Vulnerable to short stormy squeezes. This is the nature of the Petroleum Business says a chief analyst in washington, d. C. You can have the most incredible crude on inventory but in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel operate on a just in time basis and we get a cluster of cold weather stuff can happen. Call are from virginia, james republican line. Caller good morning, sir. I was talking about the coal business and on the other end of the spectrum how the democrats like our governor he is not from virginia but he got elected from the paoepleople living in fairfax and working in the beltway and they dont have none of our values in western virginia. I went from making 70,000 to declare 80,000 trucking call to 30,000 scrapping trying to survive. Host host topic says in addition to requiring another rig on standby the regulations require companies to construct and have containment dome in case of a problem. American Petroleum Institute criticized the need for additional rig as unnecessary and burdensome. They are required for drilling in the gulf of mexico but they are pooled among the operator. Giving the arctics remoteness and absence of facilities the cost could be higher for Companies Seeking to drill there. For a single operator that poses a heavy financial challenge to provide for the capability. Said brian salerno. The proposed regulations that must be through six days Comment Period would apply to only exploratory wells. This is mo from herndon, virginia. Caller thanks to cspan. Awesome. But you talk about i also live in virginia so i know all by mcconnell. He doesnt represent the majority of virginia, i agree. He only represents where he came from the beltway but what i hear from the callers is they are not acknowledging that you can move to a different state if you want to experience a different legislation and different governor and different climate. Host san jose, California Republican line. Go ahead. This is alicia. Caller there are millions dollars the california taxpayers have paid for Mental Health issues and the state cannot account for any of it and they are having an audit. There need to be stricter guidelines before we pay more and we need to find out exactly where the money went. Along with the d. M. V. The voters voted to pay an additional 10 to fix roads and the city of san jose is wanting to tax san jose residents an additional 10 for that same purpose. Immigration we have the highest amount of immigrants in our state state. And the problem is that with that Immigration Law that is being passed the taxpayers are paying the fund for this. Host that is the caller. We are talking about how your governor is doing. This story out of afghanistan the newly mint eded defense secretary saying wharbt is reviewing a plan to withdraw troops by 2016 to ensure progress sticks after more than a decade of work coating carter. Under the current plan they will have have the troops to 5,000 and bring them down to normal u. S. Embassy presence. That could change he said since swearing in on tuesday. As the u. S. Rethinks future of its Counterterrorism Mission in averages. The remarks set the stage for talks when the afghanistan president is expected in washington. Our priority is to make sure this progress sticks he said at a joint conference with the president hours after landing in kabul. Kate from lancaster, pennsylvania. Democratic line. You are next. Caller good morning. Im very excited about pennsylvanias new governor tom wolf. He does a lot. Host we will have to leave it there. I apologize only because it is the start of National Governors association. This is coverage by cspan. We go to it now. Thank you for being here as we kick off the National Governors association 2015 winter meeting. Im standing here with my colleague and good friend from utah who is the vice chair of m. G. A. And chairs the m. G. A. Center for best practices. As you probably know gary and i have you number of you were here for the annual state address and we have welcomed 12 new governors. We all share the ambitious agenda to making sure our states keep moving forward. We also recognize as this country moves forward states are leading the way. States are navigating through the partisan gridlock, we are developing solutions where testing one solution against another another. I think in many ways we have become the primary places of action to a large part because we dont have the luxury of inaction. Just last month our layoff counter counterparticipants were sworn in with the 114th congress and we hope the new congress will provide clean slate to address the challenges facing our states and facing the country. We certainly look forward to this fresh start with federal partners and we encourage them to look to our states as they put together their agendas. We recognize the difficulty of the conversations right now and the passes and intensity of emotions sometimes make gridlock unavoidable. But again when you are the governor of a state you dont have that luxury. What we hold true is that we continue to embrace what we call flexible federalism which is the ability to give states enough flexibility to improve programs and policies and to the federal government should support those efforts toward improvement. The winter meeting for the m. G. A. Always provides us an opportunity to discuss a number of important issues with members of congress and with the president and his administration administration. We are also going to spend a certain amount of time discussing the chairs initiative which this year is called delivering results. We spent a lot of time working on this. I know i spent a lot of time thinking about it. Government touches many defend peoples different peoples lives and our goal is to make sure the