Governor Michael O. Leavitt

President Christensen, Speaker Bishop, members of Utah's 50th Legislature, and fellow Utahns . . . I am pleased to greet you on this important day, Human Rights Day, in this beautifully restored chamber.

We've all been sobered today by the major earthquake in Southern California and the destruction there. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people there and we stand ready to help. Members of our Urban Search and Rescue Team have been placed on alert in anticipation of being called to assist. Personnel from our Comprehensive Emergency Management division, the National Guard, and the Department of Transportation have been dispatched to California to help and to learn from this disaster.

This evening is a time for us to reflect on the state of our state, and set a course for the future.

A personal note on a Christmas card I received this year had a theme I hear quite often these days. The card was from a college friend who has lived out of state for many years. She wrote one of those family newsletters you get on bright green paper with computer generated graphics. We got an update on the kids, and some details of their summer vacation. At the end was a handwritten postscript about looking to move back to Utah, something like, "Utah's got the perfect combination . . . we're ready to come home."

She's right. Utah has the right combination. Yes, we have problems, and we must never discount them . . . but we can be pleased that in many ways Utah has risen to a new level of performance. As I have represented Utah at events out of state, I find that outsiders are looking at us with new curiosity. Some have asked, "What's going on in Utah?" They're interested in how has Utah emerged as the top job-creating state in the country . . . with the second highest personal income growth. Some note our highly productive education system, which produces top 10 outcomes in test scores. Visitors appreciate our neighborhoods which, for the most part, are still safe and friendly. And we enjoy a national reputation in advanced technology.

Utah has emerged as a leader because we have the right combination of fine schools, a healthy business climate, and great opportunities for recreation, sports and culture. But more basic than any of those things, we have stability in Utah, a society built around individual responsibility and strong family life. We are on a roll right now with unparalleled economic prosperity. But it is critical that our self concept as a state be grounded, not in today's economic vibrance and national attention, but in our stability, our unyielding sense of individual responsibility. It's easy to be stable when the environment around you is stable, but the true test of stability is when things are extremely good or extremely bad. We do not know what unforeseen problem could interrupt today's current prosperity -- an earthquake like the one today in the San Fernando Valley, an economic downturn based on defense downsizing, or some other event we can't even anticipate. It is our individual responsibility, our stability as a state, that will be the most important part of Utah's combination over the long term.

When I took office last year, I promised that my administration would take Utah to a whole new level on performance by building on our existing strengths. We have worked hard in the last year to do that, and I feel good about the progress we have made. In the legislative session that began today, we are proposing a legislative package that continues to capitalize on our unique combination of strengths. My legislative proposals aim to make world-class education our standard, build a stronger economy around quality, high-paying jobs, protect as a precious asset our enviable quality of life, increase the efficiency and productivity of state government, and finally, in caring for our needy, foster self-reliance and personal charity.

TECHNOLOGY

I begin tonight by addressing a critical need to keep our state's positive momentum: advanced technology. I am more convinced than ever that our future depends on how well and how fast we adapt to the information ecosystem.

This year, we will complete the Education Technology Initiative started five years ago. This excellent program has already provided $50 million and a very good starting position.

But we must double our efforts and, more importantly, engage others as partners in this move to establish a leadership position for our state. Today, I propose a new initiative, Technology 2000, broader in scope, bolder in size, historic in impact. Technology 2000 will coordinate investment with local governments, schools, universities, colleges and the private sector. I propose we appropriate by the year 2000, more than $120 million as the state's share of this investment. And we begin this year with a $30 million down payment.

Technology 2000 will revolutionize education by training teachers and professors, developing technology-delivered courses, and building the largest wide area network of its kind in the world. This initiative will make government more efficient and bring services to your fingertips. It will ultimately provide video interaction, so meetings and classes can be held electronically with anyone, almost anywhere, with participants able to see each other, talk to each other, and work together from hundreds of miles away.

This technology will have a profound effect on rural Utah. It will make a rural location an economic advantage because of the unique combination of life quality and technological access. It will help with our transportation and environmental challenges because in the cities, telecommuting from home will reduce freeway congestion and allow flexible work schedules. Every car not on the freeway means less pollution, fewer accidents, and reduced costs for office space.

It will change our state's public investment patterns. Public schools, higher education, and state agencies must begin to redirect part of what they are spending on traditional bricks and mortar to technology.

But government investment will never be enough. We must form a partnership with the private sector. Companies like U.S. West, TCI Cablevision, Electric Lightwave, MCI, AT&T and local telephone exchanges will be our partners. They are committed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in fiber optics superhighway, from Logan to St. George, Wendover to Vernal.

Access and affordability are essential, and they can best be ensured through vigorous competition in an open marketplace. Regulators must protect citizens where competition does not exist, but the telecommunications playing field must be leveled to encourage competition and to attract new entrants and investment.

EDUCATION

In education, our standard must be world-class. Our 97 Centennial Schools have started a revolution in education that changes the basic structure and culture of public education to place value on competency, outcome and achievement -- instead of on seat time. We still have far to go. I am proposing another 100 Centennial schools in my budget, and I hope they will be even more innovative and visionary.

