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SECOND DAY
MORNING SESSION
House Chamber, Olympia, Tuesday, January 13, 1998
The House was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by the Speaker (Representative Pennington presiding).
Reading of the Journal of the previous day was dispensed with and it was ordered to stand approved.
There being no objection, the House advanced to the fourth order of business.
INTRODUCTIONS AND FIRST READING
HB 2346 by Representatives Clements, Scott, Dickerson, Gardner, Hatfield, Anderson, Dyer, Thompson, O'Brien, Boldt, Skinner, D. Schmidt, Mulliken and Backlund (Requested by Department of Social and Health Services)
AN ACT Allowing the department of social and health services to recover revenue from vendors that have been overpaid.
Held on First Reading from January 12, 1998.
HB 2385 by Representatives Radcliff, Wolfe, D. Schmidt and Scott
AN ACT Relating to the department of information services; amending RCW 43.105.032 and 43.105.190; reenacting and amending RCW 43.105.041; and adding a new section to chapter 43.105 RCW.
Referred to Committee on Government Administration.
HB 2386 by Representatives Sheahan, Appelwick, Constantine, Kenney and Costa
AN ACT Relating to the revised uniform partnership act; amending RCW 23B.11.080, 23B.11.090, 23B.11.100, 23B.11.110, 25.10.800, 25.10.810, 25.10.820, 25.10.830, 25.10.840, 25.15.395, 25.15.400, 25.15.405, 25.15.410, and 25.15.415; reenacting and amending RCW 43.07.120; adding a new chapter to Title 25 RCW; repealing RCW 25.04.010, 25.04.020, 25.04.030, 25.04.040, 25.04.050, 25.04.060, 25.04.070, 25.04.080, 25.04.090, 25.04.100, 25.04.110, 25.04.120, 25.04.130, 25.04.140, 25.04.150, 25.04.160, 25.04.170, 25.04.180, 25.04.190, 25.04.200, 25.04.210, 25.04.220, 25.04.230, 25.04.240, 25.04.250, 25.04.260, 25.04.270, 25.04.280, 25.04.290, 25.04.300, 25.04.310, 25.04.320, 25.04.330, 25.04.340, 25.04.350, 25.04.360, 25.04.370, 25.04.380, 25.04.390, 25.04.400, 25.04.410, 25.04.420, 25.04.430, 25.04.700, 25.04.705, 25.04.710, 25.04.715, 25.04.720, 25.04.725, 25.04.730, 25.04.735, 25.04.740, 25.04.745, and 25.04.750; and providing an effective date.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2387 by Representatives Sheahan, Constantine and Costa
AN ACT Relating to shares and distributions under the Washington business corporation act; and amending RCW 23B.06.010, 23B.06.020, and 23B.06.240.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2388 by Representatives Sheahan, Constantine, Lambert and Costa
AN ACT Relating to probate, trust, and estate law; amending RCW 11.02.005, 11.07.010, 11.54.070, 11.68.110, 11.68.114, 11.114.030, 83.100.020, and 83.110.010; amending 1997 c 252 s 87 (uncodified); amending 1997 c 252 s 89 (uncodified); adding a new chapter to Title 11 RCW; creating new sections; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2389 by Representatives Sheahan, Constantine and Costa
AN ACT Relating to facilitating interstate operations for Washington professional corporations; and amending RCW 18.100.060, 18.100.065, 18.100.090, 18.100.100, and 25.15.045.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2390 by Representatives DeBolt, Pennington, Alexander, Skinner, Mulliken, Johnson, Backlund, Buck, Carlson, Wensman, Wolfe, Sheahan, Benson, Sullivan, Lambert, Conway, D. Schmidt, Gardner, Linville, Cole, Keiser, Scott, Thompson, Costa, McDonald, McCune, Kessler and O'Brien
AN ACT Relating to property tax exemptions for seniors and persons retired by reason of physical disability; and amending RCW 84.36.381 and 84.36.383.
Referred to Committee on Finance.
HB 2391 by Representatives DeBolt, Johnson, Thompson, Mulliken, D. Sommers, Benson, Buck, Backlund, Sheahan, Pennington, Lambert and McCune
AN ACT Relating to wetlands delineations and mitigation plans; and adding a new section to chapter 36.70A RCW.
Referred to Committee on Government Reform & Land Use.
HB 2392 by Representatives Chandler and Linville; by request of Department of Agriculture
AN ACT Relating to the inspection and certification of horticultural products; amending RCW 15.17.010, 15.17.020, 15.17.030, 15.17.050, 15.17.060, 15.17.080, 15.17.090, 15.17.130, 15.17.140, 15.17.150, 15.17.170, 15.17.190, 15.17.200, 15.17.210, 15.17.230, 15.17.240, 15.17.260, 15.17.290, 15.04.100, and 42.17.31909; adding new sections to chapter 15.17 RCW; adding a new chapter to Title 15 RCW; creating a new section; recodifying RCW 15.04.100 and 15.17.130; repealing RCW 15.17.040, 15.17.070, 15.17.100, 15.17.110, 15.17.115, 15.17.120, 15.17.160, 15.17.180, 15.17.220, 15.17.250, 15.17.280, 15.17.910, 15.17.920, 15.17.930, 15.17.950, 15.04.020, 15.04.030, 15.04.040, 15.04.060, 15.04.070, and 15.04.080; and prescribing penalties.
Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
HB 2393 by Representatives Chandler and Linville; by request of Department of Agriculture
AN ACT Relating to animal health; amending RCW 16.36.005, 16.36.010, 16.36.020, 16.36.040, 16.36.050, 16.36.060, 16.36.070, 16.36.080, 16.36.090, 16.36.096, 16.36.100, 16.36.105, 16.36.110, 16.44.130, 16.44.140, 16.44.160, and 43.23.070; adding new sections to chapter 16.36 RCW; recodifying RCW 16.44.130, 16.44.140, and 16.44.160; repealing RCW 9.08.020, 16.36.030, 16.36.103, 16.36.107, 16.36.108, 16.36.109, 16.36.120, 16.36.130, 16.44.020, 16.44.030, 16.44.040, 16.44.045, 16.44.050, 16.44.060, 16.44.070, 16.44.080, 16.44.090, 16.44.110, 16.44.120, 16.44.150, and 16.44.180; and prescribing penalties.
Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
HB 2394 by Representatives Alexander, D. Schmidt, H. Sommers, Gardner, Doumit, Lambert and Thompson; by request of Department of General Administration
AN ACT Relating to consolidating the operating funding structure of the department of general administration; amending RCW 4.92.220, 39.32.035, 39.32.040, 43.01.090, 43.19.1923, 43.19.1925, 43.19.1935, 43.19.500, 43.19.558, 43.19.605, 43.19.610, 43.19.615, 43.82.120, 43.82.125, and 43.88.350; adding a new section to chapter 43.19 RCW; repealing RCW 39.32.030, 39.32.050, and 43.19.1927; and providing an effective date.
Referred to Committee on Appropriations.
