Plenary Session Transcripts

• Agriculture (AG) - emerging trends in the U.S. food system; U.S.-Japanese trade relations; farm policy and equipment manufacturers; and trends in trade adjudication
• Community and Economic Development (CED) - importance of the service sector in the economy and the role of the states in promoting its growth; and the role of states in assisting maturing industries and minimizing economic dislocations caused by plant closings and structural changes in the economy
• Criminal Justice and Public Protection (CJ) - state experiences in managing disasters and emergencies; and violence and extremism
• Energy and Environment (EE) - state energy policies as a key to economic development; and national environmental policies
• Executive Committee (Exec) - jobs and infrastructure
• Human Resources (HR) - task force reports on the status of children and the homeless; role of human resources programs in stimulating and facilitating economic development; and state initiatives in health cost containment
• International Trade and Foreign Relations (ITFR) - state roles and strategies in enhancing international competitiveness
  State-Local Relations and Legal Affairs (SLR) - joint session on judicial federalism
• Transportation, Commerce, and Technology (TCT) - task force reports on technological innovation, jobs and infrastructure, and truck issues; and long-term transportation strategies to promote economic growth
• Other Governors' Sessions - Governors' Task Force on Technological Innovation; and special work session on meeting current fiscal challenges while planning for the future
• Plenary Session Discussion Subjects - Address by Vice President George H.W. Bush; education for economic growth; and public-private initiatives in the 1980s

Vice President George Bush told Governors that in response to their concerns, the Reagan Administration had established a National Narcotics Border Interdiction System, which was already making headway against drug smuggling. He also said that the Administration had cut federal spending growth in half, pruned needless regulations, and secured passage of tax indexing as well as three individual income tax cuts. The result was a reduction in inflation from 12.4 to less than 3 percent in twelve months, the lowest rate in more than 15 years. The prime interest rate had dropped from 21.5 to 10.5 percent, and real wages were rising.

The Vice President went on to discuss the Administration's policies in Central America, which he said focused on the goals of supporting democratic governments and economic development, facilitating dialogue among nations of the region, and providing the area with a security shield, in particular against destruction of economic infrastructures by guerrillas. Bush said that the U.S. was training local defense forces to combat insurgency movements supported by Nicaragua and Cuba, but the Administration did not favor sending troops into combat in Central America and was not trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. [NOTE: By congressional action, the U.S. was prohibited from aiding Contra rebels seeking to overthrow the leftist Nicaraguan government. However, officials of the Reagan Administration continued to provide assistance to the rebels, using funds from the illegal sale of weapons to Iran. The Iran/Contra scandal, as this came to be known, was investigated by an independent commission, leading to the prosecution of a number of federal officials.]

Massachusetts First Lady Kitty Dukakis spoke to the Governors about the Holocaust Memorial Council, of which she was a member, which was planning construction of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Governors also held an extensive discussion of a proposed resolution supporting compensation for Japanese Americans who had been interned by the U.S. government during World War II. Some Governors felt that it was dangerous to set a precedent with respect to compensation. Others noted that no compensation had been authorized for Native Americans such as those who had been the subject of forced movement over the Trail of Tears. But those who supported compensation argued that the internment of Japanese Americans was unique in that no special government programs had been established for them as had been the case for indigenous Americans. In the end, Governors adopted an amended version of the resolution that supported a formal apology to those who were interned.

Governor Matheson also said: "It is a measure of our ascending influence that the 1984 budget resolution adopted by Congress bears the unmistakable print of the budget resolution we adopted last March. That single action marks a historic milestone for the nation's governors who had previously limited their comments and concerns to only those portions of the federal budget that directly flow to state treasuries...By entering the national dialogue about the defense budget, entitlement programs and the federal deficit, governors ably demonstrated our grasp of national issues whose impact is peculiar to none, but universal to all...As governors, we are closer than anyone to the suffering that recession brings to our states. As governors, we know how to balance the budget, even when it means painful budget cuts and unpopular and difficult tax increases."

