Those kinds of programs are along that same pattern. Governor herbert we could talk all look the about all of the great things happening in the state. The number one focus a governor should have is to grow the economy. It is hard to have anything else happen if you dont have a healthy economy and difficult if it is going in the wrong direction. Utah has a very healthy economy right now but one area we have specialized in is to capitalize on the fact we have the air force base in utah, which has one of the best test and training ranges for air force military in north america. I appreciate the fact in the latest paris air show, the dreamliner and its accelerated takeoff and the airbus 380 and 350 and how theyre able to maneuver at very slow speeds and yet have elevation. It is uncanny how these massive airplanes stay afloat. One of the reasons they can do that is because they have composite material and low weight that allows them to perform in ways they have not been able to do before. Most of that composite material, 50 of those airplanes comes from utah. We specialize in aerospace and part of that economy is composite material. In West Virginia, we have made some major progress as far as a State Government goes. Really addressing what used to be our liabilities. We have been able to bring those up to date and able to improve the bond ratings. We have privatized our workers comp. We have some of the lowest premiums in the country. We have eliminated our business franchise tax, lowered the Corporate Income tax we are competitive. The fact we have not had made any kind of tax increase in West Virginia in over 20 years theres been a great deal of time working on the workforce. I have been able to bring everything from Public Education to our Community Colleges to our for your institutions, it is also thing around the table and trying to figure out how to best train or retrain the workforce to meet the demands of what the businesses are asking for. One of the things we can i am very proud of his proctor and gamble. They are building their second plant in the u. S. Since the 1970s and they chose West Virginia to put that plant. It will be huge and the numbers of it it will be huge. We do help businesses when they come in with certain infrastructure. To give them a specific skills they need for jobs at proctor and gamble or any other company. It is hard to limit it to three things. We all have great ideas. I went to say thank you to governor tom one for hosting us. Always a pleasure to be in West Virginia. And governor governor hickenlooper has been great. And the other governors that have joined us today. In oklahoma, with focus on how can we create the best Business Climate for job creation, growth, and raising the medium household incomes. Second is education and workforce, having a highly skilled educated workforce and getting our fiscal house in order, making sure the state is run appropriately. A week ago, we were named one of the top 10 best managed states in the notion nation. In improving the health of the workforce of the citizens. With jobs and the economy we passed a Major Overhaul on the Workers Compensation system. So far, cost has come down 22 in the first year. It affects the bottom line of the businesses. We reduced taxes a couple times, past major lawsuit reform. We have made ourselves more business friendly. What we have seen is our economy has grown by 8. 3 . Before the Energy Sector took a downturn we had 3. 9 Unemployment Rate nationwide. The Median Household Income has grown twice the national average. We are being able to take care of our families. Second is education. If you dont have a highly skilled, educated workforce, you cannot take needs of the employers. When i was National Chairman governors association, we launched a nationwide initiative and called America Works and anybody watch house of cards . About a year ago, i was watching kevin spacey and he was talking about his new program called America Works and i said while wow, he has been watching the National Governors association. It is about realigning our pipeline of the Education System to match the needs of Current Industries and employers in the state. We are working with k12 to reach down into our students to encourage them to dual track so they can get their education and understand how important it is to continue their education and was to increase their degree completion. To be able to match the needs of employers and our state. We surveyed the employers and we know what they need and we are working with all our school systems. I mentioned about performance fiscally of the state. We launched the performance informed budgeting. Where trying to Fund Programs that are priorities like education, criminal justice, transportation. We are funding things we know will work and have measured outcomes and goals. I ask that our state agencies develop initiatives we had our agencies establish different metrics with the goals and states so when we come back in the budgeting process, we can see if we accomplished what we wanted to and we publish that so the taxpayers can see on the state website where we are delivering those results. One of our goals in education was to increase the number of high school graduates. That our third graders are reading at grade appropriate level, reducing the recidivism rate of people coming back into prison. Those type of issues. And improving the health. Its important you have a healthy workforce. We passed a bill this year that dealt with one of our top problems, which is opiate abuse. Now we require doctors to check painkillers when they write those prescriptions and be able to stop dr. Shopping. We passed a bill that says you cannot smoke at schools. We banned texting while driving. Things that go help improve the health of our state. A couple specific things we have done. We paid off a debt to the federal government, lowered Corporate Income taxes and recommending 2. 