Martin omalley called for the repeal of the Death Penalty, asking for tougher gun control laws increasing our jobs in maryland. This 35 minute event is part of the maryland public television. Thank you. Thank you all. Got bless you. Thank you very, very much. Bannermr. Speaker, mr. President , distinguished minority leaders, lieutenant brown, governor hughes, attorney general gensler, colleagues and city colleagues, mayor vincent gray from our neighbors and new columbia. [laughter] ambassadors, members of fema of these United States. [applause] Katie Omalley and the men and women of the maryland general assembly, there is more that unites us than divides us. This year, one of those things is the mighty, mighty baltimore ravens. [cheers and applause] my goodness. Also bipartisan agreement. Look, all of us are familiar with the ravens story, but their are also a number of remarkable people who are with us. I want to share a few of their stories with all of you. First, one of our nations leading minds and most prominent advocates of science, technology, and engineering, math and education, some of you know them as a member of the school state board. Later this week president obama will be awarding him the National Medal of science for his achievement in physics. Dr. James gates. [applause] two years ago, and that just two years ago, this woman has turned around a workplace into a fulltime job. Please welcome janice in Caroline County and Melissa Jones harris. [applause] within the heart of every individual is a spirit and a dignity that yearns to be recognized. 12 months ago outside, the officially recognized for the first time in 380 years, the people in a ceremony that none of us will soon forget. Please welcome the tribe. [applause] thank you for being here. Were also joined by someone who found himself doing the job of a city manager. When his own home was flooded, he set aside his personal needs an extended her day and night to help the families in the cities through the crisis. Mayor p. J. Mayor . [applause] my fellow marylanders, the story of dr. Gates, the story of janice and melissa, the people, the mayor, the sacrifice of our fallen heroes, these are our stories, the stories of courage and her samaritans. It is a tremendous honor to serve the people of maryland with all of you. Faced with adversity of the National Recession, the people of our state did not make excuses. Instead they started businesses. They enrolled in night school and made difficult decisions around the Kitchen Table about how to do more for their children. They volunteered at churches, synagogues, mosques. They pulled their neighbors. What we have experienced together over these last several years, what we have shared with one another was not in denial or fear, nor was it merely hope. It was belief. It was belief in the dignity of every individual. Our belief to advance the common good and the understanding that we are in this together. Progress is a choice. Job creation is a choice. Whether we give our children a future of more or a future of less, this is also a choice. Marylands story is one of better choices and better results. No one state can say that they arent number one in education five years in a row, number one and holding down college tuition, number one and innovation and entrepreneurship, number one in human capacity, number one in access of healthcare, number one in businesses owned by women, number one and medium income, and we are not done yet. [applause] as we emerge, as we emerge and we still have a long way to go, but as we emerge from the toughest economic times, the state of our state is strong and we are growing stronger still. [applause] none of this, none of this happened by chance. Many of you have passed tough votes to make it happen. Remember seven years ago . We started following the same math approach that created our federal deficits at the national level. Democrats and republicans alike in this very chamber had voted to cut taxes for millionaires and to increase state spending without paying for either one. The result . 1. 7 billion dollar deficit. That is how it works. It is failing to deliver results. Underperforming schools, tuition hikes, rising in crime outside of baltimore. In 2007, together we started making that her choices. We cut spending growth, we had a penny to the sales tax to improve our childrens education. We made our tax code more progressive and fair. We put concrete acts and to close our. When the National Recession hit, wiping jobs and revenue across the country, including here, other states try to find prosperity. They found that this only made things worse. Laying off police officers, firefighters, teachers. They are hoping that somehow it would trickle down to the rest of us. In maryland, we made better choices. We made government more efficient and effective. For the first time we started sending public goals with deadlines. Weekly performances to make government more effect if, make it work. Make government smaller. We strengthened our rainy day funds and protected our aaa rating. We reduced waiting times for businesses. We advanced public and private partnerships that have created thousands of jobs. We put realtime information of the peoples government and to the people by posting information on the internet. We cut spending more than any administration in modern history. We recognize that diversity is our greatest range. We move forward to it the most and issues goal in america from empowering women and minority owned businesses and this year for the first time ever, we have exceeded that goal. [applause] knowing we could not cut our way to prosperity, we have record cuts with modern investments. Investments in the priorities that create jobs and expand opportunity, educating, innovating, and building for better economic future. Better