About the top issues facing states in this country. Thats her question for you as well, what are the top issues in your states . All in a calling and let us no. Remind our viewers what the National Governors association is and what is your mission . It was actually started by president theodore roosevelt, he was governor of new york and became president and he said the governors need to get together both parties and share information so all states know what other states are doing good and bad. A very important is making sure that the administration and congress, whoever is in power knows how states will be impacted by the many things they do. With healthcare and some of the other issues going on its critical that governors of both parties are talking to members of congress and theso administration so theres an a understanding of the impact on states. Who are the leaders of the National Governors association . The chair is brian of nevada. His republican and then we have governor of montana is coming in his a democrat and his vice chair. The way of governors from all over the country both parties on the board. And this morning we won here from viewers whats going on in the state. When it will be part of what cspan does as it travels around the country for 50 capitals tour, going to each capital in all states. Youre welcome to come aboard the bus will come to capital near you. Let us know and experience cspan. And then you can get a feel of whats happening washington through interactive screens and things like that. So far viewers her thinking about was going on in the states one of the governor say about the a top issues. Guest i have to praise cspan because so much is happening in the states, we get so focused on the inaction usually on the federal level is terrific to be talking about the action going on in the state. Ie the priorities right now for governors are things like disaster and emergency preparedness. If have the hurricanes recently but we have flooding in the southeast, weve had fires across the west, any issues they have to deal with. The other priority is dealing with the saddle. Crisis that so many families are affected by. The number one consistent priority for governors right now is economic policy, jobs. Quest host lets start with the emergency relief Disaster Preparedness questions. On a show veers a couple of articles. This is about harvey damage estimated to be up to 160 billion what is that mean first state . Guest one thing that we try to explain is that states are different in that they simply dont have the same level of resources that a National Federal government has. We cannot control or currency or Interest Rates are any economic policy. Were less resource than other governments. S we often have to explain that h when theres a significant disaster the federal government coming in and assisting with resources is critical. The house, senate and president approving 15 billion in disaster aid for Harvey Victims last week. To expect more to come . Usually when the disasters are so significant, the states and private sectors is not enough resources. We do expect some continued good collaboration between the federal government and thera states affected. They try to catalog their needs and then the federal government provides the resources that hopefully get people quicklyck back in their homes to o reconstruct. One need is removal of trash, they have mountains of trash, the mayor of houston says its the number one priority, the Solid Waste Department needs to embark on an urgent effort to clear out it debris field that could be 8 million cubic yards. N the cost will total more than 200 million. The city is responsible for paying 10 or 20 million. The federal agency will shoulder the rest of the cost. Talk about that role with states. Hav its been a critical role. The last two years governors and states have been pleased with the collaboration weve seen between the federal and state and local governments. Both of the hurricanes have katrnstrated that. It had good intergovernmental cooperation. Ever since the unfortunate aspects of what happened during katrina many years ago, a lot of lessons were learned in the National Governors association has worked hard to make sure theres talking between the federal government and states before disaster occurs so we are ready. Av i think we seen the evidence of that in these two disasters. Host you brought up the opiate crisis across the country, do states want the president to declare some sortrt of emergency . Guest theres different views on that. I think what it comes down to and were seen it now is that states want to make sure there is enormous amount of cooperation between the federal government states and local governments to deal with it. There has been sun but i think we need to continue to do what we cam into until the deaths go down were not seen the result that governors want. There really focused on the actual result. What are governors doing . Are they spending taxpayer money on a statein level . Guest they are. Its a high priority for governors through the National Governors association virtually every governor signed on ensuring collaboration among the states and other actions to get the death rate down. Es its important to tell people that governors themselves have an emotional and personal connection. Everyone knows people who have actually died or have had sons or daughters die. It has motivated them tacked. Host top issues in your state, what are they . Gabrielle is a republican in carolina. