Governor Chris Christie's 2018 State of the State Address

Published on January 09, 2018

FULL TEXT OFTHE GOVERNOR’S ADDRESS

Trenton, New Jersey

January 9, 2018

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Before we begin, let us rise one more time for, not a moment of silence but a moment of celebration, for the extraordinary life of Governor Brendan Byrne. That is what he would have wanted — not silence, but celebration.

Nine years ago yesterday, I went to pick up eight-year-old Patrick and five-year-old Bridget from school. On my way out of the school with them, on the front lawn of the Assumption School in Morristown, I announced to the assembled media that I was running for Governor of New Jersey. On that day, I said many things but the most important statement was this: “If you’re looking for the same old stuff, you’ve got the wrong person.” Little did I really know just how right I would be nine years later.

Nine years is a lifetime ago in today’s culture of DVRs that skip commercials, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the short attention spans that come with these latest ways of communicating. We need to remember where we were nine years ago. On the brink of financial ruin as a state. More people unemployed than at any time in modern history. A culture in Trenton of avoiding the tough decisions. Of taxing more. Of spending more. Of borrowing at a breakneck pace. The highest property taxes in America growing at a record rate. We needed tough and plain-spoken leadership to deal with these problems. We needed to care less about being loved and more about being respected. That’s why we ran for Governor.

We ran to be different. We ran to talk bluntly. We ran to shine lights on all of New Jersey’s real problems. We ran to offer tough but achievable solutions. We ran to be a Governor who did not just mark time. We ran to win and to be a Governor of consequence.

And, even though it is easy to forget those days and minimize those crises of nine years ago, in crisis indeed we were in 2009. Without the new policies and new attitude a band of former prosecutors brought here nine years ago, the crisis would have defeated us. Now, in the same way, if we revert to the policies of the past, it is a short road back to disaster. As Einstein said while he was a Princeton professor, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”.

Due to the fighting attitude we brought and the pro-growth policies we have fought for and achieved together, I am proud to be here today to tell you that the State of our State is very good and — without question — much better than it was eight years ago.

Eight years ago, we inherited a state with an unemployment rate nearly ten percent.

In our eight years, that unemployment rate was cut in half.

Eight years ago, we had lost 248,000 private sector jobs and businesses were leaving our state at a record pace. Today, we have helped the private sector create 334,400 new jobs and 108,252 new businesses were created in New Jersey in 2017 alone, an all-time economic record for our state. More New Jerseyans are employed today than at any time in our history — a long way from the depressing record of eight years ago.Today, 4.3 million New Jerseyans go to work every day.

How did it happen?

Where did New Jersey’s economic growth and job creation come from?

In 2011, we passed broad based business tax cuts that led to $3 billion in lower taxes that our corporate citizens plowed into job creation putting hundreds of thousands of our citizens back to work.

We took an unemployment insurance fund that was $2 billion in debt eight years ago, paid off the debt, passed a constitutional amendment to prevent politicians from stealing from this fund again. Today, we leave it over $2 billion in surplus. By the way, this reform of our unemployment insurance fund has led to an additional $400 million in job creating tax cuts for our New Jersey businesses.

We passed the Economic Opportunity Act of 2013, which has helped to make us more competitive at attracting and retaining jobs, putting even more of our citizens back to work.

We reduced job killing regulations by one-third over the previous Administration, freeing up resources to put New Jerseyans back to work, not waste this money on lawyers and accountants to understand the next thing government was ordering them to do or not do.

Finally, we held the line on new and increased taxes. I vetoed income tax increases. I vetoed corporate tax increases. I vetoed energy tax increases. Over the last eight years, I vetoed more tax increases than any Governor in modern American history. And each one of those vetoes was sustained by my Republican colleagues in the Legislature. Through the leadership of Senator Tom Kean, Jr., the late Alex DeCroce and Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, the beleaguered taxpayers of New Jersey were protected for the first time in a decade. On behalf of the people and businesses of New Jersey, who have much more of their own money in their pockets because of their leadership, I say thank you very much.

Lower tax policies have worked to revive a moribund economy and lead to seven consecutive years of private sector job growth. That is a very consequential accomplishment for all the people of our state.

Eight years ago, we inherited a budget that was bloated, out of balance and riddled with gimmicks. $2 billion in deficit in a fiscal year that was only 5 months from ending. A projected $11 billion deficit in the coming year. A total of $13 billion in projected deficits over our first 18 months. Too many employees doing too little and costing too much. One-shot gimmicks that accounted for over 13 percent of our revenue. Deferred raises; deferred payments; a ticking time bomb for the new Governor.

