New Mexico State of the State Address 2000

fb let's be these are old a thief that is good afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the governors

state of the state address in the beginning of a new mexico two thousand legislative session in just a few minutes we will go live to the state capitol where the governor is expected to arrive any moment now to announce his budget priorities for this short thirty day session before we go to the floor i want to introduce my guest for today's coverage steve lawrence editor of the cross wins weekly and max bartlett executive director of revision in new mexico and i also would like to welcome our k r w g viewers in massachusetts and k e and w viewers in porto alice thank you for joining us but before we got to the floor i want to ask both of you how do you think our wages actually think the governor might be talking about this year steve austerity have chosen will oddities it is and in his state of the state message clean up as i recall i'm effectively cleaner state among other things it will be interesting to see when he leaves out as well recently you're probably talk about school vouchers

still elitist he recently about drug policy which the state really has very little to do with the newly federal problem is really a talk about prisons and the legislature was more prison oversight this side of that this session and what it what he will say about that is been up a planned kicking around to put the ten commandments on the walls of all schools in the state now lets to happen at his political and constitutional on sunday well i've heard i've heard that singer as a matter of fact and one of the responses i heard was a perhaps we should bracket that with some of the core moral teachings of all of the various world religions at least lose those are widely practiced here in new mexico and i think another problem for the the governor's that there was just this poll that came out and lee allen in albuquerque journal over the weekend that shows that his support in the business community has drop substantially from the past

and so i think he's going to be under a little bit more pressure perhaps from his his own supporters and he's been in the past to perform better do you think it's the drug issue that has that has that lower him in the polls well interestingly enough it has no way though the poll was taken we can tell for sure and this certainly has been a lot of speculations talk about drug policy has another thing though is it's important to notice that the economy in new mexico is not doing that well it's not doing as well as it was for five six years ago when at that time we were actually at the top of the growth rate of the rocky mountain states now has dropped to the bottom and were growing economically substantially under the national average as well and so it may be that simply the fact that his performance on the business economy has not been that well over the last four year i sense that there's a lot of disappointment among in the business community or as a man came in office saying that he was going to run the state like a business and businesses better the

economy is way off the gap between rich and poor in the state as it is very wide third in the nation according to the newspapers this morning but also ice ice into the business community hasn't really seen a cohesive economic development program out of the governor's office and he's he could've been expected to take the lead here and i think the feeling is now earlier you mentioned that private prisons do you think that or can you tell me whether the real cost of private versus public as command whether he's ever going to renounce her biological like you know i mean clearly the governor's own numbers own center but i think a lot of people are not giving them out very much credibility does he hasn't really issued any of the backup just to support them or he said he said three years ago that we were supposed to say twenty million the course of three years and from what i understand we've actually gone up ever here that's where senators well and now they're proposing he wants to propose i think to build a super maximum security prison and basically we've not got their prison act together russia's presence presence of a problem in the state for a

long time were all fairness to the governor or even a prison problem since the days of the really big prisoner ivan and the santa fe back in nineteen eighty and before that but this year he is proposing a seven point eight percent increase in prison spending is the largest increase for any substantial line item in the budget that he's proposing and it is difficult to see where we've seen any of the twenty million dollars in savings and that is the promise to only we privatized you say things for example as they was losing money by shifting license plate manufacturing plant to canada you know it's a saving a substantial my money they're you know they're good even though they had spent a lot of money are installing equipment to make these license plates are those savings would seem to be illusory we seem to be spending more more money and because obviously that the prison system so does it classify prisoners well he still have the this this tremendous gang activity there are a lot of violence the

state's known about this is max says for many here is it just right after the last of the big riots in santa fe it became obvious that the center prisons classification system was was was really ill conceived and and not a good one and nothing has really been done corrected till now we have this new outbreak of violence others report that was just done by this advisory committee points out that the contract to build and private private prisons are not what they ought to be the prisoners were not built the way audie and indeed we expect religious ritual back and take another look at that some are costing more there are dozens more in the violence alone and ship a hundred or so inmates to virginia at west virginia and ship them back again and you know what was a very costly maneuver well i think the governor's office is saying that at sixty four dollars a day for the prisoners in virginia but others are saying the rio all the real cost of this more like a hundred dollars a day and who knows but i think before the governor is able to get any increases in prison pass the legislature a lot of the legislators legislate

tours are gonna want to see some really good numbers enormously seen whether they'll get them well i want to go to the floor for just a few minutes just to see what kind of activity is going on there if we can if that's a possibly there we go ahh doesn't look like i'm began her is near coming on what is really going on at this time max do you know well this league the legislature formally convenes we're going to have about a thirty day session which as you pointed out begin the program as is primarily to adopt a budget we adopt a budget every year and every other year we have a sixty day session which was supposed to undertake other either lost before the governor comes on the chasse convincing official elect armed officers make this economic committee appointment and then they gather in the house chambers send me a group of people to formally call on the governor and to ask him to come and and present his his

remarks on the state of the state and we've had the levees in the past of bomb as many as two hours one of the challenges to the leadership of either the house or the senate since it was an anticipated this time i don't think we would be having a long delay and of course the governor's waiting for the group become informally escort pretty much ceremonial stuff at this point but we're moving through well i just been told that the governor will beyond just before one o'clock so if you wanna make it more comes to for i think it i probably can go back to our regularly scheduled program anything that you expect the governor will or will not say even before we go away you just to see whether the governor allude to the fact that all hundred and twelve members a legislature for election sure which is a dynamic that's going on it's going to be scores of hover below the surface and this legislature and it has to have a lot of impact on what the individual lawmakers say and what they're willing to do in terms of compromise