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I love cspan because this is one of the last main stronghold in news. But thank you for being here today. And basically roy kuiper, kenny you make . Your breaking up a little bit. Roy cooper is our governor here. I think i echoed the sentiment of the opiate crisis been out of control. Two weeks ago young man at the church that i go to had experienced an overdose. E. Im thankful he did not die but it was very close. So in essence, that is a major problem. Im interested to hear from you as well about the role that the actual companies, the pharmaceutical companies and their marketing and we know it plays a role in starting this medication are getting them on track two or sometimes they haveme dependent on the medications but dont the pharmaceutical companies have a big responsibility for the way they aggressively market . Second point is, i think thereu governors, republican governors and i have to say this cousins for my own party, they say theo federal government cant to anything right but when disaster strikes they come with their hands held out asking for benefits just like the situation in texas right now. Host will leave it there. Om the cspan buses coming to North Carolina in january. Follow along if you go to our website and clarification, scott is not a governor, is a con director of the National Governors association. What about his sentiment that theyre asking for the federal government to help them out. Guest unfortunately theres a lot of coverage of different types of actions and what it comes down to from a governor standpoint is there running theu state, similar to running a fortune 500 company and they want to get away from what they can to the politics. Theres been some focus on that for recovery. The bottom line is they see everything as a collaborativeate effort. They do put millions of dollars into Disaster Preparedness and recovery. But there has to be in it interaction and collaboration oo with the federal government. States are more limited in the amount of resources they have. They simply have a cap, theres only so much money the have versus a National Government and it really needs to be that understanding that when the states when we have a certain amount the federal government has to commit. The Senate HealthEducation Committee has been holding a series of hearings looking at what washington can do for the individual Insurance Markets and the cost of premiums. They heard from governors last week. Them tol i want to show you what a few of them told lawmakers on that havk committee. We have to begin to align incentives. Some have talked about you have to do something on the user side as well to incentivize better behavioral choices. Today i tell people healthcare is like going to the grocery ass store. The assistant manager me too when you walk in the door. You get to the Cash Register and they say thank you very much. You can see you why weve got to where we are. En aligning incentives is where i e would start. And i largely agree with that. We need to move from paying for services and test for paying for value. I think as you go forward, dont mess with things like that because were trying to do some good work already and payment reform is starting to look at and care coordination which did not always exist. To go with what my colleagues have said, i would add that transparency issue has been discussed before. Not theres a lot of variation. Not just in the way care gets delivered but how much we pay for the same kinds of things. I also think this issue on variation in both approach to providing care in certain situations and outcomes, theres a lot of research on and not a lot of it finds its way into daily practice. That would be a great place for the federal government to take the lead. You have a lot of resources, knowledge and opportunity there. A handful of the nations governors in washington telling lawmakers what they would like to see happen. What is happening across the states . What are they telling washington that they need fix . Its really exciting, its a great example of what youre saying. A bipartisan effort to try to inform the health care debate. Ah im proud of the fact that weeyo take governors on capitol hill they stick together, they dont divide up. They talk to the members of congress, the officials and thats good. What governors really want is to get away from the politics and they want to focus on lets make the changes we need to make to get the results we want. Do you want people covered or do the ant more flexibility at the state level, there really is a variation. What you do in minnesota will be different than california or massachusetts. Governors want to make sure there is that flexibility and also that were focused on what are the results we want. Do we want to decrease infantte mortality . Give states the flexibility and resources to do the. I want to talk to about the way your addressing the opiate crisis. Your addressing it the same way they dress the alcohol, it didnt work then, and nevere reduced the number of people addicted to alcohol. L. Moving from alcohol to other drugs. Is not going to work. Ive been getting pain dr. For years, im not addicted, never been addicted to alcohol or never taken marijuana, but righy now youre all getting ansi because the pressure is on him to be suspicious even though he has no reason to doubt. Now if you want to keep doing this