governor james edwards. as governor as secretary of energy, and later as the president of musc, he spent a huge part of his life serving others and cemented a place in our state's history as a man we can all look up to. as we all know, it is impossible to be as strong and significant as he was without the support of a loving family. tonight i have the great privilege of introducing to you his incredible wife, mrs. ann

edwards. mrs. edwards asked that i thank you, members of the general assembly, as well as the people of south carolina for the tremendous support you gave governor edwards during his full life and that you've given her since his passing. mrs. edwards, thank you for your service and for sharing your wonderful husband with us. you and your family will forever be appreciated by the citizens of south carolina. nobody has represented us with more dignity than lance corporal kyle carpenter. we were able to have his parents join us for this speech in 2012 when he was recovering from his injuries. but we are thankful to have him here today, safe and healthy.

last year michael and i were so proud to attend the ceremony where kyle was awarded the medal of honor for his acts of valor during his deployment in afghanistan. i'd like to take a moment to read a passage from the official citation recognizing his heroic actions. "lance corporal carpenter and a fellow marine were manning a rooftop security position on the perimeter of patrol base dakota when the enemy initiated a daylight attack with hand grenades. one of which landed inside their sandbagged position. without hesitation, and with complete disregard for his own safety lance corporate carpenter moved toward the grenade in an attempt to shield his fellow marine from the deadly blast. when the grenade detonated his body absorbed the brunt of the blast severely wounding him. but saving the life of his fellow marine.

it is rare that you are able to be in the presence of a true american hero but that is exactly what we have with us today in kyle carpenter. please stand and join in showing our deepest gratitude for his service to our country and his bravery that has made us all safer.

south carolina continues to be a major success story when it comes to recruiting jobs to our state. we make it very clear to the companies that choose to invest here that they are joining our south carolina family. the businesses we're honoring tonight could have invested and moved anywhere in the country. and they chose to join team south carolina. we should nefver take that for granted. tonight a few representatives from a few of these success stories from all over the world are here with us. as i introduce them, please hold your applause until the end. then join me in giving them a warm south carolina welcome. please stand when i call your name and remain standing. representing 151 jobs in fair

fairfield county, mr. steven udwin. from gt tire dr. tan. representing 270 jobs in lancaster county, from hail gold mine. die yan garrett. representing 175 jobs in clarendon county from kant international. from medac. representing 40 jobs in chesterfield county from nesstle waters north america. representing 500 jobs in florence county, from reese food products miss kim reese beck. representing 300 jobs in

dorchester county from scout votes, miss sherry ferguson. representing 2,400 jobs in york county from the lash group miss tracy foster. representing 65 jobs in richland county from the right dose corporation, dr. dalby. representing 500 jobs in spartanburg county from torre carbon fibers america, mr. condo. thank you for making south carolina your home. ladies and gentlemen, the state of our state is inspiring.

over the last four years i have had the great privilege of traveling far and wide, representing our state and her people. what i've learned is we're not the only ones who love south carolina. whether i'm in california or connecticut, montreal or minnesota, the story of south carolina's success is front and center. everywhere we go there is excitement. and, frankly not a small amount of envy over who we are and what we've been able to accomplish. it's a beautiful thing. but last year i got to experience just how far that word is spreading. in november, as many of you know, we traveled to india on a trade mission. india, of course, is the country of my parents' birth. i haven't been there since i was 2 years old, so the trip was a special one for me. there are few things more impactful than seeing firsthand for the first time your own

history. but what was even more amazing to me was the connections i found between south carolina and that far-off land. i visited a workforce training center at a university where hundreds of students turned out for a talk i gave. they had so many questions about south carolina. but they didn't just know about south carolina because we have an indian-american governor. the skill development center at their university is modeled after icar in greenville. their school has signed an agreement with clemson university to expand cooperation an allow their students to share in our educational opportunities and visa versa. everywhere i went in india from students to business leaders to government officials they knew what was going on in south carolina. our state is getting noticed across the country and the world

and we're getting noticed for our triumphs, not our controversies. i couldn't be more e sited or more proud. together we've built an environment where businesses can and will and want to grow. it is an environment that has enabled mitch lynn bridgestone, continental and now gt to manufacture tires in our state with our workers. it has led international giants like ge and bmw and torre to say, yes we want to call south carolina home. it has created a better looive for life for our people, a brighter future for our children. we've worked hard to build a world class world renowned business climate and we must fight to keep it. any truly objective review of south carolina's business landscape notes benefit we get from the minimal role unions play in our state. in 2013 we had the third-lowest

percentage of union workers in america with just 3.7% of south carolina workers choosing to join a union. i cannot express to you the extent to which this is a game changer when we're trying to bring new businesses to our state. we have a reputation internationally for being a state that doesn't want unions because we don't need unions. and it's that reputation that matters. now that reputation and even more importantly, a south carolina company are under attack, and they are under attack by an organization that has proven it cares nothing for south carolina or our workers. boeing's story, how they came here, their magnificent progress in charleston since 2009, their commitment to their workers and to our communities is one that certainly need not be told here. we all know it. we're all proud of it. but in light of the fact that

the international association of machinists and aerospace workers, one of the largest labor unions in the world is gearing up to try and unionize the charleston plant, their south carolina story bears repeating. in stark contrast to boeing which has invested billions of dollars and the future of what may be their most important project, in the people of south carolina, the iam has never -- never -- believed in us. first, they flatly publicly stated that south carolina workers do not have the necessary skills to build airplanes. our workers have proven them wrong. but no matter what the iam says today or tomorrow we should never forget what they really think about our state. and then they sued us. they tried to shut us down so every time you hear a seattle union boss carry on about how he has the best interests of the