with the governor this year to see if he'll lose to the fact that general mattis last year he vetoed a lot of things because i mean he beat of the budget twice because the senate wouldn't legislature would agree to the voucher his bachelor party and expecting to do that again this year well given the fact that he ended up getting not that much support from his own party on vouchers i i suspect he's not really try that same approach that it'll be interesting to see what crime measures he does i'll propose i suspect it will be a crime well steven matz if they can hang on for just a few minutes we're going to go right now to our regularly scheduled programming will be back shortly before one to hear the governor's address thank you for john wells yes roll as

boy and representative rob thousand representatives is organized and re infected business for the people of this great state and this is a charity navigators and grow i ask unanimous consent that the speaker appoint a committee to notify the senate but the house of representatives has organized and is ready for business and at the same time and by the lieutenant governor and the honorable members of the senate to meet and joint session with the house in this chamber to hear a message from the honorable gary johnson governor of new mexico it has no objection chair will appoint representative hawkins reasonably and representative john mr jarvis to inform the senate but the house really organized and ready for business and at the same time and by members of the

senate to join us to hear speech at a presentation on the state of state from dr gary johnson the governor of the great state of new mexico the young man from the characters enter the kremlin at the house that increases subject of the culture in that there will be suspended proceeding with guests in the chamber during the texas you are allowing lawyers that i guess i have to accept that as you know objected during that it is so subject of cultural objects ascendancy at the table but you please let me know what a member speech at the chairs the house nor began an interaction of our artists

begging to paint the peace be ok everyday situated and readied for the interaction of our guests who witnessed that day so i would like to begin later goes into my the needy it right and here he comes the album wreck that he you're wrong the secretary of state will be assisting other way how commissioner michael hayden

korea yo yo yo and he commenced to speak is that something that you own that this morning michael sheehan the archbishop of the archdiocese of some dude who haven't had the privilege of meeting the pain and the lady who are bio everything i am or ever will be a white and my deceased father and the mother of all of us saw my mother so scientists the

pen remember the fbi has been the peak period the piano easily and former chief justice that's right now and that's why it's the year to make sure and everything i know the honorable role that he's

a member of the house of representatives the white farmer many former secretary jeff bingaman united states senator my constituents and the honorable united states representative it's b senior justice messed with man coming out of practice

law so media were criticized my practice walking in the rain the spring and it's really nice to see this laid back you really has been how are you robert kennedy weren't you what appeals to people or do you

view it thank you the pope her report linda here iran relations of

course repairs were present in the united states one of my favorite republicans a man who say he finally learned his lessons and after four attacks the online waiting time thank you and beautiful wife my generation of women the

primary role does the that's michael davis since president missed the war education secretary mexico were of education at care the war and education committee member or education use radiation we're speaking to you we're ready member of the mexico sort of education

and my writing i'm sure you were garcia former secretary of state the honorable manly smith a former secretary of state one of the likes of mine my sister ms maria pena my eye mrs jones what might your organs late one way cameron never to my aunt you visit at a better baseball player last week a good friend of mine and my wife patricia

mcneil three oh what a national democratic committee will and fixtures three iran's national democratic committee made female scientists reviewed the united europe has begun recording it for them here the polls president of mexico democratic women vote democratic national democratic committee woman the honorable jim bopp the mayors city about her he actually carries seven our reviewer united states department of agriculture production entities here more children than anybody else who's chief executive officer

national vibe here by the un robert i mean i think it's usually not ideas for having asthma and he's the chairman of the board and also my mom is really generous of you don't think it's for former state board of education member former state representative bill the clues director committee on higher education and the lady who is the heartless all the democratic party it's actually good idea everybody stands

were writing has anybody asked them in one's german mccardell is the newly appointed chairman of the workforce development committee which has been appointed pursuant to a bill passed it by representative nikki haley is the chairman of the workforce development they'll ask for is these numbers about forty some odd i think that's odd time in many years the chairman of the movie circus entertainment center for is right in the middle the little owl who's district is that now resembles visited and she's not happy about that and that's too much noise and traffic right to represent but munch also the former and really great chairman

of the republican party any part of that someone to join you don't want to do any of it they fall away he's asked for three and

it's by the president and the leaders of the senate members of the senate really the nation body researchers why you have these rabbits go to little league this president i ask unanimous consent to let loose ourselves

into committee of all house and senate to hear a message from the honorable gary johnson agrees to mexico personal connection cheryl what senators rand lopez in the cs and representatives google's larry no longer see a gentle writer for the violent cauldron that the committee of the whole house and senate is ready to receive his message and at the same time i i i was like a speaker for energizing everyone over across the way but there are a couple of guests that came over from the senate that i would appreciate the opportunities the most honorable higher forty year old levi offices of imagination

criminals lose the new orleans cola bottle is what chris he's been his blues we're what she works were there you know on the committee you can only the picture up in

okay dressed in a few days ago afternoon and welcome to our live coverage of the governors state of the state address in the beginning of the new mexico two thousand legislative session in just a few minutes we will go live to the state capitol where the governor is expected to arrive any moment now as you can see i had to announce his budget priorities for the short thirty day session before we go to the floor and i want to introduce my guest for today's coverage steve lawrence editor of the cross with weekly and max bartlett executive director of revision in new mexico thank you for coming today in and helping me with this coverage today as you can see the governors about to go on that anything that you expect the governor to be talking about today steve wojcik is his agenda is as did pretty well announce in advance and he said he wants that

it was talk about school he was talk about prison cell one thing we know that he's going to do is talk longer the sure they did last year when told to be a fairly lengthy speech for summers is that he's perhaps forty five minutes last year he went very quickly through a very few a very quick agenda it'll be interesting to see whether he whether he talks about economic realm the state whether he talks about the impending elections in november maximum well that's what you hope you'll be talking about this year well it would be nice if we would say indications that the legislature and the governor's office are going to work together cooperate move along for the for the good of the mexico it may well i'm not so optimistic on that on that on that point are certainly an education is going to be at the top of everyone's party as the state's economy has been becoming a mom on doing less less well over the