HB 2395 by Representatives Sterk, Mulliken, D. Schmidt, Johnson, D. Sommers, Koster, Sherstad, Sheahan, Thompson, Mielke, Smith, Dunn, Boldt and Backlund
AN ACT Relating to limiting partial-birth abortions; adding new sections to chapter 9.02 RCW; creating a new section; prescribing penalties; and providing for submission of this act to a vote of the people.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2396 by Representatives Romero, Wolfe and Lantz
AN ACT Relating to ground water; and amending RCW 90.44.050, 19.27.097, and 58.17.110.
Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
HB 2397 by Representatives Romero, Wolfe and Gardner
AN ACT Relating to targeting certain positions within designated job titles for early retirement; adding a new section to chapter 41.40 RCW (uncodified); adding a new section to chapter 43.01 RCW (uncodified); adding a new section to chapter 39.29 RCW (uncodified); providing expiration dates; and declaring an emergency.
Referred to Committee on Appropriations.
HB 2398 by Representatives Romero, Wolfe and Gardner
AN ACT Relating to secure inpatient treatment for female youth; adding a new section to chapter 70.96A RCW, and making an appropriation.
Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.
HB 2399 by Representatives Romero, D. Schmidt and Thompson
AN ACT Relating to small public works rosters; and reenacting and amending RCW 39.04.150.
Referred to Committee on Government Administration.
HB 2400 by Representatives Schoesler, Sheahan, Kessler and Linville; by request of Washington State Rural Development Council
AN ACT Relating to the rural development council; amending RCW 43.31.855; and providing an expiration date.
Referred to Committee on Trade & Economic Development.
HB 2401 by Representatives Sheahan and Hatfield
AN ACT Relating to the courthouse facilitator program; and amending RCW 26.12.240.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2402 by Representatives Sheahan, Lambert, Hatfield, Thompson, McDonald and Dunn
AN ACT Relating to the records of the county clerk; and amending RCW 36.23.065 and 36.23.067.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2403 by Representatives D. Schmidt, Scott, Gardner, Linville, Huff, L. Thomas, D. Sommers, Thompson and Morris
AN ACT Relating to the small works roster contract awards process; and amending RCW 39.04.155.
Referred to Committee on Government Administration.
HB 2404 by Representatives Sheahan, Conway, Anderson, Cole, Scott, Constantine, Costa and Mason
AN ACT Relating to civil actions for damages; and amending RCW 19.86.090.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2405 by Representatives Mulliken, Zellinsky, Robertson, D. Sommers and Boldt
AN ACT Relating to business and occupation tax exemptions for wholesale transactions involving motor vehicles at auction; amending RCW 82.04.317; and declaring an emergency.
Referred to Committee on Finance.
HB 2406 by Representatives McDonald, Kastama, Radcliff, Gombosky, Lantz, Regala, Talcott, Anderson, Wolfe, Thompson and Kessler
AN ACT Relating to residential provisions of permanent parenting plans; amending RCW 26.09.187; and creating a new section.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2407 by Representatives Kastama, Talcott, Gombosky, Lantz, Radcliff, Regala, Anderson, Wolfe, Morris, Kessler and O'Brien
AN ACT Relating to shared parental responsibility; amending RCW 26.09.004 and 26.09.187; adding a new section to chapter 26.09 RCW; and creating a new section.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HB 2408 by Representatives Pennington and Carlson
AN ACT Relating to hazardous waste fees; and amending RCW 70.95E.030.
Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
HB 2409 by Representatives Pennington, Mielke, Carlson, Boldt and Dunn
AN ACT Relating to charges for moving household goods; and amending RCW 81.80.132.
Referred to Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget.
HB 2410 by Representative Dyer
AN ACT Relating to the administration of boarding homes; amending RCW 18.20.020 and 18.20.190; adding new sections to chapter 18.20 RCW; and providing an effective date.
Referred to Committee on Health Care.
HB 2411 by Representatives Alexander, Wolfe, D. Schmidt, DeBolt, Gardner, D. Sommers and Thompson
AN ACT Relating to functions of county treasurers; amending RCW 35.13.270, 35A.14.801, 36.29.010, 36.29.160, 57.16.110, 36.48.010, 39.46.110, 57.08.081, 82.46.010, 82.45.180, 84.04.060, 84.64.220, 84.64.300, 84.64.330, 84.64.340, 84.64.350, 84.64.380, 84.64.420, 84.64.430, 84.64.440, and 36.35.070; adding new sections to chapter 36.35 RCW; recodifying RCW 84.64.220, 84.64.230, 84.64.270, 84.64.300, 84.64.310, 84.64.320, 84.64.330, 84.64.340, 84.64.350, 84.64.360, 84.64.370, 84.64.380, 84.64.390, 84.64.400, 84.64.410, 84.64.420, 84.64.430, 84.64.440, 84.64.450, and 84.64.460; and repealing RCW 36.35.030, 36.35.040, 36.35.050, and 36.35.060.
Referred to Committee on Government Administration.
HB 2412 by Representatives Romero and D. Schmidt
AN ACT Relating to job order contracting for public works; amending RCW 39.10.020, 39.08.030, 39.30.060, 60.28.011, and 39.10.902; adding a new section to chapter 39.10 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 39.12 RCW; and repealing RCW 39.10.020 and 39.10.---.
Referred to Committee on Capital Budget.
HB 2413 by Representatives Pennington, Carlson, Ogden, Thompson, Dunn and Backlund
AN ACT Relating to disclosure of sexually transmitted disease information; and reenacting and amending RCW 70.24.105.
Referred to Committee on Health Care.
HB 2414 by Representatives Pennington, Mielke, Alexander, Carlson, Honeyford, Chandler, Buck, Hatfield and Doumit
AN ACT Relating to outdoor burning; and amending RCW 70.94.743.
Referred to Committee on Agriculture & Ecology.
HB 2415 by Representatives Pennington, Mielke, Conway, Scott and Thompson
AN ACT Relating to the warm water game fish enhancement program; and amending RCW 77.44.030.
Referred to Committee on Natural Resources.
HB 2416 by Representatives Pennington, Mielke, D. Schmidt, D. Sommers, L. Thomas, Smith, Wensman and Schoesler
AN ACT Relating to the Battle Ground Highway; and amending RCW 47.17.650.
Referred to Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget.
HB 2417 by Representatives Pennington, Mielke, Hatfield, Doumit, Ogden, Carlson, Alexander and Hankins
AN ACT Relating to local vehicle license fees adopted to fund specific projects; and amending RCW 82.80.020.
Referred to Committee on Finance.
HB 2418 by Representatives Johnson, Talcott, Sterk, Sump, Mulliken, Lambert, Carlson, Thompson, Smith, McCune, Benson, O'Brien and Mason
AN ACT Relating to reading improvement; and adding new sections to chapter 28A.410 RCW.
Referred to Committee on Education.
HB 2419 by Representatives Johnson, Talcott, Sterk, Sump, Mulliken, Lambert, Thompson, Smith, McCune, Benson, Cooke, O'Brien and Backlund
AN ACT Relating to reading improvement; amending RCW 28A.165.050; adding new sections to chapter 28A.165 RCW; creating a new section; providing expiration dates; and declaring an emergency.