governor can work with the most effective and ever way possible to deliver end results. People can argue about whether government should be larger or smaller but government needs to work. Delivering results has three areas of focus for governors of states to make sure we hire develop the best and celebratest team and we arable to retain that talent. How to develop innovative performance improvement, practices that use data and evidence to enhance results that create systems that really emphasize Continuous Improvement. And lastly how to improve regulations and requirements that protect the public but at the same time make it easy to work with State Government and dont heupbtder economic hinder chick growth and make Economic Growth and make sure the process of creating resumes and regulations is lean and simple as possible and taint protect the at the same time protect the public and maintain a level playing field. In april i will host governors in colorado for a summit on these three issues. How we hire, how we have Continuous Improvement and how we create appropriate regulation. And we will then sum up the progress of that year and make that information hopefully available it all gives. Today we will focus our opening session on how to deliver results. We will be joined by one of the great restaurateurs in the history of the United States danny meyer who will discuss his ability to create innovation in a restaurant setting and to maintain quality and Customer Service as it effected his restaurant. It is very similar to what governors all offense the country deal with on a daily basis. That is the ability to take systemic improvements and transform them into a higher level of service and create a culture in the state workforce that will improve the quality of lives of citizens is one thing danny myers a nationally respected expert on. We will participate in the special session about where the economy is headed. It will be moderated by maria anchor from Fox Business Network and fox news channel. Tomorrow the Economic DevelopmentCommerce Committee will continue with the theme of growth. Governors will talk about state opportunities presented from manufacturing and Precision Manufacturing revolution. Economic development and job creation is critical to the future of every state. It is in the list of any Top Priorities of any governor. Earlier this month we announced m. G. A. Will host the first ever summit of north american governors to discuss Economic Development and trade through improvements and innovation in infrastructure infrastructure, through innovation in supply Chain Management and discussing education, energy, technology and culture. This will be the first time we have gotten all the governors from mexico and United States and premiers from canada together in one place. Also on saturday morning the educational workforce sunday morning will discuss federal k12 policies and work for students and states. Gives believe the policy should build on state policies to support effective teachers and leaders and should work toward accelerating ongoing state led innovation. We have long called for reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act that recognizes the need for maximum flexibility as states meet the goals and really work hard to make sure they are putting a great teacher in front of every classroom. In the a health and Human Services will talk about driving better value in healthcare. Governors are always focused around healthcare one way or another especially the last few years. Governors are increasingly pushing to align economic incentives on public and private papers and move away from the fee for Service Models toward value based pods more focused on keeping people healthy. Many governors are starting that with medicaid. The alabama governor will join the committee and talk about their efforts. This weekend we will have a chance to discuss the emerging healthcare landscape with the health and Human Services secretary Sylvia Burwell who has been open and flexible to governors trying to work with in their healthcare. Last year the Healthcare Task force gave the president a series of recommendations including streamlining process for medicaid allowing to share in state driven efforts and delivering a pathway to permanency permanency, they were not just temporary but they could become permanent. Gives have been working with the department to make these recommendations a reality and we will make sure we continue that conversation in the governors only session. Monday we vote on the policies and guides and advocacy of the association and wrap up the weekend with the annual meeting with the president. As you can see weve got plenty to do and we have gotten a lot done but there is plenty more to do and we have a lot of work. We have a very busy weekend ahead of us. Now i would like to introduce my cohort in all of this our vice chair of m. G. A. And very able governor gary herbert of utah. Thank you. I hope people appreciate the great leadership of john and his common sense approach to governance. As a former businessman and former mayor, he understands the bottom up nature of getting good results and the business principles that we try to employ as much as we can in government to give us good results. So, i appreciate and applaud his listen and his ambition here to help us come together in a bipartisan way with the National Governors association. From the great state of colorado who we in utah refer to as eastern utah, doing some there it goes. And they call us western colorado, too, im sure. We are looking forward to a very productive few days with the governors. I would just say there seems to be a growing awareness in a congress and others here in this town we need to look to the states