State of the State Paper
Governor Walker’s State of the State speech focused a lot on Alaska working outside of party lines and the impact of oil prices on our economy. For me the big “agenda” was gaining approval for expanding and utilizing our natural resources. He made quite a few statements throughout his speech about everyone sticking together. Some direct quotes: “Let’s focus not on party lines but on Alaska’s bottom line”, “Being Alaska transcends party affiliation”, “Uniting us all is a shared love for our state and our people and a desire to serve, to give back and to make a difference”. He makes the comment, “And yes, this means at long last responsibly accessing the vast oil reserves under ANWR. We can. And we must. It’s beyond time”. (Walker, 2015)
Some other main points he addressed: putting the highest priority on reducing the cost of energy for our state, focusing on increasing and developing value-added opportunities, expanding Medicaid and addressing the increase in violent crimes. He also stated that he was having his Attorney General look into getting to the bottom of the allegations of sexual assault, misconduct and cover-up. He addressed the concern that educational funding might be impacted due to our budget deficiencies. He assured us that educational funding would be protected as much as possible. (Walker, 2015)
Governor Walker spoke about passing the Erin’s law. This law helps children in a school setting learn and identify sexual abuse and seek help. He asked the legislature to support and put forth a bill on this and he would sign it. I hadn’t heard of this law so it was interesting to hear about it. When I have time I plan to do some reading up on it and how effective it is. (Walker, 2015)
This was my first time in reading up on the State of the State speech. I missed the live speech and with my cold it was hard to hear so I chose to read it. I did like some of the changes he’s made such as moving the...