Between the two countries. Its our next live event here on cspan3. Here are some of our featured programs this weekend. Up next, governors give the National Governorss associations address. This is just over an hour. Thank you and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming to the Third Annual NationalGovernors State of the states address. Its going to be a tough one. Must be the snow. It is my privilege to serve as the governor of colorado and as the chair of the nga. Joining me today is my good friend and vice chair and governor of utah, gary herbert. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the chief of the National Guard bureau who is here with us today, general frank grass who is a member of the joint chiefs of staff. We are welcoming many new colleagues this year as governors. Already four new governors have been sworn in, alaska, arizona, hawaii and the virgins islands. As of today, governor ramundo will be the first female of rhode island. Another seven new governors will take the oath of office. Many of these colleagues are relatively new to politics. They entered the realm of elected office after many successful years in the private sector. Tom wolf, the governor elect of pennsylvania, spent years running a Family Business specializing in kitchen cabinets. Arizonas new governor was the states treasurer. Governor ramondo didnt step into office until four years ago. She was her states treasurer. I before that, she launched one of Rhode IslandsFirst Venture capital firms. For the last three decades, governor elect of maryland, has a entrepreneur running the Real Estate Company he founded decades ago. Pete Richards Will take over thursday. He held several leadership positions in his familys business, including president and coo of the business that eventually came to be known as ameritrade. These are a few of the new governors who come to Public Service after years in the private sector. The new perspectives will be of great benefit to the country. Public service and political experience is critical to creating an effective government. But so is private sector experience. Knowing what its like to take a risk and start a business. Having had to meet a payroll and not only keep the lights on but turn a profit and succeed. This experience can help State Governments empathize with the Business Community and with its employees. All of which helps cultivate responsible Economic Growth. Today marks the swearing in of the 114th congress and our colleague mike brown of south dakota. Mike joins nine other former governors who realize that having been a governor will help make them a better senator. I tell you all of this because we have a clean slate, a fresh start. As the house and senate and the administration put their agendas together, we are asking them to look to the states. Gridlock too often may be the norm here in washington, d. C. , but that does not hold true in the states. Later this afternoon, governor herbert and i along with others will meet with the president to talk about the upcoming year and areas of mutual concern and interest. Identifying challenges and finding solutions that work for everyone are the hallmarks of the state capitals. Its the hallmarks of successful Business Leaders. We have demonstrated we can Work Together to solve our nations most pressing problems. Indeed, this is as it should be. As our Founding Fathers intended states to function as laboratories of democracy. I would like to highlight a few of the things happening in states and how we are delivering results for the people of our states. Then governor herbert will outline how the federal government can partner with us going forward. Lets start with education. Every governor i know wants to be the education governor. Research has shown that to have a strong competitive education system, Early Learning needs to come first. Already most states have invested more state dollars in early care on education. Those states are creating policies to increase the likelihood that money is spent on high quality learning opportunities. Governor malloy has led efforts in connecticut to expand early care and education. Make sure those opportunities are rampant. Last year he established a new office of Early Childhood to build a cohesive high quality system of care and education for Young Children in his state. He also worked with the legislature to expand the voluntary preschool program. States are elevating the quality of their education by raising their expectations of students and moving the quality of the assessments used to measure students progress. With testing, its about quality not quantity. When done well, students are better prepared for postsecondary education, avoid remedial classes and are on a path to obtaining a certificate or degree to enter the work force and ultimately the middle class. Ensuring students leave High School Ready for college or a career is a top priority for governors everywhere. Governor haslem has led tennessee with this approach, producing largest gains in student achievement over the last four years. As states set higher standards, what students learn and how they will learn will not change much unless we improve the quality of teaching and leadership within all our schools. States are revamping the preparation of teachers and principals and are changing how educators are evaluated. We passed legislation to elevate the quality of our teachers and our principals. Today teachers and principals are evaluated according to a system based on rigorous standards. They receive feedback based on multiple observations of their practice as well as their contribution to student learning. Along with this feedback, teachers and principals are given the necessary professional Development Opportunities to improve their performance. As we all know, education is not stopped in the classroom. It continues throughout their careers. The work force is constantly evolving and learning which is absolutely necessary which is absolutely necessary in our modern economy. Where we can create opportunities, that means well paying jobs. And well paying jobs mean upward mobility. Economic growth and job creation depend on a well educated and well trained work force. There is a growing recognition that the United States will benefit from more advanced on the job training opportunities to develop a skilled work force for businesses and for for businesses and for well paying careers for workers. Thats one reason states have focused on creating apprenticeships. Main street montana elevates the role of apprenticeship as a Work Force Solution for the states key industries. Several states are offering tax credits to employers who hire apprentices. Others are offering tuition benefits and reimbursements when workers take relevant courses. Some states provide support to statewide and regional agencies to help businesses develop apprenticeship models. This year, the iowa apprenticeship and job training act tripled apprenticeship funding to over 3 million to support classroombased instruction for apprentices in high demand sectors. Governor herberts commitment to aligning the workforce Training System with the needs of the employers in the state is paying great dividends. Utahs Unemployment Rate is one of the very best in the nation. His support for reforms that emphasize science, technology, engineering and math, the socalled stem careers, its helping utah realize its goal of 66 of all adults obtaining a degree or postsecondary certificate by the year 2020. Also preparing todays students for a modern Technology Driven economy. We governors are occasionally competitive. But its good having one governor standing out so it pushes the rest of it. We also must look to the at the talent pool when creating Economic Development strategies. Among that pool of talent are our returning veterans. After returning from armed forces, many veterans find that they cannot transfer easily their skills to a civilian job without the additional