Referred to Committee on Education.
HB 2420 by Representatives Morris, Gardner, Linville, Hatfield, Conway, Anderson, Cole, Scott, Constantine, Costa, Kessler, Eickmeyer, Chopp and Mason
AN ACT Relating to extended unemployment benefit payments in rural natural resources impact areas; amending RCW 50.22.090; and providing an effective date.
Referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.
HB 2421 by Representatives Morris, Gardner, Linville and Eickmeyer
AN ACT Relating to taxation of municipal electrical utilities; adding a new chapter to Title 82 RCW; and providing an effective date.
Referred to Committee on Finance.
HB 2422 by Representatives Mulliken, Smith, Johnson, Talcott, Sump, Sterk, Thompson, Koster, McCune, Boldt and Backlund
AN ACT Relating to parents' rights and responsibilities; amending RCW 28A.320.230, 28A.210.300, and 28A.230.070; and adding a new chapter to Title 28A RCW.
Referred to Committee on Education.
HB 2423 by Representatives Morris and Grant
AN ACT Relating to securities class actions; and adding new sections to chapter 21.20 RCW.
Referred to Committee on Law & Justice.
HJM 4028 by Representatives Morris, Gardner and Kessler
Requesting the designation of the Paul N. Luvera, Sr. Memorial Highway.
Referred to Committee on Transportation Policy & Budget.
There being no objection, the bills and memorial listed on the day's introduction sheet under the fourth order of business were referred to the committees so designated with the exception of House Bill No. 2346 which was held on first reading.
The Clerk called the roll and a quorum of the House was present.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced President of the Senate Brad Owen, and the Senate were at the door requesting admission. The Speaker requested President Owen and Senator Irv Newhouse be escorted to the Rostrum and invited the Senators to take seats within the Chamber.
JOINT SESSION
The Speaker called the Joint Session to be in order and requested the Clerk of the House to call the roll of members of the House. A quorum was present. The Speaker requested the Clerk of the House to call the roll of members of the Senate. A quorum was present.
The Speaker called upon President of the Senate Brad Owen to preside over the Joint Session.
President Owen: This Joint Session has been called to hear an address of the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.
APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES
The President appointed Representatives Wolfe, Quall and McCune and Senators Fraser, Hale and Horn to escort the State elected officials from the State Reception Room to the House Chamber.
The President appointed Representatives O'Brien and Honeyford and Senators Loveland and Sellar to escort Governor Locke from his chambers to the House Chamber.
The President appointed Representatives Cooper and Lisk and Senators Snyder and McDonald to escort Speaker Gingrich and the members of the Washington State Congressional Delegation to the House Chamber.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the arrival of the State elected officials. The President requested they be escorted to the front of the Chamber and introduced Secretary of State Ralph Munro, State Treasurer Mike Murphy, State Attorney General Christine O. Gregoire, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and Commissioner of Public Lands Jennifer M. Belcher.
The President recognized in the Gallery former Governor John Spellman.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the arrival of His Excellency, Governor Gary Locke. The President requested Governor Locke be escorted to the Rostrum.
The flags were escorted to the Rostrum by the First Corps Command Color Guard. The National Anthem was sung by Mark Bunda, a native of Hawaii, now residing in Olympia. Prayer was offered by Rabbi Emeritus Richard Rosenthal of Temple Beth El, Tacoma.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the arrival of Speaker Gingrich and the Washington State Congressional Delegation. The President requested they be escorted to the Rostrum, and introduced Speaker Gingrich, United States Representative George Nethercutt, United States Representative Jennifer Dunn, United States Representative Norm Dicks and United States Representative Linda Smith.
The President called upon Speaker of the House Clyde Ballard to introduce Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich.
ADDRESS TO A JOINT SESSION OF THE WASHINGTON STATE LEGISLATURE
Speaker Gingrich: I am delighted to be here. Let me start by saying to all of you, we share a common future, that it is important to build better abilities to communicate, and we are working very hard, both with the governors and with the leaders of state legislatures, to learn how to share what works, what does not work, what the federal government is doing right, what it is doing wrong, and whether we have a common, general direction we are trying to go in. To recognize, in a country our size, that there is an enormous difference between Washington, D.C. and the state of Washington, just as there is an enormous difference between Washington, D.C. and Georgia.
And so, how do we have a common, general direction while maximizing our decentralization, maximizing local leadership and maximizing local initiatives? I want to share with you, for a few minutes if I could this morning, what we have done and where we were going. But frankly, it is exciting to me to see what you have done. You have implemented Welfare Reform in a very practical way. You have begun to take advantage of the opportunity to help people move out of poverty and into work, in what I think is a very, very important step in the right direction. You are working on Education Reform in a way that is very practical, and which is going to increase the chance of learning for all the children of this state. You recognize how much your state is connected to the world market, whether it is through Boeing or Microsoft or Weyerhaeuser or wheat farming; that, in fact, what happens in Jacarta does matter in Spokane and Seattle and Olympia and across the whole state.
We are, in a sense, entering a new era together. In the Capitol, in Washington, we tried to reach out. Let me say, first of all, I think the Western Governors' University is a very exciting project. I commend all of you who have voted to have your state participate in it; the notion that you are really now becoming pioneers for the whole country, in telecommunications, in the use of distance learning, and in making available to all citizens across an eight-state region an opportunity to share educational resources. That is a very important development, and it is ultimately going to allow you to lead, not just the United States but the entire world as people tie in and then learn from these experiences.
I also have to say that the Western States Coalition that Speaker Ballard talked about, I found last summer to be very helpful. We brought a number of eastern members out, and as you know, the West is different. It is bigger. It is more complex. In some parts of the West, water problems are dramatically different. We in Georgia never quite experience the same water situation as in Eastern Washington. We are in a situation where we have a huge surplus of water most of the time. We do not understand Western water laws compared to Eastern law.
To be in situations where we can look at the coming together of modern urban civilization, because in every Western state there are urban areas, and in fact, some of the Western states are more urbanized than some of the Eastern states in terms of the way people are, to look at that next to the environmental concerns, next to the agricultural, mining and forest concerns, to see it first hand, is important. I have already told the Speaker that I will be back, hopefully, in August for a visit to Washington state to look at the Columbia River Basin, to look at other concerns, and to get a better briefing on the issues that matter. And also to fly to Alaska, and look at our largest state and what their unique concerns are.
I commend those legislative and other leaders who began to develop a Western state coalition to talk through what we should do at the federal level to increase flexibility within a framework of still getting to a common, general direction. I think the information age, with Microsoft and many other developments here is going to give us some opportunities that are enormous. I think the world market gives us opportunities that are enormous. And as the state that houses our most successful exporter of manufactured goods, Boeing, you know how important the world market is. But I think they also offer us opportunities to work together.
One of the things I hope to do is to introduce the spirit of Peter Drucker and Edwards Demming into the whole way we think about government. Peter Drucker is the leading management consultant of the Twentieth Century, and Edwards Demming developed the concept of quality and taught that concept to the Japanese. In fact, the prize for the best company in Japan is the Demming Prize. They are really talking about a way of thinking that is a powerful, information age modernization over the bureaucratic model we have all inherited at every level. From school board, to city council, to county commission, to state government, to federal government, we have a model of structures that needs to be thoroughly rethought.