We have asked schools to pick up the pace. I propose to give our young people a more meaningful academic experience their last year in high school by making a $1,000 Centennial scholarship available to every high school senior. The scholarship will go to every student who finishes high school requirements early. It will be applied toward college or job training courses, many of which will be available right in their high school through the Technology 2000 initiative. They still get senior prom, high school football and debate. But they will have a rich educational experience that accelerates them toward their postsecondary goals.

The Centennial Scholarship addresses our challenges in higher education, too. Enrollment is burgeoning. Today, there are 75,000 students in our colleges and universities. By the time my three-year-old son graduates from high school, enrollment will have doubled to 150,000 students. We must meet this demand, but we can't afford to do it the old fashioned way. It would cost nearly $2 billion in bricks and mortar to build our way out of it. We will only have a fraction of that. Centennial Scholarships and other technology delivered education will be a vital tool to make it happen. With technology, with good cooperation, and with innovative thinking, we can deliver college students a four-year education in four years.

HEALTH CARE REFORM

One week from today, I will introduce our health care reform package, a market-oriented blueprint to provide access to affordable health insurance for every Utahn. Lt. Gov. Olene Walker worked with hundreds of people who spent thousands of hours laying the groundwork for this sweeping proposal. The plan builds on the parts of our current market system that work. It is not government-run health care, nor does it depend on employer mandates. We have preserved a broad range of choices on plans and providers. Our approach is very flexible and adaptable. It must be. There are many uncertainties, and we cannot be dependent long-term on untried solutions.

In time, this plan will eliminate the unfair aspects of the existing system. You won't be turned down because of a pre-existing health condition. You won't lose your insurance if you move to another job in the state. Insurers won't be able to deny access to those who need insurance the most, those with health problems.

The method of financing is honest and straightforward. It depends on being able to contain costs, but unlike the federal proposals, it does not depend on new taxes, nor does it spend savings until they are actually realized.

I believe it is a model many states will follow and I encourage you to support this package.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

In economic development, our progress has been stunning. Utah experienced the second highest personal income growth in the country last year. 40,000 new jobs were created and our wage rates are up. One in 20 of Utah's total jobs were created last year. We have been heralded as the best place in America to live and do business. Said World Trade magazine of Utah's work force: "They're smart. They're productive. They're motivated." And then, in a statement that signals our advantage in the global marketplace, the magazine continued, "They're multilingual." And exports by Utah companies were up 41 percent last year. The key to building a stronger economy is quality, not quantity. We must nurture our existing businesses by helping them attract investment capital, providing reasonable regulation and an equitable tax structure.

One cloud darkens our economic horizon, and that is the future of Hill Air Force Base. Hill is the most competitive installation of its kind in the world, but it is seriously threatened by shortsighted and selfish politics between branches of the military. Defense downsizing will occur. We have already felt its effects. But the American people expect dollars to be saved . . . that's the promise. Dollars will not be saved unless the various military branches are forced to cooperate. We don't ask for political favor, we simply want a chance for Utah workers to compete on a level playing field. We will do everything humanly possible to preserve the jobs at Hill Air Force Base.

BUDGET

Now, I'd like to talk budget matters with you for a moment. Never before has our state seen such economic vibrance. Our citizens are on average making more money. They're optimistic. They're building houses and buying cars. They are making long-term investments. The total income of our citizens is up 7.5 percent over last year, but consumer spending is 12 percent higher than a year ago. As a result, our tax receipts are temporarily increasing faster than our citizens' incomes. One of the most important decisions we make this year is how to handle this. In my budget address I asked you not to put that extra money into the ongoing budget. I suggest that we make one-time long-term investments. I believe our citizens' spending will return to normal sometime soon, and when that happens we must not be in a position where we have overextended ourselves.

Perhaps this remarkable growth will continue. If it does, I'll propose a tax cut because government can't be allowed to grow faster than the economy. But if things return to normal, we will still be living within our means and the one-time money will have been used wisely to prevent future problems. That's the Utah way, conservative and realistic. It's the reason that this year we were judged the 2nd best managed state in America.

By almost any economic measure, these are very good times in Utah. But behind the economic boom, lurks something I believe to be a real threat to our society, something more serious and more basic than any base closure or business downturn.

This year, my budget includes a massive increase in tax dollars directed at meeting the social needs confronting our state. Forty-two million dollars in an anti-crime package. We're doubling the space in our juvenile corrections facilities, dramatically increasing the number of probation officers, adding new judges, more police officers.

FAMILIES

I'm asking for a 52 percent funding increase for our state-supported child welfare programs. The incidence of child abuse is horrifying. We are not only appropriating money, but we are retooling, recommitting, and rethinking our approach to meet this responsibility.

This is a large commitment, but will it be enough?

Let me illustrate with a story we all know quite well. Just before Christmas, as I was preparing to deliver my budget address to you, a security officer interrupted with news of a fire at the governor's mansion. The smoke billowed over South Temple as we rushed to the scene. My family and mansion staff were safe, but it was a very narrow escape.