and governors for some resource resource for some experience. We are the lab stores of democracy laboratories of democracy and experimenting things and i believe that theres an opportunity for us maybe more so than in past years to really work in concert with the congress and getting things done on many different fronts. Theres a number of issues that john already touched upon but there are opportunities. If you will recall in the vein of become in governor Tommy Thompsons day in wisconsin and golf angler in michigan and governor levitt in utah working in a bipartisan way had welfare reform. And was eventually we had legislation that was created by the states and governors and passed and signed into law by president bill clinton. That is the way it should work. The National GovernorsAssociation Provides us with an opportunity of governors to come together have healthy discussion and see where we can unite to help influence policy here in washington, d. C. With the congress. And whether that is involvement with our Economic Development and Commerce Committee which will meet today as mentioned government bentley and shemlen from alabama and vermont respectively have been called upon to testify before the Senate Committee on environment and public works to discuss some longterm fixes on our transportation reauthorization for example. As mentioned we were talking about flexible federalism. There needs to be the opportunity for us in states the common theme you will hear and most everything we discuss is give the states more autonomy and be flexibility to do what we need to do in our own back yards and try to stay away of one size fits all solution that doesnt necessarily fit with all the respective states. A new and emerging issue that is growing concern i see the state department some of the hacking taking place and not being able to solve that but cybersecurity is a significant issue. This new frontier of how people steal information and money online and through hacking cybersecurity is a big issue. We would ask the congress to work, and federal government, to work with states as we try to find solutions to that issue. Our National Guard, we have a lot of expertise from the private sector that are available to help in this issue and i am working together we can find some solutions. We will be having speaking with us the u. S. Department Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson will come to have that discussion with us and see what we can do in partnership. We will have experts from the public and private sectors. We will able to address a very significant and growing problem here in our communities. We are also concerned i mentioned the National Guard aware concerned about as the federal government tries to balance their bucket which we applaud budget which we applaud we have to live within our means and we dont have the luxury of printing money so we applaud the effort to be fiscally prudent but dont overlook the opportunities to have a more efficient National Defense by utilizing the National Guards of our states. We are in fact a very good bang for the taxpayers dollars and the intent and approach we have from the pentagon to take away some of our air capability, some of our apache helicopters and things and replace them with blackhawks probably doesnt make a lot of fiscal sense when it comes to having a ready army so we are concerned about that. We have said no, we will say no again. We hope the congress will listen to us as they go about budgeting recognizing the cost effectiveness we get with the National Guard in our respective states. It would be probably a move backwards i think if they dont understand the blessing that we have with our National Guards. Also areas that are of concern, Energy Energy environmental things and how they dovetail together. We recognize that what the public wants is sustainable energy. And they also want cleaner energy. But they also want it to be affordable. Sometimes those butt up against each other but the states are doing a great job as far as developing their resources within their bond resist and doing boundaries and doing them in responsible ways that respect the environment but understand the need to develop more energy for use of consumers not just here but around the world in the demands of energy that there are. So we will discuss the Natural Resources committee sunday in fact i think we have the director the administrator from the e. P. A. Will come and we will talk about some of those issues and rule 11d some states that are really involved with a lot of Coal Development and question of how we go forward and respect the need and demand for energy and affordable way and understand the need for cleaning up the environment and making sure we are doing it in a responsible way as we develop our energy resources. We also want to talk about along with that some regulatory climate. In states we are leading the way in trying to have regulation reform. Again, sometimes we have regulations that are well intended but so cumbersome that they become counterproductive to the economy and dont do anything to really help in leveling playing fields or protecting the public so we will talk about that on this issue and others when it comes to environment and Business Community community. One such issue is the water the u. S. Rule that has the potential to change who has oversight on water and whether it fallsen the state regulation which is historically the case or shifted to federal regulation. And maybe cause some problems for the private sector and doesnt benefit the public. We will work with our coordination efforts with the e. P. A. And other federal regulations. Last but not least one that is past due we ought to resolve and have an opportunity this year with the