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Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136
Governor Christine Gregoire is sworn in as Washington's 22nd governor.
Governor Gregoire calls for progress in job creation, education and health reform
For Immediate Release: January 12, 2005
OLYMPIA � In her inaugural address today, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire outlined a �very ambitious agenda� for the state.
She announced proposals to improve government accountability, create new jobs, improve the state�s educational system, assure that every child is covered by health insurance, protect the environment and improve the state�s efforts to care for veterans and their families.
Gov. Gregoire announced she is creating a task force, chaired by Secretary of State Sam Reed and former State Senator Betti Sheldon, to review the state�s election process, gather input from citizens around the state and recommend reforms by March 1, 2005.
She also proposed legislation to establish a new government management accountability and performance approach that would hold state agencies accountable to be more effective and efficient in achieving results and ensuring that public tax dollars are spent wisely.
Health care is a national problem but the state can make a difference, she said. She recommended expansion of affordable health-care insurance by providing a pooled state health plan for small business so they can afford to offer insurance to their employees. She also proposed pooling purchases of prescription drugs and making legal importation of drugs from Canada. �And we can set a goal of all our children having health care coverage by 2010,� she said.
�We are united in the knowledge that we need to get Washingtonians back to work,� Gov. Gregoire said. She proposed creating a Life Sciences Discovery Fund to finance new research in debilitating diseases such as cancer and improving the quality and yield of the state�s agricultural crops. The $1 billion fund would use money from the national tobacco lawsuit settlement, private funds and grants. The fund �has a potential to leave a huge legacy of better health, more and better crops and new jobs and economic opportunity on both sides of the Cascades,� Gov. Gregoire said.
She also announced she is creating a broad-based bipartisan commission to find and propose efficiencies and long-term funding solutions for early education, kindergarten through high school and colleges and universities.
Another proposal would expand college enrollment to ensure access for all potential students and providing families with more long-term certainty about the cost of college education.
She noted her �razor thin� election margin and said many have asked how she can govern without a clear mandate from the voters.
�I believe the voters have given us all a mandate � a mandate to overcome our differences, and to solve problems. Truly the challenges we face are not Democratic challenges or Republican challenges. In fact, they are not political challenges at all; they are fiscal challenges, and educational challenges, and the challenges of figuring out how to take care of each other and create a future worthy of our children.�
Gov. Gregoire said that differences of opinion are healthy on how to address these concerns, but, she said, �it is unhealthy to let those differences paralyze us.�
�We can leave our legacy only if we are willing to change � to go beyond partisan labels, and to solve the problems facing Washingtonians. We can build the strength of the center of our political spectrum � that ground where left and right converge and move forward. This is the imperative of our election.�
�We have work to do,� Gov. Gregoire told the joint Legislative session. �We will not be able to do all we want to do this year. But we can make progress � on job creation and business growth, on improving our education system from early learning to graduate education, on health care, environmental protection and veterans� issues.�
