Transcripts For CSPAN3 Wyoming State Of The State Address 20170206

The governors remarks in progress. This is just under 40 minutes. In 2016, wyoming is ranked first in Mountain Region for Work Force Development and was also rated third for new business startup activity and sixth best state for business. Despite being the most difficult budget year in my time in office, wyoming stayed proactive and forward looking. With the tap tal construction project w the important work of renovating and modernizing our state facilities like the wyoming state hospital, the wyoming life resource center, and the wyoming veterans home. We had Ground Breaking a of the the university of wyoming for the mcmurray High Altitude Performance Center and the Education Research building last fall and the Ground Breaking for the Integrative Test Center last spring. At the university of wyoming in addition to new facility starts we opened the stem facility in march 2016 in the High Bay Research facility is opening soon. We have had incredible opportunities wealth created by our many businesses great citizens. We are grateful for so many partnerships. We are grateful for the partnerships we have with eastern show shoney and northern arap ho tribes. We are partners and friend to each other and i look forward to continued good relations with the tribes. Sergio mall danault the tribe liaison for the arap ho tribe is here today. Leslie has agreed to continue as tribal liaison in an informal capacity until a new leader is chosen. We appreciate the work which appreciate ties and increase communication. If all the tribal members here and the liaisons would please stand, we would like to welcome you to the state of the state. [ applause ] none of the prosperity we have enjoyed would be fully realized without the safety and security provided by our Law Enforcement and First Responders. What we see nationally sometimes Law Enforcement getting painted with a broad brush, and they are often vilified. In wyoming we dont do that. We continue to be extremely proud of our Law Enforcement and First Responders. Its time wyoming, as we continually do, to once again thank Law Enforcement and First Responders for the incredible work they do. [ applause ] we know firsthand, and we would not have a wyoming quality of life without the men and women who serve in the guard. Our guard helps fight the global war on terrorism and assists here at home with firefightering, flood control, and storm damage. Last year our guard performed evacuation missions in afghanistan, helped fight wildfires in idaho, filled sandbags in sar towing re and hudson. Helped prevent a wildfire in the Big Horn Mountains from becoming a much larger wildfire. Thats just a few of the things the guard did in one year. The general of wyoming is here today representing the guard. Thank you general. We are gratedful for your service and the service of all guard ems in. General, please stand so you may be recognized. [ applause ] luke, its great to have you here. As always you look very sharp in that uniform, sir. Thank you for being here. As we celebrated our guard members we remain grateful for all military members. Our veterans and those who serve our veterans. Ive asked today for two distinguished veterans to be here with us. Lee is vice chairman of the wyoming Veterans Commission and larry is the director. Both, unfortunately, have indicated they are going to be retiring early in 2017. Lee is a wyoming native and graduate of the university of wyoming. 1967, he went to vietnam as an army lieutenant. His list of military decorations include the distinguished service cross, the soldiers medal. The silver star, the bronze star, two air medals, two purple hearts, and the vietnamese cross of gallantry. He was nominated for our nations highest award, the medal of honor. Upon his return from vietnam, he was hailed as wyomings oddy murphy alluding to the highly decorated world war ii vet. Lee was helpful in reshaping the Veterans Commission so that it serves all generations of our veterans. His leadership ensured the commissions work is professional. He previously served as chairman of the commission and served ten years in all. Lees book has been used by countless vets and their families to better understand how they can adjust to life after serving in combat. Colonel bart bort took the oath of an army rotc scholarship cadet in 1975. His military and Government Service spanning more than 40 years began then. He served on active duty with the Fourth Infantry Division for five years, was collective for the active guard and reserve program for the wyoming army guard in 1985, and retired in 2000. He was recalled to active duty in 2000 serving as army guard chief of staff and was responsible for Airport Security augmentation for ten wyoming airports during following the 9 11 attack. He retired from the army again in 2004. Became director of the wyoming commission in 2007 and worked tirelessly since then for veterans. In my budget message i discuss one benefit the veterans tuition waver which suffered from last years session cuts, to address the issue in the interim i moved money to fix the program during the enter period but its just a shortterm fix. I favor a long term to those who join the guard when the promise of Tuition Assistance was in place. I also favor some form of support for new recruits. I hope you will favorably consider these matters. We, and i mean our state, our