Governors' Budget Message - Dirty #1

The following is a New Jersey network news special report. Good afternoon. It's budget day in New Jersey. Governor Kaine is about to present his new spending plan for fiscal 89 to a joint session of the legislature since 1982 when Cain first took office the state budget has doubled in size. This one rings in at eleven point eight billion dollars. That's up 12 and a half percent from the current total. The governor refers to the state's wave of prosperity as the largest peacetime expansion in New Jersey history actually information on the budget was released over the weekend on the governor's staff outlined his spending plan for the press corps. Michel Aoun was at that briefing and he's standing by live at the state auditorium in Trenton where Governor Kaine will deliver his budget address this afternoon. Michael the governor is not always punctual for these events he often likes to work right up until the end on his budget address. Is that happening today. I assume so can the governor's wife is in this building in this room the room is filling up quickly the cabinet is here. Most of the legislators seem to be here but the governor's not here yet.

And if he's not that's understandable it's been a very hectic period of time for Tom Paine. Last Monday eight days ago he was set to leave for Coasta Rica as you know. And he canceled that trip. His office said it was to stay home and work on the budget. Some people then wrote in newspapers that his mother was ill and that that was the reason he canceled. A trip. That evening President Reagan mentioned came gave Cain a plug in Reagan's State of the Union address. The next day the Republican county chairman called on Cain to run for president. A call that Cain hasn't answered yet. On Wednesday the governor did leave for Kosta Rika got there he was supposed to have a meeting with. The president of Costa Rica the Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias. He was in Costa Rica for six hours when he learned that his mother had passed away. He had to turn around come back to. His mother's funeral was yesterday. Now this major speech. So if he is taking a little extra time in his office preparing for that speech right now I think we can all relate to the circumstances he's had to live with

the past eight days. So it's not always the glamorous job that we sometimes tend to think it is when you are a governor of an important state like New Jersey but the governor then does actually work right up until the end then Michael on the budget Are there major changes that could be made right up at the until the last minute. I don't think so can't he's probably polishing his speech. The printed version of this message comes out on Saturday it's handed to the press three days prior to this speech. There is a version of the speech in the printed message I don't think the governor is going to deliver that lengthy version I think he pares it down for this occasion. Nonetheless all the major initiatives have been known for three days at least they've been written about in the states newspapers. For four or five days because some of this information leaks out ahead of time. And what you've been reading in the newspapers is pretty much what we can expect to get here at the podium this afternoon. It is amazing to think that in the last six years we have more than doubled the size of the state budget.

It is the governors people like to say that he's the greatest tax cutter in New Jersey history and he has cut some tax rates. Other tax rates have also risen. The fact of the matter is that state spending has doubled since Cain took office it was five point seven billion dollars in 1982 when Cain took office his first budget request was for six point three billion dollars. Now he's going to propose a budget next year of eleven point eight billion dollars that's more than double the 5.7 figure and the tax rate increases that he passed in his first year in office a gas tax. I'm sorry he wanted a gas tax a sales tax increase from a nickel to six cents. I may have that number wrong. Forgive me if I do. I think you're right there. I think I am right a nickel to six cents he also. Raised a graduated income tax rates. Those tax increases have brought in some extra revenue that the state has. Spent. In addition increased economic activity around the state the state's booming economy

means lots of tax revenue. He said Every time somebody buys something the sales tax comes in the state. Growing incomes means more income tax revenue for the state. More business activity means more corporate tax for the state. You can't really blame Tom Cain for doubling state spending. Part of it has been a windfall. Nonetheless he wants to spend it. And in fact that's an issue regarding this budget some legislators would like to give a portion of this. Surplus we enjoy. That's the sort of voice of surplus back to the taxpayers. And that is a sore point with many of the big city mayors and legislators at this point. As you mentioned in your wrap up on New Jersey network news last night there was a billion dollar surplus but no mention of that going back into the cities. That's correct Ken. It was the mayors want some a lot of different groups want a piece of this pie I think the governor in his speech today is going to say that in. Good times it's there's more pressure on the budget than in hard times and hard times everybody recognizes that you have to. Cut in places when you have a surplus everybody thinks his group or his constituency ought to get a

