By Steve Horton

The theme of Gov. Rick Snyder’s hour-long ‘State of the State’ address on Wednesday evening was that 2011 was a year of “building a foundation of good government”, while the coming 2012 year “needs to be the year of continuing good government.”

“In 2011 we worked hard to build that foundation,” Snyder told the joint session of the Michigan Legislature. “You should be proud of the progress, but more needs to be done… Last year (at the State of the State) I spoke about the need to reinvent Michigan. Tonight is a continuation of that journey.”

Snyder, who is beginning his second year as the governor, referred to the ‘Dashboard’ that he introduced last January, noting that it contained 21 goals and the progress made, thus far, on completing them. It can be found on the internet at michigan.gov/MiDashboard. He reviewed five of the measures.

·      *   12-month unemployment dropped from 11.1 percent to 9.3 percent, the lowest rate since October 2008 and that 80,000 private sector jobs were added in 2011.

·         Obesity increased one percent point to 32 percent of the population. “This is disturbing,” Gov. Snyder said. Decreasing obesity in the overall Michigan population was an announced goal during the past year.

·       *  College readiness for graduating Michigan high school students increased from 16 to 17 percent. While this was progress, Snyder called the low rate “unacceptable”, adding “We need our students to be 100 percent career and college ready.”

·        * Bond rating improved.

·         * Crime statistics improved, but he pointed out that four of the 10 cities in the United States with he highest per capita of violent crimes are located in Michigan: Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw. “We going to focus on this,” he said.

Snyder then pointed out some of the overall successes in Michigan, including the major comeback by the domestic auto industry, the economic health and benefits provided by the state’s diverse agriculture sector,  and the ‘Pure Michigan’ marketing campaign to promote more tourism. He also noted that efforts are underway to enhance mining in the Upper Peninsula and timber in northern Michigan.

Among the more specific accomplishment the governor felt had been made during his first year in office were “attacking our legacy problem” and “changing the course from downward to upward.”

“We passed 323 public acts in 2011,” he noted. “More important than the quantity was the quality. Our success was due in large part to a partnership with the Legislature.” Highlights cited by Snyder included eliminating the $1.5 billion deficit in the budget, producing the budget in a timely fashion, having a surplus that allowed the first payment in the state’s Rainy Day Fund since 2004, eliminating the Single Business  Tax, making some changes to the personal tax code, created an ‘Economic Vitality Incentive’ Program for communities, made several educational reforms including teacher tenure changes and lifting the cap on charter schools, encouraged more accountability for local municipalities and schools including the sharing of services, beginning the discussion on public health challenges in Michigan like obesity, and signing laws that support and protect children.

Among those latter laws were an extension of foster care services for young adults who would otherwise be “aged out” of the system, raising it from 18 years old to 21, a law targeted at protecting older citizens from abuse by family or caregivers, and a stricter anti-bulling law for schools. On a personal note, Gov. Snyder said that signing the anti-bullying measure was an emotional one for him. “As a person who was bullied, I thank you,” he told the Legislature.

The governor pointed out that all of his efforts were not met with success, most specifically the proposal to build a new International Bridge across the Detroit River. While not mentioning the private owners of the Ambassador Bridge who have so far effectively convinced many citizens and numerous Republican lawmakers that this second, newer span is unnecessary or, despite supporters assurances to the contrary, will end up costing Michigan taxpayers, he referred to them by saying, “Let’s not let special interests stop this.” He pointed to the new crossing as being in the midpoint of “one third of the American economy if you drew a circle from Chicago to Montreal” and also noted “this is not a bridge issue but a jobs issue.”

Snyder also pointed to the issue of addressing Michigan’s transportation infrastructure. “We are under investing in our roads by $1.4 billion,” he claimed and added, “We’re using a road funding formula that dates back to 1951, over 60 years ago. Michigan can’t afford to ignore its infrastructure.”

Along with asking the Legislature to hold hearings on bills that would both change the funding mechanism (away from its reliance of gas taxes) and increasing maintenance and repair projects, Snyder also stressed that regional mass transit for southeastern Michigan needs to be improved with a better, larger ‘Bus Rapid Transit System’. “This is 40 years overdue,” he said.

Key priorities Snyder wants the Legislature to focus on in the coming year include:

·        * Improving public safety and, more specifically, lowering the violent crime rates in Michigan cities,

·        * Energy and Environment including the protection of the Great Lakes,

·        * Government accountability including laws “related to lobbying, campaign finance, and ethics for state and local government,

·        * Good Government: Focusing on sate government itself and how it operations and also the need to be a supportive partner to local jurisdictions.  He said that measures need to be taken to improve customer satisfaction for citizens using government services by empowering state employers to “deliver real results for real people”. In addition, the governor urged continued efforts to eliminate government waste, to look for ways that local jurisdictions can share services and also improve the quality of those services.

·        * Financial Responsibility. “We closed a large deficit (in 2011),” he said. “Now, let us show real leadership in how to strategically invest and save for the future—not simply spend money because it’s there.” This statement was a reference to the recent news that the budget will show a surplus at the end of the fiscal year and that a surplus is expected in the following fiscal year.

Snyder referred to “shared sacrifice” early in his speech when talking about eliminating the projected deficit, but did not go into detail. Among the cuts and reductions that have occurred, thanks largely to the support of a Republican majority in both chambers of the Legislature, were increasing the taxes on pensions, large cuts to the foundation grant for K-12 schools, reductions in state aid to public colleges and universities, cuts in public employee benefits, and reductions on state-shared revenues to local governments.

Those measures have been met with much opposition by the Democratic members in the Legislature, public employee labor unions including the Michigan Education Association, and many residents. Those budget cuts, along with the resurgence of auto sales that has added increased revenues to the state’s coffers, have created the surplus. There have been calls for some of the surplus to be used to restore the per-pupil funding to the K-12 schools as well as higher education. Others, the more conservative members of the Legislature, prefer to use the extra money to day down the state debt and put more money into the ‘Rainy Day’ Fund.

Snyder ended his ‘State of the State’ Address by stating that there is a need “to reinvent Michigan’s culture” or more specifically, its self-image. “We’re still too negative, too divisive, and too many people believe that our best days are behind us,” he said. “We need to be positive, inclusive and confident that Michigan holds a bright future for our children and theirs.”

Referring again to the past year having been one of creating a new foundation (i.e. reinventing Michigan), Gov.  Snyder noted, “We cannot afford to slow down. We need to maintain the same sense of urgency that we had last year. The key to our success was relentless, positive action. No blame, no credit, just finding common ground. “We must finish what we started. Together we will move Michigan forward.”