Gov. Chris Gregoire’s state of the state address has a message of hope

Gov. Chris Gregoire just entered the House chambers, where she’ll give her annual state of the state address in just a few minutes. Watch live on TVW and follow-along here.

After a standing ovation of several minutes long, during which Gregoire made her way to the rostrum, greeting and hugging other elected officials, she sat down for introductions and the national anthem by Kyra Smith, an 18-year-old WSU Vancouver student. Gregoire began with a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the shootings in Arizona over the weekend.

She then congratulated Washington’s sports teams, including the UW football team and the Seahawks, who won big games after rough seasons. “Never doubt our players in Washington state, never doubt Washington state,” she said.

She said state government’s budget is in a “deep freeze” and that lawmakers will have “extraordinarily difficult choices.” “You will have choices that seem unfair and unjust… and you’ll have to make decisions that may keep you awake at night … I know this, because I had all those thoughts, and I did so while drafting this budget that I have presented to you.” But, she said, lawmakers’ decisions aren’t as tough as those faced by the thousands of families around the state facing foreclosure, unemployment and financial ruin.

She said poverty was a “way of life” for many Washingtonians during the Great Depression, and said citizens stormed the capitol, asking for more social services. “I have no doubt that some, possibly many, at that time questioned our economic future. Yet five companies survived” and are now on the Fortune 500 list. That includes Nordstrom and Boeing.

“I remember the recession in the 70s that crippled the region and prompted the billboard which read, ‘Will the last person in Seattle please turn out the lights.’” She said just a few years later, Microsoft started up.

“We’ve been through tough times before and we emerged stronger than ever,” she said. Three years of bad news “may have dampened our outlook for the future,” she said, but not “our resolve.”

“Let us go into this recession with the clear knowledge that we have an opportunity,” she said, “to be bold,” like those who went through the Great Depression. She said the state must do that within the revenue coming in. “Our challenge is to actually transform Washington state government.”

Her path forward?

1. Create a financially stable path for the future

2. Recognize government cannot do it all

3. Transform government into a “leaner” 21st century organization

“This is not just about getting us through this crisis,” she said, it’s about “setting the state on a trajectory” for a better future. Gregoire said part of that is using this recession to reform pensions and cut healthcare costs. She said pension reform will save $11 billion over the next 25 years.

She also wants to partner with the federal government “to provide real healthcare reform.” If the state can limit inflation, they’ll save billions of dollars.

Gregoire said she’s looked through every state program, asking if someone else could do the service more effectively — and for less money — or if the users could pay for the services they’re using. “Let’s adopt a user pays policy so that when a few benefit from a service, they pay for it,” she said.

She said the state must do everything it can to help get people back to work, including cutting unemployment insurance rates. And, she said, the state needs to get injured workers back to work and healthy as soon as possible.

By Feb. 8, she wants the legislature to get her a bill so that unemployment insurance rates can be decreased.

She also advocated for her plan to create a preschool-to-PhD education system. “Our students deserve it, our parents demand it,” she said. She said the senior year should be viewed as a launch pad to a career.

She said she knew lawmakers may not agree with her ferry plan — to create a taxing district — but that they need to find some solution. “Those people deserve it,” she said.

She said no recession can ever take away Washington’s natural beauty, and said Washington may be down, but it’s not out. Her speech ended with a standing ovation from lawmakers and the audience.

Tags: Budget, Governor, state of the state