Joined by lou davis. What does that leave for the governor to talk about this year . All of the contentious issues have been dealt with. But that was very early. Proved to be false. A lot of stuff to do. The governor is going to be talking about the Death Penalty, whether we should keep the Death Penalty, whether we should repeal it. Guns is going it be a big issue because of what happened in newtown, connecticut. Taxes and what were going to do about the Transportation Trust fund. Whether there should be a gasoline tax. Whether there should be an increase in the sales tax. And wind. Whether we should build a wind farm off of ocean city. And of course the big thing is jobs. He is going to talk about how the state has done a good job in creating jobs during the recession. Lets turn now to Charles Robinson who is in the house of delegates chamber. Charles, whats happening there . I am here inside the chamber. They are doing the the introductions. First and foremost, the mayor of washington, d. C. Is here. Thats mayor benson gray. There are five foreign ambassadors that are here, and they are always invited to see how democracy works. In addition to that, there are a number of individuals who are here who should be here who arent here. I want to point out yesterday there was the county executive from an rondo county was relieved of his post after being found guilty. Were not going to have his replacement here today, if you will. In addition to that, i wanted you to know that right over my shoulder is the former secretary of transportation. He is now considered the number one candidate to fulfill the office of secretary of transportation for the United States in lieu of the fact that secretary ray lahood has resigned. I did ask him just before we went on the air, should i start calling him secretary . He said not quite yet. Lets go back to jeff in lou. Charles, thank you very much. Lets talk about politics for a little bit here as governor martin omalley, lou, is widely seen as interested in running for higher office. There arent that many higher offices once you have been governor of the state. So potentially running for president in four years. President of the United States. There was an interesting article today on politico. Com that talked about his chances. They said, basically, that he would have a difficult time if secretary of state clinton gets into the race as would all the other democrats. Or if Vice President biden gets in the race. Aside from that they said this is an important speech for him because and that he is he wants to make sure that the speech goes not only to the people in maryland, but also nationwide. He is trying to portray himself as a cando governor. The governor that got the job done during the tough times. And with all of the tough times we got a new reading on his popularity within maryland last year when the gonzalez bowl came out. It had the governor at a 54 Approval Rating which is comfortably above 50 . Thats where he has been the last few years. He certainly has the tools and skill set to be competitively. Of course, he companies from a small state. There was a question on the ballot that asked marylanders if they thought he should run for president and 58 of marylanders said no. Only 25 said yes. Its kind of interesting how the citizens of maryland feel about this. Speaking of upcoming elections, there are a number of people in the chamber today who are potential candidates for governor in the next election in maryland at the top of the screen sitting right in front of the rost rum attorney general doug gansler is there. Mentioned as a candidate. Lieutenant governor Anthony Brown will be introduced shortly and he has the endorsement of governor omalley to succeed him. Comptroller peter francto has taken himself out of the race. The maryland economy at this point it has to grow, albeit slowly. The latest read we had on unemployment in the state was 6. 6 , which is pretty much where it was a year ago. The National Unemployment number is a bit worse. Just a hair under 8 . So despite the fact that the state budget has been stabilized, there are still a lot of meal suffering out there. A lot of people who cant get jobs. Havent been able to get one for a long period of time. Chronically unemployed. We also continue to see a large number of foreclosures. Marylands issuance of food stamps is at a record high and continuing to grow. So the economy remains a big concern. The key part of this speech, according to the governors office, is that he is going to say that basically we have weathered the recession better than just about any other state in the country and that we have created jobs. There are a lot more jobs now than there were a year ago, than there were two years ago. And basically he is saying that we have to keep doing what were doing. Lets run through a couple of the other issues were likely to hear from the governor today. Lou, you mentioned it at the top of the program. Gun control has become a very big issue nationally after what happened in connecticut. Maryland has some strict gun laws, but it does seem that there is the will in the legislature to make them stricter. And the governor has come out very strongly in favor of gun control. The licensing of handguns particularly and the finger printing of anyone before they can purchase a handgun. This