states working with the leadership in the house and senate on both sides of the aisle and that is what we refer to as the Market Street fairness act. This is an issue of remote sales where we are not collecting taxes that are owed but cant collect because of online and remote sales. I spent 15 years of discussion and debate and we said it is time to act. We have some proposals out there and i think as states the congress i should think will listen to with all the partisanship that you hear about particularly here in washington, d. C. It is nice to see the states and congress coming together on this issue. So, in a bipartisan effort and i think there is strong support on both sides of the aisle we should get this passed hopefully this congress. So, im looking forward to as states and m. G. A. Working with congress to get that done. We have an a. M. Better than agenda. Ambitious agenda. We have as he mentioned some summits that are coming up in april in the Governors Initiative on making government work and dont we all wish that could happen, that government could work and be more ever. And clearly there is room for improvement. We ought not be afraid of trying new things and finding new opportunities and ways to make government more efficient. Clearly in this town nobody believes that washington is at maximum efficiency. There are ways we can cut some of the expense to get better results from the taxpayer dollar and have more efficiency. We think states need to take on more of the role of providing services and not have the overreach of the federal government into our back yards. It requires us working together. This north America Opportunity that we have coming up where we will bring premiers from canada, governors of america, governors of mexico, together again the north american block. We have great opportunities for improving the lives of the people we represent and having significant ability to improve the economic communities for us here in america. Again we have great opportunities opportunities. Again, i thank our leadership from the governor and all the members of the m. G. A. Of the 50 states and for stories that come together to and territories. As we Work Together our success is assured. There is reason to be optimistic because of the work in the states and we look forward to as utah being part of that. Thank you for being here today and i will turn it back to the chairman. Thank you, gary. Questions . Yes. [inaudible]. It is so controversial it is not anything im proposing. I think we need to have the opportunity to grow the economy. Im a big believer that the private sector has tremendous muscle. Sometimes government gets in the way of the private sectors being able to innovate and create new opportunities and our free market, Free Enterprise system has been remarkable in its history. Never in the history of the world have we had anything that provided better goods and services for the most amount of people for the lowest cost. Sometimes government gets in the way. So part fof our efforts is to streamline government to make it more efficient which means to empower the private sector. Venture capital and whether it comes from americans or comes from outside sources around the country that is taking place. Whether we need a bank to have that to deposit and distribute the money is something i havent really thought about. I have to look at information and make a decision and judgment on that but im not prepared to do that today. It sounds like an ambitious agenda you have for this conference. To what extent has in been sort of altered or impacted by some of the governors are running for president . More on his side than mine. I theuink we are very focused and i theuink pretty much all the governors recognize that when we Work Together we can function in a nonpartisan way and take on some of the more difficult issues often times more divisive issues and make real progress. There are obviously races going on whether governors run for reelection, president ial primaries will be coming around and it is a distraction, theres to question. I dont think it is a big distraction. I think that most governors that are interested in taking that step i have been trying to nominate governor herbert for quite some time without much success im disappointed to say. But i think that most governors are able to keep their focus and still begin looking at things from a National Perspective without losing focus. Let me say, too again, theres always elections going on. So people can make things partisan for their own agenda for political gain. I have had people ask me how was it you were able to get elected to be the vice chairman of the National Governors association and then the chairman during this significant election year. And the answer is simple. I am the only governor that is not running for president. So im available. Again, we are going to be honest brokers for the m. G. A. We understand that people can actually separate their political agenda if they are going to take advantage of but yet understand the need to together as states. So i think the bipartisan effort that we have here. There are a lot of things we have in common. This organization, more than most, is bipartisan. I think we have an opportunity for these elections to get some good things done. Thank you. And congratulations on your reelection. In his decision on the president s executive order on immigration, the judge pointed out several increases in the cost to the states medicare welfare, education that would come about. And i want to ask, number one, do you think if the president s orders were implemented it would be a bigger cost to the states . Nand two, how the states do with that order . John well, it is already being discussed. It is not on