I will give you a simple example. I know this is true in Georgia; I will let you decide if it is true in Washington. My wife, Marianne, went to spend $15 last fall. She did not go to a place like Nordstroms because she waited in line an hour and a half. She was not buying Beanie Babies or some fad that justifies that. She was getting her driver's license.
I suggest to you that you have two clocks in your head. You have been acculturated to have these two clocks. One clock has a second hand and you use it every time you go into the private sector facility. When you go McDonald's, when you go to a department store, when you stand waiting to be served, there is a second hand which you watch prior to getting impatient. The second clock has fifteen-minute increments and you use it when you walk into public buildings. You will inherently wait longer and be less impatient. Now, in both experiences you are paying money. In one case, it is taken from you in taxes and in the other case it is voluntary. You are a customer in both cases. But we have allowed, over the last 50 years, the private sector to modernize, to rethink what it is doing, to maximize its customer orientation, while allowing the public sector to find excuse after excuse to avoid rethinking its development.
Part of what I hope we can do together is think through what a Twentieth Century information age, customer-oriented model of governance would look like? How would you design it? How would you staff it? How would you reward people who were effective, and retrain people who were ineffective? Or dismiss them if they refuse to learn? And how can we think that process through so that people 20 years from now have the same expectation of efficiency, customer orientation and modern performance out of the public sector that they have out of the private sector? And that would lead to a revolution in the structure of our governments.
I think it has to be done together because the truth is, and this a message I have for every state legislature as well county commissions, school boards and city councils, there are things we do in Washington D.C. which make it harder for you in Washington state to be effective. One of the things I would encourage you to do is to identify in literally every one of your legislative committees, and report back to us, those things we should change which are stopping you from modernizing the government of the state of Washington. I think I can speak for all three of the members here with me today — for Jennifer Dunn, who is now the highest-ranking elected woman legislator in the U.S. Congress as the vice-chair of our conference; for George Nethercutt, who is doing a tremendous job on the Appropriations Committee; for Linda Smith, who has been working very, very hard on reform issues — I think they would say the whole delegation is prepared to try to serve as a bridge to come back and say to us, "The following 37 laws are pretty dumb. The following 600 regulations do not work. The following micro-management is making it impossible to reform."
I want to extend to you an open door, to say we would like to learn from you, at the grass roots, what you are experiencing that you think makes it harder for you to do the job for the people of the state of Washington.
We have had an impact in the Congress. When we were sworn in in January of 1995, the Congressional Budget Office was projecting a $320 billion deficit for the year 2002. They are now projecting a $32 billion surplus. Now you are legislators. I would suggest to you that any legislative body which, in three years, can move a system from a $320 billion deficit to a $32 billion surplus has begun a process of fairly dramatic change. Some of that was the economy. But we also saved $600 billion in entitlements, we passed Welfare Reform which, as you know, has had a dramatic impact. In New York state alone there are 509,000 fewer people on welfare today than there were three years ago. They have moved from the public sector, where they were taking money from the taxpayer, to the private sector where they are paying taxes. It is been a major factor on what is happened with the budget turnaround.
Because we are committed to a balanced budget, we have lowered interest rates by at least two percentage points over what they would have been otherwise. That has had a huge effect on farming, on purchasing cars and buying houses, on paying off student loans, and on all the different things people pay interest on, including what governments pay in interest.
We think we have begun. But we have a lot to do, and a long way to go. I want to propose to you that there are four major goals, lots of things we need to do together. I could talk today about the ICE T bill in transportation, because I know it is an important issue. I could talk about a wide range of issues that matter. But I want to focus on four today. Although, before I do, I do want to commend you for your rainy day fund. I was calculating based on the size of your budget; if we had a comparable rainy day fund, it would be about $90 billion. I will let you imagine a Washington, D.C. that would allow $90 billion to sit there without having approximately $400 billion of new ideas! But I do commend you because it is the right direction and it is the way we should be moving.
I want to suggest four goals to you. First, that we become a society that focuses on being drug-free and, therefore with dramatically less violence. Second, as you are already doing, we really emphasize education and learning. Third, we have now come to a point in our history where we should talk about rethinking retirement. And fourth, that we ought to talk openly about what is the total amount of taxes the citizens should owe their government in a peacetime environment. Let me briefly talk about each. Let me be candid and say these will only work in collaboration. They will only work if we work together.
I think the number one goal we should establish is to break the back of the drug trade and the back of the drug culture. To insist that our children deserve to live in a drug-free society where they are not threatened with addiction and where they are not threatened physically. I believe, as a historian, we can do it. We have done it before. We did it in the 1920's. Other countries have done it. It is a matter of willpower, focus, resources and management.
I came today to ask you and your governor to work together to tell us, from the state of Washington, what you need from the federal government as your highest priority to enable you to have a drug-free Washington state. What do we have to do to do our share of the job? And then ask you to do your share of the job and make a genuine commitment.
I will just give you one specific statistic that I find staggering. If you are a woman, you are 27 times more likely to be killed if you are in a home with hard drugs than if you are in a drug-free home. Not 27 percent, but 27 times. That is 2700 percent more likely to be killed. And when we talk about violence in America, I do not think we can talk about the future without realizing how much of that is tied to drugs. We realize that in New York City alone, there are 32 drug-addicted babies born every week. The human and financial cost of not taking on drugs is horrendous.
We are challenging General McCaffrey to produce a World War II-style victory plan. I think we need a decisive, sharp, two- or three-year effort to break the back of the drug culture, to make it too expensive to use drugs. And to recognize that the problem is not in Colombia. The problem is not in Mexico. The problem is in the streets, the neighborhoods and the schools of America, and in the professional sports of America and among some of the rock stars of America. If we are not buying it, they are not going to be shipping it. We have an obligation to start in America to win the war on drugs — to be the model country for everyone else, to not just lecture Mexicans and Colombians on what we wish they would do because we do not have the guts to do it here at home.
If you will let us know, whether by resolution, by report, or by letter, what we need to do to help you win the war in the state of Washington, and if we can get every state legislature engaged and every state government engaged, I truly believe, in three or four years, we will be a drug-free country. And I can imagine nothing, nothing, that will do more for children's health than to be able to win the war on drugs and save them from that kind of a future.
Second, I want to pledge to you our commitment to work with you on Education Reform. I want to draw one distinction between education and learning. I think we want the best education system in the world, and I think we want the best system of learning in the world. They are not necessarily the same. Here again, I want to thank Microsoft, where I will be spending part of the afternoon studying. We have an education system that is teacher-focused. A learning system is student-focused.
