if you were to have asked anyone in jamestown, estes park or milliken, if they thought we had a snowball's chance of getting those roads open by dec. 1, they would have laughed out loud - some did laugh out loud. it is because of the cooperation of the bipartisan joint budget committee, that we have been able to build this budgetary bedrock. d.c. should be looking at our j.b.c. to see how collaboration gets done. [ applause ] >> to ensure that we are maximizing state resources and providing as responsive customer service as possible, we have gotten lean. lean, as many of you know, is a type of business audit that scours operations looking for ways to make processes run more efficiently. we have re-evaluated how every state agency does business. and we have initiated more than 100 new lean processes, more than any state in america. colorado's department of transportation recently reported a 19 percent decrease in combined with other improvements their efforts are saving more than $2 million. in 2008, only 33 percent of property assessment appeals were resolved within one year. now, 79 perce