Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140201 :

CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings February 1, 2014

Applause ] [[ applause ] welcome governor martinez. We are pleased to have you here. Good afternoon. Lieutenant governor; Senate President pro tempore; mr. Speaker; democratic and republican leaders; esteemed members of the new mexico legislature; honorable members of the judiciary; former new mexico governors; tribal governors; senator udall; representative lujangrisham; representative lujan; distinguished guests; the states first gentleman, my husband, chuck franco; my stepson, carlo; my dear sister, lettie martinez; and, my fellow new mexicans. It is an honor to join you for the annual state of the state address and open this legislative session, where i believe our focus must be on two of the most pressing issues jobs and education. [ applause ] but first, lets turn our thoughts to the community of roswell. As we recall last weeks Tragic School shooting, lets pray for nathaniel, whos struggling with serious injuries, and for his parents, who are showing such strength. And when i saw kendal last week, after having been through such horror she was in great pain but couldnt wait to see her best friend, set to arrive at the hospital any minute. The parents, teachers, and Community Members pulled together and turned to faith over fear. I have some very special guests with me today john masterson, the soccer coach and social studies teacher, whom we have come to know as a true hero. When hundreds of kids needed someones help, his courage was on display in that gymnasium, and his humility has been on display since. Kevin hayes, a security guard, provided help and care to nathaniel despite having been injured himself in the shooting. No human being is gifted with the knowledge of why such tragedy occurs. But, we are thankful that in the face of it, people like both of you display the courage required to help all of us get through. Thank you both so very much. [ applause ] today, i am proud to report that the fiscal position of State Government remains strong and steady. By working together over the past three years, not only did we close the largest structural deficit in state history, we are looking at our Third Straight year of budget surpluses. [ applause ] weve doubled the size of our state savings account, and we did it all without raising taxes. [ applause ] republicans and democrats can be proud of our firm fiscal footing. It is a far cry from where we were just three years ago. We completely overhauled a nearbankrupt Unemployment Insurance system. We reformed our state pension funds, resolving a 12 billion dollar shortfall while ensuring that state workers, police officers, teachers, and others will have the retirement support they deserve. Education spending now exceeds prerecession levels, with more accountability. Not only have we not raised taxes on families and businesses, we have cut taxes 19 different times. Less than one year ago, in a display of tremendous bipartisanship, we passed the most significant tax reform in a generation and sent the loudest message yet that new mexico is striving to be a businessfriendly state. That message is critically important in a global economy. We all know that businesses have choices, and they will locate and grow where they are treated fairly. In 2011, ernst and young rated us third worst in our region for manufacturing. After our tax reforms, they came with another ranking just last week. Now, new mexico is the best in the west. But, more than words of praise, our reforms have helped create and protect jobs. Look at the Economic Development along the border. By eliminating the tax on locomotive fuel early on, Union Pacific came to new mexico. Then we eliminated the double and triple taxation of many goods and services. Last session, we reduced the business tax rate to make us more competitive with our neighbors and to encourage manufacturing. Southwest steel coil, from california, has added nearly 40 jobs in new mexico, citing these reforms. Omega trucking, a woman and minorityowned business, also added more jobs. That area developed because we first made our state competitive with texas, and attracted Union Pacific. Then, last session, we made new mexico more competitive with our other neighbors. When we talk about our tax reforms, some only think of large corporations. Dont get me wrong, we want those jobs too, but our tax reforms are critical across the board to businesses large and small. Let me give you an example. Sparkle maintenance is a janitorial business. It was started 50 years ago in new mexico around a kitchen table, the way so many Small Businesses start. Today, it employs 400 workers. One of the owners, carlo lucero, recently approached secretary barela. He praised the states tax reforms because his customers the companies he contracts with have told him that our tax reforms have kept them in new mexico. I asked carlo to join us today, and a very special lady. Carlos mother, eleanor, cofounded the company with her husband around that kitchen table. I wanted to recognize them, so we all remember the impact our reforms have on local Small Businesses. Congratulations on all that your Family Business has achieved. Were doing better fighting the headwinds from washington, but im the first to say that we have a lot of work left to do. Being able to compete is not a destination, its a process. Washington remains a mess. The federal government remains deeply in debt, forcing federal budget cuts. Partisanship still rules