In addition, in the eight years before we arrived debt issued by state government increased by more than 10% per year, every year. Unsustainable growth of debt. In our eight years, we have reduced that rate of growth by three quarters, to only 2% per year or less. We have stopped the decade of exploding growth of debt initiated by our predecessors.

Today, budgets have been balanced for eight years in a row. Over 10,000 fewer state employees. Discretionary spending nearly $2 billion less than it was ten years ago. One shot revenues down to 2.8% from 13.2%. We are handing off a state that is growing and a budget that is balanced.

For eight years, we have said no to unplanned, exorbitant spending and we have used the veto and line item veto to enforce fiscal responsibility.

How much spending have we used the veto to stop for our taxpayers? We have vetoed and line item vetoed nearly $7.3 billion in spending that the Legislature wanted to do but which we simply didn’t have the money to pay for. That’s nearly $1 billion a year, every year that we kept in the pockets of our citizens and out of the hands of Trenton politicians.

As a result, the budget we hand off to the next Administration is in balance, with a surplus, and not the $2 billion deficit that we were handed eight years ago. Those are the actions of an Administration that treated our citizens money as if it was our own. Those are actions with real consequences for each of our constituents.

While the budget crisis was the most immediate task that we faced eight years ago, we did not win to just fix those problems. We had a vision for finally tackling the chronic problems in New Jersey.

In the ten years before we came to Trenton, property taxes increased 70 percent. An average of 7% a year; every year for ten years. That is a chronic problem which was crippling our citizens ability to buy and keep a home. That’s why when the Legislature wanted to go home in July of 2010 after passing the budget I used my constitutional authority to call you back to finally address the growth of these taxes.

Together we passed a 2% cap on property taxes with only four exceptions. It was tough medicine but tough medicine was needed to deal with this issue. We did it for our constituents and it worked. In 2017, property taxes increased by only 1.64 percent. Therefore, in the last seven years property taxes have increased 1.98 percent per year. That has saved our property taxpayers $18.2 billion over those years compared to the previous system in place.

Why else did it work? Because we also gave the towns and counties the tool to control their largest single expense — police and fire salaries. We have great men and women who serve as police officers and firefighters in this state. They also are the highest paid firefighters and second highest paid police officers in America. They are objectively NOT underpaid — not seven years ago and not today. To make the 2% cap real, we needed to cap the interest arbitration salary increases given to them every year. So, we did it in a bi-partisan way — twice. It has saved over $500 million in salary increases over the last seven years which would have been paid for by higher property taxes. The 2% cap and the interest arbitration cap have worked. In a state that suffered with 7% property tax increases every year for a decade, that is an accomplishment of consequence for every New Jersey homeowner.

So, here’s my first warning to taxpayers for New Jersey’s future: If we do not act in a bi-partisan way to renew the arbitration cap, your property taxes will skyrocket again. The cap expired nine days ago, our progress is at real risk and our Governor-elect has refused to ask the Legislature to act before this cap expired. If our public safety officers were underpaid I could understand the debate. But, even after seven years of this cap, they remain the highest paid officers in our entire country while our taxpayers still pay the highest property taxes in America. Failure to renew this cap would be a failure of leadership — a failure which would cost our citizens money they need to support their families. As a property taxpayer, I urge you to pass the arbitration cap and not return to the days of 7% annual increases in property taxes.

When we came to Trenton I believed that we had a higher education system which was underperforming its potential and sorely needed capital investment to expand seats and modernize technology. Governors for decades had tried to address this situation and failed to do so. There was not the political will to do what would maximize our educational and economic potential and that of our students. We were more afraid of offending than of failing.

We refused to accept that reality. We signed the bi-partisan New Jersey Medical and Health Sciences Education and Restructuring Act and fixed decades of lost opportunity. I want to thank all those who helped make this happen, but most particularly Governor Tom Kean who helped me develop the blueprint and Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald who led the fight for it in the Legislature.

Today, Rutgers has a medical school, schools of public health and a cancer institute. It has gone from 55^th in NIH funding to 22^nd. And we rid ourselves of the corruption and self-dealing that was going on at UMDNJ, a task I began as U.S. Attorney and was proud to finish as Governor.

(JPG, 13KB)Rowan University became a public research university, gained a school of Osteopathic Medicine, now operates two medical schools and its nationally acclaimed school of engineering. It is poised to double its student population and has created innovative partnerships with community colleges to allow those students to get a four-year degree without unthinkable student debt. No one has been a greater champion of increasing higher education opportunities for South Jersey than Senate President Steve Sweeney and Rowan would not be what it is today without his persistent leadership.