piece of it. We told you that state spending has doubled we we haven't told you that what we have here is a twelve point five percent increase there's an announcement at the podium. Let me see if that is the governor entering. No apparently not. I think that was just a call for people to take their seats. We are in the state auditorium at the state museum on State Street. Previous speeches budget messages have been delivered. In the. Old assembly chamber which is undergoing renovation right now. The State of the state address two weeks ago was delivered in the War Memorial Building. The speech is being given in a much smaller room. The crowd seems to be quieting down now. It seems like something is about to happen Michael. Let me let me take a look here. You know I one one comment briefly if we have time before the governor does enter. I noticed in the in the copy that was given out to the reporters ahead of time on this budget the

debt address that the governor mentions Larry Weiss who is of course chairman of the joint Appropriations Committee perhaps has very wise on his part looking for some bipartisan support with this budget. He mentions Larry Weiss early on I think it's customary for the governor to mention a few legislators and every one of these speeches and. If that's the case Larry Weiss was the right one to mention in this speech. He does control the purse strings in the Senate. I should say that this budget that the governor's presenting governs the fiscal year of 1989 which in the state of New Jersey begins on July 1st of 88. And what happens to this budget after today after the governor presents it to the legislature is that the legislature takes it and studies it for five months. And the legislature continues its regular sessions for another month but then it adjourns from about March 15th to about May 15th. And only the appropriations committees of the legislature meet during that time they hold hearings. They grill Cabinet officers make them justify the various. Departmental requests

that are in this budget. Then. They each. Get together. You know what in Congress would be called a conference committee. It's the assembly Appropriations Committee in the Senate Appropriations Committee here reconcile their two budget bills those bills are then voted on by the two houses. They go to the governor a reconciled budget bill goes to the governor. The governor can sign it but he also can line item veto this budget. President Reagan would like to have a line item veto in Washington a number of congressional officials think the president the United States ought to have a line item veto. I'm getting a signal here what. Look at the monitor. I think Michael I think Michael while you have been speaking we have been taking shots of some of the people in the audience out there we have health commissioner Dr. Dr. Coit that we had the education commissioner a shot of Hazel Glock the transportation commissioner Debbie Kane the governor's wife was in the audience while you were speaking I'm sorry if

I had known they were in the monitor I would have discussed what their departments were requesting. If you want to show some more Cabinet officers that would be fine. Otherwise I could continue with this little saga of what happens with the budget. I think that's interesting because as you said the members there is is in the state education commissioner right. He will certainly but make his appearance before the joint Appropriations Committee. He sure will he gets the lion's share of the additional money that the governor is requesting this year he gets an additional three hundred ten million dollars if the legislature approves it there's a whole block transportation commissioner her department comes in for major increases mainly in terms of the transportation trust fund for which she fought so hard over the past two years. Our gas tax has been raised two and a half cents to accommodate that trust fund the the trust fund is going to spend about three hundred sixty five million dollars of state money this year on our roads and mass transit systems and that will trigger an additional 500 million dollars in federal funding.

Some of the speakers standing by right now. He's joining us here. Good truck Are you fine. You've read this. Budget you're familiar with what the governor is going to present. How much political trouble is this budget going to run into I mean most of it is in fine shape. We agree with the vast majority of it. There are some differences you know members of a family as much as they like each other don't always agree on all the details on the family budget I think that's the case here but we have time to work it out. One area where there is some disagreement I think that this New Jersey says it's good times economically we could share more with the people by returning some of their own tax dollars back to them in the form of a higher homestead rebate or a form of direct payment into municipalities. It's their money it's not our money. And so I'm pursuing that alternative right now. The governor's office seems to want to keep a. Not a rainy day fund that's a separate bill but they want to keep a reserve fund of 5 percent of this budget. The governor's

office seems to think that's needed although in previous years he's only wanted that. Well he's only wanted 2 percent I believe in previous years. He seems adamant however. How are you going to convince him to give some of this money back. Well the Senate president and I are in negotiations now about how to approach a constitutional amendment for what we're calling the sunny day fund which would say that whenever the times are good and and there's an excess over projected revenues those monies would automatically go back to the taxpayers. So when government claims money it finds a way to spend it. Nursing government that could find some use for the tax dollars. I don't see it be done automatically and the discussions we're having to governors office right now are really kind of underscore the point for the necessity to have a constitutional amendment to make it automatic that when you have a surplus goes right back to the taxpayers. Michael Cole the governor's council in briefing the press on this budget the other day. Said he thought it made more sense to invest this surplus or portion of it in the States pressing the ads and that that would really mean more to the average New Jerseyan in the long run