the day, and the National Economy is sluggish. We cannot bank on that changing, we cannot bank on that changing, not anytime soon. We can, and we should, fight to protect the important work done by our labs and bases, but we should fight equally hard for a more diverse economy. Seize upon the uniqueness of our seize upon the uniqueness of our state, the diversity of our people, our resources, and our backgrounds, to grow the private sector in every corner of new mexico. Diversity its what sets us apart from every other state in the nation, and our economy should be no different. Our charge this session is to build an economy as diverse as the state we are proud to call home. Growing a diverse economy starts by helping Small Businesses, the momandpop shops. Thats why we created the office of business advocacy to help Small Businesses cut through the red tape. It has now helped save or create over 2,000 new mexico jobs in all sorts of Different Industries and in towns large and small. We invested in the mainstreet program, helping 100 Small Businesses get off the ground, and putting over 500 new mexicans to work. We invested over 2 million around the state to help Rural Industrial centers with infrastructure costs. Just look in las vegas at two Small Businesses one is a Meat Processing facility called martinez and sons. It is a familyowned business that our program helped grow. We also helped intergalactica, a bakery, expand with a small capital grant. These Small Businesses might not seem like a big deal to some, but they matter to that community. And, they matter to our economy, because 64 percent of new jobs are created by Small Businesses. We must build on these efforts not worry about whether they are democrat ideas or republican ideas. Thats why i support democratic Senate President Mary Kay Papens bill to create an online onestop shop, a Central Location for Small Businesses where they can get permits and other assistance. There is more help we can provide. Companies large and small must have access to a skilled workforce. That is why i am proposing that we make the Job Training Incentive Program permanent, so we can better partner with businesses hiring new workers, [ applause ] paying a large portion of their salaries while being trained. In the last year, we have also announced 10 new Early College high schools. By their nature, these schools are designed to produce employable workers High School Students, who intern with local businesses, graduate with a diploma, jobready certificates, and an associates degree. For those who want to go to college theyre only two years away from a degree. But college isnt for everyone. For those who want to go to work instead, theyre ready and they already know the local industries. So lets fund a second round of Early College high schools to create a workforce for local Small Businesses. Thats what supporting a diverse economy is all about. Starting a business and creating jobs involves risk. Successful economies embrace new ideas and encourage risktakers. New mexico should be a Technology Jobs leader, a haven for innovation, a place where the best and brightest come to bring their products to the market. Heres how i propose we do it. To increase the pipeline of innovation, 7. 5 million to help our universities attract the best professors and researchers in the world. Two Million Dollars so universities and labs can take their groundbreaking projects to the marketplace. Expand the Angel Investment credit to help startups get the capital they need to get off the ground. Provide greater incentives for every new Technology Job created in new mexico. This plan will help make new mexico a Technology Jobs leader. In addition to helping startups, now is the time to create new jobs within our Health Care Industry diverse jobs of all types, in urban and rural areas. We can hire more workers and improve access to Quality Health care for more new mexicans. I wasnt a supporter of obamacare. But under its mandate we had a choice whether to expand medicaid using federal funds. We chose to expand medicaid because it was the right thing to do for new mexico. [ applause ] now, we have a responsibility and duty to expand our primary Care Workforce to meet these new demands. Today, in 32 of 33 counties, we dont have enough Health Care Workers, and thats before we attempt to add up to 205,000 more people to medicaid. We have taken some strong first steps toward creating more jobs in the Health Care Industry, like training and educating more nurses by instituting a common statewide nursing curriculum. Credits will transfer seamlessly between every college or university, and students can now earn bachelors level nursing degrees in their own community. Thank you to the Nursing Consortium represented today by debra brady, jenny landen, nisa bruce, and terry keller. More nurses in rural areas. You helped make it happen. [ applause ] im also proposing aggressive initiatives to increase the number of primary care providers of all types all over new mexico. Well help repay Student Loans doubling our commitment, particularly for those who agree to serve in rural areas. This will create up to 720 new Health Care Workers this decade nurses, dentists, physicians, and others, in areas that are too often underserved. Expand telemedicine, connecting ruralarea providers and patients with a physician or specialist. Train more doctors and Nurse Practitioners here at home. Cut the red tape to attract more Nurse Practitioners. Under this plan, any Nurse Practitioner in the country who wants to come to new mexico