is another National Issue that the governor wants to come out in front of. May get a little push back on the licensing side from Senate President mike miller who seemed skeptical of that. You can see right behind us the governor just walked by. He and the Lieutenant Governor are on their way into the chamber. Besides guns, the Death Penalty is a very controversial issue taking the front page. And the governor has come out strongly for repeal. Well, right. We have a Death Penalty but we havent executed anyone in maryland for quite a long time. The scope of Capital Punishment has been limited. And i dont think that protocols are in place to actually do an execution. Thats right. The court of appeals a couple of years ago ruled that we werent doing it properly and that the protocols had to be rewritten. The governor has postponed rewriting them because he is opposed it the Death Penalty. Now for the first time in several years he has come out strongly in favor of repealing the Death Penalty and supporters hope that this might be the year that it will happen. The issue there has not been getting it through the house of delegates. It has been the state senate. And if particular, a committee of the state senate dealing with judicial issues. The judicial proceedings committee. What do the numbers look like there . Well, there has been some changes in the judicial proceedings committee. A switch in the membership. And the Senate President told us that he is confident that it will come out of the committee this year and that it will be taken to the floor for a full vote. And of course well problem that will probably mean a fairly long filibuster when that happens. Its a very contentious issue. But those supporters feel fairly confident that they have the votes to get it through this year. I see former governors hughes and glendening as well as treasurer nancy kopp awaiting the introduction of Anthony Brown, a former member of the house of delegates. In the middle is attorney gansler, who is potential candidate for governor. Has the most money in the bank at this point. About 5 million raised. He raised a 1 million in the last year. The state of maryland, Anthony Brown. The Lieutenant Governor coming to the podium right now. He implemented the president s Affordable Care act and has been tightly aligned with every initiative of the omalley administration. And as you mentioned before, one of the leading candidates to succeed governor omalley in two years. Also in attendance today is judge Katie Omalley. First lady of maryland, as we await the governors introduction. He is not down the steps yet. Lets talk about the wind power initiative. Maryland has a number of windmills. I cant quite call them windmills when they are as big as they are. They are in western maryland on the hill tops where there is enough constant wind for that. The other location where it makes sense in maryland from a wind standpoint is off the coast of ocean city in the atlantic ocean. And yes, they can build them there. Its a question of economics. It cost a lot of money to build them. Again, this is a National Issue that the governor is taking a stand on locally. He has said that you cant build wind farms off the ocean city coast without the help of surrounding states. Delaware and virginia. And theyre trying to form some sort of a compact to do that. The other issue there is whats the impact on electric bills of rate payers in maryland. And the installation, the funding of the Wind Turbines would have an impact. The governor has promised it would be no more than 1. 50 a month on the average bill. So were going to get we have heard that before. Another place they are talking about putting up windmills is outside of frostberg. Another large wind farm out there. Right now the governor and the delegation of legislators moving behind us to the rear of the house of delegates chamber. The governor has come through tough times in terms of political timing. The start of the big recession. Mr. President , mr. Speaker, the governor of the state of maryland, martin omalley. [ applause ] the governor had to spend a good bit of time doing something politicians dont especially like to do, which is cut spending. Cut programs and raise taxes. He is going to say in his speech today though that we are past that now. That he expects there will be a balanced budget next year with no deficit and they will be able to breathe a little easier. Also setting aside a little bit of money for the Rainy Day Fund with the concern that while marylands budget is in relatively strong shape, as we see the first lady trailing the governor there, shaking hands with senator madalino, while the budget situation has been cleared up in maryland, in washington its a colossal mess. There is the threat of sequestration, automatic big spending cuts. And maryland in proximity to the District Of Columbia has so many jobs. Not only people who work directly for the federal government, but people who work for contractors that supply the government. The governor is proposing in this budget to increase the Rainy Day Fund from 5 to 6 . So that there is more money there. And there will also be a large amount of money in kind of a slush fund to use in emergencies. House Steve Michael busch will do the introduction of the governor. [ applause ] and now say the state of the great governor of this state, martin omalley. