Govs' Speeches |
 |
|
|
|
|
Governors rip feds in annual policy speeches
By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer
If there was any doubt states are frustrated with federal policymakers, the nation's governors provided stark reminders in "state of the state" speeches delivered during the first two months of 2008.
Read More
|
Summaries of the governors' speeches
By The Stateline.org Staff
A weak economy, the stalled housing market and the high cost of college education are among governors' top concerns heading into 2008. Here is a state-by-state snapshot of governors' key proposals as distilled from their annual addresses to their legislatures.
Read More
|
|
|
|
Govs propose investing in higher ed
By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org Staff Writer
While governors addressed many issues — from health care to a bad housing market to tax breaks — in their annual state-of-the-state speeches this year, many targeted higher education as an important state asset worth a larger investment.
Read More
|
|
Budget picture dominates govs' speeches
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
From quoting Shakespeare to invoking images of flying pigs, the nation’s governors offered colorful ways to describe their states’ financial situation. The weak economy and stalled housing market obviously weigh heavy on governors’ minds as reflected in Stateline.org’s exclusive look at the governors’ 2008 state of the state speeches.
Read More
|
|
Governors pitch ambitious programs
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Billion-dollar deficits in California, New York and Arizona haven’t stopped governors there and elsewhere from proposing big-ticket items for 2008. Stateline.org looks at proposals from governors’ 2008 "state of the state" speeches and provides an exclusive summary of all the addresses so far.
Read More
|
|
AK: Summary of the State of the State Address
In her address to the Republican-controlled Legislature on Jan. 15, Gov. Sarah Palin (R) touted the revenue benefits of the multi-billion-dollar natural gas pipeline deal she helped engineer last year. She also called for significant new education spending, increased energy conservation and alternative power use and lower business license fees.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CO: Summary of the State of the State Address
In his address Jan. 10, Gov. Bill Ritter (D) proposed what he called “the most revolutionary shift in education policy this state has seen in years” — one that treats all primary and secondary students as potentially college-bound.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
DE: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) asked lawmakers in her address Jan. 18 to create a registry of health disparities among minorities and ethnic groups, provide cervical-cancer vaccine to all uninsured girls and launch a homeland-security initiative that would fingerprint every fourth-grader in the state. Minner also asked the politically split General Assembly to ease the First State’s already business-friendly tax code.
Read More
|
|
FL: Summary of the State of the State Address
Despite a $2 billion budget deficit, Gov. Charlie Crist (R) called on the Republican-controlled Legislature to spend $124 million to expand health care to the uninsured and pitched a $200 million economic development package for solar, wind and other renewable energy.
Read More
|
|
GA: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Sonny Perdue (R) gave an upbeat Jan. 16 state-of-the-state speech before a Republican-controlled Legislature on the same day he released a $21.4 billion budget that would update the state’s water system and give homeowners a small tax cut.
Read More
|
|
HI: Summary of the State of the State Address
In her sixth annual address, delivered to lawmakers Jan. 22, Gov. Linda Lingle (R) asked the Democratic-controlled Legislature to approve the purchase of an embattled, 850-acre resort. Turtle Bay resort on Oahu’s North Shore has met stiff opposition to expansion plans that local residents say will spoil the rural nature of their community. State ownership of the property would preserve the Hawaiian way of life, she said.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IN: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) spent most of his Jan. 15 speech urging lawmakers to overhaul the state’s property tax system. For the General Assembly, where Democrats control the House and Republicans control the Senate, it is the “one paramount assignment, one act for which it will be remembered,” he said.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
KY: Summary of the State of the Commonwealth Address
Making his first state-of-the-commonwealth address, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear on Jan. 16 bluntly warned legislators: “The revenue outlook is grim.” Vowing not to raise taxes, Beshear said his administration would address the state’s unprecedented budget shortfall — estimated at nearly $900 million over two years — by trimming government spending and making state agencies more efficient and responsive.
Read More
|
|
MA: Summary of the State of the Commonwealth Address
Gov. Deval Patrick (D) used his Jan. 24 address to push the Democratic-controlled Legislature to legalize casinos, the first-term governor’s No. 1 revenue-generating initiative. He also renewed his 2007 request for $1 billion to fund life sciences — including controversial embryonic stem-cell research — a program he said would create 250,000 new jobs.
