Napolitano recaps State of State with Pinal County twist

Arizona’s Governor reviewed major themes from her State of the State address before an auditorium filled with county residents at Casa Grande Middle School yesterday.

Governor Janet Napolitano‘s speech addressed her plan for “One Arizona,” which includes education and transportation solutions tailored specifically for communities like Maricopa.

“I think out of all the problems that Pinal County is looking at … they’re all transportation related and, if we don’t figure out a way to start accelerating some of these projects, we’re going to have gridlock throughout the county,” said Bob Jackson, Director of Public Works for the City of Maricopa and mayoral candidate in Casa Grande.

These comments came while awaiting what the Governor called the “cliff’s notes version” of her State of the State address Wednesday night.

The Casa Grande Middle School band greeted Gov. Janet Napolitano upon her arrival.

Growth and transportation were popular topics for the booming population of Pinal County, including Maricopa Mayor Kelly Anderson who said the rapid growth of our state is taxing our roadways, making transportation the number one issue for him.

Mayor Anderson also anticipated hearing the Governor’s plan for handling the exponential growth.

“I think she’s going to lay out terms of what she expects the cities, towns and counties to do to follow this growth initiative,” he said.

The Governor prefaced her growth initiative by saying, “You’re in the middle of it. You’re in Pinal County,” drawing a laugh from the crowd and assuring the Governor that she was telling them something they already knew.

Gov. Janet Napolitano recaps her State of the State address Wednesday night with a focus on Pinal County issues such as transportation, education and water rights.

Last Friday’s fatal car accident on State Route 347 entering the city only highlights the health hazards associated with Maricopa’s transportation issues.

In order to obtain funding for current traffic needs and in light of a budget that is not as bulky as last year’s, Governor Napolitano is proposing to cut a tax called the “time tax.”

Apparently, the “time tax” is time spent in a car stuck in traffic. And, in order to cut the time tax, she proposes to refinance our existing transportation bonds and extend them 20 to 30 years, which will free up over $400 million new dollars to put into road building right now.

“I also believe we’re not going to out road-build our way through these growth issues,” she continued, stating that she has instructed the Arizona Department of Transportation to provide a list of alternative options, including commuter and light rail, within the next 90 days.

Another facet of her initiative for growing communities is water and water planning. She proposed giving cities and towns more power to deal with water planning issues such as requiring an assured water supply for new planning and developments and assessing the problem of exempt wells.

In addition to legislation to control growth, the Governor wants to assist it by expanding the trust account made to assist first time home-buyers who, she said, are key to “safe and stable communities.”

Aside from the growth initiative, her second main tenant is education.

She seeks to initially improve the quality of education by ensuring all children are healthy, and will do this by writing into the budget accessible healthcare, guaranteeing that, ” … any Arizona child under the age of 19, whose family makes less than $60,000 a year, has access to affordable health care and health insurance.”

She said, however, this will be better implemented by ensuring teachers are able to discuss the healthcare options with students, stating the need to amend our state statues, “to make clear that schools and teachers are legally entitled to talk with parents about the availability of healthcare for their children, because right now they’re not.”

Also proposed was an increase in base salary for teachers to $33,000 across the state, raising the dropout age from 16 to 18 and, in an effort to encourage post-high school education, the Governor will donate a large amount from the state’s general fund to the state financial trust.

Amid these numerous propositions, the Governor has assured citizens that she will not raise taxes nor touch the state’s ‘rainy day fund;’ all initiatives introduced will be covered by the budget which she will release Friday.

Photos by Aaron Thacker