last three years that's clearly an indication of an area needs concern i've heard that the governor is going to have a number of crime proposals in his package there's talk that he may have as many as a hundred separate piece of legislation on the call which is a remarkable large number for a short session of the faith of the legislature know we came on the air over an hour ago talking about the governor coming out in just a few minutes then we've been delayed now over an hour because it's the us senate was in session and they just not talk about a couple of nosebleeds what you think is going on any guesses or i wish i had access to the ap wire i would love to know i mean what we heard was that there was some sort of a proposed amendment to the senate rules that obviously was something that was not minor because it took them quite in a lifetime to resolve the issue

on you know it's that there was at a delay of quite all nearly two hours a few years ago when her as a challenge to the leadership of the senate obviously this was anything that significant but but but judging by the lieutenant governor's comments things did not solve today's purely on a ceremonial know what do you think is an early indication of why we may see for the next thirty days well i don't know if it could be on earth is suddenly i don't expect this to be particularly harmonious session there a distant tremendous know several really volatile issues that are that they have to come before the legislature an illusion to see what the governor for example has say a badly about gambling complex they could try to rush through revise gambling compact but there's some doubt that they'll have enough time they made an adult after one woman in a special session to wait till next time we talk about schools we talked about prisons governor has tax cuts on his agenda in the legislature as a senior sympathetic to tax cuts and there are a number of education

proposals alone remains to be seen whether the governor the first floor of the planet and what i say on the tax cut i think the issue there is not whether or not there would be tax cuts though there is some concern about and certainly with the budget or whether we can afford them the tissue there seems to be shaping up more tax cuts for who visit any be tax cuts for those new mexicans who are critically well often at the upper end of the income spectrum which is what the governor is proposing or is it going to be tax cuts or directed odd towards economic development and directed towards people who are at the very low end of the income spectrum which is what some members of the legislature are talking about and there is also some some talk that that there's so little money to do anything with the sheer they might simply forgot that that they might simply before about that that this is really not with the legislatures of that they're not going to implement are considering a cat tax cut was governor would consider anything that they would bring to the boys' necks and there has been some talk of a big tax cuts for small businesses and some citizens and some things like that to spur economic

development but that's really isn't the part of governors public agenda for the governor's agenda has been hot high high income yes say well we should go back to the florida because they're announcing the governor who was about to go to the podium the pain the peak to peak it follows teenager

they do mr speaker mr president or as mr president honorable justices of the supreme court members of this forty fourth legislature distinguished guess my fellow non mexicans so what i'm going to share with you today i may sound familiar that's because good ideas common sense ideas will continue to be proposed prior to the important work that you have to do this session i'm taking this opportunity to detail for you the status of our state government departments today this information is important it's important to you it's important to me is that we can work together to see the best ideas in this state go forward all of us gathered here today in this great chamber are blessed with a great honor and a great duty to lead new mexico

into this new century while we may not always agree on every single issue we do share the same goal and that's improving the quality of life for citizens here in new mexico in order to always improve their quality of life we must focus our efforts on improved education economic development government efficiency and reduce crime these four strategies will enable new mexico to build upon our past strengthen our presence and secure our future improving education for children his priority number one for all of us with respect to this priority our goal is the same to dramatically improved the academic performance of our schools in fact many of our strategies are the same and they will work higher academic standards more testing greater accountability for results we've invested over a billion and a half dollars a year on kindergarten through twelfth grade new mexicans need to know that we can continue to

put more money into a system that is not accountable for results what's missing from public education is not money what's missing is competition and choice just give school choice to paris let them send their child or their son or daughter to any public private religious or charter school any school anywhere in new mexico legislation that provided for vouchers was defeated at the special session last may that legislation will again be interviews later this afternoon in the house and senate and i urge you to debate and adopt this legislation provides all parents the freedom to choose any public private religious or charter school for their child i call on you to support the heart and soul of real educational reform vouchers let me suggest crime

the visa just five additional accountability measures to help all public schools in our state first adopt program and performance based budgeting to track the return on investment take the bloomfield school district's lead anti the budget to performance seconds and when a merit based teacher pay reward those who are outstanding because they are doing what is best for kids third amend the instructional materials that to enable local schools to purchase what is needed are students' success forty expand school testing or currently testing those students in grades three through nine let's just the students sooner and include kindergarten through second grade in that mix there's a complete the state school accountability system which is critical to improving our

schools currently twenty of the eighty nine school districts areas to provide data to the public the details how other schools are performing we need to complete this system this year and make this information available so parents can compare where each school within each district ranks schools have to know where they stand today so that they can reach and set the goals for where they want to be tomorrow let us do what's right and fair for all parents and students lettuce improve students' academic performance statewide let us make school choice a reality for the children's set economic development is the second strategy to improve our quality of life the economic development department is working hard to attract more business to new mexico it's time to turn our dreams into reality and mexico's long been a place to dream to innovate and to explore

it must become a place to grow to expand and props we're seeing the dreamers are seeing the dreamers find their homes here is new biotech and biomedical companies bring new products into the marketplace sell robotics in albuquerque company is today marketing laser based testing equipment for diabetics phase one molecular toxicology is finding new ways to examine how our bodies accept or reject lifesaving drugs and corps building solar cells to power satellites in space use technologies is finding a way to get astronauts experience a new world's through virtual reality are small business dreamers are already here it's our job to help them turn dreams into reality our tax policies must encourage dreamers and builders to stay in new

mexico as their companies grow if beak our infrastructure policies must give them a home in any part of the state we must give them the economic tools they need to prosper in new mexico are routed role in our room to dream must now be linked by an infrastructure that can now allow us to turn our economic dreams in the business realities we must open the markets for telecommunication competition and we must invest in the construction over telecommunications backbone at that one will allow a seven year old living in truth or consequences to access the telecommunications tools he or she needs to be a financial consultant in asia and allow young navajo weavers living near shore brought to market their blankets in europe ice keels equal high wages long term job

