Natalie Gonnella
One of the first governors to deliver State of the State remarks in 2011, New Jersey's Chris Christie decided that this year, it was time to "break with tradition."
During his speech, rather than detail a lengthy list of 'to dos' focused on numerous departments, the Governor instead focused on three key areas, making the point that "its time to do the big things":
- Continuing fiscal discipline and enacting spending cuts
- Fixing pension and health benefit programs in order to save them
- Serious education reform
Detailing his approach to spending cuts and program reforms, Christie said:
I am not proposing to cut spending just for cutting's sake. I am fighting this fight because we have to be truthful about what we can't afford-whether it is health and pension benefits which are out of line with the rest of the country, or a tunnel which we can't pay for. I am asking for shared sacrifice so that when we leave here, New Jersey will be more fiscally sound than when we got here. I am asking for shared sacrifice in cutting what we don't need so that we can invest in what we absolutely do need.
Outlining his key focus for “simple, straightforward, and sensible” changes to benefit programs, Christie noted that in order to ensure New Jersey a stable future, lawmakers must:
- Modestly raise the retirement age in an era of longer life expectancy.
- Curb the effect of COLAs in a time of low or no inflation.
- Ensure a modest but acceptable contribution from employees toward their own retirement system
- If real reform [becomes a reality], the State must also begin to make its pension contributions
The Governor reminded residents that:
Nearly 75 percent — three out of every four dollars— of [New Jersey's] municipal and county budgets are driven by personnel and labor costs and "without reform, the problem...is simple: Benefits are too rich, and contributions are too small, and the system is on a path to bankruptcy.
Lastly, during his address, Governor Christie reiterated his views on education reform. With the leaders of the states teachers' union as well as special guest Michelle Rhee in attendance, the Governor announced his commitment to eradicate teacher tenure, commenting that:
Teaching can no longer be the only profession where you have no rewards for excellence and no consequences for failure to perform. Let New Jersey lead the way again. The time to eliminate teacher tenure is now.
Acknowledging that his proposed changes won't always be easy to digest in the short term, the Governor called on residents to embrace sacrifice and perseverance for the sake of New Jersey's longer term future, reminding them that "sometimes, to create real change, you've got to go all in and show a little Jersey attitude."
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