boeing workers in charleston at heart? remember this -- if it was up to that same union boss, there would be no boeing workers in charleston. charleston. the truth is the iam cares about one thing and one thing only -- its own power. and the successes of boeing in south carolina and more so the successes of the non union workers who populate its ranks are a threat to the i.a.m. like bullies do, the union bosses are try to cover up these truths and crush those threats. but we've beaten back the i.a.m. before and with the support of those of us in this room and the good people all across south carolina i have every confidence that the boeing workers in charleston will see this play for exactly what it is and reject this union power grab. [ applause ]

while boeing and the 787 dream liners is an example of what real workforce training success can look like, we don't have those same stories everybody where in south carolina. >> i have challenged my entire kabtd to get creative about how we put people back to work. whether actually placing employment offices in our prisons, as we did in manning last year soed onners ed onoffenders come out with a job or moving families from welfare to work we are about workforce programs that immediate the real needs of real people. think about the single mom struggling to make ends meet that can't afford to pay for the training she needs. think about the young man who just graduated college in liberal arts and can't seem to find a job. think about the father of four

whose ability to move up in his company is capped out. they all need opportunities. they all deserve a better life. we are going to help them. we are going to help them get through through a new initiative called "succeed south carolina." training people who want to work in places like bmw, boeing and continental. it's been tremendously successful but we're going expand and now begin working with companies of the different sizes and industries. companies already in south carolina to create programs that will lead to a job. the best part, if that single mom wants to get started, we'll pay for her training. and when she gets the job we've trained her for, which she will she'll pay us back and pay it forward. the new initiative will not only help those citizens who want to be retrained but also assist our

smaller companies those that represent 97% of our employers by helping them get the workers they need to keep moving and to keep growing. the economic gains we have made since the end of the great recession are no secret to anyone in this room. but it is not enough for us to simple celebrate them. we must keep driving on. the tens of thousands of new jobs announced in south carolina don't mean anything if it is not our people who are filling them. the massive drop in our unemployment rate over the last five years is amazing but we must recognize there are still thousands out of work. we can address these issues. we can make sure that as a state we are serving the single mom, the 22-year-old graduate, and the capped out father. and that we're serving them well. we can make sure that any business, small medium or large has a willing and well-trained

stable of south carolinaens ready to fill all the jobs they can create. and we can make sure that south carolina's a state not just of tremendous growth but real, true opportunity for each and every one of our citizens. [ applause ] the journal doesn't start with the people just mentioned it. like most things it starts with the children and how we educate all of our children. last year i stood at this podium and asked a simple question:are we willing to look south carolina's children in the eye and them their future will be largely determined by the circumstances of their birth and not the endeavors of their life?

and by your actions you answered resoundingly no. and i thank you for that. and more importantly, years from now the children of south carolina will thank you for it. for the changes we made are real. we invested in teachers. we invested in technology. we invested in reading. and for the first time in our history we acknowledged that it cost more to teach those children mired in poverty than those born into a secure economic situation. we changed the face of south carolina. but as we said last year this was not a silver bullet. the investment we made must be ongoing. it must continue. and it must touch every school district. so in our budget we've double downed on our investment in technology. we've expanded our commitment to reading coaches. we have devoted more to professional development so our teachers are better equipped to teach in today's world.

and we've proposed a new initiative that will help our rural schools get and keep the kind of highly qualified teachers their students deserve. first, if a student graduating high school is willing to spend eight years teaching in their underserved home district after college, we will pay for up to four years of tuition at a state school. second, if a teacher whose graduated from college and is burdened by student loans commits to teach in a rural district we will contribute to their student loan repayment. third, if a teacher has less than five years experience and begins teaching in an eligible district he or she will receive a pay bump advancing his or her salary to the level of a teacher five years further down the road. finally, if a teacher wants to attend graduate school at a state college or university we will cover the cost of that

education again, in exchange for a commitment to teach in a rural or underserved district. and all of this will be done without spending a single new tax dollar. [ applause ] these options aren't just available to new teachers. they are available to to all teachers. we want that shining star teaching in washington to decide to take on a new challenge and decide to teach in denmark. nothing with help quite like a great teacher. we need them touching our most at risk students and we need them staying there. and now we've given addeded a added incentive to do just that. last session you joined our call

for reform recognizing the education of our children trance transcended the normal sometimes foolish constraints of the partisanship. the spirit of cooperation, the commitment to moving our state forward that defined our shared efforts on education, sadly did not extend to the reform of our ethics laws that south carolina so desperately needs. many words have been spoken on this issue. and much time wasted in these chambers with no result. i believe i have said all i need to. you all know exactly where i stand. reform our ethics laws. we store the public's faith in our government. let's do it right and let's do it now. [ applause ]

>> we have also seen challenges over the last four years. and many cases due to the long-term neglect of some of or agencies. and so we went after that neglect. we strength thenened our mental health and drug abuse services and services for the most vulnerable and strengthened agencies heavily burdened by changing and increasing populations. in every case we have focused on results for those in greatest need. one agency has been more challenging than most the department of soervelss. there is no question there were changes that needed to be made. and to understand just what those changes should look like we went right to the source, our caseworkers. they told us how painful, how difficult it can be to protect children from their own parents.

their frustrations became mine. and their passion for children fueled our efforts to improve d.s.s. we have since added caseworkers, changed processes, added second shift, improved technology, forged partnerships with law enforcement. created new career paths for caseworkers and so much more. we have changed d.s.s. for a better. it is in a far different place than it was a year ago. but there is still work to do. we have found the person to lead that charge. soouz offered was recently quoted as saying "it's always challenging but with e have to do it with openness, with integrity, humility and a lot of determination." i couldn't have said it better. i have no doubt that for the department of social services its dedicated employees and most importantly the children they