nearly 5,000 vets and all those who work with the commission, including me, will miss larry and lee. Our communities, our state, our country are better places because of men like larry and lee who step up to serve in the u. S. Military and keep on serving in a civilian capacity. With their work and their outstanding work of this wyoming legislature, wyoming is recognized as one of the very best states for veterans to retire in. Larry, lee, we couldnt thank you enough for all the service you provided to state and country. Please stand so we can recognize both of you. Thank you. [ applause ] here in wyoming, we are enriched by our great ag, tourism, and of course minerals. We know for those industries to remain strong we need the university of wyoming to be great. A Great University starts with great leadership. And we have a great leader in Lorie Nicholls uws 26th president. She started in may, 2016. She came at a challenging time. Its hard enough to be a University President let alone during a time of budget cuts. Its great to have her at the helm. We are proud of the new facilities at the university of wyoming which will strengthen wyomings reputation as a leader in education, technology and innovation. We proud of the Academic Research and athletic achievements at uw, speaking of which, how about that Cowboy Football Team . [ applause ] they gave us some great memories, and we appreciate that. And lorie, we thank you for your leadership at a critical time. And thank you for being here today. Please stand so we may recognize you and the university of wyoming. [ applause ] we are keeping in the competitive edge. And thats a wise thing to do at all times, especially during a time of constrained revenue. In 2016, we pressed on with efforts to promote and diversify our economy. Ill give a few examples. We are now and shall always be a proud ag state. Ag puts food on the table. Ag provides great open spaces. We have great wildlife in wyoming. We have Great Respect for the second amendment. And when you combine all these assets together, it is no surprise that hunting, firearms and shooting sports are part of wyomings history and heritage. We want to keep these traditions and pass them on to future generations. And then we want to share enjoyment of sporting life with others. With this in mind, i announce a new initiative for public shooting ranges and shooting competitions including the first annual mag pool sponsored governors match scheduled for some summer. A charge state parks with convening and Recreation Task force, the task force held first meeting in december and will provide recommendations to me, this year, on how to further expand the growing outdoor industry. Thanks to atlas carbon, tungsten, mcginley orthopedics, 2016 was a year of expansion for manufacturing. The wyoming firearms industry, important component of manufacturing continues to grow. Our World Class Companies manufacture handguns, precision rifles, silencers, optics, sights and other firearms accessories. Take, for example, mag pool, recently selected by the United States marines as the exclusive supplier of magazines for combat use. Isnt that incredible news for a wyoming company to supply our u. S. Marines . [ applause ] now, while there were doubters, i believe now more than ever we can continue to build on a robust fire arms industry in wyoming. You all are aware of my focus on the technology sector. With the unified network, and broadband and Global Technology summits, recruiting efforts and natural advantages like cool climate, energy availability, technology continues to emerge as a viable economic sector. I truly believe it can be a fourth largest sector and we must continue to build upon it. Last spring, with more than threequarters of the initiatives, the original Energy Strategy complete, we updated the strategy to include 11 new initiatives. Among those initiatives were working to make changes in dangerous species act. Endangered species act was passed in 1973. Since 1973, all the species listed, little over just 1 , have ever been delisted. It needs help. As chairman of the western governors association, my initiative was to get the western states on board to change and improve the endangered species act. And as you can be aware, all western states dont have the same politics as wyoming. While we worked together with outdoor groups, with environmental groups, we put together a proposal and im pleased to say in june last year western governors voted unanimously for improvements to the endangered species act. Were now going to take it through the National Association and take it to congress. It is time to make improvements to the endangered species act. [ applause ] we continue with the Energy Strategy, with review of recly nation rules, carbon innovation. I greatly appreciate the Legislature Support of the Energy Strategy, which helped with implementation. We want to be the energy state in terms of innovation and we can be. The Carbon Initiative looks at building an industry around co2. This means investing in advance Energy Technologies and innovation. The integrated test center under construction now at the dry forks station in gillette is part of this effort. The relationships we fostered with exprize has put together a 10 million prize for the team that can figure out how to capture that co2 and not only capture it, but use it to make a useful product. This is not only brought attention in