In the parking lot, Jackie described the pop, the flash, then the roar of noise as the huge Christmas tree in the center of the home burst into flame. She described calling out to Westin, our three-year-old, seeing Carol, her assistant, futilely attack the fire with an extinguisher, and then all of them rushing to the back door.

The most frightening moment came when the back door would not budge, and the women feared they were trapped. Only moments had passed, but the intense heat had pressurized the inside of the mansion. Fortunately, three men were working in the basement, and together they were able to pry open the door, allowing everyone to escape before it sealed tight behind them.

Pressure inside the mansion became even more intense, as the fire smoldered without oxygen to burn. Then, as we watched, the pressure exploded the south window on the second floor, oxygen rushed in from a huge backdraft, and a fireball roared through the building.

I relate this story because I believe a much different kind of pressure is building in our society, all the more insidious because it has built over many years, instead of just a few moments, and we don't always recognize it for what it is.

The trends creating this pressure, if not reversed, have the potential to explode into a social backdraft, a fireball of community failures that will engulf society.

How is the pressure building? In a growing segment of society, there is a total disconnection between parenting a child and the responsibility to nurture and support. People are parenting children without any intention to adjust their lives to meet the responsibilities of time, love, discipline and financial support. Being a parent is hard work, and yet people are becoming parents without any intention of changing their current lifestyles. It is happening in all phases of society: among teenagers; our children are having children!; adults; both men and women, who treat child-bearing as an incident in their lives rather than a defining moment, a point at which they are forever after responsible for someone other than themselves. That's real pressure on our society. Fifty years ago, just five percent of babies in America were born to single mothers. By 1970, the rate had doubled to 10 percent. Today, 30 percent of babies are born to single mothers. And in 20 years, the number is projected at HALF of all babies born in fatherless homes.

The statistics demonstrate the pressure on society. And behind the statistics are thousands of individual stories of personal unhappiness, aggregating into a staggering social burden. How important is responsible parenting? Consider this:

-- Almost half of single mothers remain on welfare rolls for more than 10 years, and the children in those homes are far more likely to remain on welfare for their adult lives.

-- We're all worried about crime. Some 70 percent of juvenile criminals come from fatherless homes. We struggle to increase performance in school, but it is so closely tied to family stability that it overshadows any link to income or race or school spending or class size or teachers or good health or anything else that is associated with the well-being of children.

These are deep, structural, social problems. It would be easy to try to blame one social group, or even one gender. Deadbeat dads, Teenage moms. Yes, they are a piece of the puzzle, whether perpetrator or victim. But it's bigger than one gender, one age group, one class of citizens. Society as a whole needs to take the responsibility of parenting more seriously, regardless of life circumstances.

My point is, government alone cannot solve these problems. We will make a valiant effort this year, with large appropriations. But it will be a little bit like Carol attacking that inferno with a fire extinguisher. These pressures are building in society, and we cannot forever continue down this course. We already see a social backdraft occurring in many big cities . . . gangs, violence, children bearing children. And, unfortunately, we see the beginnings in Utah.

INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

But it is not too late in Utah. We can reduce the pressure with a united and concerted community effort. Part of the solution lies in what I earlier described as Utah's unique combination -- individual responsibility and strong family life.

Some reject this moralizing as outside government's legitimate interest. But they are wrong. The link between individual responsibility and social stability and prosperity is inevitable. The cost of its decline, in social terms and in higher taxes, is real and definable.

What is individual responsibility? It's families taking care of each other so that government's role is limited. It's parents sitting down to help children do their homework. Giving structure and setting expectations. It's a divorced mom and dad who still work together to meet their children's needs. It's a single mom who does double duty parenting day in and day out to raise her children. It's a father who pays monthly child support or assumes custody of a child. It's a family that adopts a child, or takes in foster children -- and we need more of them -- and provides them the love and guidance that they need. It's neighborhoods and communities and churches working together to overcome problems. It's the Scoutmasters, the YWCA, the volunteer youth leaders, the businesses that adopt schools. It's rejecting substance abuse or getting help for an existing problem. It's doing our part to teach children that parenthood is the most sacred and serious obligation one ever undertakes. It's the personal discipline to refuse violence based television and movies that teach every anti-social behavior we're trying to eliminate.

Utah truly has the right combination -- what this nation needs! Why is it that so many businesses want to move to Utah? Because Utahns get up on Monday morning and go to work and put in a full day! Why do we produce top 10 results in education despite the largest class sizes in America and modest spending per student? Because we have dedicated and competent teachers, and parents who nurture children! Why are we positioned to emerge as a leader in the information age? Because our entrepreneurs are honest, innovative and they work hard. Why will we emerge as a leader in health care reform? Because we have generally healthy lifestyles and a willingness to work together.

In conclusion, a personal note. It has been a year since I became governor. I really like this job -- I'm grateful for the privilege you have given me to serve. The challenges and pressures are relentless, but I am buoyed up and energized by it.

The true state of a state will always be the state of its citizens. People quietly, consistently, working hard, caring for their families, serving in the community, being good neighbors. This truly is the right combination. It's what America wants to come home to.

On that basis, the state of our state is great -- God bless you in your efforts. God bless Utah and God bless America. Thank you.