than kicking $50 back Axwell in a rebate. We are investing a large percentage of our current budget into future needs. And I have no quarrel with that what we're focusing on is taking the excess beyond that I mean this budget up 1.3 billion dollars 12 and a half percent. So that's a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars that are being poured back into the state's infrastructure industry heard some of your fellow Republican assembly members grumbling about the size of it increase it's a huge increase 12 and a half percent of the budget there's no question about the budget is is a substantial budget and I have. I have every expectation at the assembly Appropriations Committee will review it and look for ways to trim it back so there are also some important policy considerations in the budget items that I think the appropriate committee should be reviewing before we embark on them like an HMO for Medicaid statewide it's a program that hasn't worked out well in other states. Policy decisions being made on education like higher salaries for teachers. I think the symbole Education Committee should have a chance to look at that from

a policy standpoint. So we have a lot of work to do. All right Mr. Speaker thanks for joining us and I say Oh thank you. Still no word on the counters let me take a look around here I see Chris Chapman behind you. Yeah here's here's Chris Jackman here also about to join us is Drew Altman The Human Services Commissioner. I had Commissioner how are you. Just fine. Good. Your department comes in for a sizable portion of the increases in the state budget. Why don't you tell us where most of the money is going to go. That's right and I guess that's not a surprise because we represent about a third of state government in terms of. Our budget. It's a it's a good budget for us. It's a record budget for us at 250 million dollar increase in state funds that's about 50 million dollars more than last year and it will allow us to. Do a great many thing of me ask about one thing that puzzles me. I was told by the budget director I'm sorry by the governor's council that the increase to Human

Services in total human services spending is two hundred forty seven million dollars. Let's remember he put out. Of which one hundred forty nine million dollars goes to Medicaid. Are we getting anything extra or is that rising health care costs forcing the state to put more of its precious resources into the Medicaid program. It's a little of each part of it is getting something extra. Part of it is providing health insurance coverage for a lot of people who didn't have it in the past. But a big big part of it represents increases in rates. Hospital rates and nursing home rates and is Medicaid going to get to cover more poor and needy people or not. Yes it is. Absolutely. But we're very concerned I am about the growth in the Medicaid budget because the implication of it is we're not going to be able to do a lot of things this year that we absolutely have to do. And the biggest loser is mental health. Where it looks like we're not going to have the funds to proceed with our plan to expand community services and that's our top priority right now. I thought the governor's message called for a substantial expenditure to improve

community based services for the mentally ill in the developmentally disabled. There is a substantial expenditure it is to maintain the current services we're providing provide cost of living increases on our contracts. But the funding is not there in the budget to undertake a major expansion of community programs which we think is our top priority. So among the many things that are really very good in the budget there are some things because of the big increase in Medicaid that aren't there and that's one of the governor's welfare reform program your welfare reform program reach calls for. It's about twenty six million dollars more I believe in this year's budget than in the previous year. That'll take the program to a total of 57 million in state and federal funds in the second year. It began this year in a limited number of counties. How many. Three. And now we're moving into two more. And I assume you think it's successful. It's too early to say that it's successful all I can tell you at this point is that it's doing exactly what it was supposed to do. And it's obvious that it's a lot better than the old system how much better we won't know for a while.

OK. Commissioner Altman thanks very much for joining us. Thank you. Did you see a same thing in there. OK. Michael one of the areas of concern which you raised yesterday in your wrap up for the news was the lack of money going into the cities for harvest to help defray the costs of garbage disposal skyrocketing costs in that area. That's bound to be of concern to many of the big cities as well as to local municipalities. I can't I can't hear every word you're saying because it's getting very noisy here but I hear the subject you've raised the cities and I think you also mentioned the increased costs of garbage disposal which is wrapped up in this city's problem. Last year after much wrangling the state's urban mayors. And the legislature. Pressed the governor I should say the state's urban mayors press the legislature and the governor to come up with 70 million dollars in what was called the distressed cities program. The way they paid for that was out of the one shot tax amnesty that we just finished this December. That's where the money came from. This year the administration says we've got to keep that program going. Yes the cities need money. Yes. Garbage

disposal costs are soaring through the roof. So this year we're going to. We don't have an amnesty anymore this year we're going to dip into the general treasury for that same 70 million keep that program going and we will explore with the legislature. Other sources of funding for that program and for those cities. That doesn't seem to be playing well with the mayors. They haven't formally reacted yet. But let me look around the room and see if there are any mayors here even though. A gavel is. Being banged. Senate President John Russo. Was at the podium. Let's go to the podium. Before we. Formally open this joint session. Speaker Hardwick and I would like to just digress for a second.

