Statement of Governor Warner on the 2003 Virginia General Assembly Session
At-a-glance summary of the Warner 2003 Agenda
Statement of Governor Warner on the 2003 Virginia General Assembly Session
Good Afternoon.
When I delivered the State of the Commonwealth Address a little more than seven weeks ago, I challenged the General Assembly to seize this unique moment in Virginia's history to reform state government and to make Virginia more competitive in the 21st century.
As I said then, during good times elected officials have the luxury of choosing between popular programs. In tough times like we face now, we must make different choices. And those choices are plainly more difficult.
We have to prioritize, achieve new and greater savings, and apply the principles of business to the business of government.
To that end, we proposed to the General Assembly a comprehensive reform agenda. We submitted a balanced budget that continued the difficult work of closing a $6 billion shortfall in the current year. Our budget was built on our core priorities of education, public safety, and maintaining the safety net.
We insisted that the legislature not turn to the Virginia Retirement System to balance this budget, and they did not.
I am pleased that bipartisanship has guided our efforts to balance the budget, and that Virginia's Triple A bond rating was reaffirmed earlier this year. The basic framework of the budget I proposed on December 20th of last year remains intact.
We have been determined throughout this process - and we are determined now - not to return to the mistakes of the past, when politics and short-term thinking guided the budget process and helped create the shortfall we now struggle to close.
Today, I am very pleased that we have achieved most of what we set out to do in the State of the Commonwealth Address.
I am particularly pleased with the success of our reform agenda, which has - with just a few exceptions - passed in its entirety. The reforms we have achieved -- in areas like mental health, information technology, highway safety, water policy, transportation, the budget, veterans services, homeland security, and workforce training -- will make state government more efficient and improve the quality of life for all Virginians. Because of the reforms we have achieved:
We will bring new hope to those who suffer from mental illness. Our reinvestment initiative will take millions from institutional care and redirect it to community-based care, where it does the most good. This will make a real difference in the lives of many Virginians and their families. For decades, mental health professionals have been saying that treating the patient in the community is usually the most appropriate form of treatment. For decades, people have been saying that the money should follow the patient or client. This budget takes the first concrete step toward making it happen.
We will forge new partnerships with communities all across Virginia to address our critical water supply needs. As I have said often, too many families in Virginia lack access to safe, potable drinking water. Our water policy reforms are a first step toward addressing this longstanding inequity. They will require the Department of Environmental Quality to work as a partner with local governments and other interested parties to develop regional water supply plans and a state water supply plan. Our reforms will streamline review of water treatment and will consolidate pollution reporting. We will also generate more money for drinking water by better coordinating management of our two water funds.
We will now streamline and consolidate Virginia's existing Information Technology programs, which are fragmented and spread across numerous agencies of state government. By bringing order to this $450 million enterprise, we will save millions of dollars annually and deliver improved services to our people.
We will streamline Virginia's existing services to the Commonwealth's 780,000 veterans and their families. These reforms will create a Commissioner of Veterans Services and consolidate veterans' services into a single agency. These reforms were endorsed strongly by Virginia's veterans service organizations.
We will continue the vital work of reforming VDOT. Legislation enacted by this General Assembly session requires detailed, transparent financial plans for all major transportation projects in Virginia, and there will now be quarterly reports on the status of major highway projects; a new congestion relief program; a rural rustic roads program; new financial controls for the CTB and a closer link between our transportation agencies and local governments in the development of comprehensive plans.
We will add new tools in the fight for highway safety. Families in Virginia will be safer on our highways because this General Assembly enacted our bills to enhance penalties for driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and to automatically revoke the license of any juvenile who drinks and drives. We will also improve highway safety because of the passage of our bill to create special transportation safety corridors on portions of highways where the incidence of traffic accidents is unusually high.
We have enjoyed success in other areas as well.
The General Assembly approved our package of reforms in the area of workforce training and development. In these tough economic times, there are very few things we do that are more important than helping our people find and keep good jobs. Too often our policies have failed to reflect this. Well-intentioned programs are spread across different agencies. Resources are wasted. And the training programs themselves don't reflect the real needs in the job market.
Our workforce development reforms will change this. They consolidate existing programs, emphasize incumbent worker training, and streamline Virginia's workforce council.
And finally, we achieved some truly meaningful reforms in the way we develop budgets and manage Virginia's fiscal affairs. These reforms are crucial to our continuing efforts to restore the public trust, and I am pleased that the General Assembly approved the bulk of our budget reforms.
Now while I am pleased by these achievements, clear challenges remain.
The General Assembly failed to pass a constitutional amendment providing for two-term governors beginning in 2005, and they rejected our primary seatbelt bill only after it had been approved a day earlier.
More important, I am concerned that in its consideration of the budget, the General Assembly has reverted to the some of the same mistakes that created our fiscal crisis in the first place.
Like all of the members of the General Assembly, we will be reviewing the details of the conference report as quickly as possible. I also had a meeting earlier with the conferees and we discussed the agreement in broad terms.
But from what we do know, I am concerned that the serious objections that I expressed last Friday have not been adequately addressed.
In particular, I fear that the conference report on the budget will contain too many inflated revenue estimates and too many new spending commitments whose costs explode in the future. This is particularly true with respect to the pay raise for our public employees and teachers.
It would be a cruel political trick to raise the hopes of these employees for a pay raise when the only way we can fund it is based on overly optimistic revenue assumptions. Businesses don't operate that way, families don't handle their budgets that way, and neither should state government. I talked to hundreds - if not thousands of state employees this year - and I am convinced they want straight talk from this government, and not a bunch of new promises that we may not be able to keep.
The budget proposed many new commitments hoping that revenue growth will be sufficient to pay for them. It's like writing a check today that has to be cashed in the next budget.
Finally, it's extremely disappointing that this session of the General Assembly decided to make its signature issue the repeal of the estate tax. At a time when we're asking young people to pay hundreds of dollars more in tuition . . . when the poor and elderly are having important social services curtailed . . . when we are reducing the hours at parks, museums, DMVs and other state facilities . . . and at a time when we have failed to complete car tax relief or food tax relief, the General Assembly has elected to give a new tax break to the wealthiest Virginians.
They are wrong.
During the coming weeks, we will review these budget items and make changes that are consistent with the simple principles of fiscal discipline that I set forth when I took office. And I am confident that we will be able to resolve these issues in a way that meets the high expectations of the people of Virginia.
Governor of Virginia - Mark R. Warner
Copyright 2003