security requires lifelong learning the new economy demands a highly skilled workforce our workforce development proposals will enable every new mexico workers dream to break the common everyday reality indian gaming indian gaming has provided economic development for the tribes and what blows of new mexico in addition to providing the tribes with economic self sufficiency which has allowed them to develop projects from water systems to improve housing indian gaming has employed a number of new mexicans both indian and non indian we're currently in the process of negotiating changes to indian gaming complex which will provide the state and the tribes with certainty and stability such a negotiated resolution is personally prefer over the uncertain scenario which will result from a legal confrontation the state taxation and revenue department has to efficiently impose collect and distribute revenues and then convert those

revenues into service is never more than now as the taxation revenue department struggled to meet that mission despite budgetary constraints and a growing customer base our tax department has increased its audit assess dollars by forty seven million dollars and almost tripled its taxpayer assistance outreach over three point eight billion dollars are processed through this agency annually or eight hundred thousand tax returns were process faster this year than ever before this can be credited to an increased usage of electronic filing which was pioneered art buyer tax department in that filing will expand this year to include refund express refunds for personal income and automatic bank deposits for an even faster refund time business filers will also be able to five file and actually this year the motor vehicle department handled an increase of over four

hundred and eighty thousand new transactions without an adequate budget increase the state ordered finance committee the hundred and sixty seven thousand dollars in emergency funding for the motor vehicle department now your support will be needed for the remaining projected shortfall tourism is a foundation for a new economy department of tourism has continued with successful advertising and publicity campaigns with big plans for the new century tourism is the second largest industry employing some seventy four thousand new mexicans statewide the legislature worked with the tourism industry to infuse the department's coppers last year with an additional two point nine million dollars in advertising it worked the department has seen a twenty six percent increase in inquiries this year our nine visitor centers are shattered previous record serving more than seven hundred thousand customers

that's the most since nineteen ninety three the army is also asking new mexicans to come out and play with its state wide ad campaign designed to entice residents to stay here during their vacations internet use is skyrocketing getting about fifty thousand inquiries more than the last five years combined at the department's new redesigned web site visitors can electronically plan their vacations and we can help images seven cents an inquiry one big reason people visit our state is our scenic beauty we have to keep new mexico beautiful and the department of tourism has launched a litter awareness campaign don't trash new mexico to ensure that scenic beauty the new mexico highway department is building prosperity that will

positively impact our future at this very moment you're witnessing the most concentrated improvements or transportation system in the state's history the highway department strategy of focusing both construction and maintenance an entire course translates into the first to decrease ever in the number of bad highways that our citizens must drive four lane highways are being built across new mexico to bring economic opportunity to rural areas the pope there are also a lot safer to drive a major projects are being built in every metropolitan area to ease traffic congestion today the highway and transportation department has over eight hundred million dollars of highway construction underway that's three times the traditional building program and they've done it with thirteen percent fewer employees than five years ago they're delivering a better product in a shorter

time and at a more reasonable cost new mexico has become a national leader in transportation the new mexico department of labor is providing a trained workforce in nineteen ninety eight legislation was enacted which reduce unemployment taxes or new mexico employers and on top of that reduction in taxes was increased benefits are eligible workers are department of labor is now proposing an additional unemployment insurance tax reduction that will save new mexico employers an additional twenty million dollars during the first year and another thirty million dollars the next year on top of this on top of these reductions will also be benefits increased a ha the enactment of the new mexico workforce development act along with federal legislation will consolidate more

than sixty federal training programs under this new state law and local governments will now be able to determine how to spend these training dollars rather than the federal government across the state employers and employees will have one stop shop centers that will give access to services allow workers to apply for jobs and get training in one location the a energy minerals and natural resources department manages state resources for the past five years the number of visitors to our state parks are thirty one state parks has steadily increased in the last year alone five million people enjoyed our parts that's fourteen thousand people a day we've made significant improvements from constructing visitor centers was state of the art exhibits and installing new boating docks our lakes the building trails would interpret as signs and we plan to do even more this

year it designated this year two thousand as the year of the state parks our economy also depends on our ability to develop natural resources in our state we must continue to develop yet conserve our natural resources we've streamlined the permitting process and eliminated paperwork and by moving to the internet we can begin to accept industry applications online which would significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to render decisions today extracted industries are doing business in our state and a regulatory climate that minimizes burdens and protects the environment you oil industry was able to survive last year's plunge in prices through the tax incentives this forty fourth legislature passed and we have ensured that this important industry could remain a vibrant part of our economy we certified thirteen thousand four hundred and eighty five producing wells as eligible for the stripper well and center equally helpful the reduction in taxes should

guarantee that thousands of marginal wells continue producing for a long time to come and we will soon complete the process of certifying six hundred new wells eligible for the new well incentive millions of dollars from this new production will benefit industry local economies and the state treasury when it comes to our environment we have to clean up the past protect the future and sustained economic growth my environmental philosophy is quite simple move aggressively to clean up contaminated sites and worked with business to prevent new pollution the pope this work has been and will continue to be accomplished without the relaxation of any environmental standards instead are environmental department has worked as a developing creative new solutions for improving environmental quality in new mexico while issuing permits and taking enforcement actions are the traditional

activities performed by this agency new initiatives have been created and are making a difference the department's greens see an environmental excellence program takes a practical approach to helping companies prevent pollution this year i recognize twenty two companies for their achievement through this program environmental department is also taken a strong leadership role in the implementation of new ways for solving water related disputes through my signing of executive order ninety nine best thirty three this fall and courage to use an adoption of these collaboration based principles as an initial effort the department recently hosted a water summit one which was attended by over two hundred individuals involved in water issues the office of the state engineer is focused on managing water and sustaining economic growth the primary responsibility for the state engineers office has to adjudicate and allocate water one of our most limited and valuable resources