Take a moment you all know that in the last few days the governor lost his mother. And before we start I would like to recognize that fact by pointing out that we would like a moment of silent prayer not in sympathy but rather in happiness for a woman who obviously though many of us didn't know or was a wonderful woman and who had a happy life because she lived to see our son become governor. Have a healthy and long life. And I think it's a really a time although of sadness in losing her but in happiness for having had our. And I would ask that you all join with the speaker and I and me in a moment of silent remembrance of Mrs. King. Oh. Thank you. I recognize a senator from Middlesex County the Senate majority leader

John Lynch. I recognize the assemblyman from Warren County Assembly majority leader Chuck I tell you. All those in favor signify by saying aye. The eyes and the negatives. The ayes have it. I'm advised by the secretary of the Senate and the clerk of the General Assembly that a quorum is present at this joint session of the 230 legislature. Please rise now from the invocation to be delivered by the Reverend Father Michael Waltz of Holy Angels Church in Trenton by the walls. The guide gathered in your name we pray. Father you call all of us to be your servants. You have invited us today to listen to our governor's budget proposal. We

thank you for the gifts of all the people whose work it represents. We ask you Lord to be with us who from this day on will be involved in the discussion about and the implementation of this year's five God grant eternal rest to Governor Kaine's mother. May she have your peace in eternal life. Grant consolation and hope to Governor and his family. In everything we do Lloyd made we have respect for every person. Let us be conscious of the common good and we be especially aware of those most powerless among us who have a special need of our care. The king of all you are the giver of all good gifts. May we be appreciative of your presence to us your call to each of us to be responsive to your word and your power working through

us. Strengthen our resolve to listen and commit ourselves to the good of all. Every penny that is allotted is the sharing of your gifts may be done responsibly and with the good of the human condition foremost in all our thinking and money. Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the Bible. With. What it is with me. Mr. President I wish to inform the joint session that the governor has arrived with a committee appointed to wait on the governor. Please escort him to the podium.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen the governor of the state of New Jersey the honorable Thomas H. Cain.

Thank you. Thank you President Russo. We go hard with you. I cannot start today without thanking so many of you for your thoughts and prayers the last few days have been very very meaningful to me and I want to thank you and not only in my own behalf but on behalf of my family. Today I present you with a budget that is balanced responsible and prudent. Most important this budget recommends no new taxes. With me for six

years our nation's economy has roared through the longest peacetime expansion in history. And New Jersey has led the way. A state that used to remind some people of Rodney Dangerfield has suddenly emerged from the dressing room looking more like Clint Eastwood. Will. We lead the nation in office construction and new business formation and in research and development. We've reached a promised land here that was once thought of as unattainable what economists call. Full employment. Today every single New Jerseyan who wants a job can get a job and hundreds of thousands of more New Jerseyans have gone to work and even more money. They've also cause filled state coffers by doing so. We have

reaped roughly 5 billion dollars in new money in this state from our growth. This is money to return in tax cuts or to invest in good schools safe streets clean water. And new roads. After six successive years of good news I suppose it's tempting to believe that a strong economy has become a much a part of New Jersey's fabric as a roadside diners. This is a dangerous idea as we were rudely reminded on October 19th. Prosperity is never guaranteed. The business cycle has not been repealed as strong and diverse as a state economy is today. We are nothing and I repeat not insulated from the effects of a national recession like too many of you.

