Michigan Governor Rick Snyder delivered his
fourth State of the State Address Thursday night, a 61-minute speech before a
joint session of the House of Representatives and Senate.
The Governor started his speech by providing
a long list of negative statistics that have declined during his time in office
– and continued by providing a list of positive statistics that have improved.
On the negative front, Snyder highlighted decreases in violent crime, infant
mortality, un-adopted children, homelessness, long-term financial liabilities,
and regulations. One the positive side, the Governor called attention to
improvements in private sector jobs, per capita income, state population, home
sales and prices, building permits, K-12 funding, and the state’s Budget
Stabilization Fund (“Rainy Day Fund”) balance.
Overall, the Governor spent about two-thirds
of his speech on reviewing accomplishments and touting the successes of his
first three years in office.
With regard to new proposals, the speech
lacked the major announcement or significant and specific direction some
previous speeches have included. In fact, the policy proposal that may very
well dominate the Legislature’s time and the airwaves in the first part of 2014
is one the Governor didn’t even discuss during his speech – the idea of a $350
million commitment to the City of Detroit.
Substantive items the Governor outlined
included his strongest call to-date for tax relief as a result of the estimated
$971 million in surplus revenue, giving indications that such tax relief would
come in a form that would primarily benefit low and middle class residents.
Also of particular substance, the Governor
announced that he will create a new Office of New Americans by executive order,
intended to develop and implement policies to attract immigrants to Michigan.
The speech also included calls for money to
implement a new teacher evaluation system, create a fund to combat invasive
species (e.g. Asian long-horned beetle, Asian carp), fund a pilot program for
year-round school calendars in certain school districts, and a call for the
Legislature to support amending the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced
budget.
While there was a bit of cross over where
Democrats supported some of the Governor’s remarks and perhaps some Republicans
were less-than-enthusiastic, the reaction to the speech was largely predictable
for an election year State of the State. Republicans largely supported the
Governor’s new plans as well as highlighting the achievements outlined in his
remarks; while Democrats largely called foul on many of the statistics the
Governor touted and continued to argue the State is on the wrong path under
Snyder’s leadership.