its not going to work. All you do is make people going to the streets to get it fromm illegal sources anyone have control over the quality of medicine and the quantity. P you can increase the problem rather than reduce it. Im surprised no one understand that. Host go back to prohibition and take that for an example and listen. Do you see opiate as a problem in the state of minnesota . I dont know. I dont overdose on it i dont take it illegally, i dont to to the streets and try to get it . Hl host tell us what the problem looks like across the state . Its significant, the numberh are quite scary. The massive increase in overdoses and opiate actual deaths. What the caller saying is right, theres a variation sometimes sometimes its legal sometimes its things like heroin that is illegal, one thing year see in the bus tour will show you is when you have a problem like this the effort is focused on what does work. Im glad he brought that up is that what youre seeingg governors try to do is say lets not get into a political debate lets just try to figure out what works and what are the factors causing the i know we had a meeting with the cdc a few months ago in which we had government healthcare officials go down to atlanta and meet and say how do we fix this problem. E it really is serious. Host will go to michael in michigan. I was surprised to hear that youre not a governor yourself. I like to know how that worked out. Host hes the ceo and executive director. They have two chairs, one republican one democratic governor. But hes not a governor himself. Now. Caller my question is how did he become ceo . With no governorship and then the other question is, how many does he belong to alec. The American Legislative Exchange council is a Membership Organization of state legislators. The governors on the executive branch sign and they do not belong to alec for that reason. The way the National GovernorsAssociation Works and has since early 1900s when theater roosevelt gathered governors together is the organization ish run by governors and then they hire someone like me to actual manage the daytoday basis the organization but whats interesting about her entity and organization is the bylaws are really careful to make sure theres a very strict bipartisan cooperation. The policies we come up with arn almost always both in which democrats and republicans and independents have weighed in. Then we come up with what we have agreed to the policy. Host pam, what are the top issues in your state of montana . Caller well, right now are on fire so are force our main issue, we have a lot of pressure from environmentalists to think that if we longer lumber we are ruining it for future generations. When in fact managing the forceg saving it for future generations burned out forces nobid. The reviews all of our wildlife while thats happening. And im glad to see the governors bullock is on the board. Asas i hope isnt sweet as much as he has been sometimes by outside influence. We have now, because of our rules and regulations from environmentalists, we have to import lumber from canada, although we have millions andw millions of acres right now that are burned up, but we have to o import lumber because we do not have enough to run our mills. We have very few mills left. Resn c talked about the wildfiresw burning, what are these f governors asking for from washington . Guest your scene an interesting activity going on. I think there is good cooperation between western governors and the interior secretary is from montana talking about how they can provide more variation in flexibility at the state level. Montana may want to regulate differently than wyoming. So theres talk about ensuring certain parameters and desired results. But giving flexibility to the state to deal with the particular problems they have and they have different types of National Phenomenon in their force that may need to be treated differently in montana than wyoming. Robert in kentucky, was the name of your time . Caller im from hazzard county. My governor in kentucky is doing a great job right now, hes basically wanting jobs to come to kentucky that pay equal to what coal mining has made and they probably made over 100,000 a year. Theres no jobs coming back to kentucky that will pay that. Our children are suffering now. When a good jobs in kentucky. Other than that its a beautiful state. To csp these are taken michael. Host check out when the cspan bus will be there. You can find it there. This idea of attracting companies to come to states,co states compute with each other for that. Guest they do. And i have to say the governor of kentucky is a great example e of the very aggressive governor saying our state is open for business, we want investment not only from u. S. Companies but worldwide companies, we want jobs in our state. E and governors compete, thats more or less how it works but i dont think thats a bad thing, then kentucky can say here are the benefits of putting your job and company my state. The governor of california can say the same. Its a fairly healthy competition. One thing im intrigued with is how cordial and friendly governors are to each other. They will often tease each other about my state is better for business, but their fairly understanding of the healthy competition that exists. Yes, in the state of missouri, ouh governor has cut over 8000 people, seniors and disabled peoples money, see you tell me how great of a governor of the state of history