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you all. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , distinguished minority leaders, Lieutenant GovernorAnthony Brown, treasurer kopp, governor hughess, governor glendening, attorney general gansler, attorney general curran colleagues andy and county government, congressman cummings and edwards, mayor vincent gray from our neighbors in new columbia, ambassador da n ovich, ambassador steph, ambassador dig knowchy, ambassador alrahami, ambassador collins, members of the most effective cabinet among these United States, Katie Omalley and men and women of the maryland general assembly, there is more that unites us than divides us. And this year one of those things is the mighty, mighty baltimore ravens. [cheers and applause] my goodness. I might also note bipartisan agreement. Look, all of us are very familiar with the ravens story. But there are also a number of remarkable people who are here today with us in the gallery. And i wanted to share a few of their stories with all of you. First, one of our nations leading minds and most prominent advocates for science, technology, engineering, and math education. Some of you may know him as a member of our state school board. Later this week president obama will be awarding him the National Medal of science for his achievement in physics. Dr. James gates. Dr. Gates. [ applause ] two years ago, in fact just two years ago, this next marylander and her children were homeless. Today she has turned a temporary workplace. Into a good fulltime job. Please welcome janice spanish a dedicated employee from our department of resources who helped her secure this opportunity melissa jonesharris. [ applause ] within the heart of every individual is a spirit and a dignity that yearns to be recognized. 12 months ago just outside of these doors we officially recognized for the first time in 380 years the piscataway people in a ceremony that none of us will soon forget. Please welcome tribal chair marvin seboy of the piscataway tribe. Mervin, thank you for being here. We are also joined by finally a great mayor who, because of budget constraints, also found himself doing the job of city manager. When his own home was flooded during Hurricane Sandy, he set aside his personal needs and instead worked day and night to help the families of his cities through the crisis. From the courageous city of chrisfield, mayor p. J. Pernell. Mayor. [ applause ] my fellow marylanders, the story of dr. Gates, the story of janice and melissa, the stories of tribal chair seboy and the entire piscataway people, the story of chrisfield and mayor pernell, the sacrifices of our fallen heroes, these are our stories. Stories of courage. Stories of perserverance. It is a tremendous honor to serve the people of maryland with all of you. Faced with the adversity of the National Recession, the people of our state did not make excuses. Instead, they started businesses. They enrolled in night school. They made difficult decisions around the Kitchen Table about how do more for their children. They volunteered through churches and synagogues and mosques. They pulled their neighbors through Hurricane Sandy and the heavy blizzard that struck garrett county. What we have experienced together over these last several years, what we have shared with one another was not denial and it was not fear. Nor was it merely hope. It was belief. It was belief in the dignity of every individual. Our belief in our own responsibility to advance the common good and our understanding and belief that were all in this together and that tomorrow can be better than today if, with gods grace, we choose to make it so. Progress is a choice. Job creation is a choice. Whether we give our children a future of more or a future of less, this, too, is a choice. Our story, marylands story, is the story of better choices and better results. No other state can say at once and hold your applause that they are number one in education five years in a row, number one in holding down the cost of College Tuition, number one in innovation and entrepreneurship, number one in Human Capital capacity, number one in access to dental care for all children regardless of income, number one in ph. D. Scientists and researchers, number one in research and development, number one in businesses owned by women, and number one in Median Income and were not done yet. [ applause ] as we emerge, as we emerge, and we still have a long ways to go, but as we emerge from the toughest of economic times, the state of our state is strong and we are growing stronger still. [ applause ] and none of this, none of this happened by chance. So many of you have cast the tough votes in order to make it possible. Remember seven years ago . Our state had veered off course. We started following the same never mind the math approach that had created our federal deficit at the national level. Democrats and republicans alike in this very chamber had voted to cut taxes for millionaires and to greatly increase state spending without paying for either one. The result a 1. 