We have the potential in the next decade to build a seven-day-a-week, 24-hour-a-day learning system available for a lifetime, which you can access from anywhere at anytime at your convenience and learn as much as you are capable of learning. We should make it a national goal to really encourage the development of that kind of learning system. To some extent, your Western State Governors' University is a step in that direction, but we are only scratching the surface. We have the potential for everyone to learn, and to do it at their convenience. Now, this is not a panacea. It is not a replacement for an education system. But it is an important enhancer, and it will allow us to leapfrog, not catch up, not match up with, but leapfrog the Japanese, Germans and others in providing the best system of learning in the world, which is essential if we were going to have the best economic competition in the world. Because, if you do not have good learning in the information age, you cannot produce the technology you need in order to have the best jobs in the world. So this is vital to our entire future.
In addition, we need the best education system. I favor scholarships, so that in really bad neighborhoods parents have the right to choose. But this is not going to solve the problem. Most children in America are going to learn in public schools for the rest of their lifetimes. I am a product of public schools. My wife is a product of public schools. Both of our daughters went to public school. I taught part-time when I was a college teacher. I also taught in the public high school. Most schools do pretty well. But every one of you knows that there are some schools in this state you would not send your children to, just as you know there are some schools in my state that I would not send my children to.
And here is the test for us. We say in our Declaration of Independence that we are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have to take that passionately and apply it to education reform. This means that every child of every ethnic background in every neighborhood has been endowed by God with the right to pursue happiness. In the information age, if you are not learning how to read and write, and you are not getting an education, you are more likely to go to prison than to go to college, and you are not being given the true opportunity to pursue happiness. I think that is how we ought to approach education reform.
We ought to say first of all to a school system, let is start writing into the contract that if your school is in the bottom 20 percent in scoring, the contract does not apply any more, as of that date. Not "Let us slowly modify tenure." Not "Let us have a study commission." You would not leave your children in those schools. We have too many of our friends who are very big passionate supporters of the worst public schools, but their kids go to private school. We have too many teachers who pay the union dues and they want to make sure that we do not reform public schools; but their children go to private school. There are some big city systems where 40 percent of the public school teachers send their children to private school because they know better. We have an obligation to be passionate about this. Winston Churchill had a phrase for World War II. He would pass a note that said, "Action this day." This should be our attitude across the board to the system.
I want to suggest three reforms that are very specific. Two of them we are not going to do at the federal level, one we have to. But I am here as a citizen sharing ideas; I am not here to say we are going mandate any.
I do want to suggest as a general principle that we should have a passionate, deep commitment to every child in American learning how to read by end of the fourth grade. We should focus overwhelmingly on learning how to read and write in the fourth grade. I am going to be very direct: we should learn how to read and write in English, because that is the commercial language of the United States, and they are having their future crippled if they cannot read and write by the fourth grade.
Second, I think that the federal government should modify the bilingual education law to make it local option. You at the state level and the school boards at the local level should have the right to decide for your children what is the most effective way to make sure that they are capable of reading and writing in English at the earliest possible time.
And third, I would really like to suggest you consider, and I say this upon the state with some trepidation, but I would like you to consider mandating that, once a year, at every grade level, a day be spent looking at the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I say this for two reasons. First, as a historian, I actually think it is kind of good for Americans to learn how they became American. We are multi-ethnic, but we are one civilization. We are bound together by this thing of being American. We signed a contract with ourselves. We the people of the United States, we issued a declaration that says "we hold these truths to be self-evident." And if our citizens do not grow up learning these things, how can we expect America to continue?
But secondly, the Declaration says, "We are endowed by our Creator . . ." Now, I want to see the ACLU lawsuit that explains why the teacher cannot explain what the Founding Fathers meant when they used the word "Creator". I think it would be a very edifying moment in American history.
America is radically different that Europe. In the European model, power went from God to the king and was loaned to the citizens. This is why Brussels is worse than the IRS. In the European model, the citizen only has those rights loaned to them by the state. In the American model, from our opening date of our first document, we said power goes from God to the citizen, and you loan it back to the government. It is a very different model. And I just think if we spent one day a year from first grade to twelfth grade studying that model, coming into contact with the great people who created this country, we would be a healthier country. We would be a country with a better sense of where our rights come from. We would be a country with a more serious sense of why being a citizen matters. And so I want to commend that to you.
Our third goal is to look at retirement. A lot of that is federal. But I also have a proposal that I think you will find interesting at the state level. And this is very simple. We are moving from 60 years of deficit spending. We were about to move to a generation of surpluses. This is not like 1969, the last surplus. We had lots of deficits, one year of surplus, and then lots of deficits. If we were disciplined in Washington, and if we avoid war, we will be in a position to have twenty or thirty years of surpluses.
This gives us for the first time a chance to talk seriously about retirement, to recognize that Social Security is a very powerful and tremendous system developed in 1925 when there were no computers. But Social Security is neither personal nor modern. In fact, in one study that Congressman Mark Sandford of South Carolina put out, he looked at his 20-year-old son. He said, "You know, Einstein was asked, 'What is the most powerful thing in the universe?' And he said, 'Compound interest.' If you simply take the FICA tax a 20-year-old will pay today and invest their FICA tax over their lifetime, in an average market basket investment, not buying Microsoft when it is young, but an average market basket investment, they will make $975,000 for their retirement. If you give them the current government payment, they will make $175,000. So, we are condemning 20-year-olds to lose $800,000 by the way we have designed the system.
I am proposing a National Commission on Retirement, made up of one-third baby boomers, one-third older than baby boomers, and one-third younger than baby boomers. I suggest to my colleagues in the House and Senate that they set up a citizens committee in their district tied in by the Internet to the National Commission. I think we ought to look at the totality, because I believe that by using a good part of the surpluses intelligently, we can make the transition to a personal, modern social security system, tied into the development of better pensions and tied into the development of better savings. And we can leave our children and grandchildren a dramatically better retirement in a much wealthier country with a much higher savings rate with much lower interest rates and much more capital investment. And that is a much healthier America in the future.
And I know it takes some courage for elected officials to raise the issue, but I just think we are at a magic moment of transition. I believe the grandparents, as long as they are secure in getting the current system, will want their grandchildren to have the best possible future. And I believe we can have an honest, adult, dialogue about this without the kind of mudslinging and the kind of 30-second commercials that so badly weaken our political structures. So, I encourage you to look at it, to offer us advice, but I also encourage you to look at the state program. I do not know the details of your program, but I will tell you that Michigan has now adopted a new, personal pension system that vests within two years, where the new employees are controlling their own money in a way that is a very dramatic departure from the way we have done pensions in the last 60 years.
Finally, I want to ask a very touchy question, and you are the first group of legislators I have done this with. So I will be very curious to see your reaction after I leave and you no longer have to be polite because I am around. I want to raise a serious question: In peacetime, in a free society, how much should your government be allowed to take from you?
I was fascinated when I read Paul Johnson's new History of the American People. He is a former socialist in Britain turned conservative and he has written a wonderful history of the American people. And he said that in 1775, we were probably the lowest-taxed people in the history of the world and we hated every penny. And he said we were so grateful that we were so low-taxed as to say, "How come you need this?" And the part about how much freedom, in part, is a function of how much time you have. How much money do you have? Not how much does your government have to give to you. How much do you have? And it turns out that when you study it that the American people said for forty years that they believe, in peacetime, the most their government should take from them is 25 percent. We currently - federal, state and local - take 38.