I tend to be skeptical of economists. I agree with those who say that if you laid all the economists in the world end to end they would never reach a conclusion. But in the wake of black money many economists now predict an economic downturn perhaps even as early as this spring. Now while I remain optimistic. I want to be careful. We must have the foresight of Joseph who filled the storehouses of Pharaoh's government during the good years so that they could prepare for the lean years ahead. That's why I have set aside 3 percent of this budget as an insurance policy against any economic slowdown that so many people are predicting. Senator Larry Weiss courageously supported this concept of a rainy day fund for many many years. Larry it's an idea whose time has come. Thank you all

of them. I remember so very well during the first quarter of my term. Many of us suffered together through the worst recession since the Great Depression. I remember those times and I vowed that never again would we be blindsided. Never again would we be forced to slash aid to our schools cut off our cities and raise taxes on our people. We've led the nation in good times let us prepare to lead this nation through any difficult times that might be ahead. This year it's important to be cautious let's be prudent. So this is the year to create that rainy day fund. The rainy day fund is short term insurance policy but this budget looks long term as well. We've been blessed with a prosperous state. Now

the second richest in the entire nation yet to whom much is given much is required when at some future date the next generation looks back upon us to fund our work. They'll ask did we have the foresight to prepare the way for the future. And did we have the compassion and the understanding to share the fruits of our good times with those who may not have been so fortunate. This budget provides the end sort of those questions and that answer is yes. We know that the best way to guarantee long term economic strength is by providing incentives for all workers today. This budget returns six hundred million dollars in tax cuts over the past four years we have returned more than two billion dollars to our hardworking men and women of this state and one tax cut is worth a special mention because this July we finally complete the phase out

and New Jersey once and for all will not have an inheritance tax. The elevator. Of that you were finally saying in a state to hold a New Jerseyans that if you work all your life if you scrape and save your children and grandchildren will get the fruits of your labor not the government. On top of the tax cuts. More than half of this budget Fifty eight percent is aid to take the pressure off local property taxes and grants to non-profits and other organizations. Since 1982 we have increased state aid by more than twice the rate of inflation and that by the way is the largest increase in the long history of this great state. The only real way to keep taxes down however is to discipline spending. This budget like the others I've offered in many ways is lean. We invest in people and in programs we're not investing in any increased bureaucracies.

Last year for the first time in modern history we actually abolish the Department. We created the Energy Department when it was needed. Once its usefulness had passed we shut it down. The principle is clear. No bureaucracy is etched in stone. We want people's opportunity to grow not the size of government. Thank you all of them. With of this year the operating budgets for the remaining 19 departments will increase no more than the rate of inflation. Because of our frugal policies we are one of only seven states to earn a triple-A rating and that of course saves taxpayers money. So fiscal discipline is very important. Every dollar we don't waste to fritter away is a dollar we can invest in programs that are essential to our future prosperity. I outline these investments in my annual message

last month. Let me review a few of them now. Three hundred and ten million dollars in new money for education. That's the largest increase in state history. The people of New Jersey now invest more in each student than every other state but one in the entire continental United States. Of the of the. Of that the 53 million dollars in new money in our continuing investment to make our colleges and universities the best in the world including money to allow the state to more equally share the cost of our county colleges. By the way with this budget we continue to be one of the few states in the union to make a moral statement that no man or woman in New Jersey will be turned away from any campus gate because they cannot afford the price of a to which.

You all. Fifty two million dollars as a first installment on my fourteen point Schor protection plan. Now we're going to pay the price in New Jersey. The price to clean the ocean and save on New Jersey shore of the. Will 70 million dollars for the stressed cities program. This includes 50 million dollars extra. From our state budget so we can give some relief to urban mayors to help them become financially independent. And this budget includes three hundred and sixty five million dollars for the transportation trust fund which combined with federal money will give us eight hundred and sixty five million dollars to work on Route 24 and route 55 and expand Route 1 route to all sects

and all the rest. We are going to get the bulldozers started this year and the biggest transportation improvement effort in our entire history in New Jersey of the. Of the New Jersey businesses known for quality work today they find their customers not only in buy own but in Beijing. I don't mean in Teaneck but in Taipei this budget provides the money to start an international education center and more aggressively market our products abroad abroad whether in Lima or London. The message is the same if you want high quality by New Jersey with of we have to make these investments so that full employment doesn't become to the 80s

what CBS would of the 70s narrow jackets to the 60s and hula hoops to the 50s. But even today there are empty chairs that are table some among us who don't share or nah boundaries. Some people worry how to pay for the next meal because they have no paycheck. Some worry about whether going to sleep this very evening because they have no home. Some theories what will happen if they're sick or injured. Because unlike you and I they have no doctor. We're faced with a choice do we sit in comfortable living rooms and pretend that these problems are not our concern or do we understand that if but for the grace of God the empty bellies and ragged clothes could be our own. In New Jersey I think the choice is easy New Jerseyans always have chosen to