7 billion structural deficit. Thats how math works. Whats less, we were paying taxes for a government that was not working. It was failing to deliver results. Underperforming schools. Tuition hikes approaching 40 . Rising crime outside of baltimore. But in 2007, together we started making better choices. We cut spending growth. We added to the sales tax to improve our childrens education. We restored revenues by making our tax code more progressive and more fair. We took concrete action to close our structural deficit. When the National Recession hit, wiping out jobs and revenues all across our country, including here, other states tried to cut their way to prosperity and many found this only made things worse. Laying off Police Officers and firefighters and teachers. Cutting Public Education. Hiking up College Tuition by double digits every year. Continuing down the merry path of cutting taxes for the very wealthy, hoping against cruel experience that somehow it would trickle down to the rest of us. But in maryland, here we made better choices. We used the pressure of sinking revenues to make government more efficient and effective. For the firearms we start for the first time we started setting public goals with immediate deadlines. We started measuring Weekly Performance to make government more effective. To make it work. We constrained budget growth and made government smaller. We strengthened our Rainy Day Fund and protected our aaa bond rating. We fixed our pension system, and it wasnt easy. We reformed hundreds of pages of regulation, we streamlined permitting and fast tracked jobs products. Simplified applications for Business Licenses and reduced waiting times in some cases from months to days. We advanced publicprivate partnerships like the one at the port that has created thousands of jobs. We put realtime information about the peoples government into the peoples hands by using the internet, posting the information on the internet, condition verted paper note cards to digital files and used smart math to better target our limited resources. We cut more state spending than any administration in modern history. Recognizing that our diversity is our greatest strength, we moved forward toward the most ambitious goal in america for empowering women and minorityowned businesses. And this year for the First Time Ever we exceeded that goal. [ applause ] knowing that we could not cut our way to prosperity, we balanced record budget cuts with modern investments. Investments in the very priorities that create jobs and expand opportunity, educating, innovating and rebuilding for a better economic future. Better choices. Better results. And the proof is in our progress. Progress recovering jobs at the fastest rate of any state in the region. Progress helping more of our neighbors transition from welfare to work. 12,000 just last year. Partnering with businesses, large, medium and small, to create more jobs. 30,300 jobs over the most recent 12 months. Together with courageous Law Enforcement officers and firefighters we are driving down violent crime, driving down homicides, driving down fire deaths all to historic lows. We are doing more than any other state to hold down the cost of tuition so more families can afford to send their kids to college. We are helping more families to save their homes from foreclosure. We are reducing infant mortality to record lows. We are now feeding tens of thousands of maryland children who would otherwise go hungry. We are doing more than ever before to shelter the homeless. We are helping families and helping our Neighbors Free themselves from the despair of substance abuse. We are moving record cargo through our port and record passengers through baltimore washingtons thorough good marshall airport. Governor hughes, governor glendening rescuing the blue crab, reviving the oyster. More farmers planting cover crops than ever before in order to improve the waters of our bay. And our record investments in Public Education are delivering record high student achievement. Record high graduation rates. An historic closing of the achievement gap between white and nonwhite students. The best ap scores in science, technology, engineering and math that our students have ever achieved, the best overall ap scores of any state in the nation. And this is where you can clap. For not one, not two, not three, not four, but five years in a row the number one best Public Schools in america. [ applause ] these are the choices. These are the choices. These are the choices that we have already made. Now to the choices ahead of us. Job creation must be our top priority always. While were recovering jobs faster than any other state in our region there is still too many moms and dads in maryland who are out of work. Who are still searching for work. Therefore, this years budget is a jobs budget. Invest in 43,000 jobs. Rebuilding roads, bridges, tunnels, community colleges, Affordable Housing units, clean Water Infrastructure and other forwardlooking projects with your help. It protects nearly 26,000 Law Enforcement jobs throughout our state. It supports over 114,000 jobs educating our children. This budget invests to improve Public Education and to continue to build new schools. It accelerates the transition from chalk and textbooks in our classrooms to ipads, laptops, and smart boards and 21st Century Digital learning tools. And your vote will accelerate those innovations. Once again, it holds down the cost of College Tuition. This progress, as you well know, is only