And what I would like to propose is that we set as a goal over the next ten to fifteen years to get to 25 percent taxation. The feds currently take about 22 percent. I propose we go down to 14 percent. So we lose 8 percent. State and local currently takes about 16 percent; I propose state and local goes down to about 11 percent. So we will drop by more than you will have to drop. But, I think it is fair for you to come back to us and say, "Fine, how about block-granting education money rather than having 700 little programs? How about dropping this kind of red tape?" I think it is a two-way dialogue.
But, if we take Demming and Drucker; if we are prepared to prioritize, modernize, downsize and privatize, we can create, over the next ten to fifteen years, a country where people have more take-home pay, a better retirement system, a lifetime learning system, and an education system that either works or is changed rapidly when it starts to fail. People will be competitive in the world market, having the highest technology and the greatest entrepreneurship to produce the best goods, giving us the highest incomes with the greatest economic security and the capacity to lead the world.
Yes, this is big. Yes, it is a lot. But, frankly, the Contract With America was pretty different when we started and I am very proud that at the key moment in the fall of 1994, we bought a two-page ad in TV Guide that did not attack anybody, did not have any pictures. It just said, "You hire us and we will try to do these ten things." And I think the time has come as citizens, across the board in both parties, to talk about for the next generation, "What are the goals worth doing? Let us work together to do it."
I accept fully the responsibility today that I have come here and said, you come up with ideas on the drug war; we have to listen to you and at least try to help. You come up with what we need to do to get out of your way in education; we have an obligation to listen and try to help. You tell us what we are doing wrong about pensions that make your job harder, let us know. And you tell us how you think we should change federal pension law. It would be very helpful and we would listen to you.
And finally, if we are going to get there together, we have an obligation both to shrink the federal government and to shrink the burden the federal government imposes on you. But, I think for our citizens, the America I just described would be a vastly better place.
And let me just close with this thought. Every time I come out here, I have to tell you, I just love coming to this state. I think part of it relates to the fact that I was here — some of you will be able to identify this — a few years ago on a stopover and went down to the fish market and bought a geoduck and took it to my mother-in-law, who promptly chopped it up and made stew out of it. But, only her nephews were very confused by what kind of products you all send around the world. I have to say, also, that I just brought back a very wonderful salmon that they identified with much more immediately and ate immediately.
But, it is a fabulous state. You sort of have this sense, I always have this sense, when I come here what Lewis and Clark must have felt. As an easterner, when I fly in and look out at Mt. Rainier, when I look out at Puget Sound, when I see the weather, even on rare days like yesterday — again, for a Georgian, it was very exciting — I think we lose, sometimes, the romanticism of what this country is about. This country is a romance. This country has the most magical way of saying to the whole planet, "I do not care what your background is, I do not care what your religion is, I do not care what your ethnicity is. If you have a big enough dream and you are willing to pursue it, come to America and try it out." And the result has been to put together the most exciting opportunities for people in the history of the world.
This is a great country filled with good people and given a chance to achieve remarkable things. I believe we can work together in a partnership — not us dictating to you — but in a partnership. And we can give our children and grandchildren an even greater America with an even greater future. And through that, we can give the entire human race an opportunity to live in freedom and prosperity and safety.
Thank you for honoring me by allowing me to come here today. Thank you.
The President thanked the Speaker for visiting the Legislature and for his comments. He requested the Special Committee escort Speaker Gingrich from the Rostrum.
The President requested the Special Committees to escort Governor Locke and the State elected officials from the Rostrum.
MOTION
On motion by Representative Lisk, the Joint Session of the Legislature was dissolved.
Speaker Ballard resumed the Chair.
The Speaker requested the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the President, Senator Newhouse and the members of the Senate from the Chamber.
MOTION
On motion by Representative Lisk, the House was at ease until 4:15 p.m., Tuesday, January 13, 1998.
The Speaker called the House to order.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced that the Senate requested permission to enter the Chamber. The Speaker requested the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House and Senate escort President of the Senate Brad Own, President Pro Tem Irv Newhouse, Majority Leader Dan McDonald and Minority Leader Sid Snyder to seats on the Rostrum. The Senators were invited to seats within the Chamber.
JOINT SESSION
The Speaker called the Joint Session to order. The Clerk of the House called the roll of members of both the House and Senate. A quorum was present.
The Speaker called upon the President of the Senate to preside.
Mr. President: This Joint Session has been called to hear the State of the State address of the Governor, Gary Locke.
APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES
The President appointed Representatives D. Sommers, Radcliff, Dunshee and Regala and Senators S. Johnson, Kline, Roach and Heavey to escort the Supreme Court Justices from the State Reception Room to the House Chamber.
The President appointed Representatives Thompson, Cairnes, Conway and Romero and Senators Morton, Wood and Goings to escort the State elected officials from the State Reception Room to the House Chamber.
The President appointed Representatives Benson and Eickmeyer and Senators Franklin and Strannigan to advise Governor Gary Locke that the Joint Session was assembled and to escort him from his Chambers to the House Chamber.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the Justices of the Supreme Court had arrived. The President requested the Special Committee to escort the Justices to the front of the Chamber and introduced them to the Legislature: Chief Justice Barbara Durham, Associate Chief Justice James M. Dolliver, Justice Charles Z. Smith, Justice Richard P. Guy, Justice Charles W. Johnson, Justice Barbara A. Madsen, Justice Gerry L. Alexander, Justice Philip A. Talmadge and Justice Richard B. Sanders.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced the State elected officials had arrived. The President requested the Special Committee to escort the State elected officials to the front of the Chamber and introduced them to the Legislature: Secretary of State Ralph Munro, State Treasurer Mike Murphy, State Attorney General Christine O. Gregoire, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson and Commissioner of Public Lands Jennifer M. Belcher.
The President welcome officers and career members of the Consular Association of Washington including: The Honorable Stephen Sieberson, President and Consul of the Netherlands, The Honorable Michael Upton, Vice President and Her Majesty's Consul, Britain, The Honorable Walter Weber, Treasurer and Consul General Emeritus of Austria, The Honorable Thomas Boehm, Consul General of Canada, The Honorable Dr. Manfred Birmelin, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, The Honorable Yoshio Nomoto, Consul General of Japan, the Honorable Sone Hoon, Consul General of the Republic of Korea, The Honorable Edward Feng, Acting Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Seattle. The President also welcomed the Honorable Chris Strong, member of the Legislative Council of the Victorian State Pariliament in Australia and his wife.
The Sergeant-at-Arms announced His Excellency, Governor Gary Locke and his wife Mona Lee Locke had arrived. The President requested the Special Committee escort Governor and Mrs. Locke to the Rostrum where the President introduced the Governor to the Legislature.
Governor Locke: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Madam Chief Justice, distinguished Justices of the Supreme Court, statewide elected officials, members of the Washington State Legislature, other elected officials, members of the consular Corps, and fellow citizens.