wyoming to how we help further coal, but around the country. The governor of montana is asking his legislature to help participate in this. We have companies coming to wyoming to learn what they can do to participate in it. It is very exciting. Very important to be have that innovation here in wyoming. And Industrial Park project for value eddadded Energy Products part of the Carbon Initiative n 2014, this body appropriated 15 million for the itc and provided seed money to begin an Energy Related Industrial Park project. Projects like these not only help wyomings number one industry, minerals, especially coal, they foster diversification. The itc is well on its way and we need to pursue the Industrial Park project this year. I hope youll consider a bill that provides for further implementation of the initiatives and Energy Strategy. We are proud that wyoming is the energy state and we are the energy state. In 2016, as part of that we continue to implement that which goes with energy, which is water. The state water strategy was issued two years ago. Water strategy contains ten initiatives. One of the initiatives is the ten and ten project. Which seeks to build ten new reservoirs in ten years. While i know it is ambitious, we have come a long ways and im pleased to say omnibus water bill youll consider this session has four of these ten in ten projects. The Big Sandy Reservoir enlargement and sublet and sweet county, the creek reservoir in big horn county, the levitt reservoir expansion in big horn county, water projects like these are funded separately from Government Operations, education and School Construction and maintenance. These funds generally come from water account three, which accumulated over the years and has the funding available. Together these projects would add over 31,000 acre feet of storage of our most precious Natural Resource that is water. Water is key to economic development, and Ag Production and more and Water Development must remain a priority. In 2016, the executive branch, we continue to streamline our rules and tighten our belts. For example, we put uniform rules in place for Public Record requests, this is in addition to my request two years ago to have all agencies reduce their rules by 30 . We have fewer rules. We are spending less. And were down positions from fiscal year 2011, my first year in office. We have in wyoming bucked the trend of so many governments that only grow. While being careful with the budget is critical, we can never forget we are more than counters of dollars. We are here for the citizens of wyoming. To be sure, we must remain aware of our inmate population, our disabled population, the health care we are providing or not providing to the citizens of wyoming, and always we think of our families, and the next generation, our children. In september, i sponsored the governor symposium on Suicide Prevention in casper. It is important to talk about suicide in ways it reduce suicide. People who are hurting need help. And we need to look for ways how we can better provide it. This will now become an annual symposium. In november i announced the Endow Initiative at the business forum. A longterm planning effort to Economic Diversification. The acronym stands for economically needed diversification options for wyoming. I seek 2. 5 million for this initiative in my supplemental Budget Proposal. Ill continue to work for Economic Diversification building on our successes during my last two years in office, however as a state we need a plan that goes beyond one governors time in office. We need a 20year plan. We do not diversify to displace energy, tourism and ag. We diverse to increase our Economic Opportunities in those areas to expand our nick base overall. As we diversify our industries, we must look at how we tax our industries. Diversification and a broadbased fair tax structure are required to stabilize our economy. Our revenue. We need to diversify not only to stabilize and grow our revenue, but equally important as that as equally important to that is we need to diversify to benefit our young people. We need to provide more options for our young people to give them as many reasons as possible to say yes to staying in wyoming as we can. As we look at our population, we know that at any given time period we lose between 60 of the age group between 18 and 25. Our future will never be as bright as it can be if we dont do all we can to keep young people home. Home in wyoming. The energy [ applause ] the energy bust and revenue fallout from reminds us where the Endow Initiative is imperative. I want to thank president b. Bout and speaker hershman for their leadership on moving endow forward. In december, we got some great news, the National Park Service Completed the purchase of the 640 acre flats, part of state trust land, located within grand teton National Park for 46 million. 