"This was the second session of our
Administration. As this session finishes, it is clear that we maintain a great
ability to work cooperatively with each other to produce solutions to the major
challenges facing our Commonwealth.
In 2010, working together, we successfully addressed the
difficulties presented by an ongoing economic downturn and two state budget
shortfalls totaling over $6 billion. While many were uncertain as to how we
would navigate an unprecedented second consecutive year of negative revenue
growth, we demonstrated what is possible when we strive to find the solutions
to the problems our citizens face at their front doors
As a result of our bipartisan
cooperation, we closed our budget shortfalls without raising taxes, reduced
state spending to 2006 levels, put Virginia on solid footing to help our private
sector business owners create new jobs, and ended the fiscal year with a
surplus. At the same time, we also made major strides in providing new positive
educational options for Virginia’s children by strengthening our charter school
and virtual schools statutes, and creating innovative college laboratory
schools. We laid the groundwork for the expansion of our job-creating
tourism and wine industries, while also furthering our commitment to making the
Commonwealth the “Energy Capital of the East Coast.”
These achievements provided the
backdrop for the 2011 session of the General Assembly. As you arrived in
January, our Commonwealth was witnessing the ongoing modest signs of economic
recovery. Our unemployment rate has fallen from 7.2% last February to 6.7%
today. State tax revenues have increased in ten of the last eleven months, with
the last three months all posting increases of over 9%. Our collective
commitment to fiscally responsible governance during very tough economic times
has positioned Virginia well for future economic growth and job creation. The
mission for this session was to ensure that economic recovery is consistent and
entrenched, and will not dissipate in the years ahead.
We were clear in our objectives for
this short session. We proposed four major initiatives. We called for the
biggest state commitment to transportation in a generation; a bold effort to
ensure that we have the most highly educated workforce in the world by
reversing the trend of disinvestment in higher education; new tools and
resources to help our existing job-creating businesses expand and grow, and to
attract new employers within our borders; and a continued focus on reforming
state government to make it leaner and more effective so Virginia taxpayers can
be confident that policymakers are making the same tough decisions about spending
priorities that they are.
Throughout the 2011 Session of the
General Assembly, we addressed these major challenges comprehensively, usually
without regard to political party or local parochial interests. It was a clear
agenda with a clear purpose: grow Virginia’s economy and ensure more
opportunity for every Virginian. Thanks to your cooperation, that agenda has
been successful.
This session may be best remembered
for the overwhelming bipartisan passage of the biggest investment in
transportation in Virginia in a generation. Through our “Get Virginia Moving”
initiative, we are establishing the framework to invest $4 billion over just
the next three years into road, rail and transit projects from the suburbs of Northern
Virginia to the coalfields of southwest Virginia. Citizens will see the
results in quicker commutes to work, and a little more time with their
families. We are doing this without raising taxes and by taking advantage of
low interest rates and construction prices. This is the type of
innovation and problem-solving that Virginians expect and we have rightly
delivered it to them through the bipartisan leadership of Speaker Bill Howell,
Delegate Glen Oder, Chairman Chuck Colgan and Senator William Wampler.
The “Top Jobs for the 21st
Century Act” provides a roadmap to truly expand access and affordability for
our citizens seeking to attend Virginia’s outstanding institutions of higher
education. Additionally, the Act ensures that we are offering education
and training in the most high demand employment areas
– science, technology, engineering, math, and healthcare. By
awarding 100,000 new degrees over the next 15 years and lowering the burden of
constant tuition increases on students and parents, we will demonstrate to
business leaders around the globe that this is where they should invest and
grow their enterprises. More importantly, we will bring the opportunity of a
college degree within reach of thousands more Virginia students. Majority
Leader Kirk Cox, Delegate Rosalyn Dance, and Senators Edd Houck and Tommy
Norment recognized the importance of higher education as an economic
development engine for the Commonwealth, and worked tirelessly for the
unanimous passage of this seminal legislation.
Our “Opportunity at Work” agenda was
a continuation of our work in 2010 to use limited tax dollars wisely to best
attract and retain the job-creating private sector businesses crucial to our
future economic prosperity and the well-being of our citizens. We advanced a
renewed commitment to assist emerging technology based companies expand,
provided incentives for more university based research and development, and
supported our dynamic and growing wine and tourism industries. Virginia
ranks fourth in the nation in net new jobs created since February 2010. Our
work is paying off in new jobs for our citizens. We must continue our
aggressive efforts to better compete with other states and nations in the
battle to attract and expand businesses across all regions of the Commonwealth.
Virginians know we need a “Smaller
and Smarter Government”. Just like families make tough decisions everyday about
how to live within their means, so must Richmond. Government should focus on
its core functions, eliminate waste and inefficiencies, and spend taxpayer
dollars wisely and prudently. This session we continued to find ways to
make government more effective. We have passed legislation to eliminate
outdated and unnecessary boards and commissions and we eliminated certain
mandates on localities for the first time in years. Additionally,
Virginia will now have a statewide Inspector General with the power to
investigate waste, fraud and abuse all across state government.
We held the line on taxes. State
spending is back to levels last seen in the earliest years of the Kaine
Administration. This commitment to fiscal austerity has required an equal
dedication to budget prioritization. With limited dollars come tough choices;
we were sent to Richmond to make those tough choices, and that is what we have
done. I thank the General Assembly for the significant new funding provided for
mental health and developmental disabilities in the Commonwealth. This funding
is critically important to the well-being of so many of our fellow Virginians.
That was the right choice. I am disappointed, however, in the failure to make
additional necessary choices to further reduce the significant shortfall in our
pension system which is underfunded by nearly $18 billion dollars. While new
state money was pumped into the system, more structural reforms and shared
sacrifice are needed. As more state workers and teachers retire in the years
ahead the chasm between disbursements made and resources available will only grow
wider. We must reform our pension system to ensure its long term solvency and
the security in retirement of our valued state employees, and I am committed to
getting this done during this Administration.
The 2011 session of the General
Assembly will be heralded for our breakthroughs on transportation and higher
education. The bills supporting these efforts were the recipients of broad and
strong bipartisan support. That is a further demonstration that while political
campaigns are what get us to the Capitol, we still retain the ability to leave
politics aside once here and govern together in the best interests of the
people of this beautiful Commonwealth.
You should be pleased by the many
results of this short session. We have invested wisely, planned prudently, and,
once again, addressed the issues our citizens are most concerned about. We have
provided solutions to challenges, and our Commonwealth will benefit from this.
The effort to build a true “Commonwealth of Opportunity” took another step
forward this winter in Mr. Jefferson’s Capitol.
I thank you all for the time you
sacrificed away from your families, the leadership you demonstrated for your
constituents, and the results you achieved for all Virginians.
May God Continue to Bless the
Commonwealth of Virginia."
No comments:
Post a Comment