National Governors Association

Meeting Summary

2002 NGA Annual Meeting

Boise, Idaho (July 13-16)

Governors Attending:

Gov. Don Siegelman, AL
Gov. Tony Knowles, AK
Gov. Mike Huckabee, AR
Gov. Bill Owens, CO
Gov. John G. Rowland, CT
Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, DE
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, ID
Gov. Frank O'Bannon, IN
Gov. Bill Graves, KS
Gov. Paul E. Patton, KY
Gov. Mike Foster, LA
Gov. Jane Swift, MA
Gov. John Engler, MI
Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, MS
Gov. Bob Holden, MO

Gov. Judy Martz, MT
Gov. Gary E. Johnson, NM
Gov. John Hoeven, ND
Gov. Frank Keating, OK
Gov. Mark S. Schweiker, PA
Gov. Lincoln Almond, RI
Gov. Don Sundquist, TN
Gov. Michael O. Leavitt, UT
Gov. Howard Dean, VT
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, VI
Gov. Mark R. Warner, VA
Gov. Gary Locke, WA
Gov. Bob Wise, WV
Gov. Jim Geringer, WY

Guests:

Committee Guests (abbreviated committee name or other session in parentheses):

Hon. Spencer Abraham
Secretary, U.S. Department of Energy (NR)
F. Duane Ackerman
Chairman and CEO, BellSouth Corporation (state leadership in the
global economy)
David Beier, Partner
Hogan & Hartson L.L.P. (HR)
Hon. William J. Bennett
Co-Director, Empower America and former Secretary,
U.S. Department of Education (state leadership in the global economy)
David Hawkins
Climate Change Director, Natural Resources Defense Council (NR)
Joseph M. Henderson
VP and Chief Public Health Officer, Scientific Technologies Corporation (terrorism)
Jeffrey R. Holmstead
Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (NR)
Kathleen Jaeger
President and CEO, Generic Pharmaceutical Association (HR)

Christopher C. Jennings
President, Jennings Policy Strategies, Inc. (HR)
Kristine M. Krause
VP—Environmental, Wisconsin Energy (NR)
Edwin L. Mongan III
Director of Energy and Environment, DuPont Company (NR)
Hon. Michael K. Powell
Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (EDC)
Louise Richardson
Executive Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University (terrorism)
Thomas A. Scully
Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HR)
Quinlan J. Shea III
Executive Director, Environment, Edison Electric Institute (NR)
Dennis F. Strigle
President and CEO, Verizon Wireless and Executive Vice President, Verizon Communications (EDC)

Plenary Session Guests:

Steve R. Appleton
Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President, Micron Technology, Inc. (technology and education)
Ely Brode
Brode Foundation
John Chambers
President and CEO, Cisco Systems, Inc. (technology and education)
Hon. Brent Coles
Mayor of Boise, Idaho (welcome)

Al From
Founder and CEO, Democratic Leadership Council (governance in the 21st Century)
Hon. Newt Gingrich
CEO, The Gingrich Group and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives—1995 to 1999 (governance in the 21st Century)

Multimedia: Photo Gallery

Discussion Subjects:

Economic Development and Commerce (EDC) - challenges for states with respect to convergence in communications
Human Resources (HR) - the health care balancing act: prescription drugs, access, and affordability
Natural Resources (NR) - achieving and maintaining clean air through national energy policies; and putting clean energy to work
Other Governors' Sessions - emerging threats and current challenges of terrorism; and state leadership in the global economy
2001-02 Chair Michigan Gov. John Engler's Initiative - State Leadership in a Global Economy
Plenary Session Discussion Subjects - Technology; health care; education; and governance in the 21st Century

Points of Interest:

Speaking in support of the need for expanded technology use, John Chambers of Cisco Systems referred to a study done jointly by the University of California at Berkeley and Brookings Institution in Washington, which had found that 48 percent of increases in business productivity were due to the use of web-based applications. Yet he expressed concern that the United States was falling behind in our infrastructure build-out with respect to broadband. Of all the G7 nations [including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States], the United States was the only one without a national broadband policy, which he said should be implemented with the aim of having broadband in every home within a decade at affordable cost and under uniform state regulations. Chambers also argued that unlike the first industrial revolution, when workers had to be at the right place to participate, in this new revolution jobs could travel to wherever the best educated workforce, most advanced infrastructure, and supportive government could be found. Consequently, he expressed impatience over the slow speed at which policymakers were addressing the need for improvement in the American educational system.

Al From, founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, told Governors that a new political philosophy was necessary that defined the vital center of the political spectrum. The reason was that today's electorate was more affluent, better educated, more suburban, diverse, and older, and thus generally more moderate. During the industrial era, working class voters were the driving force, but in this new information age, the "learning class" was in the driver's seat with respect to politics.

Memorable Quotes:

John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems, said: "I think that countries and states that have the best infrastructure and have the best education will attract the jobs...over the next decade. The problem is it won't be California versus Michigan versus Idaho versus Massachusetts. It will be the U.S. versus China versus India versus Spain."

Al From, founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, said: "I was staff director of the [Senate] Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations...One of the things we did back then was...a survey in the middle of Watergate on public attitudes toward government at all levels. And the most shocking finding for me was that virtually nobody in that survey ever looked at the state government for anything. Think how much things have changed. In the last three decades Governors...have been really the main innovators in American politics and the country is much, much better off for what you've done...In the last ten years, we've elected as many Governors President as we have sitting Senators in the whole history of the republic. There's a reason for that. Governors...live out in the real world and you deal with real problems [of] ordinary people..."

Selected Policy Positions Adopted:
(1) Supporting an increase in rebates on prescription drugs to 20 percent by requiring drug companies to offer discounts to states; (2) asking that revenues dedicated to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund be spent for their intended purpose as guaranteed in the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21^st Century (AIR-21), and not be used for other needs, including homeland security; (3) supporting the development of a comprehensive national rural development policy designed to address the broad infrastructure, workforce, housing, and health care needs of rural areas; (4) calling for an enhanced intercity national passenger rail system, including long-distance rail service, funded by a new, separate, and dedicated federal funding program; (5) expressing the Governors' interest in the repeal of the temporary FUTA (Federal Unemployment Tax Act) surtax; and (6) calling for reauthorization of the Clean Water Act as a balanced federal-state partnership, and calling on Congress to provide sufficient funding for watershed management and water program financing.