23 million came from the federal government and 23 million came from over 5,000 private donations through the grand teton National Park foundation. I think all the donors who made this happen, the legislature for its support and, of course, we remember the late u. S. Senator craig thomas who got the ball rolling on this. [ applause ] not only is this good new for the park, it is good news for Education Funding at a time when we need good news. The money has been deposited and in the cmon School Trust Fund to support wyoming schools. The parcel was generating no revenue for wyoming. We were getting zero dollars from that parcel. Income generated in the trust fund account varies but it expected the funds will generate more than a Million Dollars annually for our schools. The funds are also available for the board of land commissioners to acquire land assets held by the federal government if we choose to do so. The state of wyoming currently owns one remaining 640 acre parcel in the park, the kelly parcel on the grove mount road. It is valued at 46 million. We are making money on that parcel. That 46 million asset is bringing us in a whopping 2,000 a year. The legislative authorization for the direct sale of the kelly parcel expired december 31st, 2016. Moving forward, the board of land commissioners has authority to exchange the parcel or sell it at auction to the highest bidder. Additional authorization, however, from the legislature will be required for a direct sale to National Park service, and this is something i ask you to consider. Bottom line is even during the tough times, we accomplished a lot in 2016. Wyoming remains strong heading into this new year. And thats a big achievement. Were keeping our states strong during a difficult period. There is a lot of credit to go around. Certainly the legislature, university of wyoming, Amazing Community colleges, state agencies, and our communities, our schools and our businesses. As i said before, wyoming people are wyomings greatest asset. The individuals i recognize today are example of people all around wyoming who contribute to our states strength and we thank all of them. Now i turn to the budget. June 2016 i asked agencies to implement 250 million in cuts from the 17, 18 budget. This was in response to a larger revenue short fall forecast in the spring. These were difficult but necessary cuts. My supplemental Budget Proposal carries these cuts forward. Making them permanent. With my cuts and the legislatures cuts last session, the executive branch operating budget which was 2. 9 billion in 2010 is now a little over 2. 5 billion. It is down. Not up. This reflects conservative, discipline budgeting, the type of budgeting wyoming is known for and proud of. State government has shrunk. It has not grown. The Legislature Last session voted for 67. 7 million in cuts. Which i know you found difficult to make. I made 3. 5 times that amount of cut s in june, which too was very difficult. The belt tightening began in 2013 has continued. And i make only five general Fund Requests of you this session. 5 million for local government. We have to continue to support our local governments. 2. 5 million for endow, which ive spoken about. 500,000 for the uaw Science Initiative. 475,000 for the uw strategic Enrollment Program and 160,000 for tribal liaisons. These are one time items, though the Endow Initiative is envisioned for 20 years, and i hope it will continue to be funded beyond this budget cycle. My general Fund Supplemental budget request total just over 8. 6 million. And the funds are available. For new legislators to put it in perspective, supplemental budgets in recent history exceeded 300 million. My budget message explains the importance of these requests, but today, for example, ill talk about one of them, uw Science Initiative. As i mentioned earlier, we have been investing in s. T. E. M. At university of wyoming. We need to continue to invest in the Science Initiative. Thus the supplemental request. Because we value education and this legislation chur values education so strongly, every year i highlighted great talent we have with our teachers, by recognizing the teacher of the year. This year were recognizing ryaner ifman, wyomings 2017 teacher of the year. He grew up in casper, inspired by his junior high latin teacher to become a teacher, he graduated magna cum laude from black Hills University in spear fish and received masters degree out east. A 15 year teaching veteran, he started teaching in wyoming in 2008, and has taught science at sheraton junior high since 2012. In addition to teaching science, hes a vex robotics instructor, a camp systematic counselor, and organizer, and science kids board member, and assistant basketball coach. Continued commitment to the Science Initiative uw will help prepare more science teachers like brian. Brian, were very proud of you, please stand so we may recognize your extraordinary work as a teacher. [ applause ] we know as we consider the difficult work ahead on education that we not only have Great Teachers and great school districts, we also in wyoming have great, great students. Logan jensen is a junior at university of wyoming from grabl, wyoming. I first met logan when he was an elected official for boise state and i spent a day with him. Hes is double majoring in physics and astron me omy at Th University of wyoming. I didnt know that was possible. Let alone legal. This is an amazing thing. Hes taken advantage of almost all wyoming offers as an undergraduate. As a freshman, he went faculty to uws infrared telescope learning to operate a major scientific facility and acquiring the skills to analyze digital images. As a sophomore, he led a study at the mount gem observatory site. Hell participate in next summers total solar eclipse. For those of you not familiar, were going to have wyoming is going to be the place for the total eclipse. This is, if youre not aware, a big deal. And i have i have here in my notes, in your own words, make sure Everybody Knows how viable this is to tourism. It is a big teal. August 21st, he also serves counselor to junior high youth at Exxonmobil Bernard Harris summer science camp. Hes done as a junior what many ph. D. Students would long to do. Hes a beneficiary of uw Science Initiative. We want to encourage more students like logan to take advantage of the uw Science Initiative. Logan, please stand. Congratulations on the extraordinary work youve already done. [ applause ] in this supplemental budget year, i requested contingent funding of 21 million for title 25 services, 19. 