care. This budget includes 10 million dollars for a new jump program to help our cities make the leap from empty lots to affordable homes. And it contains forty four million dollars to help the homeless. Over the past five years we have increased homeless funding from only one million dollars to 15 million dollars we want to make sure the homeless families have a sturdy roof over their head not a cardboard box ATMs. Of the. Includes one hundred forty nine million dollars more for Medicaid including the first of five fee increases so that more doctors and dentist will work in our cities. And it has money to start to garden state health plan so that poor New Jerseyans have something that so many of us take for granted. And that's a family doctor. This budget contains a one hundred thirty

two percent increase to combat AIDS and to care for its victims and will invest. Thirty eight million dollars in our welfare reform program we see we're going to use this money in our cities to take hundreds of our urban poor off welfare and get them on private payrolls where they belong and where they want to be of them. Of that we must invest in one final area since Cicero's day. Government's first priority has been to protect the people's safety so we invest almost 85 million dollars to put police and troopers on our streets and waterways and to build more prisons so we got a message in New Jersey for the punks who prey on our elderly and the vultures who try to sell drugs to our children. Crime pays in New Jersey. It pays with a long stay in a state prison.

Of the. Of that we have to make these investments because no one else will. When historians write the books on the 1980s they'll see this decade as a time when New Jersey steps forward where Washington fear to tread. We've now picked up in the cost of more than a billion dollars of programs that the federal government paid for when I became governor. Washington said that America won't build new roads for so was all research laboratories. We said yes we will. The federal government said young people don't need government help for college. We said yes they do. Washington said government can help the cities anymore. And we said yes we can. I want to thank in particular Senate president John Russo. Senate

Minority Leader Jim Hurley. House Speaker Chuck Todd with the minority leader Willie Brown along with the chairman of the Appropriations Committees. Assemblyman Dr. Laine and Senator Larry Weiss because time and time again together we have put politics aside and made investments that are good for Republican and Democrats alike. Thank you all of them. Leg of the. I'm very proud of the efforts that we've made together. But as I look at our budget. I must issue two warnings and putting together this budget. I was forced to say no to a lot of good programs things my cabinet recommended programs that I believed in and programs I know that you would have supported. We cannot do everything. We cannot as we used to in the state overspend

today and pass the bill on to the next governor of the next legislature. We must be responsible especially in this uncertain economy would be foolish and dangerous to live beyond our means. Therefore I must warn you that I will veto any spending bill you send no matter how would you like it fits within this budget or unless together we can provide the money to pay for it. There's one other issue that concerns me. Spending on certain legally mandated formula driven programs is simply out of control. Consider the increases in just three areas just since I took office. Education over 92 percent Medicaid over one hundred twenty percent employee benefits over one hundred and forty percent. Now make no mistake about it these are important investments some of the most important. We must make

it a booming economy when able to support these huge increases. But we cannot continue forever at this pace if we do not regain control the next generation will face financial difficulties. That's the truth plain and unvarnished. The garden state health plan and provider fee increase will begin to hold down Medicaid costs at the same time I believe in improving services as far as controlling education spending making it fairer and getting a hold of employee benefit costs. That's one of the mandates of the slip commission. Yes most New Jerseyans probably think that slope of something you buy at the local 7-Eleven. It's not slope stands for the local for the state and local expenditure and revenue Policy Commission. Note that the word expenditure comes before the word revenue. Many have

speculated about slopes recommendations to make taxes fair. That's vital and very important but equally important is their advice on how we can get a hold and control spending. If we don't get a handle on this problem in good times future legislators will face a Hobson's choice. If bad times hit they're going to have to slash spending or raise taxes and maybe both. You know the scenario because it used to happen. I sat with some of the well it happened every couple of years. It shouldn't anymore. We have a chance finally to remove the term budget crisis from our vocabulary once and for all let others. They want to be the high tax states like New Jersey to continue to be the state that rewards ingenuity and industry but us together work with slope to diffuse these timebomb slip may not be a cold drink but it can quench government's thirst for annual budget crises and for ever higher taxes at the same time.

