Tom Corbett in 2011 Governor's State of the State speeches
On Budget & Economy:
Reduce the size and cost of state government
The option I have chosen is to reduce the size and cost of state government. I'm proposing something we haven't had in a long time: a reality-based budget. The electorate, its trust scraped to the bone by lies and half-truths, isn't going to stand for
another broken promise. I said we'd cut. I'm not asking you to read my lips. I'm asking you to read my budget. And you can read my budget online, from your home. My administration created an online budget "dashboard."
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Budget & Economy:
Reduce the size and cost of state government
The option I have chosen is to reduce the size and cost of state government. I'm proposing something we haven't had in a long time: a reality-based budget. The electorate, its trust scraped to the bone by lies and half-truths, isn't going to stand for
another broken promise. I said we'd cut. I'm not asking you to read my lips. I'm asking you to read my budget. And you can read my budget online, from your home. My administration created an online budget "dashboard."
People can log on and view the entire budget in a reader-friendly form. You'll be able to see for yourself how we propose to spend your money. You can track the revenue source.
You can check every department's spending, where it came from, where it's going, and why. There's a reason I call it the "dashboard." It's time the tax-paying citizen felt as if he or she were in the driver's seat.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Crime:
Cancel unneeded expensive prison project in Fayette County
This budget maintains our full complement of state police. Crime often costs us long after justice is done. In 1993 Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure.
Sometimes it's a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal. We need to fund additional parole officers to help freed inmates make the transition from the prison yard to Main Street.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Crime:
Cancel unneeded expensive prison project in Fayette County
This budget maintains our full complement of state police. Crime often costs us long after justice is done. In 1993 Pennsylvania had 24,000 men and women in its prisons. Today that number is over 50,000. This number speaks to a failure.
Sometimes it's a failure in our schools, or in our society, but ultimately in the personal character of the criminal. We need to fund additional parole officers to help freed inmates make the transition from the prison yard to Main Street.
We need to think smarter about how and when and how long to jail people. We need to be tough on crime but we also need to consider the fiscal implications of our prison system. Last month my administration cancelled a prison project in Fayette
County because we don't need it and we can't afford it. We also can't afford to ask counties in our state to subsist on a prison-based economy. We need industries that generate wealth, not sorrow.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Education:
Families trapped in failing schools: make funding portable
There are too many mandates that tie the hands of local school boards. This administration is committed to curbing these mandates, including one that violates every law of economics: the inability to furlough employees when there isn't
the money to pay them. Pennsylvania needs to re-think how best to educate our children. We simply can't work within a broken system. We need to change the whole system. We need a new set of priorities: child, parent, and teacher--and in that order.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Education:
Families trapped in failing schools: make funding portable
There are too many mandates that tie the hands of local school boards. This administration is committed to curbing these mandates, including one that violates every law of economics: the inability to furlough employees when there isn't
the money to pay them. Pennsylvania needs to re-think how best to educate our children. We simply can't work within a broken system. We need to change the whole system. We need a new set of priorities: child, parent, and teacher--and in that order.
What we have now in too many places are schools that don't work. Families are trapped in failing schools, or schools that are a bad fit.
We need to develop a system of portable education funding; something a student can take with him or her to the school that best fits their needs. One size does not fit all. But as it now stands, not all get to choose. Let's give them school choice.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
Under Marcellus Shale is another bonanza, the Utica Shale
The Marcellus is a resource, a source of potential wealth, the foundation of a new economy. For every pipe running a mile underground we should have jobs at distribution centers, at refineries, at shipping ports, and the offices & companies that run them
What Pennsylvanians will gain is the jobs, the spinoffs, and if we don't scare off these industries with new taxes, the follow-up that comes along.You see underneath the Marcellus Shale is another bonanza. It's called the Utica Shale. And where
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Energy & Oil:
Under Marcellus Shale is another bonanza, the Utica Shale
The Marcellus is a resource, a source of potential wealth, the foundation of a new economy. For every pipe running a mile underground we should have jobs at distribution centers, at refineries, at shipping ports, and the offices & companies that run them
What Pennsylvanians will gain is the jobs, the spinoffs, and if we don't scare off these industries with new taxes, the follow-up that comes along.You see underneath the Marcellus Shale is another bonanza. It's called the Utica Shale. And where
Marcellus promises 50 years of energy the Utica promises riches going into the next century. Let's make Pennsylvania the hub of this boom. Let's make Pennsylvania the Texas of the natural gas boom. I'm determined that Pennsylvania not lose this moment.
We have the chance to grow our way out of hard days. We can build around this new industry and we can make certain we do this while protecting our lands, our drinking water, our air, and our communities, all the while growing our workforce.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Tax Reform:
Tax increases choke growth; tax people less
Tax increases choke growth. Every credible study on the subject has taught us this: the states that have grown the fastest, attracted the most jobs, have stayed out of the way. If you tax less, people will see the point in earning more.
If you regulate more sensibly, businesses will be able to maneuver in the turns of tight economies. The third reason not to increase taxes is pretty simple. The voters said no. We are four months out from the election that sent us here.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
On Tax Reform:
Tax increases choke growth; tax people less
Tax increases choke growth. Every credible study on the subject has taught us this: the states that have grown the fastest, attracted the most jobs, have stayed out of the way. If you tax less, people will see the point in earning more.
If you regulate more sensibly, businesses will be able to maneuver in the turns of tight economies. The third reason not to increase taxes is pretty simple. The voters said no. We are four months out from the election that sent us here.
It was run on a three part theme: jobs, jobs and jobs. And every time someone was asked about new taxes they gave a three part answer: no, no and no. It's time to connect the dots. So, to the people of Pennsylvania, the taxpayers who sent us here,
I want to say something you haven't heard often enough from this building: We get the picture. It's your money.
Source: 2011 State of the State speech to Pennsylvania legislature
Mar 8, 2011
Page last updated: Dec 04, 2018