Few Governors have been lucky enough to walk up to this podium to deliver a state-of-the state address in such good times as these. A sustained period of economic growth is creating more jobs than ever before, and bringing greater hope an opportunity to a growing population. Our unemployment rate is the lowest since 1966. We are delighted by new orders at Boeing, and by the growth of our high-tech and bio-tech industries. Were proud that the two key ideas of education reform--higher academic standards, and hold our schools accountable for results rather than following regulations are finally taking root. We continue to be blessed by the abundance of our wheat fields and orchards. And our state is a beautiful as ever. The majesty and mystery of our coastline, our forests, and mountain ranges and an our rivers remind us that our blessing are truly beyond counting.
Even more encouraging, there is a growing sense that we are entering a time of moral renewal--a time when more and more Americans are coming home to the values of service to others, respect for our elders, and sacrifice for our children.
But this is no time to rest on our laurels, or to assume that our economic good luck will last forever.
This 55th legislature is the last of a fading century. The next legislature, which will serve from 199 through 2001, will have one foot in the old millennium, and one foot in the new. So this is truly a year to think about the legacy we have received, and to ask ourselves 'what legacy will be leave?' How will our children and grandchildren look back upon our work?
In my office, this idea of legacy was brought home in a powerful and tragic way last week. Kerry Husseman, a Deputy Director of the Department of Ecology, was outlining strategies to save salmon when--in the middle of a sentence--his life suddenly ended. Terry was a brilliant attorney who, with patience, wisdom and courage, helped launch the clean--up at Hanford, protect the public from toxic and nuclear waste, heal the relationship between state and tribal governments, and preserve our clean water. Like other state employees, his legacy was built day by day over the course of years of quiet devotion to the common good.
We most honor his memory--and the memory of the countless thousands of other citizens and public servants who have given their lives in service to others--by living up to the standard of excellence they set for all of us. And we must start right now without delay.
As the 21st century draws closer, our vision of what we what we what it to becomes clearer. We want a century in which all our children get the very best education.--
* A century in which economic prosperity benefits everyone, in every corner of our state;
* A century in which our rivers and streams are alive with fish;
* A century in which families are strong, neighbors look out for each other, and senior citizens are honored and cared for; and;
* A century in which a growing population protects and cherishes the cleanliness of our air and the open spaces that nourish our spirits.
We cannot realize this vision if we let today's economic abundance make us complacent, selfish, or shortsighted. In spite of the rosy glow of today's economy, we have urgent problems that just can't wait--the problems of our working families, our schools, our roads, and our rivers.
We cannot just coast into the 21st century.
That's why, even though this is a short legislative session, I want to work with the legislature, state employees, and the citizens of this state to tackle these problems.
The test that all our work must pass is the test of time. And solutions that stand the test of time can only be crafted when everyone participates.
The days when the response to every problem was a new government program are behind us. That strategy didn't work. When government promised more than it could ever deliver, the result was a disillusioned public, and problems that continued to get worse instead of better. Worse yet, relying on government alone to solve our problems diminished the importance of citizenship, and the value of personal responsibility. That's the trend we must reverse before this century ends.
And that's why the proposal I'm submitting to the legislature are not government programs, but partnerships between citizens, schools, business, labor, and government at every level.
Creating these partnerships--and restoring the central role of responsible citizenship--is both our most urgent challenge, and our most promising route to real solutions.
The first and most important partnership must be to accelerate the improvement of our public schools.
Last fall, we received the first test results that tell us how well our fourth-graders are measuring up t o our rigorous new academic standards. LESS THAN HALF OF OUR FOURTH-GRADERS MET OUR STANDARD IN READING. Now those kids are in fifth grade. And it's not enough to tell their parents that our schools will do better with next year's first and second graders. Last year's fourth-graders need help now--and so do this year's second, third and fourth-graders.
That's why I'm proposing that we create the Washington Reading Corps. Instead of just giving the schools more money and telling them to fix the problems, this investment is designed to give teachers and principals the resources they need to mobilize their communities. The goal of this program is to recruit twenty-five thousand volunteer tutors across the state, and to have teachers train them to tutor 82,000 second through fifth graders in reading. We know that tutoring works, and that children need individualized attention. And we know that if children fail at reading in the early grades, it's unlikely they will ever catch us.
We also have a promise to keep: the promise that we would move heaven and earth to help every student master our new, higher academic standards. That's why it's so important--and so urgent--that we bring together children who are learning to sound out words with volunteer tutors who will listen to them, and praise them when they do it right. That's how a lifetime of success gets started, and how a lifetime of frustration and failure is averted.
But even though school need more parent and community involvement to succeed, we must new forget that the foundation of our schools is the profession of teaching. And that's why I am also proposing new and significant incentives for excellence in teaching.
All teachers are not the same.
So isn't it time to encourage our teachers to strive for excellence, and to reward them when they achieve it? Our best teachers will be able to earn more if this legislature will agree to my proposal to reward them for meeting the rigorous test of national certification, which requires high levels of competency and classroom skill.
I am also proposing a scholarship program to attract our best and brightest young people to the teaching profession. I want to provide scholarships to 100 outstanding college students in return for their commitment to teach in our public schools.
And it's time we made it easy for mid-career or retiring professionals to become teachers. To do that, I'm proposing a fast-track route into the classroom by giving people credit for what they already know, and making the courses necessary for teaching more convenient and accessible. Mid-career professionals and retirees shouldn't have to attend four years of college to become teachers.
And isn't it also time to give parents, teachers, and citizens the power to create charter schools? Two years ago, many of us urged voters to reject a charter school ballot measure because it was flawed. Last year, bipartisan cooperation and citizen involvement fixed those flaws, and a charter school bill passed the House, but not the Senate. This year, I want to sign charter school legislation that promotes innovation and community involvement in public education.
This last legislature of the 20th century must throw open the doors and windows of our public schools to the fresh air and new ideas that charter schools will provide.
At the dawn of the 21st century, our new communication technologies can bring learning opportunities to both children and adults in even the remotest corners of our state. Later this month, a new electronic learning network will come to life, liking many school and universities. Now we must connect all our schools to that network--and even more important, we must train our educators to make the best use of it.
Our second partnership--a partnership between workers, their employers, and the state--is devoted to creating a better life for Washington's working families.
In the last several years, we have given tax cuts to businesses to encourage them to expand, to modernize and to invest in new equipment. Those targeted tax cuts were necessary and effective--and we're proposing more of them, to help small businesses establish themselves and grow.
But now our businesses ought to invest in their most previous asset: their employees.
Working families--especially those at the lower end of the pay scale--have an equal right to benefit from our good economic times.
Many businesses report that they invest thousand of dollars training people for very technical jobs, only to lose them when they start a family and can't afford child care. And many businesses are having such a hard time finding trained workers that they're recruiting people from out of state.
I want Washington jobs to be for Washingtonian.
So I'm proposing tax credits to family-friendly businesses that invest in child care or job training for their employees. And I'm calling for expanding enrollments in our community and technical college, so that people can learn new skills and climb the career ladder.
And isn't it time to help working families realize the American dream of owning a home? Despite low interest rates, many families just can't save enough money for a down payment, or have a hard time making monthly mortgage payments. That's why I've proposed a partnership with banks to help first-time home buyers.