2 million to address a fire at the wyoming state penitentiary if necessary. This contingent funding would come from the lsra. I also request the legislature authorize bonding to cover Capital Construction costs for the wyoming state penitentiary in rollins. After talking to some of you, i know some of you dont favor that. But let me say this, whether you want to do bonding or you want to take it as savings, it will not go away by not addressing the funding. I believe that the prison should stay in rollins, not just by the constitution, but by what it means to that community. I also believe that we need to be prepared to whether it is a fix or rebuild, we need to have that addressed this session including where the funding would come from. My Budget Proposal is bare bones and balanced. We have nearly 1. 6 billion sitting in the Rainy Day Fund. It appears without a diversion that ive asked for from all of you that the Rainy Day Fund will grow this session. It is a hard message for the people of wyoming as we made in excess of 300 million cuts since last session and we would continue to grow the Rainy Day Fund and goes again to the question what is the Rainy Day Fund for and what do we use it for. Skied for some of that money to be diverted for my budget and to not grow the Rainy Day Fund during a time when it is raining. I think of and i know many of you do think about the General Fund Budget as a separate budget from education and i think thats an appropriate way to look at it. Education budget is different. The School Foundation program can fund k through 12 School Operations through this biennium but not beyond. Beginning with the 1920 budget, the short fall in the School Foundation program account is projected to be 1. 5 billion over the next six years. School facilities and maintenance funding must also be addressed because it is not included in that 1. 5 billion. I asked now as i asked before that we worked together to discuss solutions that include the public, teachers, school boards, and parents in this discussion. We recognize that one week to submit comments to this body regarding the subcommittees december 28th very thoughtful Education Funding white paper is not enough. I believe just short of 600 comments in about a week were provided. We have to make tough decisions this session to solve the issue completely we need to have a broader public discussion. Many Public Comments we received in one week underscore the need for the publics participation on this issue. Starting the discussion on education, i point out that the wonderful report superintendent bail just rated seventh best in the country. The other six are in the east coast. We dont even know where the east coast is in wyoming. We are proud of that. And we want to continue to be strong in education. I point out wyoming should be proud of how it supported education. By any measure, wyoming has placed the highest value on education. To illustrate this point, between executive, judicial and legislative branches, the general Fund Standard government operating budget decreased since 2011. In fact, today the Government Operations standard budget is about 200 million less per biennium than the total block grant to school districts. 200 million less. Simply stated, the standard budget for all Government Operations is less than were spending on k through 12 education. This doesnt even include major maintenance. Doesnt include school cap con construction. In 2016, together, we cut the executive branch operating by 317 million. In total, the cuts to the executive branch were 11 when you combine legislative cuts during the 2016 session and my budget reductions last june. In contrast, the School Operation budget has been growing. It was 1. 3 billion annually in 2011 when i took office. It is nearly 1. 5 billion now, six years later. While student enrollment has increased 12 since 05, 06, School Foundation funding has increased over 91 . And now we see a projected short fall of 1. 5 billion over the next six years. This is a big problem. It is a fiscal crisis. It is a big problem that requires very big, very difficult choices. As i did last year, i begin asked that we have a task force where speaker hershmans committee to address School Funding because a year has gone by. And things have not gotten better. We cannot wait another year to act. At a minimum we should be planning for reductions. But there is a broader discussion that we should continue to have about funding and revenue and it is my hope that participation with all of you and the public that we can at least by the start of next session have a plan that addresses both cuts and the funding. I do want to mention a nonbudget measure from last session, the safe to tell program, authorized by legislation by senator koh and speaker hershman. Im pleased to report this program, an anonymous tip line, is