Governor Pierre duPont of Delaware said: "...I have heard, as every governor in this room has heard, that you cannot judge...education. I think that is nonsense. Every employer in this room can judge the degree of acceptability of an entry-level employee. Higher education judges the ability of students every summer and every fall. The military judges thousands of young men and women every year. And every day teachers evaluate students' performance in the classroom. If all those people can do it, surely we can develop standards to accomplish it as well."

With respect to U.S. policy on Central America, Vice President George Bush said: "...we are training local defense forces to combat insurgency movements supported by Nicaragua and Cuba who are funneling arms to revolutionary Communist [insurgencies] throughout the region.  He also said: "We are not sending U.S. troops into combat in Central America. We are not trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government...We are trying to help build governments there with ballots."

Education Secretary Terrel Bell said: "...we are one global village as far as international commerce and trade is concerned...knowledge and information and skilled intelligence are the new raw materials for economic growth. The future is going to belong to those states that are doing a good job of educating their people."

Regarding a challenge to his proposal that the Governors support urging "...the Congress of the United States to provide just compensation for those individuals who suffered injustices and hardships resulting from the governmental action in World War II," [i.e., Japanese-American internment] Governor Spellman of Washington said: "It is without precedent that citizens of the United States, because of their race, their color, should be uprooted from their homes, their businesses and schools, and placed in virtual concentration camps...Forty years later, the United States established a Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. It has concluded that that was both wrong and unnecessary...I don't think it is enough to say, "Hey, we are sorry, and we want to apologize," when people have had their entire lives disrupted.  I think it would be a real backing down by this Governors' Association to merely apologize when nationwide the groups that have acted on this subject have recommended a much strong statement."

In contrast to Governor Spellman's statement regarding compensation for Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II, Governor Richard Snelling of Vermont said: "...I am very troubled by the phrase "just compensation." I do not believe there can be any just compensation for actions that occurred. I would hate to see this nation be so materialistic about values so precious to us that we were to believe that there could be a just compensation for what took place...I think it would be far better for us to agree and to acknowledge a grievous error and to try in all those nonmaterial ways possible to do what really should be done...And the best thing we can do, the highest tribute we can pay, and the most sincere form of apology would really be to take heed, to make absolutely sure that this lesson teaches us our duty and responsibility to our citizens."

Selected Policy Positions Adopted:
(1) Indicating NGA's support for preservation of state authority to establish their own employment practices rather than being subject to the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act; (2) supporting the existing goals and direction of the Clean Water Act, and calling for federal financial assistance to states, an emphasis on federal research and development activities for the control of toxics, national minimum criteria and effluent limitations to ensure public health protection and control of interstate transport of pollutants, development of specific requirements to control toxic discharges, and retention of the existing system of water quality standards; (3) with respect to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, calling among other things for full state participation in the development of all types of nuclear waste facilities, for comprehensive impact assistance for all facilities, and for a conservative timetable allowing for all institutional requirements to be met; (4) endorsing recommendations of the Education Commission of the States' (ECS) Task Force on Education for Economic Development, including recommendations to develop state plans for improving education in the public schools, creating broader and more effective partnerships for improving education in the nation's states and communities, improving leadership and management in the schools, and better serving students currently unserved or underserved; (5) calling for continuation of emergency federal programs to assist states, localities, and the private sector in meeting the short-term shelter and feeding needs of the homeless, calling on Congress and the Administration to convene a national group to review the impact of existing federal policies on homelessness, and urging states to conduct a similar review at the state level; (6) supporting the use of airline tax revenues for modernization of the air traffic control system; (7) expressing concern that Congress and the Administration closely monitor the effects of the divestiture of AT&T to provide for equitable and timely implementation of the settlement agreement between AT&T and the Justice Department to ensure maintenance of universal service at reasonable rates and a healthy competitive environment in the telecommunications industry, and opposing preemption by the federal government of state and local authority to regulate the cable television industry through intrastate common carrier and franchising powers; (8) enumerating possible steps to reverse declining U.S. export performance, and calling for a common agricultural trade negotiation strategy with Canada; and (9) urging federal policy changes to increase state responsibility and authority in the management of the employment security system.