To benefit working families, I'm also asking for a $35 cut in the tax we pay when we renew the license tabs on our cars.
The working people of Washington's distressed rural communities especially need our help. While the unemployment rate in King County is 2.9 percent, the unemployment rate in Columbia County is over 15 percent.
The is absolutely unacceptable.
None of us was elected to preside over two Washingtons--one urban and prosperous, and the other rural and poor. We were elected to lead one Washington, indivisible, with hope and economic opportunity for all. So I am asking this legislature to expand tax incentives that encourage businesses to locate and grow outside the central I-5 corridor.
This legislature must also honor another partnership: the partnership between ourselves and our parents and grandparents. In the budget passed last year, we underestimated the demand for home care for our seniors, and that's something we simply must fix. I'm asking the legislature to approve additional funding for the services that seniors need to live int heir own homes rather than in nursing homes.
This is the very least we can do to express our respect for our elders, our appreciation for the lifetime of hard work and sacrifice, and our gratitude for the values they taught us.
There's something else we must do if our work this year is to stand the test of time--and that's to protect our ability to generate economic growth by investing in our transportation system.
Gridlock on our freeways will cause gridlock in our economy if we don't act now. Already our ports are losing their competitive advantage, because once goods leave our docks, they get stuck in traffic.
Too many working people spend far too many hours on the freeway rather than at home with their families.
And that's not the worst of it. The worst of it is that all across the state, the number of unsafe highways, bridges and intersections is growing.
That's why I'm proposing a balanced funding package to repair, maintain and unclog our transportation system;
We need two and half billion dollars worth of critical improvements in the next five years. And we need to come up with that amount without hurting education or other vital services. I don't see any want to do that without a gas tax increase. I know it's politically unpopular, but it's the right thing to do.
On this issue, once again, I am asking for partnership--a partnership of Democrats and Republicans--to create a lasting, long-term solution.
The final partnership I want to talk about today is to save our salmon.
For longer than human beings can remember, wild salmon have spawned in our rivers and streams, found their way to the sea, and then made that heroic, upstream journey home to star the cycle over again. Throughout the 20th century, wild salmon runs have dwindled, in large part because of dams, culverts and other obstacles that prevent them from swimming upstream; because of polluted water, or because so much water has been diverted from streams that there's not enough left for the fish.
These are problems that people have created, and problems that people can solve.
But we cannot wait. In fact, we've already waited too long. And the result of our procrastination is that our salmon and steelhead are dying out.
If we don't act now, the federal government and federal judges will take this issue out of our hands. And we will lose local control over our use of land and water. The water salmon depend on is also the water that we need for irrigation, industry, electricity, transportation, and domestic use. That's why, to jump-start the process of restoring and protecting our streams and rivers, we must forge new partnerships between landowner, irrigators, tribal governments, local and state governments and citizen volunteers.
Saving our salmon is not optional. It is our sacred duty--to our ancestors, and to our children and their children--to act now, before our salmon are gone forever.
All of the proposals I've described promote partnerships--between citizens and government, between workers and employers, and between Democrats and Republicans.
And all of these proposals challenge us to remember that every day of our lives is a precious gift--an unrepeatable opportunity to create the legacy for which we will be remembered.
And all of these proposal call us to realize our vision for the 21st century--a vision of great schools, growing opportunity, healthy rivers teeming with fish, clean air, strong families and honored elders, all bound together by a renewed sense of community and a powerful ethic of personal responsibility.
These proposal don't add up to a Democratic agenda, or a Republican agenda, or a government agenda.
The is a Washington state agenda.
This is an agenda for all of us--for every citizen of every walk of life, of every color of the rainbow, and of every age. And this is an agenda we can only achieve by working together to revitalize the spirit of unity, and the practice of good citizenship.
As I have traveled around this state in the past year, I have seen hundreds of promising signs that a renaissance of active citizenship is beginning to take root. It is a part of that wave of moral renewal and rededication to the values that made this country great.
Let me introduce you to a few of the people who exemplify this renaissance.
Meet Joyce Derlacki and Betty and Burt Block, three of the senior citizen volunteers I met a Phantom Lake Elementary School in Bellevue. These citizens volunteer in the school to help Moises Oritiz and Prese Peseta and their classmates learn to read--and then the seniors stay after school and learn how to use computers.
From Spokane, I want you to meet Lore Hannes, who tutors first-grade readers--and Dal Beeman, a Dad who works nights, and volunteers with kindergartners and first graders when he gets off work in the morning.
From Vancouver, we have with us Jason Adams, a football star at Fort Vancouver High School who reads to second graders twice a week--and Alvarao Angel, a retired radio and TV broadcaster who tutors and mentors bilingual students.
I'd also like you to meet some people who are heroes to our salmon.
In Yakima, science teacher Kent Wilkinson and students Sami Dinsmore, Ryan Erlwine, Kaytla Eirich and Laura Bodine are restoring Wide Hollow Creek, and they've brought fish back to a creek that had been barren for this entire century.
And from Skagit County, I'd like you to meet John Hocking, a developer who donated a 12-acre wetland to the city of Mt. Vernon--Arn Thoreen, a commercial fisherman who helped form the Skagit Watershed Council--Sammy Elix and Keith Hewitt, two of the Job Corps participants who worked to restore the wetland and the creek they feed--and Kurt Buchanan, their partner from the Department of Fish and wildlife.
When I visited this group at Bakerview Creek last summer, they showed me coho salmon fingerlings flourishing where none had for many years.
Those tiny, fragile-fish prove the life-giving power of cooperative partnerships and active citizenship. Those fingerlings show that when citizens act together--and when government helps bring them together--our best values can solve our most difficult problems.
Those fingerlings will mature and return to our rivers in the new millennium.
And in that new millennium, our children, too, will come of age, and inherit the legacy that we are creating today.
So I want to end by asking everyone in this room to stand with these citizens who are showing us the way to a worthy legacy.
I ask all of you--every citizen, and every public servant--to stand and together make a pledge:
I ask that each of us pledge to put aside self-interest, join as partners, and transform our vision for the coming century into a legacy that will stand the test of time.
I ask that each of us renew our commitment to active citizenship and the practice of personal responsibility
And I ask that each of us strive, in the year ahead, to contribute to the renaissance of those simple, timeless values of service to others, respect for our elders, and sacrifice for our children.
Thank you very much.
The President thanked the Governor for his moving and visionary message, and requested the Special Committee to escort the Governor and Mrs. Locke from the House Chamber.
The President requested the Special Committee to escort the State elected officials from the House Chamber.
The President requested the Special Committee to escort the Supreme Court Justices from the House Chamber.
MOTION
On motion of Representative Pennington, the Joint Session was dissolved.
The Speaker resumed the chair and requested the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort the President of the Senate and members of the Washington State Senate from the House Chamber.
There being no objection, the House advanced to the eleventh order of business.
MOTION
On motion of Representative Lisk, the House adjourned until 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 14, 1998.
TIMOTHY A. MARTIN, Chief Clerk CLYDE BALLARD, Speaker