choices, better results. The proof is our progress. Progress in helping neighbors transition from welfare to work. 12,000 just last year. Jobs, medium and small, to create more jobs. Together, lawenforcement officers and firefighters, we are driving down crime, homicide, all to historic lows. We are doing more than any other state to hold on the costs of tuition so more families can afford to their children to college. We are helping more families to save their homes from foreclosure. We are reducing infant mortality to record lows. We are feeding hundreds of thousands of nearly children who would otherwise go hungry. We are doing more than ever before to shelter the homeless. We are helping Neighbors Free themselves from the despair of substance abuse. We are moving record cargo through our fourth and record passengers through baltimore washington Thurgood Marshall airport. We are reviving our native oyster and improving the waters of our bay. And we have record high student achievement and record high Graduation Rates and closing the gap in ap scores. This is where you can clap for not only 1, 2, 3, 4, but 5 years in a row the number one best Public Schools in our nation. [applause] these are the choices, these are the choices that we have already made. Now are the choices ahead of us. Job creation must be our top priority always. We are recovering jobs faster than any other state in our region, there are still too many moms and dads who are out of work and searching for work. This years budget is a job budget. We need to rebuild roads, bridges, homes, Affordable Housing units, clean water infrastructure, and other forwardlooking projects with your help. It lawenforcement jobs throughout our state. It supports over 100,000 jobs educating our children. We want to improve Public Education and to continue to build new schools. It accelerates the transition from chalks and textbooks in our classrooms with ipads and smart boards and 21st Century Digital learning tools. Your vote will accelerate those innovations. Once again, it holds down the costs of college tuition. This is only possible with fiscal responsibility and a balanced approach. The budget before you saves the guidelines. It increases our rainy day funds and our cash reserves. It protects our aaa rating. It brings our total spending cuts to 3. 8 Million Dollars over the life of this administration. These are the choices that enable us to invest in a stronger and better future. It is a future that we all prefer for our children. More job creation, more opportunity for a stronger and growing middle class. There are stories with a common theme. We are doing today by an entrepreneur. He reached out to colleges and professors asking for lab space. 199 turned him down. He went on to invent an inexpensive tool for detecting pancreatic and ovarian cancers. He was selected for a top science and engineering prize. He happens to be 15 years old. Please welcome jack and his proud mom, jane, who are with us. [applause] were are also joined by Small Business owner, who also happens to be courageous disabled veteran. She moved the business out of her dining room and has tripled her customers. Please welcome her. [applause] senator young had occasion to introduce me to this gentleman. I have visited with him in frederick. He started a Company Called nexus energy homes. They build houses at market prices and get this these homes are designed to consume net zero energy. For families, that means electricity bills as low as 3 and 4 a month. Nexus energy homes was named a National Home builder of the year. [applause] what do these stories have in common . Innovation and entrepreneurship. The United States of commerce have named maryland number one in innovation and entrepreneurship. Marylanders are doing remarkable work life science, green tech, information technology, cybersecurity, aerospace and advanced manufacturing in these sectors are creating jobs right here in maryland, creating jobs through innovation. It is not just the responsibility of the private sector. There are things we can do together through the common platform of our state government. We can accelerate innovation. We can attract venture capital. We can move more new technologies and ideas out of our Great University labs and into the marketplace where they can create jobs and new opportunities. Help the i. T. Network and the efforts to advance more creative uses of publicprivate partnerships. By this year, create a new Cyber Security tax credit. There is another important thing that we can do this year that would also create jobs. That is offshore land. Moving forward on offshore land. [applause] moving forward with offshore land could make maryland a new Regional Manufacturing hub for wind turbines. We will create jobs and generate abundant and clean and renewable energy, but only if we choose. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , members of the general assembly, lets get this done this year, shall we . [applause] ultimately, the greatest asset that we have as you well know is demonstrated by the votes you have cast. Maryland has built up one of the most highly Skilled Workforce of the country. Better choices, better results. The reality is that too many of the new jobs being created in our economy go unfulfilled. Why . Too many people lack the skills to fill them. Your vote on a bill will allow us to partner with businesses to put more workers with the skills they need to go into jobs that are in the highest demand. Often times, this barrier is the states own licensing system. In maryland, we can remove those barriers. We have made solid progress in career and Technical Education at our high schools, but there is so much more we can do and we must do. Lifelong learning is the new reality. It must get our heads go graduates the skills they need for lifelong