will be licensed and ready to provide Quality Health care in five days Quality Health care in five days or less. You see, building a health Care Workforce is about embracing the uniqueness of our state and hiring the right kind of practitioners to meet the diverse needs of each of our communities. Just as a strong workforce is the lifeblood of an economy, infrastructure serves as an economys foundation. Sadly, new mexicos Water Infrastructure is in a state of crisis. As governor, i have seen firsthand the effects of our devastating drought. Water supplies have run dry in towns like magdalena. Weve seen the onetwo punch of wildfires, followed by floods, destroying watersheds and threatening communities. We cannot control the duration or intensity of the drought we face. But we can control our response to it. If we invest in Water Infrastructure in a way that benefits each of our unique local economies, we will not only create jobs in the shortrun, but also set the stage for longterm Economic Growth. Weve seen it work. The border area is growing dramatically, in part, because we invested in Water Infrastructure and allowed santa teresa to serve more businesses. Now their Industrial Park is booming. Building and repairing our Water Infrastructure has never been more important. Everyone agrees on this. Thats why im asking that we invest 60 percent of our capital dollars on critical water projects throughout new mexico. These capital dollars are not my dollars, or the legislatures dollars. These tax dollars belong to the people of new mexico, and they should be invested where they need help the most. Water projects should be on the top of the list. [ applause ] but ive been clear from day one the most significant way to improve our economy in the longrun is improving education, ensuring children can read at an early age and that they graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed in life. I havent been shy about investing in education. Education spending is now above prerecession levels, the highest in state history. My budget calls for 100 million more. But money alone isnt the answer. We should expect a return on our education dollars, and that return should be student achievement our kids reading at a higher level, our students graduating at a higher rate. [ applause ] money should go directly to supporting struggling students, increasing parental involvement, developing and rewarding successful teachers, and turning failing schools around not simply funneling all of our education dollars toward the bureaucracy. It begins with making sure that every child is able to learn to read. We doubled funding for prek, went from serving 4,600 students to almost 8,000. I am proposing another expansion this year. [ applause ] weve expanded k3 plus and made it permanent, giving 11,000 struggling kids extra help over the summer. Under my budget, we would spend 15. 5 million on the tools our teachers need to identify struggling readers early on, and get them help to bring them up to speed. The interventions are in place. What isnt in place is a law essentially saying that we refuse to set our children up for failure in school and in life. Every new mexico 3rd grader who cant read and gets passed along anyway is four times more likely to drop out. Thats not an opinion; its a fact. Those who dropout are more prone to end up on the wrong side of the law, struggle to find work, and have a hard time providing for a family. We shouldnt set kids up for a future like that. Kids need help early on, in kindergarten, first and second grades. Were giving them that help right now. But if a child cant read by the end of the third grade, its far more compassionate to give them an extra year of help to catch up [ applause ] rather than simply passing them on and setting them up for limited opportunities in life. New mexicans know the right choice, and members of both parties in this legislature have embraced the right approach before. Lets not play games. Lets finally end social promotion and ensure that every new mexico child can be read by the end of the third grade. [ applause ] getting money directly into the classroom also means providing our schools with updated textbooks. Everywhere i travel, i hear about it. Under my budget, we increase funding for kids textbooks by 9 million a 43 percent increase. [ applause ] teachers throughout the state also pull me aside and talk to me about the importance of parents being more involved and engaged in their students education. I couldnt agree more. A lot of parents want to be better partners, but may not know how. Some parents need help. Thats why weve trained over 5,000 parents in fun, evening workshops at schools across the state. Theyre called readers raise the roof; its where we teach parents how to teach their kids to read. Its why last summer we encouraged our kids to take part in reading challenges all over the state. Its why we give every first grader a reading book of their own to take home and read with their family, because we need to encourage parental involvement. And its why im proposing the expansion of parent portals websites where parents are able to monitor their childs homework, grades, and attendance on a daily basis. It improves Parent Teacher communication. Its easier for a mom to ask her child, do you have homework . And already know the answer. Or, i hear youre having a hard time in math let me see if i can help. Beyond increasing parental involvement, we can do even more to support and champion teachers in

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