8 billion infrastructure for our ports and roads. [laughter] a major project we are working on for jobs is we put more gas we inject back into the ground than anyone else. The state of alaska, the other partners are exxon mobil. It is a 50 billion dollar project. It will bring down the cost of energy and alaska sufficiently. Anymore shorter questions . Yeah. The issue of security cities has become a hot topic. The house passed a bill that limits access to funding for sanctuary cities. Im not sure which of your states have been but if you could give a perspective if you think there should be state limitations on sanctuary cities and that sort of issue. If the state should pass their own limitations instead of waiting for the federal government. Governor herbert we have a city listed as a sanctuary city and i match or who makes those decisions but i label them as a sanctuary city but we as an organization understand how important reform is and passing some immigration laws. You hear a lot of discussion about the border and that is intuitive for a lot of reasons. We also need to have a wide gate that works. I have an opportunity to address this issue with the president and if we dont fix the gate, we have an undue pressure on the fence. We had a lot of immigrants elect to come into the country and work but they would like to go home and be able to come back and forth. The fear of not able to come back causes them to overstay their the set and become undocumented. I believe there should the a rule of law that we need to create the immigration laws and we have somewhat of a stalemate in congress. We have been debating this issue or some time now. It is time for them to come together in a bipartisan way and do something that is a positive thing and we think congress can and should. States have try to do things. In utah, we try to come up with our own state law to address the immigration issue. We were challenged in court and lost where the court said this is a federal issue. Despite the fact we feel the pain and frustration, it is a federal issue. On behalf of the nga he hoped the congress will address this issue, come up with a solution and get something done that shows we are addressing this frustrating issue. Our immigration system is broken. It has been broken for a long time. We are a nation of immigrants who have come here but we are also a nation of law and we need to uphold the law and our nation. We need to have an immigration system that allows people who want to come here and follow the law and be able to do that be able to have a better quality of life and be able to do so in a timely manner because it does take a long time to go through the process to become a citizen of the u. S. One of the things i am worried about is the times the u. S. Has criminal, illegal aliens that come to the u. S. , kill people, and go back home and come back. Is a terrible tragedy for the nation. Congress needs to get serious about taking up Immigration Reform for the nation to allow those who want to come here through the Legal Process to do that but also to develop a system that and force the system of our laws that of someone creates a law, dont let them stay here. In light of the recent events in chattanooga what are your thoughts about Arming National Guard personnel on duty to allow those Service People to protect themselves in the event of something horrific happening . Governor hickenlooper almost every governor has looked at this. Governor tomlin it is my pleasure to welcome you to todays joint session on the Economic Development of Natural Resources committees. Todays session is a great opportunity for us to highlight some exciting initiatives going on in each of our states. To hear about the ongoing work from a few shining stars in the private sector. 20 today to facilitate the session is the alabama governor mr. Bentley, and wyoming governor, mr. Lee. I would like to introduce ms. Gander, who will provide a short report on federal and state activities under the Natural Resources committee. I would like to express a sincere thank you on behalf of nga to the Natural ResourceCommittee Governors for your tremendous work this year as we end up the policy year. Each committee has executed an act of federal agenda and a detailed legislation summary of each of the committees work is in your binder will take a few minutes and highlight to which is in particular. For the Natural Resources committee we provide matching funds to the states to develop conservation products and Outdoor Recreational facilities and the funds current authorization expires september 30 of this year. Since last year, this committee and Natural Resources committee has been working with key congressional stakeholders and interested parties to help maintain the lw cf. If the program were two laps, to lapse, the state that assisted with report to the fund. Interesting to note with some the last 24 hours, Senate Energy and Natural Resources chair include a bipartisan language in the comprehensive energy bill that was recently introduced that would permanently reauthorize the lwcf it. Is a great signal of where congress is right now on this issue. We look forward to seeing that move forward. We think