this year a new hearing unit has been established they're now a full time hearing officers and support staff to handle protests that water write applications as a result significant progress has been made towards reducing the backlog our water rights applications in october nineteen eighty eight there were thirty one hundred and ninety five applications backlog in october nineteen ninety nine there were eight hundred and fifty five cases real rainy new technology has been directed towards the adjudication of water rights in the lower rio grande the use of global position all satellites and a geographic information system has all but eliminated older serving techniques formally used in making a hydra logic survey the officers also begun a major computerization endeavor the comprehensive database is being developed to diss to store an image

the officers extensive water right file some of which go back over one hundred years and date back to before statehood future watershed management and hold the key to enhancing water yield and water quality the endangered species act is raising significant challenges for the state's water coat collaborative principals are being utilized in order to balance environmental concerns with the requirements of our state's water woes the regulation licensing department is geared for economic results focus has been given to providing the taxpayer the best possible service at the lowest possible price this has resulted in a nine percent decrease in employment levels at a time when the volume of work has been increasing employees have responded by improving their work processes including the effective use of technology and outsourcing of certain functions by focusing resources in areas that can have the greatest impact for customers we demonstrated that government can be a

partner in that we can listen to their concerns and that we can improve one of the most exciting things happening in the regulation licensing department is their conversion to new licensing software that will dramatically improve the licensing process throughout the department more importantly it's the first step in establishing a capability to perform licensing via the internet in conjunction with his innovative use of technology i will be asking all the boards and commissions to review and revamped the rules and regulations that govern the licensing process for their profession the goal be to shorten the amount of time it takes from the date of application filing to the issuance of a license more efficient we can make this process the more reactors partners to the industries we regulate the office of cultural affairs is ensuring that are rich heritage and bright economic future yachts of cultural affairs has a concentrated effort on expanding the

public's access to museums historical sites educational programs library services research and preservation activities community support programs and electronic information systems available on the internet from the construction of four lane highways in the building of the information superhighway to the installation of one stop shops for life long training and the satellite mapping of our resources water resources new mexico's building upon our existing economic foundation from electronic filing of mining permits and business tax returns to the greens ian excellence awards and the renovation of state parks new mexico is strengthening the economy of today from new museums to new uses of the internet and new tourism advertising new mexico is securing a bright economic future the third strategy to improve our quality of life is to reduce crime in

mexico crime control by report by controlling criminals is becoming a reality for the past twenty two years the operation of new mexico's corrections department was under the control of the federal courts this past summer the department vacated the duran consent decree corrections it's b corrections is now controlling its own destiny and as closed the faucet of millions of dollars in taxpayer's money is flowing to inmate attorneys never again should overcrowding be the excuse to allow turnstile justice in new mexico we've added more than eighteen hundred beds to lockup criminals the new prison beds allow the state and good time for violent offenders inmates now serving eighty five percent of their sentence for violent felonies against our citizens the corrections department has reduced the cost of incarceration for new mexico inmates on a per capita basis

this past year we've seen the dangers of prison violence at both public and private prisons the state must punish those inmates who committed crimes behind bars they must be held accountable the key to gaining control of inmate violence in prison gangs is the establishment of a super max security prison dangerous predatory and disruptive inmates will have less opportunity to prey on our citizens are correctional officers and other inmates new mexico's corrections system and the issues they face are always changing we had built a strong foundation on which to continue to operate safe secure and sound correctional programs for the benefit of all mexicans public to say it is one of the core functions of government the responsibilities range from keeping our streets free of criminals providing emergency assistance to communities and our citizens in times of me they're

safer streets we need more officers on the streets and we're actively pursuing our recruiting efforts to fill the nine the expansion positions that have been allocated a key concern in this areas currently the sixty our college credit requirements which makes it difficult to find qualified individuals and that light and proposing legislation which would allow for limited exemption with respect to this requirement in summary the state of the department of public safety is good the transition under the new cabinet secretary nick baucus has been smooth and the reaction positive from the ending of the duran consent decree and the completion of hundreds of new prison cells to the hiring of more state police and the implementation of new truth in sentencing laws new mexico's building upon our past strengthening our presence and securing our future the fourth and final strategy to improve our quality of life is to focus on government efficiency we have to continue to offer government services at the best prices the department of finance and

administration has overseen this mission as we approach the two thousand legislative session the state's finances are in a much improved conditions reserves are now five point seven percent of the current spending levels do the prudence management of the overall spending level the state has weathered a slowdown in the rate of revenue growth new money for the coming session is expected to be one hundred and forty four million dollars or four point four percent over prior year spending level this is enough revenue to permit a modest tax cut will still funding the essential services of state government at an adequate level i recommend the following priorities in allocating among them are one there needs to be a tax cut and designing a budget for fiscal year two thousand won significant tax relief involve personal income taxes and unemployment insurance taxes or realized i'm proposing a personal income taxes be cut

by sixty five million dollars per year through a series of three steps fifteen million dollars this year twenty million dollars in two thousand won and thirty million dollars in two thousand to the total tax cut will represent more than one hundred dollars per taxpayer per year my budget recommendations were developed by applying the following five principles first we must adequately funded the entitlement programs and other caseload driven programs that have been seriously underfunded in previous budgets examples include adult prisons medicaid and the public defender's office second we must restore adequate funding to those agencies who've but whose budgets have been cut with no corresponding reduction of responsibilities examples include state parks the more the motor vehicle division and others third we must recognize commitments made in previously passed legislation that have not been adequately