burden without the added burden of additional certificates or licenses. Because of this, 20 states have enacted legislation just in the past year to assist veterans and their spouses in transferring and obtaining occupational licenses. Six states, illinois, iowa, minnesota, nevada, virginia and wisconsin, are participating in a project to ease veterans transition to ease the transition from military service to civilian employment by accelerating the occupational licensing process. In minnesota, the governor signed legislation reducing the number of years of military experience necessary to take the Police Officer reciprocity exam. In wisconsin, the governor created an accelerated program that bridges the gap between military training and civilian credentials, especially in nursing and healthcare. In every state, education and healthcare are the top two expenditures. All states continue to focus on improving healthcare, raising quality and containing costs. Increasingly, governors are aligning economic incentives across public and private payers moving away from traditional fee for Service Models and toward value and quality. Many governors are starting the transformation with medicaid. For example, governor bentley proposed a demonstration waiver in alabama to implement regional Care Organizations to provide care to almost all of the medicaid beneficiaries within the next few years. In washington, they have a demonstration waiver proposal to support state wide healthcare transformation by consolidating siloed federal Funding Sources and maximizing their value. For its part, nga is working with governors to create a medicaid transformation framework to include agreement in concept with the federal government around common statewide transformation themes. Thats flexible federalism. Oregon transformed its Medicaid Program by delivering the state dividing the state into 15 regional coordinated Care Organizations that emphasize prevention and chronic disease treatment, to reduce the need for emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Arkansas has implemented a novel system of bundle payments for select procedures and conditions. These payments cover the entirety of services needed. Physician, hospital, pharmaceutical, post care, post acute care for each episode of treatment thereby establishing incentives for the most efficient care. Governors are leading the way in proving the health of the people in their state by focusing the wellness of the whole person and optimizing individual health outcomes. A key aspect of these efforts includes integrating medical and Behavioral Healthcare systems. Missouri is a pioneer in this effort. The governor places a premium on evidentbased practices for people with the most serious needs. The missouri model shows promising evidence of significant reductions in hospitalizations and improved outcomes for serious chronic conditions such as diabetes, high Blood Pressure and cholesterol. As states strive towards high quality and more efficient healthcare, governors are also developing an accessible welltrained and flexible Healthcare Work force to meet both the current need and that of a transformed Healthcare Delivery system. Many states report provider shortages across diverse practice areas, including adult primary care, oral health, Behavioral Health and a range of other specialties. More over, Delivery System efforts are creating new nudes that are significantly changing the composition of the Healthcare Work force. Along with how individual providers are expected to practice. Governors are carrying out a number of efforts to support that new health work force, including a a dressing scope of practice restrictions, creating incentives for providers to practice in rural and under served areas, partnering with Economic Development and labor agencies to collect Work Force Data and funding education and Training Programs to recruit, retain new types of professionals. In maryland, they established a Loan Repayment Program funded by both public and private stakeholders which including an Advisory Counsel that scores potential applicants according to the likelihood they will continue serving under serve once their term ends. In North Carolina, they created a program linking Emergency Rooms to Behavioral Health providers who are able to initiate treatment through video conferencing. Even with the gridlock in washington, governors are using their authority to effectively improve the quality of healthcare for the people of their states. Education and healthcare are top of mind for all governors, we also are focused on infrastructure. The roads, rail, waterways, the runways, Broadband Networks and power grids needed to accelerate Economic Growth and job creation. Governors know that you cant build a competitive economy without the Foundation Provided by modernized infrastructure. To be frank, too little federal investment in infrastructure is handicapping u. S. Business. What was new 65 years ago now has to be either rebuilt or repaired. In response, states are increasing their funding. Fiscal year 2014, transportation spending grew by more than 4 with state funds increasing more than 10 at the same time that federal funding were declining by more than 1 . In order to bridge that gap, states have turned to creative Funding Sources and innovative ways to help their dollars go further. One approach that has been made sense in many states is creating new Public Private partnerships that Leverage Private sector financing and expertise to deliver new public roads, bridges, ports and tunnels at a lower cost and more quickly. We have had success in colorado with the Public Private partnership transit project that opened last fall. Theres a new road project under way. Our state along with maryland, illinois and North Carolina held retreats with the help of the nga to think through these new opportunities. Including how to identify the savings and structure for these projects so that they can really work. Energy policy is another area where governors have been leading the charge. Governors have been crafting state energy plans and developing a variety of policies thanks to technological advances including increased production from horizontal drilling, the past few years have seen a reversal in the decline in the Domestic Production of crude oil. In september, monthly production was back up to 256 Million Barrels on par with its peek in 1996. A far more importantly a far cry from the low point of september 2005 when it was less than half that amount. We expect to see continued high levels of production for some time to come, even with the drop in oil prices that is part of the is in part a consequence of more production in the United States. Theres a similar story to be told about Natural Gas Development where production saw ten straight months of growth from february to november of this past year. Reaching 67. 9 billion cubic feet per day on average. As such, the United States now leads the world in natural gas production. These increased have lowered cost, increased reliability, enhanced Energy Security and furthered Economic Development. Lower energy costs have added 500 to 1,000 annually to Household Budgets across the United States. Much of this new production is from shale in oil and gas. Meanwhile, states are working to ensure that they are managing the development of this new shale energy. In colorado, we created rules to eliminate methane and processes along with a number of other rules that protect water and land resources. Governors are working to ensure that development is done safely and responsibly so that we can all use natural gas to heat our homes, to generate electricity, to fuel our vehicles in a way that lowers emissions and increases the diversity of our energy supply. From the 21st century production, lets jump now to 21st century threats. Like not enough water. Thats not in the script. The continued growth and sophistication of Cyber Attacks against the United States<