State of the State, continued
Now that zero-base budgeting is in place, we must find a way to institutionalize this new culture of responsible austerity and ensure that we nurture continuing improvements to State government operations.
I am studying the possibility of creating an intergovernmental working group to do just that. And I look forward to hearing your feedback in the days and weeks ahead.
One area of our State budget where there are private-sector options to partially offset our need for greater public austerity is higher education.
I understand the arguments. I’ve heard them wherever I go – “We should be investing in our future.” ... “We’re being penny wise and pound foolish.” ... “We’re shortchanging our own economic development opportunities.”
I’m sure all of us would like to put more money into our colleges and universities. I appreciate your commitment to maintaining our Opportunity Scholarship Fund’s corpus.
And I look forward to the time when we can resume building on that account to ensure money is never a barrier to qualified students going on after high school.
With that in mind, I also want to thank the Albertson Foundation for its continuing generosity in supporting Idaho education programs, and advocating for our students to broaden their educational horizons.
Still, the fact is that tough choices – and changes – have to be made.
And higher education does have some built-in constituencies that can provide alternatives to a higher level of General Fund support.
At the same time, I’ve been gratified by the efforts of our college and university presidents to manage through the relative scarcity of these tough economic times while growing their institutions in response to student and community needs.
And I’ve been pleased by the expanding role of our business community, the Idaho National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in collaborating with our colleges and universities on research and technology transfer issues.
They’re cooperating on development of better policies for commercializing and generating revenue from work on our campuses.
Some of our great corporate citizens, the Office of Energy Resources, Jefferson Jewell and the Idaho Innovation Council, Rich Raimondi and the Idaho Technology Council, and our higher education leaders all are working closely with the Center for Advanced Energy Studies on development of the Energy Efficiency Research Institute.
I welcome those partnerships, because Idaho needs those partnerships.
It shows what we can achieve when we think about how to apply our existing resources in new and innovative ways.
That is our challenge, in 2011 and beyond. We must take it upon ourselves to create a brighter, more hopeful future where greater value once again is placed on self-reliance. We must not be satisfied with answers from government – any government.
And we must do more to reach out to all our citizens for their solutions.
Think of this legislative session as a family council – all Idahoans drawn up around the kitchen table to discuss how to make the best possible use of what we have.
Those of us in this chamber are the facilitators of the public’s will.
It is our jobs to lead and focus the family discussion, and to infuse it with the context and the facts that the people need to help light a clearer path forward.
This is not a time to rest on the support and confidence that the people recently expressed for us, or to retreat to the status quo.
Rather, it is a time to boldly redouble our efforts on their behalf.
It’s time to make the extraordinary measures that were born of necessity these past years into the foundation for a new concept of governance for Idaho.
Governance that emboldens and frees individuals and communities from the soul-crushing tyranny of entitlement.
As Abigail Adams wrote, “It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. When a mind is raised and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
My friends, we have the opportunity now to be statesmen. But the people we serve are and must always remain the heroes of our great Republic, and of our Idaho Family.
Good luck in the days and weeks ahead. God bless you all. God bless America, and may God continue to bless the great State of Idaho.
Published 1-14-2011