fund examples include state police officers that span a cultural center the dawning in a facility for children youth and families department fourth we should allocate available money to primary and secondary education in such a way as to encourage serious reform and accountability measures finally we should hold all other agencies to limited growth while accommodating increased insurance expenses and analyzing this year's a planned increase in addition our operating funds we have approximately a hundred and ninety two million dollars available for capital outlay funding i recommend that these funds be allocated two essential infrastructure projects including public and higher education facilities adult and juvenile correction facilities building repair funds and other statewide project's executive budget recommends thirty eight point eight million dollars of supplemental and special appropriations during the current fiscal year and a hundred fourteen point nine million dollars of

non recurring appropriations is recommended for fiscal year two thousand won for computer enhancements and capital outlay under these recommendations the reserve balance at the end of fiscal year two thousand one would reach one hundred and seventy two million dollars or five percent of recurring appropriations experience has shown that we must maintain this level of reserves in order to ensure our future ability to meet the state's essential functions in order to improve the efficiency of state governments my administration has been working with the legislature to implement performance based budgeting this approach seems to improve the targeting of states spending on our highest priorities specific standards for performance based budgeting are being developed the goal is to make a budget more logical useful and coriander my administration will work to ensure that the results of this effort serve as a basis for a more

efficient and productive state government the general services department is responsible for servicing all of state government they provide everything from buildings and maintenance to computers and communications from providing employees with health insurance to ensuring the state to risk management many of yesterday's efforts in providing these services have produced innovative solutions which have not only saved money but it provided more efficient government government operations for example the civil rights training incentive program saved many state agencies the amount of premiums they pay for insurance more importantly it's reduced the number of civil rights claims through improve the working conditions for our employees on a statewide level gst was also a participant in the award winning qwest communications project using the state microwave system to provide internet x says to local schools government and medical services the procurement assistance program helps seven hundred and eleven small

and minority businesses and new mexico secure contracts with state and national governmental agencies just these innovative attitude will continue in the future with a number of initiatives they planned to pursue pursuit of funding for the state to the microwave system conversion to support public safety and enhancement of telecommunications systems in rural new mexico promotion of capitol building's planning commission objectives of efficiency and cost reduction through building ownership and apartment or consolidations and implementation of a substantial transportation rate reduction for state vehicles because of these innovative ideas which reduce the amount of money we must expand to provide these governmental services we've been able to use many of your tax dollars in such areas as education and hiring construction

the chief information officer focused on three major issues in nineteen ninety nine improved informational technology management use of the internet for direct electronic service delivery and the risk of year two thousand failures and state service delivery in order to improve the information technology management new mexico's state government the cia always addressed major information technology issues in state government the sea isle improved agency awareness of emerging impact of internet service delivery most agencies now have their own web pages providing information to the public to agencies are accepting applications or filings over the internet and agencies are rapidly developing e commerce applications the chief information saw officers office led the effort to minimize new mexico government service delivery interruptions during your two thousand transition they tracked three hundred

agencies specific mission critical systems and twenty three major statewide system delivery systems it provided consulting to agencies and oversight for both executive and legislative branches of government new mexico citizens experienced almost no service delivery interruptions during the millennium transition state personnel is building a dedicated civil service system the state employee workforce represents a huge investment in capital and human capital as well as the greatest single expenditure in agency budgets the personnel board sixties to bring greater economy and efficiency to the management of state affairs for the past five years the state personnel system is made steady progress in this effort by simplifying its rules and regulations changing to recruitment by real time vacancy pushing decision making down to the agency level and

instituting pay for performance as reward mechanism the next step is a comprehensive redesign of the classified employment system this massive project which will be completed and implemented in july two thousand juan will provide our state workforce with state of the art mechanisms to support the kind of productivity that we all the man from our public servants from low growth budgets and high fiscal reserves to mold it or tax cuts for both individuals and industry new mexico is building upon its past from performance based budgeting personnel reforms procurement code reforms a proposal to invest two hundred million dollars in capital outlay new mexico is strengthening our presence and securing our future in addition to these four strategy healthy and strong families

remain the foundation for an improved quality of life the children youth and families mission centers on helping preserve new mexico families and protecting our communities new mexico's foundation is the family more than anything else families contribute to both are successes and failures as a state another concern for c wyeth is the thousands of new mexico children were abused and neglected on any given night more than twenty five hundred children go to sleep in a foster home two hundred and fifty of these children will never be able to return to their homes because they are unsafe see why it has initiated an aggressive campaign to recruit more foster and adoptive parents there's nothing crown there is nothing any of us could do that would be more beneficial to the health of our state and promoting the need for foster and adoptive families if you're interested in becoming a foster parent please call the children youth and families the

part see why it promotes community safety by operating the juvenile justice system rehabilitation is more successful in young people than adults and see where he has worked to reduce overcrowding in juvenile facilities to improve the program and educational environment more onetime delinquents are graduating from high school and receiving their ged than ever before edition of the new medium security facility and on an accounting will improve c wyeth these ability to provide quality education to juvenile offenders human services is providing a helping hand to those families in need a major change of the last decade that we must face has been the transfer of responsibilities from washington to the states for programs such as welfare child support and food stamps one key to solving our welfare problems and new mexico rests with the human services departments child support enforcement division child support

cases have climbed from eighty five thousand cases to one hundred and five thousand cases in the last year single parents not receiving child support payments are more likely to end up among our welfare population accordingly the human services budget request proposals money that will enable us to eliminate this backlog efforts to pursue arrangements with tribal organizations wishing to establish their own child support enforcement units are progressing the navajo model is up and running and by national standards it's actually considered a model even under the best child support scenario we must get temporary assistance for needy families clients to work well before their lifetime eligibility expires this plan this plan is well underway and pulmonary results are promising six months into the program over twenty five hundred clients have found jobs a wage

subsidy program placed half recipients in the private sector subsidizes wage positions is also at hand we will pay half employers wage for six months and would expect the employer to hire a successful participant thereafter already we've had some success and placing individuals and to public and private sector jobs through this program in addition to these incentives were also submitting legislation to simplify the income test so that we can better aboard to assist those in need inquiring into household income has created problems and loopholes that make swiss cheese of the law that we have so we support repealing that requirement in terms of medicaid our budget request is a very conservative evaluation of our salute requirements it represents a modest increase from the general fund particularly compared to the double digit growth in recent years finally been working on consolidation

