Jerry Brown's State of the State

Source: Governor's Office CA

On the morning of January 24th Jerry Brown delivered his State of the State address. His topics ranged from education, healthcare, water, jobs, climate change, and transportation. Brown started his speech commending the legislation for making hard cuts and reforming prison spending and the citizens for "using their inherent political power under the Constitution" to pass prop. 30.

Brown was noticeably excited about the state of California. He decried those who said California was on a path of demise, and saluted teachers, union members, business owners, and the average citizen. He made it clear that what has happened in the past two years in California isn't about him, but about the people and their elected officials doing great work. After all of this back slapping and salutes, Governor Brown got right down to business, and he started with what he is known for: being a fiscal hawk. He started with,

"Fiscal discipline is not the enemy of our good intentions but the basis for realizing them. It is cruel to lead people on by expanding good programs, only to cut them back when the funding disappears. That is not progress; it is not even progressive. It is illusion. That stop and go, boom and bust, serves no one. We are not going back there."

Using the story of Joseph and the Pharaoh Brown compared the seven years of storage for the famine to come with his seven year tax hikes. He wants to leave California with a large rainy-day fund and keep the state safe if the worst were to happen to the economy.

Education

Gov. Brown wants to give back the power of education to be local. He believes that decisions are better made by teachers and the school board in each district. He even proposes a Local Control Funding Formula which would distribute supplemental funds — over an extended period of time — to school districts based on the real world problems they face.

Brown focuses his attention on public universities (2-year and 4-year) and says that it needs to be more streamlined to help students get their degree. He finishes by simply stating, "But tuition increases are not the answer. I will not let the students become the default financiers of our colleges and universities."

Healthcare 

On this subject Gov. Brown was short and to the point. He applauded the speed at which California adopted new Affordable Care Act and said that the legislators need to stay on course, but calls for a special session to deal with it. Keeping with his fiscal ideals Brown finished this topic with this: "Given the costs involved, great prudence should guide every step of the way."

Jobs

Recession cut deep

California lost 1.3 million jobs at the beginning of the recession, but it's coming back strong. A government entity, gobiz, got a lot of attention for helping businesses in California and for landing Samsung's only research and development facility in southern California. Work still needs to be down, Brown went on, citing needed reform in Enterprise Zone Program,  Jobs Hiring Credit, and California Environmental Quality Act.

Something surprising here, Brown talked about working closely with China, so much in fact that he will be opening a new trade and investment office in Shanghai.

Let's go out and get it done

Any Californian will remember how gloom the future of our state looked two and four years ago with the recession hitting the state hard. Today the government isn't only looking at economic issues and focused on people getting back to work, but keeping why California is so great and innovating. By taking bold moves in alternative energy and high-speed rail California will prepare the state for the future while getting the economy flowing. Things are looking up, and 2013 looks like a good year for California. Governor Jerry Brown finished saying, "Two years ago, they were writing our obituary. Well it didn’t happen. California is back, its budget is balanced, and we are on the move. Let’s go out and get it done."