this issue will Carry Forward into the incoming Natural Resource committees agenda and we look forward to that committee taking the baton and running this issue. On the second issue for the Economic Development and commerce committee, it is all about transportation. This issue is very fluid right now. Governors will continue to discuss this tomorrow in more detail but i wanted to give you the highlights of where we stand as of friday afternoon. They continue to change. Where we stand now is that this morning morning, the senate agreed to move forward with hr 22 or was filed on 22 amendments three amendments. There is an amendment on the reauthorization of the Export Import Bank. There is an amendment offer to repeal aca. The third is a seconddegree amendment that would provide for a 60 day extension of current transit programs. What does this mean . This means the senate is working through procedural timelines right now, we are in a state of hold. The senate will reconvene sunday afternoon to begin their votes on these amendments depending upon how those in amendments end , we see what other activities pop. At present, all amendments have been filled. There may be opportunity for debate on other amendments but as of right now, there are only these three amendments that are currently pending for the senate. I would like to turn over to my colleague, the Division Director for the center of us practices for a short report on what the center is doing on issues under the committees jurisdiction. Sure. Ms. Sevier we are here to help you do your jobs better and helps you hear about what is going on at the state level. Any way we can share with your staff what is going on, that means we are doing our job. Last year for the division that focuses on energy and infrastructure, we engaged in 40 states and projects. We are excited to be able to work with that many states and the able to engage all of you. That means working across a variety of topics. Im going to highlight briefly three new opportunities that are coming your way so you can keep your eyes out. You will be hosting our third annual shell energy forum. States are really grappling with how we take advantage of the development in the area in a way that is responsible. We have had convenings where your faults have come together with states across the country to share ideas and walk away with things they can take back and implement in their states. Keep an eye out for that. We will be doing a secondround of Energy Efficiency retreats going into these days and helping you put together teams from your state. You choose who was around the table to help you work on an issue of your tailoring something you defined as a struggle in that area. Then we are also doing a secondround of retreat on publicprivate partnerships. This is one way states are trying to look at how they can move projects forward in their state. We did select four of the states we will be working with and im happy to say connecticut and arkansas are two of the ones here we are looking forward to working with along with washington and utah. That is a chance to look in detail at what some of the options are they can explore and a strategy they can move forward on. We are excited about those projects and hope all of you will look to us for answers to some of your questions. On behalf of Jennifer Brooks here with the Economic Development division, we engage with your advisors on that topic. Last year, we had an Advisors Institute that included representatives from 32 states so they are coming to our meetings and getting ideas on things they can do. We will continue that engagement and have a focus on workforce development. Were looking forward to working with all of you. Govenor tomblin thank you. Now we will turn to our committee discussion. Tourism is a big business in West Virginia as i know it is in many of your states. We are very probably work were we are doing to increase the number of visitors and Business Investments in our state. While youre here, hopefully you will have a chance to experience what we are calling real West Virginia, which is the theme of our new tourism campaign. West virginia is home to real farm to table dining, real outdoor adventure, real history and a number of other authentic experiences. Tourism brings in more than 5. 1 billion and supports more than 46,000 good paying jobs in West Virginia. Research shows that for every dollar we spend to promote tourism, we see a seven dollar return. With this in mind, we are committed to dramatically increasing the amount we spend on tourism promotion. Weve also worked with have it investors and others to have exciting attractions people want to experience in the mountain state. I am sure a number of you saw coverage on the pga tours greenbrier classic that took place two weeks ago. It showcased out only the amazing resort but also our beautiful state. Next week, governor jindals new Orleans Saints will arrive at the greenbrier for the initial half of their training camp. West virginia is a proud partner of the greenbrier classic and we use it as a tool to recruit as mrs. Recruit businesses. We are taken efforts to support Small Businesses across the state as well. One of the most talked about deals we passed last year played a great part in that was a lot that made easier for our groping growing Craft Beer Industry to thrive. We will have our first craft beer week with events scheduled at several pubs across the state. This legislation not only courage is towards them but supports entrepreneurs. We are also proud of several public and private