of departments agencies and programs within it creating a more efficient customer focused operation it took lincoln four years and seven generals to finally settle on lee sees as grant but the cause was too important to do less likewise and robin though gerard and i have a proven leader and a manager who will do what takes to rescue our communities from a vicious cycle of poverty and we'll make all ages these operations a customer oriented fiscally responsible state model over the next three years i urge the senate to confirm those critics at the department of health we continue to expand the long term care service delivery for the elderly persons with physical disabilities and persons with developmental disabilities the six facilities under the department will also continue to provide quality services as evidence by their full accreditation are substance abuse prevention efforts continue to be strengthened

we're also well on our way to a comprehensive behavioral health treatment services them through the development of regional carrier networks we continue to have a strong emphasis on the quality of health care services in new mexico the continued commitment to these forty strategies will improve our quality of life we must continue to build on our past and strengthen the president so as to secure our future this forty fourth legislature can take steps related to all four strategies and economic development i urge you to cut personal income taxes fifteen million dollars this year twenty million dollars next year and thirty million dollars the year after that the pope cut unemployment insurance taxes by fifty million dollars over the next two years attempt a capital outlay package that includes telecommunications projects school construction

projects at our colleges and universities adopting in gaming company and reducing crime i urge you to honor your commitment by issuing eight hundred thousand dollars in severance tax bonds to the construction of the dawn and a juvenile facility honor your commitment by hiring more state police about the dwi package i've submitted to mobilize an impound dwi vehicles number three to promote government efficiency i urge you to adopt a responsible budget that funds essential services adopt a budget that reforms welfare expands managed care keeps our state parks opens and provides full service our motor vehicle offices continue our commitment to performance based budgeting by expanding the program from a few

agencies to many and finally to improve education i ask you to consider my six accountability measures that if you choose only one about a school voucher bill that provides school joystick every new mexico family we all share the goal of improving the quality of life across new mexico improving our state improving our homes and the lives of our citizens is not democrat or republican liberal or conservative it's what every one of us was elected to do we have much to do over the next thirty days so let's get to it thank you god bless you and may god bless new mexico it's been the point the government has finished his fantasy the legislative session one half my guest steve

weinstein editor of the providence week when maxwell executive director division in mexico what'd you think as far as peaches got mount no specifics but as far as a speech and it was longer this year than it was last year at least twenty five minutes longer we saw it clearly it was longer and it was much more comprehensive and there was a review that included a litany of all of them areas and state departments and initiatives that they were doing armed it was comprehensive are unlike you're going we had an almost a half a bumper sticker soundbite speech however it was articulated in such a way that i think we clearly saw where his for priority areas are in terms of education economic development crime and governmental officials say and strangely enough i think a governmental officials say where he talked about the budget

there's perhaps not that much on separation between him and where they got the the legislature seemed to be coming out on that when the senate finance committee is a proposed tax to say what they did but if you think about is tom i would not call was an inspired performance he was very atonal omens of its you're sticking with it is that a job that i would think that the public a large would have a hard time sticking with a speech he's not an inspiring speaker of at every year a claim to be an iowa just highlight it i didn't see i didn't see any surprises certainly in the speech and it was a fairly routine march through the sort of goals and objectives that he's had said before it was almost it was certainly a defense of what his administration has been doing up to this point

which is not a surprise but not really addressing some of the significant problems that that that certainly i'm gonna be addressed in this in this and in this legislature for generalities on the for example on the bomb that the cost per prisoner privatizing prisons he just he just sort of blew by that would sit with a general statement that cost had been reduced out with no supporting numbers at all this in spite of the fact that the legislators made very clear that they're gonna need numbers before they found the supermax prisons and before they start increasing funding for a prison cell now he framed everything again this quality of life kind of point did you find that interesting is that this that surprising to you well i think given the rather exhaustive treatment of of civics it we got it was it was nice that it was framed in that way i just i think one of the things that struck me going

very to the point is it he also broke no new ground ahs doesn't know innovations are no new proposals it was revisiting the same old things and he acknowledges for example of his school vouchers proposal went nowhere and last may's special session even members of his own party and in fairly large numbers did not vote for and he makes at his number one proposal there were very muted applause when he completely brought that up what about it up again at the very end that he had made his six points on education he said if if you got any of them please you know if only one of them is considered please consider the vouchers would seem to be at the end leaving that sleeping ticking how to make a big case or possibly save i think it probably be away it's your seems to me that it has visited or two points in his speeches where he got really muted response from his legislative audience one was they talked about vouchers and the other was at the end of what he went through this litany of things that he wanted and he said enact

indian gaming there was deafening silence from the florida legislature which was kind of surprised me actually find they somewhere near come to some agreement on the main thing where they say they are they're about to begin public hearings on the guy on the gaming complex which is to push the deadline for a final proposal toward the end of the session and there may be some question whether to get at this ocean or have to have a special session earlier from the following session well there's some separation has been movement but by both sides as a very difficult negotiation because you have a legislative body on one hand you have tribal sovereignty issues so that what we're talking about fifteen different tribal sovereign government so you know atlanta hundred and twelve members of the legislature with the governor then as the august as the broker trying to assemble a deal but without clearly being identified with the the tribal

saw so it gets complicated have this overlay of federal law which requires certain states are minimal funding levels by the tribes and the legislature the governor's seem to be exceeding those limits although it's very clear what they are we're looking at what six point seven nine point right if you if you cut to the chase at the difference is six point seven percent was the hub of the most was just offered by the tribal authorities nine point two is as far down from the sixty percent as a legislature as has been willing to come what makes his difficulties that they also disagree on additional expansion of gambling either through the racetracks are fraternal organizations to the federal law that makes its all legal says that the only way in which you could have the kind of revenue sharing that the legislature clearly wants to have and was embraced in the sixteen percent figure the other context you know you could have that is if there is some degree of exclusivity for the gambling franchise granted to

