Governor's Inaugural Address

Governor's Inaugural Address

Madam Speaker, Madam President, Mr. Chief Justice and members of the judiciary, honorable members of the House, Senate and Executive Council, and my fellow citizens of New Hampshire:

I am honored to again be entrusted with the solemn responsibility of serving as Governor of this great state. I pledge to you that I will work every day to keep your trust.

Allow me to take a moment to thank my family, beginning with our exceptional First Lady, my wife Susan. I appreciate her love and encouragement and the work she does for the children and people of New Hampshire.

And I must thank our children: our daughters, Jackie and Julia, and our son, Hayden. I would not be here today without their continued love and support.

Let us also recognize the brave men and women of our military serving our nation here at home and overseas. They, and our many veterans, have sacrificed so much for all of us. Please join me in honoring them and their families for their service.

A few weeks ago, a major ice storm downed trees and power lines from Keene to Portsmouth leaving more than 400,000 people without power.

We must thoroughly review the utilities' preparedness and communications. But we can all agree that many dedicated men and women worked through the cold and subsequent storms to restore power to their fellow citizens. And we should thank them for their efforts.

We are all mindful that some of our people lost their lives during the storm. This ice storm was incredibly difficult for all the people it affected. It could have brought out the worst. Instead it brought out the best and showed the true character of New Hampshire and our people.

We saw volunteers, themselves without power, working at local shelters so others could have a warm bed and a hot meal. We saw state and local employees working tirelessly to help ensure the needs of people were met. We saw first responders on-duty around the clock to help keep families and their communities safe.

We owe all of these people our gratitude.

It is this spirit, these people that make New Hampshire so special.

This recent natural disaster has reminded us of the strength of the people of New Hampshire. That strength will be called upon again as we weather the current economic storm.

Our nation is at a critical juncture. We are in the midst of an unprecedented global economic crisis and a national recession the likes of which most of us haven't seen in our lifetimes.

The markets are suffering their worst decline since the Great Depression. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits is at a 30-year high and mortgage foreclosures across the country continue to rise.

Here in New Hampshire, we will be called upon to make difficult decisions in the next two years. We must come together to find solutions to the problems our families are facing today and to address the financial challenges facing our state as a result of the recession.

But it is not with pessimism or with a sense of foreboding that I speak these words. My faith in our ability to work together and my belief in the spirit of the people of New Hampshire give me optimism about our future.

We live in the greatest state in the greatest country in the world. Working together, I know we can meet any challenge that comes our way.

Let us not point fingers, assess blame or worry about who gets the credit. Let us continue to put partisan politics to one side and focus on solving problems.

That is how we've accomplished so much over the past four years - passing tough laws protecting children and families, and keeping New Hampshire the safest state in the nation.

We ended the ability of insurance companies to discriminate against sick workers, passed a new more affordable health insurance plan for small businesses and we expanded children's health insurance.

We improved education, worked to build our economy and create jobs.

We acted to protect our land and to cut pollution.

We passed tough ethics laws and opened up state government.

We brought smart, capable leaders to our state agencies, leaders who share our dedication to making progress for the people they serve.

Our steady leadership is more important now than ever.

We must have confidence in our ability to seek common sense solutions to uncommon problems, to employ calm in the face of fear, and to assert the certainty of our core values in these uncertain times.

Across New Hampshire many hard-working men and women have lost their jobs. Some families have seen their dreams of home ownership put into jeopardy. And seniors have watched their retirement savings evaporate.

We are better positioned than most states to withstand this recession. Our unemployment rate remains well below the national average. We have a strong and educated workforce, a diversified economy and a significant advantage with our tax structure and our quality of life.

But New Hampshire is not an island unto itself. New Hampshire's economy is tied to the national and global economies.

We need national solutions to this crisis. I urge the new Congress and President-elect Obama to act quickly to pass a stimulus package that will create jobs for our workers now.

This package should help protect the safety net for America's most vulnerable citizens, and put people to work by investing in our infrastructure.

It will take national action to recover from this recession, but there are things we can do, together in New Hampshire, to help our economy and to help our people.

We've worked to restore fiscal responsibility to our state's highway and turnpike funds. As a result, we are moving forward with highway construction projects that will make our roads safer and create jobs. As we develop our state's next capital budget, we should do so with an eye toward critical projects that can begin quickly and get people working.

Two years ago, we reinstated the Job Training Fund to give our workers new skills they need to compete in the global economy. Since then we have helped provide training for more than 3,000 workers from nearly 70 companies at no cost to the general fund.

We should look to expand this fund - and extend its opportunities to unemployed workers - to help our citizens compete.

Our state is at the forefront of national efforts to build a new energy future. Our first wind plant has recently opened in Lempster. We need to continue to invest in energy efficiency and work to ensure that 25 percent of our energy comes from renewable power by 2025.

Though oil prices have dropped dramatically, we cannot afford to become complacent. We must use this time wisely, to push ahead in pursuit of a new energy future and new jobs.

That is why today I am proposing a new Green Jobs Initiative, funded from part of the proceeds of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the Renewable Energy Fund.