has. When you go after seniors and disabled people. Guest i dont know the specifics, theres so many things going on in different states. One thing that is going on now is the back and forth on the health care bill. I assume thats partly what the caller is talking about, the current programs and states to deal with health. Part of the problem is that resources are limited. In tough decisions have to be made about where to put those healthcare resources. From an optimistic standpoint i think governors are being fairly good about talking with the congress and administration about what changes can be made to make sure people are receiving coverage that is defined as necessary. Host will go to alabama. Caller i find it astounding that the governors have a nonelective here credit running the National Governors association. Out of washington, d. C. Where the swamp is. What is this character doing . Im in a call my own governor which im glad we have this lady here in alabama that has a lot of brains, i want to find out what the world were mixed up with these unelected krantz out of the swamp. Host okay, lets go on to Charlotte News in arlington, virginia. Whats on your mind . Caller im not sure what the top issue of my status but i wanted to talk about opiates and addiction, i just wanted to get back in it has to do with healthcare, he dont think thatr when opiates stop working for a person there is a lot ofuroscien research and Neuroscience Research which i cannot quote it could be looked up that says it also has to do with Mental Health. Theres a Mental Health component. Wo its often very hard, my husband works for the federal governmeni and we have federal government insurance, but its hard to get alternatives, Innovative New treatments for pain and there is a mindbody connection. Guest okay thank you. Opiate addiction, one of the top issues that governors are dealing with across the state. Thats our conversations the next minute or two. Geef another issue is tax reform. Oled and republicans, the president would like to do before the end of the year. Wall street journal this morning said that congress can increase its progrowth running room by eliminating tax loopholes. One would be repealing state and local Tax Deduction, with a 1 trillion over ten years. Host the governors definitely are talking withat members of congress and the administration about tax reform. They understand that changes that increase incentives for business to invest is important. The state and local Tax Deduction is not well understood from the standpoint that it does create money but in effect by double taxing citizens. Since the tax code started in 1913 it was understood that the states do their taxes and the federal government does theres and we dont do double taxation. The other thing i dont think is understood is to get rid of the is to actually increase the taxes of a lot of middleclass people even in places like suburban dallas, places like new york but just about any state. Without the ability for that deduction theres not only at the factored double taxation, but the taxes, particular homeowners will increase. The governors feel strongly that if you need to find revenue for other parts of the tax cut its really not the place to go. His long time understanding that in our federal system we dont get into each others taxation systems. Host you can go to nga. Org to learn more. Thank you for the conversation. Thank you. David osborne on his book reinventing american schools, creating a 21st century education system. Hes interviewed by chester, senior fellow and president emeritus of the ford institute. My argument in the book is the places around the country that have embraced charters the most systematically are the fastest improving cities in the country. So, im not saying make every school a charter, same if we look at the data and we want to do it works for kids, lets treat every Public School like a charter. We can call it something else, call it a district school, a pilot school, but lets give it the autonomy so people who run the school can make the decisions and create a model that will work for the kids they have to teach, and lets hold them accountable for their performance. If they do a great jobless let them open another school and if they do a terrible job replace them with a stronger operator. Tonight on cspan2, hearing on the Health Insurance industry capitol hill. Rex tillerson meeting with his british counterpart london. A state Department Spokeswoman outlines the latest sanctions against iran. The president of the European Commission gives the annual European Union address. Cspans washington journal, live everyday with a some policy issues that impact too. Coming up on friday morning dan bolin on the progress of congressional investigation into trumps alleged ties into russia and its involvement in the 2016 president ial election. Then a discussion on the Census Bureau report on poverty and income in the u. S. Were live in dover, delaware kicking off our cspan bus 50s capital tour will speak with the governor john carney about his priorities and how policy in washington affects estate. Watch cspans washington journal, live seven eastern on friday morning. Join the discussion on capitol hill, the senate house education and labor pension held its fourth hearing during the hearing lawmakers heard from physicians working in the industry about efforts to stabilize the markets. This is about two and half hours. Were hearing are fourth