Of the. Of the. Last month I said that New Jersey was in a global race for prosperity. Today I propose the investments that we need to win that race there is one investment however that I didn't include in my annual message. I saved it until today because frankly it's very close to my own heart. Images of certain people remind us of the decade of this American century. The flapping devices the Roaring Twenties the brave G.I. we think of with the 1940s the defiant student and the 900 60s. And many folks would say that the American of the 1980s is the investment banker. Like Sherman McCoy and Tom Wolfe's best selling novel or Charlie Sheen in a hit movie Wall Street. Well who is going to be the

American of the 1990s. Because none of us own a crystal ball but I hope for the good of this country that it's the teacher. George Bernard Shaw once said that the hope of human salvation rests in teaching. I concur. And without a cap the hope of rebuilding our schools and competing in the 21st century lies in attracting the best and brightest to our classrooms. We have a tremendous opportunity. Two years ago Commissioner Sol Kopelman concluded that half of the teachers in our schools will retire by 1996. These men and women great teachers have served us so very well. But we've got to replace them with other talented people people who are willing to forsake Koreas whether it be in business or law or entertainment or medicine and take up the challenge of preparing our children for a world in which America's people will be tested that like we've never been tested before.

New Jersey has a head start. Four years ago we raised starting teachers salaries to eighteen thousand five hundred dollars. And we began to recruit teachers from other disciplines. We recognize and reward our best teachers. And as a result New Jersey may very well be the only state that has increased both the quality and the quantity of our teachers in the past three years. But I want to expand this. This budget includes 30 million dollars to raise the salary for every teacher to at least $22000 a year of that. Of the you know it's fine to talk about the importance of teaching. A Talk doesn't pay the rent and talk doesn't feed the children will never attract the best young people. If they can't earn a decent living.

Talk is cheap. Good teachers and not so let's raise the starting salary this year for all teachers and let's do it now. Thank you all of them. Teaching is a tough job. We know that the toughest assignment for teachers frankly is those who work in city schools. Some of the students come to class. Hungry. Some come from broken homes. Some say that studying is only fun. Grinds on nerds or what have you. Now it's hard for these students to believe there's a way out. When their older brothers or sisters might be without a job sometimes they're in trouble of one kind or another. No ordinary teacher is going to excel in these settings. No ordinary teacher is going to be able to motivate these students is the difference between teaching in our city schools and elsewhere. It's a difference between

running an Astroturf and running in 10 feet of sand. So today I think we should offer a $4000 bonus for the young people who agree to teach in our city schools. Two thousand dollars would be available after the first year and 2000 after the third. You see we need the talents of every New Jersey child in the city as well as the suburbs. One good teacher that's all it takes one good teacher can make such a difference in a child's life. Let's give every city kid a chance. Support that urban bonus if you'd like. Of the end Mark Twain once said that he could live for two months on a complement that might have been good enough for Mark Twain.

But sometimes we go for some three years without ever telling a great teaches that what they do is important. So often I've seen him in my community you know we applaud the coach for the number of victories on the football field but we never applaud the teacher for the number of students that get into a college. That's why we began the teacher recognition program. We select one outstanding teacher from every school in New Jersey and we give those teachers $1000 each to spend any way they want to within their school to improve those schools. Diane Mays teaches reading and writing at the Marie Duran school environment. She used $10000 to buy computer software programs and now her first through fourth grade students are writing adventure stories on the computer and they're putting them into a book. Now Diane says that her students are more excited about reading and writing since they've been able to see their own woods in print. Who knows maybe the

next Philip Roth. Or the next William Carlos Williams may be toiling on those personal computer computers. Right as we talk today. And then as Louis Lopez Louis teaches geography at the Mason Middle School in Plainfield now he says it's tough he says tough to explain to an 11 year old what China and America and Africa are like and just do it out of a textbook. So he got his award and he took his thousand dollars and he bought a projector to show movies and slides about the Great War or the Mighty snow capped Kilimanjaro and now his children can hear the Chinese speak. Or an African lion roar. Now they understand the difference between Mozambique and I'm LDS. This is some of the best money I think we spend in our entire education budget. But as Louis says a thousand dollars doesn't go as far as it as it used to. So this year