First, we should expand our home weatherization program. This will help put people - carpenters, electricians, plumbers - to work and help families cut their energy costs.

Second, we should upgrade the energy efficiency of state and municipal buildings. This will have the added benefit of saving taxpayers money now and in the future.

Third, we should provide training so our citizens can learn the new skills needed for this new and growing industry.

Finally, we should create a low-interest revolving loan fund to help New Hampshire businesses become more energy efficient and to convert to renewable energy where possible. This will help our companies cut their costs and become more competitive.

This Green Jobs Initiative will help create jobs for our people now, and make New Hampshire's economy stronger for the future.

Let's help New Hampshire workers and businesses keep their competitive edge, and let's keep good paying jobs right here in New Hampshire.

The national recession is having a dramatic impact on our state budget. New Hampshire and states across the nation have seen significant shortfalls in revenue as this recession has deepened.

We have a proven record of sensibly managing our state budget - and we have done so without a sales or income tax. We will continue to do so.

We increased the state's Rainy Day Fund from $17 million to a record $89 million. And at the first sign of the national economy's downturn, we acted to reduce the shortfall by over $150 million.

But we are still facing a significant challenge in closing the budget gap for this current fiscal year. And it is clear this recession will continue to impact our next state budget.

We run a lean state government, making our budget decisions that much more difficult. But making difficult decisions is what we were elected to do.

State government has fundamental responsibilities - protecting public safety; helping our most vulnerable citizens; educating the next generation; and preserving our quality of life. These should be our guiding principles as we develop the next biennial budget.

To ensure we can fulfill these responsibilities, we must be willing to think differently and creatively about how we do business as a state, and change practices that have grown outdated.

Let me be very clear: we face a budget challenge of unprecedented dimensions.

This next budget cannot be balanced by tweaks and minor adjustments. This problem will not be solved by closing our eyes with the hopes it will go away. And there is no magical pot of gold at the end of a mythical rainbow.

As we develop the next budget, we will have to examine every area of spending, look at every program and say ‘no' more often than we would like.

There are some initiatives and programs - no matter how worthy we feel they may be - that will have to be deferred until better times. We will not be able to do everything we want to, or even everything we should do as a state.

But these tough times will not last forever. If we act wisely now, we can meet our responsibilities, honor our core values and still prepare New Hampshire for the future.

We must be mindful of the long-term impacts of decisions we make today. For example, last year we made real progress tackling long neglected problems with our state's retirement system. In that process, we saw how short-sighted decisions made decades ago had severe long term and negative consequences, consequences we're still paying for today.

As we address our challenges, we must learn from the mistakes of the past and not do something today that future generations of New Hampshire citizens will regret.

Educating our next generation is one of our fundamental responsibilities. Our children must have the skills and the knowledge necessary to compete in this rapidly changing world.

Our goal is to ensure every child in New Hampshire has an equal opportunity to receive a quality education.

Over the years, there have been many debates in this great chamber regarding both the quality and the funding of education. We will continue these debates as we work to meet our education funding responsibilities and make progress to improve education.

And we have made progress.

For the first time, all children in New Hampshire regardless of where they live will have the opportunity to attend public kindergarten.

We defined an adequate education, and developed an education funding plan clearly linked to that definition.

I still believe that the best way to improve education is to target real state aid to the communities and children who need it the most. I also recognize there has not been a consensus in the legislature on a constitutional amendment that would allow for that approach. I believe that discussion should continue, but we also need to meet our education responsibilities and build on the progress we have made.

This includes developing a system that holds our schools accountable. A legislative commission has made recommendations that will be the starting point for our discussions this year.

As we move forward, we must ensure that our accountability efforts do not simply place additional burdens on our schools, but actually deliver better results for our students.

As a state, we have set a goal of reducing our state's dropout rate to zero over the next three years. This is a lofty goal, but a goal we must embrace.

We recognized the necessity of a high school diploma in today's economy by increasing the compulsory school attendance age to 18. We must continue to support alternative learning programs and make it possible for every child in New Hampshire to graduate from high school.

We must also continue to re-think how we deliver education, adapting to changing technology and the changing ways young people get information and learn.

We can use technology to create new opportunities for learning. We can connect classrooms giving more of our young people access to highly qualified math and science teachers, Advanced Placement classes, or language courses.

In every industry, technology is breaking down old barriers. The same must be true in education.

Because we know that education drives jobs, we have invested significantly in higher education, ensuring our students have access to state-of-the-art learning through our university and community college systems.

This has allowed more of our young people to get the skills they need for the future.

Let's continue to ensure that our young people have 21st century opportunities so they can live full 21st century lives.

Working together - Democrats, Republicans and Independents - we have embarked on a path of greater discourse and as a result, we have made real progress on the issues that matter to New Hampshire families.

No one of us claims to have all the answers and no one cannot do it alone.

History will define this moment as one of unprecedented challenges.

Let us define this moment in our history as one of cooperation, of courage and of action.

Understanding that we face significant financial and economic challenges, but recognizing that we are a great state, let us leave here committed to working together for the people of New Hampshire.
Thank you.

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