that you must get our High School Graduates the skills they need for lifelong learning. We need an innovative solution. Elect motivated High School Students work toward the High School Diploma and to your Associates Degree at the same time. We can make this sort of early access to Affordable College credit. There is ongoing challenge of college completion. You have met with them. I have met with them. Business leaders say we are not producing enough college graduates, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math. We must do a better job of getting more of our students through college. [applause] we are seeing the things that work. Our Community Colleges are delivering results. Last year they graduated 49 more students than they were five years ago. That is a pretty impressive progress. They have increased reduction. This year im asking you to increase their funding so they can do even more. We need to pick up the pace at our four year colleges. Here are things we can do together. We can redesign College Curriculum and more courses. We can rework Financial Aid so that more students can afford to carry full course loads to complete their degrees on or ahead of time. We can give students more Online Options for earning college credit. We can reach our goals, but we will have to make a better choices if you want better results. There is another action we could take, but so far the consensus has alluded us. We have the worst Traffic Congestion in the country. [applause] nothing to clap for. [laughter] you all have cast a lot of difficult votes time and time again to move us from the back of the pack to the front of the pack in some cases. There is no reason why should we be content with having the worst Traffic Congestion in the country. Building a 21stcentury Transportation Network we could be creating thousands of jobs to alleviate Traffic Congestion. We can figure this out together. For every citizen of our state, we can do it now and in this session. We cannot waste money and time sitting in traffic. The most fundamental responsibility of any government is Public Safety. It is the passion for improving Public Safety that drove me into public service. Things to the brave work of Law Enforcement officers and Better Technology and better strategies, we have driven down Violent Crime by nearly 25 since 2006. Everyday day there is more we must do. We lose far too Many American lives to gun violence. Who can watch this at images of the last weeks . Who can see the pictures of those young faces and honestly say that we are doing enough . Lewis and Montgomery County joined us in the gallery to write this letter my wife dorothy and i request your ardent support for comprehensive gun bans and all deadly assault weapons. Im a 92yearold veteran of world war ii. I spent four years in service of my beloved country. I believe firmly in our constitution, but i do not leave in the right to own weapons that should only be used by the military. Four years ago this assembly took action to protect victims of Domestic Violence and the threat of guns. This year we need to take further action in a comprehensive way. I ask you to ban the sale of military style assault weapons in maryland. [applause] i ask you to require a license for the purchase of all handguns, but not hunting rifles. I ask that you help improve Mental Health treatment and information sharing and to expand innovation. I asked that you invest in security upgrades in our schools. Last year, speaking of what works, the people of Prince Georges County teamed up with their Police Department to save 31 more lives. In a oneyear period of time, rapid deployment, these are things that we can do. They work. They save lives. Since 2007, because of your support and vote, we have used forensic Dna Technology to take 520 murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals off of our streets. We need to renew our dna law this year because Dna Technology is a strategy that works. [applause] performance measured police, license plate readings, fingerprint technology, these things work. When these things work and are effective, we should do more of them. When we realize something is not working and is also expensive, should stop doing it. The Death Penalty is expensive and it does not work and we should stop doing it. [applause] research has shown it is not a good deterrent. It cannot be administered without racial bias. They cost three times as much as locking someone up for life without parole. A cannot be reversed it an innocent person is executed. It is time we replace this with life without parole. All across our ever more closely connected world, the majority of in seven countries, iran, iraq, the peoples republic of china, north korea, saudi arabia, yemen, and the United States of america. I leave you with these words life is an ever evolving story of choice. Letting go of things and ways that were in order to reach that for which we have yet to achieve. It is not some random shuffling of the deck. Life is an intentional process. It calls for the goodness of our own intentions. We here in maryland are called to work at the center of this intentional movement. For every decision that we make, there is a future foretold. Jobs, opportunity, Public Education, public transportation. These are our concerns. They are also the worlds concerns. It comes to this do we believe the challenges facing our state and country are things that are happening to us or things happening for us . If we believe that they are happening to us, then we are victims. If on the other hand we believe they are happening for us, then every problem is a means to deeper understanding, greater growth, more security, and more opportunity. Let me be specific. We are one of the most affordable states in the country to be impacted by sea level rise. Level rise