Tuesday, January 16, 2007

State of the State

Here is a link to Governor Barbour's State of the State address from last night. While not legal persay it gives a good indication of upcoming veto's and legislative pushes from the governor's office and Mississppi Republicans in general.

Think of it what you will, if someone wants to talk about a specific part of it post a comment and we can run with it.

1 comment:

B Squared said...

After I got done posting it my email delivered me the official GOP State of the State Talking points. Here they are:

2007 State of the State Talking Points

* The people of Mississippi have benefited from Governor Barbour's leadership and his experience working with the federal government. Governor Barbour provided a comprehensive update of the state's recovery and renewal efforts post-Katrina. New, innovative programs are being created and implemented to assist disaster victims and unprecedented federal support is helping the state recover.
* Governor Barbour cited many areas where he and the Legislature have worked well together to improve the lives of Mississippians - because of the most comprehensive tort reform law in the country, the health care crisis caused by lawsuit abuse is over; we have dug out of a $720 million budget hole without raising taxes by getting control of spending; we have increased support for reformed workforce training programs; and we have modernized our economic development incentives. More people are working than when Governor Barbour took office three years ago and they are earning more money.
* Governor Barbour outlined a clear agenda for the 2007 legislative session: a balanced budget that rebuilds our rainy day fund and focuses on increased support for all levels of education.
* We must not dip into or divert any money away from our rainy day fund. We should rebuild our state's savings account in preparation for when the post-Katrina building boom or national economy slows down.
* Once we have the most up-to-date revenue projections in March, we can develop a complete state budget at that time. The Governor expects that with its reduced price tag, we can afford to fully fund MAEP and support our teachers. We can give state employees another pay raise. We can give increases to higher education and law enforcement. However, we can't do everything everybody wants to do. We can have strong, stable funding for our priorities, but only if we are prudent about spending overall.
* Governor Barbour continued his focus on fighting crime by focusing on putting armed convicted felons behind bars and significantly increasing the number of narcotics agents. Under Governor Barbour and this Legislature's leadership, the state has had a renewed focus in fighting drug crime.
* Governor Barbour was right to focus on the need to reform the state-sponsored wind pool. There are steps the Legislature can take to enact long-term reforms which will protect the availability of affordable insurance from the Coast to the Tennessee state line.

If you find stuff like this interesting I would recommend you sign up for both the Republican and Democrat email lists. I get both and it kind of keeps me in the loop without relying on semi-biased sources like the Magnolia Report.