already making a difference in preventing suicide and improving school safety. This session i know youll be considering numerous bills. Ill follow them as they move through the legislative process. But i can tell you here at the start a few things that i am interested in. I support in concept the sales tax collection from remote sellers. Establishment of a legislative framework for endow, proving ignition interlock laws and providing a mechanism to continue the energy and water strategies, and what has sure been a challenging financial market, were getting poor investment returns. Just no other way to look at it. It is a challenge in this financial market. Were also not doing well compared to other states. And yet the state of wyoming pays in excess of 70 million a year in management fees, in consulting fees. This has to change. It has to change now more than ever when were budget constrained. The treasure hears worked hard in his office to make some suggestions for the legislature. I ask you to consider those suggestions because the treasurer, like me, like the recognizes we want better returns and want to spend less money in getting those returns. And until we can get a broader more comprehensive tax structure, i ask you to consider continuing the manufacturing tax exemption, which is sunsetting. It is important for the businesses that are here, it is important for some of the businesses were trying to recruit now. We are looking to the change of administration in d. C. In the coming weeks and we hope theyll provide an opportunity for to become stronger. Im hardened about the prospect of fewer regulations and progrowth economic policies. Im hopeful the new administration will see the benefits of what states like wyoming have done. In responsibly developing the resources. Im hopeful more authority will be given to the states with respect to Natural Resources and other areas. And as we face many some difficult budget times, we know with are in fact better suited to address the problem than we have been in the past. I also am confident that this group, the legislature, is the group to deal with these difficult issues. But as always, it really isnt just about the numbers and the dollars or single issue. We cannot lose the forest in the trees. This session as every session we remain obligated to do what is best, not for ourselves, our political parties, but for the citizens of wonderful wyoming. What a privilege we have to have that as our duty, what a privilege it is to have that opportunity to have our job to serve the citizens of wyoming without regard to political party. Without regard to any single issue but how do we do better for the citizens of wyoming. I thank the legislature as i always do. We are successful in this state for a number of reasons. But a prime reason is we have a Citizen Legislature to you, men and women, who give up your time and leave your homes and your families and your businesses to come here, this is an extraordinary thing. It keeps wyoming strong. But as always, we take time today to say we know were blessed to live in this state, we say to citizens of wyoming, we will continue to work hard for you, we say may god continue to bless wyoming, the United States and all her people. Thank you very much. [ applause ] heres whats coming up. Next, well continue showing you this years state of the state addresses. First, Wisconsin Republican governor and former president ial candidate scott walker addresses his states lawmakers. After that, it is iowa. And later another state of the state address from idahos butch otter. Today, the Bipartisan Heroin Task force will host a hearing on synthetic opioids, that hearing led by the task force cochairs congresswoman annie kuster, democrat from New Hampshire and new Jersey Republican Tom Macarthur will focus on the science and treatment issues behind synthetic opioids like fentanyl. See that live starting at 4 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan3. And the u. S. Senate is back today for a weeks worth of debate and votes on president trumps cabinet nominees. First up is education secretary nominee betsy devos. Lawmakers resume debating her nomination today at noon with a final confirmation vote scheduled for tomorrow. Nominations on the agenda after that, Jeff Sessions for attorney general, tom price for hhs and Steve Mnuchin for treasury secretary. Theyll continue working on those throughout the week. Watch the senate live on csp 2 cspan2. Tonight on the communicators, Consumer Technology Association President gary shapiro talks about the Major Technology issues facing congress and the administration. Mr. Shapiro talks about the latest Innovative Products he found at the Consumer Electronics show held in las vegas last month. Hes interviewed by micayla ross, Technology Reporter for bloomberg bna. The internet of things defines every exhibitor there because everything is really connected and the internet of things is you can say it the overlay, but it is the benefit of being connected. It is the benefit of getting information and data, making our lives better and safer, increasing food production, water as well as transportation and our health care. It is not just about entertainment and gaming and video and movie and great sound. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan2. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. Wisconsin republican governor and former president ial candidatco