I want to triple that award to three thousand dollars for too long. Teaching has been the only profession in which people who excel don't receive enough recognition from their community. I think that's wrong. Let's triple the size of this program and show our best teachers that they're worth every dollar we give of them. With of. The Chinese tell us that one generation plants the trees so that the next can sit in the shade. We invest in great teachers so our children can hold great jobs. We spend to clean the ocean so our children can enjoy a day at the beach we invest in our studies. So they once again will be bustling centers of commerce opportunity. Of course you know it's much easier for you and I to invest when we see what we're

getting from money. So today as in years past I've invited a few New Jerseyans to show the results of our efforts. These New Jerseyans are making others lives better because we invested in them and they represent the ideals that I think we strive for as a state. Our first guest is only 23 years old. She grew up in Princeton and graduated from Yale at 19 with a degree in economics. And then she went to Fulbright scholarship and she used it to study economic development in Mexico. Her opportunities are endless. She could be a doctor or a lawyer maybe even someday chairman of the Federal Reserve. Instead she has chosen the noblest career to teach every day. She teaches sixth graders at a Sojourner Truth school in East Orange. She teaches them how to read write and feel confident about

themselves. You know she says city children are just as smart as suburban children but they just need a little more health and order to learn. Well a city children will die and our city's schools will become bastions of great education. If we can attract talented and dedicated young teachers like Julia Alice purely of the. Of that the second guest is also a teacher but he's been at it just a little bit longer. He's one of the world's foremost experts in biotechnology. I mean look at biology. The former director of the famous plant breeding Institute in Cambridge England on a

globe where too many go hungry every night. He's a one man Green Revolution. England's producing a hundred and sixty percent more bread from home grown wheat. And it's because of his research more important his research promises a day when we all rely far less on toxic pesticides and fertilizers. Two years ago largely because of our investment in high technology and higher education. Ah guest left Cambridge and went to work at Rutgers new center for agricultural hota colleges by a bio medical about biology. His move did not go unnoticed at a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington last fall a high ranking British official complained that the United States was rated his country's best scientific talent and he offered this man as proof. I don't want to provoke any international incidents but I don't

mind saying that I'm proud that this for a nonprofessional has come to New Jersey to conduct some of the world's most important research. Ladies and gentlemen New Jersey's own Dr. P. today. Thank you all. A tragedy is being played out in our midst. New Jersey has more children suffering from AIDS than all but one of the state. Think for a minute about their lives. Their parents are usually dead if not dead they're ill or too caught up in their own troubles to care about their children. Abandon these children's lives can be nasty.

Brutish and short. Luckily two New Jerseyans kids deeply about these young lives nine months ago with support from health commissioner Molly Coyle. They started a home at St. Elizabeth's Hospital to care for AIDS babies every day. This couple and their volunteers laugh with these children make chocolate chip cookies or play patty cake a hug and a kiss on the cheek can mean a great deal to a child whose only world has been the cold steel of a hospital bed. Ah guess work reminds me of a story about Abe Lincoln President Lincoln one day received a request for a pardon from a soldier have been convicted of a small crime and the request had no letter of support attached. That was highly unusual. This man has no friends. Like I asked. No came the reply. Then I will be his friend

said Abraham Lincoln. And he granted that pardon. Well because of two kind and caring hearts are AIDS babies have a friend today. Please welcome to the wonderful people Mr. and Mrs. Dr. and Mrs. Terry zeal and shit. Of the. Progress that has been set consists of ordinary people doing extraordinary things because of ordinary people like these four and seven and one half million more like them. New Jersey is a great state today.

These same people can trust us with the responsibility of investing in their future. Twenty days a year from January until just about today if you discount weekends they work to pay taxes to state government in return for 20 days of labor. They expect a great deal. They expect us to be prudent have foresight and if it's a big responsibility. But I know we're up to it and this budget I hope proves it. Seventy eight years ago this fall a Princeton University professor was drafted as a candidate for the office I now hope. As he accepted the nomination. Woodrow Wilson said someday when we are dead men will come and pointed to distant up land with a great shout of joy and triumph and thank God that there were men who understood to lead in the struggle. What difference does it make if we ourselves don't reach

those plans. We have given our lives to the enterprise. The world is made happier and humankind better because we have lived. So let us commit ourselves to this enterprise of building a better New Jersey so that the next generation may live in a land where prosperity is known to everyone where the once weak and now strong the once ill. Now health and the once sad now proud and happy. As we undertake this great task I leave you with the words of Longfellow. Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present for his son. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a happy heart. Thank you and God bless all of them.

For instance leaving the building the governor called on the legislature to make 19 in the 1990s the decade of the teacher. We're going to have a benediction at this point. Rockaway to Jersey.