Then we needed to turn to the challenge of capital improvements to our colleges and universities. This had not been done by any Administration for 25 years and our schools showed it through lesser facilities and higher tuitions. Together, we made the case to the people of New Jersey and passed the Building our Future Bond Act, which invested $1.3 billion in public money and billions more in private money in expanding and modernizing our campuses all over New Jersey. Over 208 individual projects are happening and our campuses are being transformed.

Where other Administrations had failed our higher education institutions for 25 years due to lack of courage and lack of funding, we refused to accept that failure. Nothing is more consequential to our state’s economic future than educational opportunity. We did not play small ball. We acted together and New Jersey’s higher education system is far better today than it was eight years ago.

Another failing gem of our state eight years ago was the beautiful and historic resort of Atlantic City. From the Miss America pageant to the diving horse at the Steel Pier, from Boardwalk Empire to the establishment of casino gaming, Atlantic City has been a national and international destination for more than a century. But, as often happens, corruption in Atlantic City combined with actions in Trenton helped to bring this town to the brink of bankruptcy. Bad decisions and timid inaction based on political correctness led to Trenton nearly killing the goose that laid the golden egg for all of New Jersey. This is another problem I began to work on as U.S. Attorney by putting corrupt Atlantic City politicians in jail for stealing from their people. But, unfortunately, that was not nearly enough to heal Atlantic City.

As we entered office, casinos were closing, property tax rebates were piling up in the hundreds of millions, the streets were unsafe and the private sector was fleeing. Not only that, but as a result, property taxes were soaring for the citizens of Atlantic City. I turned to Jon Hanson, Chairman of the New Jersey Sports, Gaming and Entertainment Commission, to develop a blueprint for change. We created a tourism district, took over policing there, invested in national advertising and supported efforts by city government which were well intentioned but failed. We needed to do more but were being stopped by politicians inside and outside of this chamber trying to score cheap political points by burying their heads in the sand.

Finally, we fought those entrenched and misguided interests and acted in a bi-partisan way to replace the ineffective city government who was either unwilling or unable to bring about needed change.

Through legislative and executive action, we took over Atlantic City and look what has happened. We appointed former United States Senator Jeff Chiesa to lead the effort and he has done so with incredible skill and produced phenomenal results. Tax appeals that were weighing down the city with $303 million owed to casinos was negotiated down by more than 50% to just over $138 million. In 2017, we announced an 11.4% decrease in property taxes, an average reduction of $621 for every homeowner. This was the result of our budget cutting measures that reduced city spending by $56 million over the 2015 budget. This budget will stay level in 2018 as well. We reached a settlement with the police unions, leading to new 12 hour shifts, reduced salaries, reduced terminal leave payments and a reduced workforce of 252 officers. All agreements that would not have occurred without Senator Chiesa’s intervention.

As a result, Hard Rock is now investing hundreds of millions in redeveloping the Taj Mahal. The former Sands is being redeveloped. Revel has now been sold and will reopen under new management by the summer. Casino revenues are up. Non-Casino revenues are up. Internet gaming was established and is now thriving. The private sector is now coming back to Atlantic City. All without bankruptcy or selling public assets like the water authority — all things that our naysayers said we would do. They were wrong then and the opportunist politicians of both parties who now say that reversing course is necessary are wrong again.

As the Associated Press said on New Year’s Day, Atlantic City could be on the verge of a major revival in 2018. This will be especially true if our six-year fight to bring sports gambling to New Jersey is finally successful in 2018. While many experts told me to abandon this fight, we stuck with it. Today, we await the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which can bolster Atlantic City even more.

This is due to our efforts, to not bowing to political correctness to not worrying about being loved today. If we bow to those concerns, we could turn this major revival into a major downturn. I want to thank Mr. Hanson and Senator Chiesa for their vision, their courage and their hard work. Atlantic City is ready for rebirth and to return to its former glory. That is not small ball. That is an achievement of real consequence for our entire state.

Another problem we confronted eight years ago was one that had been baffling to Administrations since the 1970s: what to do to turn around the City of Camden. Some had tried to turn it into a militarized zone to stem the tide of murders and shootings. Some tried to throw money at the problems in Camden due to the urging of corrupt politicians who later landed in jail due to the efforts of my U.S. Attorney’s office. That, of course, did not work. We decided to confront these problems using common sense, bi-partisanship and, once again, telling the hard truths that past Administrations were too politically correct to say out loud.

First, we established an unprecedented partnership with the Democratic Mayor of Camden, Dana Redd. We promised each other that we would check our politics at the door and put the interests of a resurgent Camden at the forefront. Dana Redd kept her word to me for eight years and for that I say to her today, “Thank you partner”.