Read More
|
|
ME: Summary of the State of the State Address
In his Jan. 9 address, Gov. John Baldacci (D) asked the Democratic-controlled Legislature to stretch Maine’s flagging revenues without raising taxes or dipping into financial reserves, and without cutting education funding or programs for the needy.
Read More
|
|
MI: Summary of the State of the State Address
In her speech Jan. 29, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) tweaked the battle lines in Lansing, where clashes with the Legislature last year led to a brief shutdown of state government and to sweeping changes to the state’s tax structure, including a hike in the income tax.
Read More
|
|
MN: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) warned the Democratic-controlled Legislature during his speech Feb. 13 not to pass any tax increases — a day after Democrats unveiled a plan to hike gas taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
MS: Summary of the State of the State Address
With the economy entering an uncertain period and federal Hurricane Katrina money ebbing, Gov. Haley Barbour (R) called for legislators to show fiscal discipline in his Jan. 21 speech before the politically split Legislature. Lawmakers will have to make tough choices, he said, and some good programs will be unfunded.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
NH: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. John Lynch (D) Jan. 23 called for a new “wellness” program for small businesses and a tax credit to help lure new businesses to the northern part of the state. But he said a slowing economy will prevent launching expensive new programs.
Read More
|
|
NJ: Summary of the State of the State Address
“It is up to those of us in this room to change the ‘credit card’ culture of New Jersey’s finances,” Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) told legislators during a somber Jan. 8 speech focusing heavily on the Garden State’s more-than-$30-billion debt.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
NY: Summary of the State of the State Address
After a year of partisan battles with the Legislature, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, struck a more conciliatory tone in his Jan. 9 address, outlining an ambitious package to cut property taxes, expand health-care coverage and fund higher education by privatizing the state lottery.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
OK: Summary of the State of the State Address
As Oklahoma celebrates its Centennial year, Gov. Brad Henry (D) laid out his proposals to boost public education by adding five days to the school year, raising teacher pay and adding graduation coaches to lower high school dropout rates.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
RI: Summary of the State of the State Address
Addressing a Democratic-controlled Legislature Jan. 22, Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) said Rhode Island was at a “tipping point” because of an uncertain economy and budget crisis. He proposed to reduce spending by $300 million by making cuts in three areas: social services, employee salaries and benefits and payments to cities and towns.
Read More
|
|
SC: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Mark Sanford (R) repeated his goals for the state during his Jan. 16 speech before the Republican-controlled Legislature: restructuring the government, installing tougher drunk-driving laws and increasing tax cuts.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
VA: Summary of the State of the Commonwealth Address
Gov. Tim Kaine (D) used his Jan. 9 address to call for tighter gun laws, increased mental-health funding and repeal of the state’s much-maligned abusive driver fees. He also urged lawmakers to enact new protections against identity theft, to make it easier to use absentee ballots and to pump more money into pre-K and higher education.
Read More
|
|
VT: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Jim Douglas (R) called for tax reforms and environmental measures and asked the Democratic-controlled Legislature to make affordable health care its top priority in his Jan. 9 speech. For the most part, the governor proposed tweaks to current programs, rather than new initiatives.
Read More
|
|
WA: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) — facing a tough re-election bid this year against Dino Rossi, the Republican she narrowly defeated four years ago — used much of her address Jan. 15 to tout her administration’s achievements, including converting a budget deficit into a “huge surplus” in three years.
Read More
|
|
|
|
|
WV: Summary of the State of the State Address
Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) used his Jan. 9 speech to announce a campaign to stop student bullying, a first-in-the-nation health-screening program for kindergarten pupils and a free prescription-drug program for uninsured workers. He also asked the Democratic-controlled Legislature for better mental-health counseling for returning Iraq soldiers and a tougher anti-drug program.
Read More
|
|
WY: Summary of the State of the State Address
Wyoming’s economy is booming, and the national subprime mortgage crisis has not affected the state as it has many others, Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) told the Republican-controlled Legislature in his Feb. 12 speech. But, he cautioned, “the abundance we enjoy requires discipline.”
Read More
|
ISSUES
SECTIONS
RESOURCES
Powered by