This evening, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder delivered Michigan's State of the State Address. An outline of his remarks can be found here. He continued on his them of "Reinventing Michigan," and focused on three core areas:
- Jobs;
- People; and,
- Good Government.
While he talked about his achievements from the past year, tonights address was focused on giving his vision for 2013 and provide a road map for the legislature to help him "Reinvent Michigan," focused in the same three areas I listed above.
JOBS
In 2013, Governor Snyder will focus on bolstering Michigan's infrastructure by fixing our roads and paying for them and building a new border crossing between Michigan and Ontario. This summer, he will work to bring together political leaders from around the Great Lakes Basin to focus on finding ways to preserve our Great Lakes, as a region. And by December, Governor Snyder will address issues related to public land and renewable energy.
Also under JOBS, Snyder will address the issue of education in the state and focus on providing students the choice of shaping their own education while addressing the needs of Michigan's failing schools. He also provided support for creative options to ensure that all children have access to a pre-school education.
He also is giving greater focus to Michigan financial services and insurance industry and earlier today created a new department to focus on that issue alone. He also created a new Veteran's Affairs agency that will focus on caring for Michigan's Veterans and ensuring they have opportunities to find a job upon returning from service or buying or protecting their home.
PEOPLE
Snyder will also look at addressing the issue of mental health and is searching for creative ideas to deal with this issue states are now starting to grapple with. He will work to strengthen neighborhoods and build communities.
GOOD GOVERNMENT
While also finding ways to make our public officials and those doing business with the state and local governments more accountable through ethics reform, campaign finance and changes in how local elections are administered.
TOP KEY WORD FOR THE STATE OF THE STATE
- If you want the best, buy a Michigan product.
- A year of summits.
- Use common sense and get it done.
- Thus is our opportunity.
- Success stories.
- Creative solutions.
- Work together.
- No blaming.
- Look forward.
- Creating a better path for our kids and their kids.
And of course, doing all this with, "Relentless positive action." Now, let's get out there and "get the job done."