| Remarks by Governor Kulongoski |
|
|
 |
| January 4, 2007 |
|
Oregon Business Summit
Oregon Business Summit 2007
REMARKS BY GOVERNOR TED KULONGOSKI
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Portland, Oregon
Good Afternoon. Thank you Bill for that kind introduction.
It is a pleasure to be with you again for this annual rite of passage that we now know as the Oregon Business Summit. Like many New Year’s traditions, this is a time for resolutions. But, to your credit, you haven’t just produced resolutions at these summits, you have acted on them. Even more to your credit, you haven’t tried to dictate results. You’ve worked with us as partners to solve problems, create new opportunities and build prosperity. It is this sense of partnership that brings me back here year after year.
Here is what these summits have proven: That sound business plans can help fashion sound public policy, that visionary business leaders can help shape a better future for our state, and that, by working together, we can overcome not just adversity – but the worst budget crisis since the Great Depression.
We’ve learned valuable lessons in difficult times. Working together now, we can apply those lessons to build an ever-better Oregon. I say an “ever better” Oregon because that phrase suggests more than improvement. It suggests progress, which endures – and a vision, which guides us through good times and bad. Those are the qualities that will enable our generation to deliver to the next, a world of hopeand opportunity that is even better than the one that was given to us. That ever-better future is not only within sight – it is within reach.
There are 49 other governors saying similar things now – but fewer than a dozen whose economic rebound has been as strong as ours. Fewer still have been tested as we have – and none have had a comeback as hard-earned as ours.
It is true – we could coast now and still have better years ahead. But that would be a fool’s errand. We’ve worked too hard – and sacrificed too much – to become complacent now. We must not settle for just better, when “ever better ” is within our grasp.
The budget that I submitted to the legislature last month takes up this challenge. For the first time in years we have the ability to do more – to make Oregon a better place to live, learn and raise a family; to pursue a career and grow a business; to prosper in an ever-stronger economy; and to thrive in an ever-healthier environment. But just as important as ability – we have the opportunity and the obligation to do more.
You know recent history as well as I do: Our schools have struggled with larger class sizes, fewer teachers, shrinking curriculums and uncertain funding. With a recovering economy, we have the opportunity and obligation to bring fiscal stability to our education system, and inspire and prepare students to achieve their full potential.
But our opportunity and obligation goes beyond education. Many of you recognized this and worked with me to defeat Measures 41 and 48. You knew that these measures would move Oregon backward. So now I am asking you to work with me to move Oregon forward.
The time has come to face up to some long-neglected problems – and the place to begin is with greater fairness and stability in our revenue system. We must fix a revenue system that shortchanges our ability to save for the future – and fails to balance costs and benefits fairly among Oregon’s working families and businesses. That’s why I have included two proposals in my budget that will enable us to both save for – and invest in – our future. Both require modest contributions from corporate taxpayers. But the payoff will be significant returns on our investment for years to come.
I ask you to join me in supporting a redirection of this year’s corporate kicker to a rainy day fund that will provide a much-needed buffer against future downturns in our economy. Many of you have also acknowledged that an increase in the 10-dollar corporate minimum tax is long overdue. It hasn’t been updated since 1931, when most working families in Oregon earned less than 30-dollars a week. A modest increase in this tax is fair – and more importantly, it will be used wisely.
First, we will use the corporate minimum tax to fully fund Head Start for all eligible three- and four-year olds. Second, we will make college affordable again for all Oregonians by making a greater investment in financial aid for middle and low-income students through my “shared responsibility” model. Third, we will establish a “Skill Up Oregon Fund” to upgrade the skills of low-wage and unemployed workers, which will complement the “Career Pathways Program” to provide workforce skills and opportunities for high school students and graduates. These are exactly the right investments to support the goals you outline in your playbook for 2007 and to produce that ever better Oregon we strive for.
Further, we will continue to work with your businesses to contain the costs of health care for you and your workers – by providing health coverage for the 117,000 uninsured children in Oregon. My own playbook for health care is called, “Everything that works,” and outlines more than 30 action steps to reduce costs, expand coverage and get better care for our health care dollars.
If we can advance these goals, you will benefit because you have more productive and healthy employees. And Oregonians benefit because they have a better quality of life. I want to also express my enthusiastic support for your focus this morning on Oregon's opportunity for global leadership in sustainable economic development and innovation.
Throughout my first term, I made decreasing Oregon's dependence on fossil fuels, promoting energy conservation and efficiency, and combating climate change – top priorities. They remain top priorities for my second term.
Today, Oregon is positioned to be a national leader because of our investments in sustainable technologies. These new investments span the spectrum of renewable energy – from hydropower to wave energy, geothermal and wind power. And as we discussed at the last summit, we must also expand the capacity of our agricultural economy to grow more of what we put in the fuel tanks of our automobiles. Our goal must be to accelerate the development of home-grown power that is clean, secure and sustainable for Oregon industries and our local economies.
Finally, let me acknowledge one of the lessons we learned in hard times. While government has a role in making life better for its citizens, government itself must always strive to do better. We may have tested the limits of doing more with less in state government and in our schools. But our determination to deliver services as efficiently as possible can never end.
That is why I ask for your support to make government more efficient – beginning with my renewed efforts to consolidate health insurance plans for school employees, and expand auditing of education spending.
Let me close by acknowledging that you have produced an impressive playbook for Oregon’s future, more far-sighted and ambitious than ever before. We in state government have matched your work with a budget and policy initiatives that are equally far-sighted and ambitious. Now is the time to combine our work, expand our partnership, and seize this opportunity to build the ever-better Oregon we all strive for.
With that, I want to take this opportunity to announce the newest member of my leadership team – an individual who will help strengthen the bridge between the public and private sectors. He is someone you all know and has a proven record of leadership, innovation and a commitment to Oregon’s future.
It is my honor to announce the appointment of Allen Alley to serve as one of my Deputy Chiefs of Staff to oversee economic development, technology, transportation and energy policy in my second term. I have great confidence in his ability to help us advance the goals I have laid out – and that are being discussed here today so that we establish economic security and sustainability throughout all of Oregon.
With that, I will turn the microphone over to Bill to say a few words and moderate the panel.
|
|
| |
|
|