Second, we needed to establish a plan to create the foundation of any successful city: public safety, good public education and economic opportunity.

We attacked the issue of public safety in 2012. It was the deadliest year in Camden history, earning it the distinction of the nation’s most violent city. We dismissed the failed Camden City Police Department which was overpaid and underperforming. We then partnered with the city and Camden County to create a countywide police force with a Metro division that would patrol Camden city. For the same amount of money, we would go from 160 police officers to 349. Another class of cadets will soon bring that number to 400. What have the results been? In 2017, murders are down 66% from 2012, robberies are down 46% and non-fatal shootings are down 45%. That is the lowest number of murders in more than 30 years.

Even more than the change in the numbers, there has been a change in the relationship between the police and the public. While violence erupted in Ferguson, Missouri, there was no such violence in Camden. Instead, under the leadership of Chief Scott Thompson, you see police officers at churches and street fairs, at baseball games and school crossings. At each of those places, they were with those who they protect and serve.

Next, we needed to change the failing Camden public schools. Unlike the takeover of Newark schools decades earlier, we worked with the school district and effectuated an agreed upon takeover/partnership. Working with the community, we picked a dynamic new Superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard. We began a school by school evaluation with the goal of improving education in every classroom. Closing schools that aren’t working, opening three new charter schools and three new Renaissance schools and significantly cutting back wasteful central office staff. Since these changes have been made the results have been astonishing. In five years, graduation rates have gone from 49% to 70%. Dropout rates have fallen from 21% to 12%. The dropout rate for African-American students has been cut in half. There is still more to do, but a good public education is now very possible for most Camden students, something we couldn’t say five years ago.

Lastly, we needed to increase economic opportunity for all of those who live in Camden. Due to our designation of Camden as a Garden State Growth Zone, a promise made and kept from the 2009 campaign, 28 projects have sprung up across the City of Camden. These projects will have $1.4 billion in private investment, create nearly 2,000 new jobs and retain over 3,500 more jobs. The development will spur 7,000 construction jobs for our building trades. It is a who’s who of American business: Holtec, Cooper/MD Anderson Cancer Center, Philadelphia 76ers, Subaru of America, American Water, EMR Eastern, Lockheed Martin, Cooper University Health and the new $700 million Camden waterfront project with office space, residential units and a hotel. A waterfront hotel in Camden! Business is booming in Camden as is Rutgers University, adding a number of new buildings to its Camden campus.

The rebirth of Camden is happening — not with government giveaways or tanks in the street — but with a bi-partisan spirit and a can-do attitude. While so many have been responsible for this rebirth, one person has never wavered in his belief in this city. None of this could have been accomplished without the relentless will of George Norcross. Camden has no greater cheerleader and investor. I am honored to have George here today and even more honored to call him my partner in this rebirth of Camden.

My happiest days in public life were when I had the honor of leading federal law enforcement in New Jersey as the U.S. Attorney. They were my happiest times because I had one simple task — insuring that justice was done in New Jersey. When I became Governor, it was clear to me that our criminal justice system needed major reform. The system was less effective than it should have been in preventing violent crime and much too harsh on those who’s non-violent acts were being unduly punished. Reform would not be easy due to the power of the bail industry, decades old prejudices and the rhetoric of opportunist politicians always looking to seem “tough on crime”. After seven years as U.S. Attorney, I didn’t need to seem tough on crime — I am tough on crime. But being tough on crime doesn’t mean that you lack compassion. Being tough on crime doesn’t mean you don’t believe in second chances. Once again, bi-partisan cooperation was the path to success.

Sixteen years ago, I met the smart, articulate wife of U.S. Marshal Glenn Cunningham. She was his partner in every way — they made a dynamic duo. He became a mentor of mine and later, the Mayor of Jersey City and a State Senator. Glenn Cunningham was a great public servant but I am sure he is bursting with pride from heaven as he watches his wife, my friend, Senator Sandy Cunningham. Together we have crafted criminal justice reform which got the only “A” rating in the nation, that is becoming a role model for other states and has gotten broad approval from all of you.

Release from jail pending trial is now no longer based on how much money you have in the bank but on the seriousness of the accusations and your criminal record. No longer can a repeat violent offender be released and terrify his victims or old neighborhood because he has millions of dollars in cash from drug and gun deals. By the same token, no longer must you stay in jail for a minor offense longer than you would have to serve if convicted because you or your family doesn’t have $500 for bail. No longer can an employer make a job applicant with a criminal record check a box and end their chances of redemptive employment — together we have banned the box in New