2007 house journal index of days - Maryland General Assembly

266 Journal of Proceedings Jan. 31, 2007
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Chief Judge, Mr. Attorney General, Mr. Comptroller,
Madame Treasurer, my colleagues in government of the Maryland General Assembly,
my colleagues in county and municipal government, my fellow citizens and friends.
Today, we assess our strengths and weaknesses and set out an agenda for making
progress towards our shared goals.
Because of the values that we share as Marylanders, I think you will agree that there are
certain timeless goals that together we choose to pursue as a State:
• To strengthen and grow our middle class, our family owned businesses and family
farms.
• To improve public safety and public education in every part of our state.
• To expand opportunity – the opportunities for learning, for earning, and for enjoying
the health of the people, the land, and the water we love – to more people rather than
fewer.
A Strong State
Fourteen days into the four years the people have given us to do their business, I am glad
to report that thanks to the hard work of citizens in decades past – and despite the drift of
recent years – the state of our state, today, is strong.
Maryland is the 2nd wealthiest state in the union. Our institutions of scientific and
healing discovery – known throughout the world – are among the largest recipients of
research grants in the nation. And we are blessed with a variety of natural beauty of land
and water unrivaled in any state our size.
But in many ways, for all our achievements and blessings, we are also a state of
extremes:
• A strong state with a huge looming structural deficit.
• A strong state with a violent crime rate that is one of the highest in the nation.
• A strong state where the number of uninsured citizens has reached nearly 800,000, as
increasing numbers of small businesses find it financially impossible to cover their
employees healthcare costs.
• A strong state where more and more hard-working families are finding the dream of
college education slipping out of reach.