the specific agenda, but it is something that the others are aware of. Again, one of the points that governor herbert made states are the laboratories of democracies. Its rate is handling this issue in a different way. A number of states, they are already accepting. Other states are not. Each state is navigating i think independently. Gary that is to come and i expect there are different demographics and analysis of with respect to each state. One thing i think we share a common, though, and most all the governors is that we would call upon the congress to infect do something on immigration. We have had this debate. It is very emotional. Sometimes they become so emotional that rational thought gets that out the window. But it is time for the congress to act and do something. There are probably five or six different steps that can be debated, but its just get step one done. If that is secure the border let secure the border. And then move onto other steps that we need to. Doing nothing doesnt seem to be working. And yet that is sometimes what congress is best at. Doing nothing. And we need to end up giving them encouragement saying, hey we want to and expect you to take some initiative and get some things done and resolve the immigration issue. [inaudible] you mentioned back in january that perhaps legalizing marijuana over in your state recreationally may not have been a good idea. As far as this conference is concerned, how are you going to talk about this issue Going Forward and how it may go forward in other states . What will you tell your fellow governors as far as legalization is concerned . John sure. What i said when i voted on it was that there was risk. Most of the voters saw that. Something that wasnt working and really was, in many cases, a set of laws that werent being obeyed at any level. Again, i oppose legalizing recreational marijuana. Almost every election of elected official in colorado did. But the voters voted it. So we did our best to implement a robust set of regulations appropriate taxations, eliminate the black market. Our biggest fear was that if adults legalized it, kids would think it was ok. Every brain scientist said that we that we talked to said that there a high probability that the intense thc in marijuana today, and teenagers, if they smoke or ingest this high thc marijuana, there is a high probability that they will overdos their longterm memory. [inaudible] john we are doing everything we can in the state of colorado to make sure we are limiting the black market. Marijuana is sold legally. We are monitoring it along the way. We have not changed any laws for people growing at illegally, we are going to throw the book at them. Where making sure there is no marijuana being exported to other states. Historically, there has always been drug traffic. Part of our goal in regulating this is to make sure that diminishes. Regulars dont care who they sell marijuana to. If we can, through appropriate taxation eliminate the black market to get the drug dealers out of this, it is going to be a lot harder to get it into the hands of kids. On your point about the state sort of thing laboratories Governor Nixon from missouri next week is going to be leading a delegation to cuba. The first governor in a long time. He is getting a lot of criticism from people in your party from his home state, including senator blunt, saying there should be no normalization with relations in cuba. As long as it is the casters and power, and the cubans that have a very good record of paying their bills anyway. Where do you come donatist . Is this a place we you think states will see a lot of opportunity . Gary again, i think there are arguments on both side of the system. But it is concerned concern because of their Human Rights Violations and the lack of openness. And how they have treated their own people. You dont want to reward bad behavior. As a parent, you know, i have had that experience of saying sometimes you need a spanking. And rewarding bad behavior is sometimes gets you more bad behavior. So and understand the concerns and the criticisms. It is beyond my pay grade, as far as what the country should be doing. That is something the congress and the president should do be debating and discussing. I would not criticize the governor if he thinks it is appropriate for missouri to engage. That is his decision and call. I dont see us in utah during that anytime soon. Again, i appreciate this his leadership. An opportunity where we are bringing all the premieres from canada, which is our largest trading partner that we have in america, all the governors of the United States together with the governors of mexico. Again, that north American Alliance has two mens potential for future opportunities economically, and the potential to mexico is one that we ought not to overlook. That is where im going to concentrate my efforts and what i think we can execute some really good things. How concerned are you about congress not funding the department of Homeland Security at the end of this week . And will it or is it already have any impact on your individual states . John well, certainly it will have an impact on our states. Im not going to criticize one party or the other, but government has to work. Especially Homeland Security. I think there is not a governor here who doesnt want them to figure this out. The grants just a continuing resolution of some real question whether the grass that they make will continue. We are talking about peoples paychecks, peoples lives. As a governor, i think it is very frustrating when we see this kind of politics. Instead of sitting down and figuring out what the right compromises and recognizing that not either side is going to get everything they want, but that is kind of the way