Dan Malloy in 2017 Governor's State of the State speeches
On Crime:
Prison population has dropped AND recidivism has declined
On the criminal justice front, Connecticut is leading the nation, and is now safer than it has been in fifty years.Our prison population has dropped significantly, and high-risk, violent offenders are serving more of their sentence than ever before.
Recidivism has declined substantially. This progress has allowed us to save taxpayers $70 million in the current fiscal year.
All of this is making Connecticut a better, more desirable place to work and live.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Connecticut Legislature
Jan 4, 2017
On Government Reform:
Cut state agencies by 28% and cut state workforce by 9%
I'm going to discuss three key areas that I believe we should focus on this year in order to balance our current budget, and also continue our progress towards long-term prosperity. - To start, we need to continue making state government leaner
and more cost-effective. Last year we cut nearly $850 million to bring our current fiscal year in balance. In so doing, we spent less in the General Fund than we had in the previous year for the first time since 2002. We've reduced the number of state
agencies by 28% since 2011--shrinking from 81 agencies down to 58. During that same time period, we reduced the size of our executive branch workforce by 9.5%. We now employ 5,000 fewer full-time employees than we did in 2008.
- The second area
are the obligations we have to Connecticut's state workers, educators, and retirees.
- The final area is how we go about distributing aid to our towns and cities--primarily how we fund public education.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Connecticut Legislature
Jan 4, 2017
On Jobs:
Pushed bill to protect advanced manufacturing jobs
This past September, the Connecticut General Assembly met in a special session, to take historic action in support of our state's economy and our incredible workforce. The legislation you voted to support--and that I signed into law--protected
8,000 jobs at Sikorsky Aircraft. Equally importantly, it shored up thousands more jobs up and down Sikorsky's supply chain, and across every corner of our great state.
It nearly doubled their spending with local suppliers to almost $700 million per year over the next decade and beyond.In recent years we've secured similar investments from United Technologies and Electric Boat.
Taken together, these agreements cement our leadership in advanced manufacturing around the globe. Together we've protected Connecticut's aerospace and defense industries for a generation and likely beyond. We've given them predictability.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Connecticut Legislature
Jan 4, 2017
On Social Security:
78% of our state pension fund is making up for past mistakes
Our pension systems for Connecticut's state workers, educators, and retirees were created 80 years ago, but not a single dime was deposited into the account during the first 30 years of its existence. It was a pay-as-you-go system. Over many decades,
legacy costs, insufficient contributions, lower-than-assumed returns, and early retirement packages left us with a significant unfunded liability in the state's employee & teacher retirement systems. The stark reality is that, after 80 years, the state
has set aside only 1/3 of the money necessary to responsibly fund its obligations.Let me put it in context. Of the $1.65 billion that we will pay next year into the state retirement systems, 78% of that--or nearly $1.3 billion--is what we're paying
to make-up for what past administrations and past legislatures failed to do. Simply put, our generation is paying for Connecticut's past mistakes. Is it frustrating to do that? Of course. Is it necessary? Absolutely. It's also the right thing to do.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Connecticut Legislature
Jan 4, 2017
On Technology:
On-time on-budget completion of Q Bridge project & CTfastrak
We are improving our transportation system as we speak, thanks to the investments we've made together. The on-time and on-budget completion of the Q Bridge project means that, on a daily basis, 140,000 motorists are getting to where they need to go with
greater ease.And with CTfastrak, more people are riding Connecticut transit buses to work. Exceeding all initial projections, average ridership on CTfastrak is as high as 19,000 people per weekday.
Source: 2017 State of the State address to Connecticut Legislature
Jan 4, 2017
Page last updated: Dec 10, 2018