the tribal authorities but he doesn't say how much exclusively an ad doesn't say how much exclusively buys what percentage that's what has to be negotiator that and has a lot of movement to violate an exclusive at the racetracks all right one wants one slot everybody every business interests in the state seems to be lining up asking for slots as an economic development are there is one area of agreement apparently and that is the tribe's legislature have agreed that they will pay back with you know and the old sixty percent formula they do seem to have agreed on their year so that was a major it was a major hurdle for awhile back someone asked a gilded a history our wiki of the gaming issue and why this issue has not been resolved in the previous legislative session though of course this this actually begin in earnest on the administration of the previous governor bruce came so we're going back here over five years of more via the federal legislation that that sets this up was passed in the early nineties in it allows us states and tribal

authorities to enter into a compact or agreements and one of the provisions has to be is that if any kind of gaming broadly defined in certain categories is permitted any place in the state then it has to be permitted bump in in places where there are tribal authorities on the indian reservations and the state has very limited ability to regulate or decide what kind of gambling can take place under federal law and it is important to remember that there were dealing with sovereign tribal authorities who had unique status under our constitution who had original ownership claims to land that were negotiated away in return for certain treaty right so it's you know it's complicated because this is summer and sovereignty clearly subject to government regulations and the federal government has said you could have gambling but you that but you

must it exceeds a certain regulations when he issues the governor didn't mention is to what did the degree the financial that that the finances of these casinos are widely available public well that's another year jeremiah hard as the owner of a newspaper i honestly think that for the complete disclosure the tribes are very reluctant for a variety of reasons to do that and one of the arguments is the sovereignty is max at that but in this particular case this is this is a deluded kind of sovereignty is that the tribes can do just anything they want in gaming they do have to make reports for example to the state already and then there's this question of how much of those reports and who and what kind of a time frame will be made available so that there are some complications here i need some legislators would probably say it was chosen to court to let the courts don't think they know they'll get to it this session if i had to bet i'm not sure which side i would come down a family if i

really had that what they would then go on their plates this time they couldn't let it go in just in just what just let it go see the governor was to call a special session sea becomes the next time and then the news of contingent of a fairly strong contingent within the legislature that it doesn't want to have gambling at all would prefer to get rid of them so the court has of the distressed because there is that one of the reasons why this has not been resolved because because of that what's so that's clearly one of the issues i mean it was it was it was a close call to expand gambling in the state what one vote in the middle of the night right through the less compact with a sixteen percent reduction and the public when we authorized through about major other state lottery you know that was a close as well so i mean as is a big community in the state would be would be perfectly happy to see all gambling go away so our and ended

with not just so many different players and it's hard it's hard to get everyone together and you can't physically have the fifteen tribal authorities sit down in a room with the hundred and twelve legislators legislators doesn't vote as a hundred and four people advances to separate houses you know with differing different rules and procedures it's it's it's just plain an mri fascinating and no one knows how the courts will decide it's pretty embarrassing actually at this point i mean it's it's fairly clear that one of the companies that is if it is in place is almost certainly a legal the revenue sharing level is two years ago the interior secretary well he didn't really say that he literally said nothing to write it if he declined to sign off on them in that we're all speculating that the reason he declined to sign off on them is because of

ring and elicit snickers has seen him when you did mention the lottery particular knows that governs a thing about how the declining she had a declining share of lottery revenues will be it should be expanded education which is another issue that the legislature to have to grapple with city to show iraqis the school construction forty percent to scholarships are molested isn't the state have gotten used to the fact of their data to get a free ride through the university system with a status quo they did great but the lottery revenues decline and it cannot support that for forty percent for scholarships or the legislature to have to figure out whether to keep that program going to probably as but but on what terms can be a full free rider doesn't seem like forever to do without certain that getting into other sources right what you'll want other issues and the governor talked about today and let's talk about when we can frame it and you know anyway we want you talk about reducing crime and that was by introducing more money for a super max security prison in

with anna russell and this talk about education two together and now that i think he mentioned actually he did not mention how much it wants to increase the budget for either one of us but we do know that it's seven point eight percent for corrections prisons and three point three percent for education sector are the lizards that's that's that's correct and and the and declined to reduce crime package focused almost entirely on the prison construction issues there was a lot of discussion about i didn't do i package that it was on the street you're only putting on more offices that have already been authorized like it was a call for additional the officers and i guess i was struck with leaking is with education by economy on one hand in the case of education he's been talking that we need to have merit accountability more qualifications more standards but his response to dealing with the problem of filling in it vacancies and police

officers was to reduce qualifications and i suspect that some people would think that that might not be you know that the appropriate their proper response we already put more people together is a more people as a percentage of our population in prison than we have ever done and in the past and is not precisely for me how building a supermax prison ah is going to result in a reduction of cross we've had a reduction of crime in the country over the last five or six years people are debating over why that come about but a lot of people think it has a lot to do with changing demographics aging population and with the fact that the economy is doing so well it was unusual that he that he went out of his way to say that the state of the department of public safety a state policeman precious apartment is good went by all accounts it's really not so good that the state police in particular have been badly demoralized mcgovern restraint stand on

legalizing the criminalizing some drugs and he sure we're out of his way to say you know that things are real good when i don't think you can really say that when he also does a lot of time in tourism tourism that a surprise well he's hard times in tourism telling a successful and publicity campaign it pointed out that second largest industry in the state i would suggest that tourism is a secular decision the state the state is not doing well economically and that's a reflection on the lack of a of a successful tours in strategy in the state yes i mean i think one of the things that really