By: Elizabeth Tansing, Senior Director, State Government Affairs

With the exception of a handful of states, the governors have laid out their 2019 agendas at the feet of the people and into the hands of their legislature. And almost every governor hit on what I call the “big four” -  education, healthcare, infrastructure and opioid funding. 

Education

In Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam (D) said his administration is working with the Virginia Community College System to reframe their programming so students can get the skills they need for 21st Century jobs. In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds (R) said “to encourage education and training beyond high school, Fareway has started a program to help employees pay down their student debt,” and in Utah, Gary Herbert (R) said he has set an ambitious five-year goal to invest an additional $1 billion in new ongoing revenue into public education, and $275 million in new ongoing revenue into post-secondary education by the year 2021.

Healthcare

Montana’s Democrat Governor, Steve Bullock, said in states that didn’t expand Medicaid, rural hospitals have been closing at a rate six times greater than those that did. He said, “We haven’t lost one, and uncompensated care is down 50 percent statewide.” He went on to say that nearly 18,000 Montana businesses had one or more of their employees enrolled in Medicaid expansion in 2017, but without removing the sunset on Medicaid expansion, “kiss those gains goodbye.”

Oklahoma’s GOP Governor, Kevin Stitt, said, “While Medicaid expansion currently stops at a 90 percent federal match, we cannot assume that it will remain this high forever. The estimated $150 million price tag today for Oklahoma to expand Medicaid could leave us down the road fronting more than $1 billion when the federal government pulls back on its commitment. They’ve done it before and they will do it again. Medicaid is the fastest growing expense in our state budget, and before we commit our state to accepting even more Medicaid dollars, Oklahomans deserve accountability and transparency with our state’s management of the Healthcare Authority.”

Infrastructure

Governors addressed “infrastructure” in a variety of ways. In California, Governor Gavin Newsome (D) asked for “a portfolio approach to building water infrastructure and meeting long-term demand.” He said that more than a million Californians wake up without clean water to bathe in or drink, and some schools have shut down drinking fountains due to contamination. Newsome said there are “literally hundreds of water systems across the state contaminated by lead, arsenic or uranium” and that solving this crisis demands sustained funding. 

In Connecticut, Ned Lamont (D) spoke on a subject any commuter will lament – traffic congestion. He said, “I want the following to be a reality: 30 minutes from Hartford to New Haven; 30 minutes from New Haven to Stamford; and 30 minutes from Stamford to Manhattan with spurs to New London and Waterbury. This isn’t a pipedream, this is a necessity: a modern infrastructure by rail, road, air and water – to unlock the full economic potential of our beautiful state.” And from Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer (D), “Share your stories about what the infrastructure crisis means to your families. Take a picture of your damaged car or repair bill and post it with the hashtag #FTDR. Michigan businesses: Quantify how it’s impacting your bottom lines and share it with us using #FTDR.”

Opioid/Meth Funding and Border Security

While all states asked for continued or increased opioid funding (New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) asked for a whopping “$200 million in fighting the scourge of the opioid crisis”), only South Dakota’s Kristi Noem (R) mentioned methamphetamine: “In 2011, there were 402 meth arrests in South Dakota. Look ahead seven years to 2018. We have gone from 402 arrests to 3,366 – and that doesn’t even include December of 2018. The amount of meth seized in these arrests has increased from approximately 4,300 grams to nearly 40,000 grams.” She goes on to say that “the vast majority of this meth is coming from Mexico. Our meth epidemic is the price we are paying for our nation’s failure to adequately secure our southern border.” 

Texas’ Greg Abbott (R) also addressed the border: “I know we’ve long waited for the day when Texas would not have to provide funding to secure our border. And yet, the Federal Government still has not fulfilled its responsibility. As a result, I am once again asking that Texas step up and fully fund our border security program.”

Broadband, Cannabis and Housing

New issues for Governor’s speeches this year were broadband access, cannabis and housing. Twelve governors called for funding for broadband access. Among them, Missouri’s Governor Michael Parson (R) asked for $5 million to help every Missourian have access to high-speed broadband internet. In Colorado, Jared Polis (D) said he is eager to work with legislators to cut red tape that forces communities to go through costly and lengthy elections to build out their own broadband infrastructure. 

Illinois, New Jersey and New York governors called on the legalization of adult-use cannabis while New Mexico and Nevada governors called for compliance boards to oversee cannabis. Virginia’s governor proposed to decriminalize simple possession of marijuana. Some thirteen governors called for affordable housing. South Dakota’s Kristi Noem (R) said she will have the state prison in Springfield build modular unit homes for sale to communities of5,000 people or fewer, which covers a good part of the state. 

Labor and Taxes

While Mississippi Governor Bryant spent his speech time reflecting on his seven years of accomplishments with his legislature (unemployment is significantly down; Amazon’s new fulfillment center that will employ 850) other governors spoke on the taxes and labor shifts they plan to implement on business. 

According to South Dakota’s Governor Kristi Noem (R), in lauding her state’s fiscal soundness, she remarked, “Illinois is forecasting a $1.2 billion annual deficit and their pensions are only 40% funded. Connecticut’s economy has been shrinking for a decade and their revenue growth has stalled out. New Jersey has yearly budget deficits as far as the eye can see.” 

Indeed, first time governor Ned Lamont (D) of Connecticut, called for paid family leave, a $15 dollar minimum wage, a 1.5 cents per ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, a new tax on e- cigarette liquids, a 10-cent surcharge on plastic bags and new deposits on wine and liquor bottles, all aimed at closing the state’s $2 billion budget deficit. New Jersey’s Gov. Phil Murphy (D) proclaimed, “Let’s start 2019 by finishing what we began in 2018 - putting the minimum wage on a clear and responsible path to $15 an hour.” Governor Murphy also bemoaned the $8 billion in corporate tax breaks given away in the last seven years and the more than $11 billion awarded over the past 13 years to lure companies to come to, or stay in, New Jersey. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) said that “the current minimum wage is a lifetime sentence to poverty.” (On February 19, the governor signed SB 1, making Illinois the first state in the Midwest to phase in a $15 minimum wage over the next six years.)

Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis (D) said, “It's time to cap the vendor fee, which is a giveaway to the largest and most profitable retailers in the nation, and use the savings to lower rates, which will benefit small businesses and millions of working Coloradans.” 

Ending on a Patriotic Note

While the governors’ speeches all flowed in typical form – thanking or bemoaning their predecessors; citing accomplishments while sprinkling in personal examples of constituents with hardships or successes; and laying out their plans for future progress, one governor stands alone in his patriotism. Utah ‘s Governor Gary Herbert (R) told his crowd, “What we see in Venezuela should remind us that tyranny and poverty follow economic systems where the state controls production, where bureaucrats allocate resources and where government picks the winners and the losers.” He goes on to say that he supports pending legislation that includes instruction “on the core economic principles that have given us our freedom and our prosperity” in Utah’s required financial literacy course. 

FMI has produced a state-by-state compilation of the highlights of each governor’s State-of-the-State address and it can be found here. This document is a supplement to the FMI “50 State Outlook,” which is available here.