Fletcher's State of Our State Address.

Yesterday Gov. Fletcher gave his State of the State address. In the address (watch it here), the Gov. requested the Legislature to fund projects he previously vetoed and made many suggestions as to how the projected "surplus" is to be spent. Some of the proposed expenditures can be found here. You can also read the .pdf text of the speech, listen to it on your player, or read the H-L, the C-J, the AP wire, the NKY Enquirer, and others. The speech was met with mixed reviews, particularly from legislative leaders. House Speaker Jody Richards, Fletcher's Democratic opponent, said the speech had "political overtones", though he found nothing unreasonable about it, while restating a need for $200 million for teacher pay and questioning the wisdom of going down the "slippery slope" of opening up a budget in a non budget session. Senate President, David Williams, meanwhile wants to "establish in the Senate, [with House support], the discipline to ... stay on the biennial budget", promising that the legislature "is about to re-assert itself as the primary policy-making entity in state government, whether it is a Republican governor or a Democratic governor."
As for me, I am particularly supportive of some of the proposed funding, assuming the "surplus" will be there when we need it, like putting a lot of the money in the 'rainy day fund" (since we can't return it to taxpayers in some form), exempting the military from taxes, student financial aid, teacher incentive pay, shoring up the retirement system and paying for the HPV vaccines for some. I am also very happy to hear the Gov. urge making the HPV vaccination voluntary. That's a good idea, indeed. House Judiciary Committee Chair, Kathy Stein, has introduced a bad bill (HB 143) to make it mandatory. So call or email your state Representative and demand the Gov.'s good idea instead. Don't know who your legislator is? Click here.