2017 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Government Reform

Jim Justice: Appoint a Waste Czar to root out agency excess

Now, let me just give you my philosophy of our regulatory agencies. My philosophy is just this: The right person for the right job and they're motivated.

Larry Hogan: Disallow legislators from drawing their own district lines

And isn't it time that we finally pass the Redistricting Reform Act so we can remove the politics and the politicians from drawing their own district lines? Free and fair elections are perhaps the most basic promise that those in power must provide to citizens.

The people of Maryland desperately want--and certainly deserve--balance, fairness, and bipartisanship in our state. An overwhelming majority of all Marylanders all parties and from all walks of life strongly support this legislation. But last year, this critically important reform legislation was hidden in a drawer. This year, the people deserve to have it come to the floor of both the House and the Senate for an up or down vote.

Bruce Rauner: The people demanded fair districting; judges denied them

I ask you [the legislature] today, on behalf of all the people of Illinois--Democrats and Republicans--please do the right thing and pass the bills to put term limits and fair maps on the ballot. Let the people decide these issues for themselves. End the power of incumbency and special interest groups, and give power back to the people of our state. Illinois turns 200 in 2018.

Terry McAuliffe: Photo ID law made it significantly harder to vote

When it was passed, our photo ID law made it significantly harder for many Virginians to vote, without any evidence that voter fraud is a problem in Virginia. And so this year I hope we will repeal it.

I will also submit legislation this session to allow no-excuse in-person absentee voting, and to add a new excuse for absentee by-mail for child caregivers. These reforms are based on a simple principle: That Virginia is strongest when we are working together to make it easier to vote, not harder.

Dennis Daugaard: Red Tape Repeal: remove 4,000 obsolete laws & rules

Dan Malloy: Cut state agencies by 28% and cut state workforce by 9%

1. 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.
2. The second area are the obligations we have to Connecticut's state workers, educators, and retirees.
3. The final area is how we go about distributing aid to our towns and cities--primarily how we fund public education.