our system works. There is this kind of, you know, both sides pushing each other to this vixen chip. It is going to affect our states. It is going to affect every state in the country. Again, im not blaming one party or the other, but they need to figure it out. Governor gary what he said. [laughter] [inaudible] can you talk about what are some of the challenges some might be facing, just beginning that numeral . Governor john sure. We do an orientation. Governor herbert and i do both participate. But the two weekends after the election, we get all the new governors that are not even sworn in and we get experienced governors, and the newbies, and spent a couple days together. There is an agenda, a curriculum that starts with ok, here is what you do and a disaster. Thats the first thing. No those systems and how they work because that is the one place where youre not going to have any sympathy, right . If you have the misfortune to have a Natural Disaster on your second week of the job, your citizens are going to expect you to get things done. It goes right on the list. How do you work with federal government found around the complex issues of health care . We try to give the new governors a context. I think the new governors, and i dont have the list with me, but it is an Interesting Group of new governors. A lot of entrepreneurs. A lot of independent thinkers. And i think entrepreneurs and kind of highlevel managers both parties. I think they will have a real impact, not just on the nga, but on the country. They are already talking a much less partisan ways and really looking at, you know, lets put aside the partisan stuff and figure out how the states can really find solutions. Which is what nga really stands for. Governor gary let me just say too, i was involved with and it reminded me of my neighbor who lived up the street. I talk about the guy who lives up the canyon. His name is robert redford. He made a movie called, the candidate. At the very end of that movie, he finally gets elected. He sits down in his hotel room and says, now what . Well, the nga is designed to help new governors. With the now what. For many people, it is really their first elected office, others it is not, but the now what that we do is really what the nga is about. To help us learn, understand issues, fill in the gaps we may have. So that when we move forward, we can do the right thing on behalf of our constituency. It doesnt mean that every state has the same charges. There are 50 different states of their that have their own uniqueness and the challenges they face. The nga is designed to help with the uniqueness of our states. When i went through new Governor Organization to help me prepare uniquely so in utah and the mountain west. Again, ill i applaud the efforts of our staff. Our nga staff that helps us as governors navigate some of the challenges, and the opportunities we have as veterans we are part of a faculty now, john and i to share what we have learned for those who are coming in with new opportunities. That continuity we have as an organization really benefits all the states and really the country. [inaudible] people are focused on what theyre going to a cop was. Nonetheless, what can you tell us a little bit about what is going on behind the scenes . Is anyone try to take up for dinner . [laughter] how is that going . Governor gary no, i havent had a bite today. I think the opportunity we have we have governors only meetings. I know for you in the press, that is probably as appointed to you because you are not invited to come in. But we have an opportunity to let our hair down and have frank and open discussions. In a respectful way. We dont always agree. You can probably appreciate that. That is not just republican versus democrat, that is sometimes within the Republican Party or the democrat party. The Energy Development issue that we have in America Today for example, is a good example of where we have differences. Not necessarily along party lines, but just in regional areas like kentucky or West Virginia and coal. Pennsylvania, utah, in a lot of coal. Wyoming, the largest exporter of btus. Coming together and saying, what is the common sense way forward for Energy Production in our state . As received with the price of oil, the barrel is down to what, 51 a barrel . The changing dynamics out there. These opportunities for us to live from each other are significantly important. And i would say this. It is not just the veterans teaching the rookies. Sometimes it is the rookies teaching the veterans. Saying, this is what i have learned in my campaign and what is happening in my state. And that renovates benefits me in my state. So it is a great system. The nga amplifies that for us to learn from each other. [inaudible] is there any sense that this congress or this administration is any worse in listening to the states and trying to get a compromise on the things that matter to you most . Governor hickenlooper well, i think there is a normal dynamic. There is a tension between governors and congress. It is just natural. It is always there. I am not your this congress how it is going to relate to less congress. But certainly we are at a point where the bit is in where the bitter partisanship in congress has restrained the ability to really get things done and solve his problems like immigration or, you know, have a National Energy policy. Again, i dont think it is useful to compare whether it is worse than it has ever been. But it is not good. You go back to the, you know the level of bitterness that comes out of campaigns with all the negativity and the attack ads. You do see it occasionally, but you rarely see an attack at in the private sector, right . You dont see cocacola doing a attack at against pepsi, right