Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Greetings from Cincinnati Mayor Eugene Ruehlmann and Neil A. Armstrong; remarks of John W. Gardner of the Urban Coalition on The Modern State in the Federal System: Challenge and Responsibility; address by President Lyndon B. Johnson; and the Public Land Law Review Commission
Conference Theme: The Modern State in the Federal System: Challenge and Responsibility

Points of Interest:

John Gardner, former Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, was keynote speaker on the Conference theme—"The Modern State in the Federal System: Challenge and Responsibility." He spoke of his involvement with the Urban Coalition, which was bringing together leaders from different segments of American society to address problems plaguing urban areas. He said that he looked forward to collaborating with states and urged Governors to spread the doctrine that cities needed to be rebuilt and poverty eradicated. Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York said one issue that needed to be addressed was the fact that jobs were moving to the suburbs, making them inaccessible for urban dwellers. And he expressed concern about the Treasury Department's decision to eliminate the use of state development corporations to build industrial plants in high unemployment areas. Also raised was the issue of cities becoming more predominantly black while suburbs were predominantly white.

Governor William Guy of North Dakota said that in focusing its social program expenditures on urban areas, the federal government was fostering mobility to the cities, and he argued that it would be more helpful to create opportunities for people who lived in less populated areas in order to discourage their migration into urban poverty. Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland recommended standardizing welfare benefits and using federal funding to locate people where industries were already established.

In his speech to the Governors, President Lyndon Johnson touched on the topics of pending gun control legislation, teen drug use, worker health and safety, preservation of forests and scenic areas, housing, and ratification of the nonproliferation treaty. He spoke of Vietnam and his vow to continue with his policies, even as his presidency was coming to an end.

Memorable Quotes:

Astronaut Neil Armstrong said: "...I visit most every State in technical activities in preparing and planning for space flight. Parts of the Apollo Project that converge on Kennedy Space Center have come from widely separated points. The lunar module comes from New York, batteries from Missouri, computers from Maryland, our radios from Iowa and our Saturn launch vehicle stages are built in Alabama, California, Mississippi, Florida and Louisiana. Approximately 1,400 research projects are now going on under our auspices in more than 150 colleges and universities across the Nation. So as we push ahead with Project Apollo, the energy of a truly national team will be evidenced...the first manned flight of the Apollo program...[is] scheduled for this fall. It is called Apollo 7...It is our first manned flight to test the same kind of craft which will carry a three-man team of Americans to the moon and back."

Governor John Volpe of Massachusetts said: "[a] matter of utmost importance to the Governors of the States is the insidious crisis that casts a shadow on every street, every neighborhood in the Nation. I refer, of course, to the problem of law and order in our society. In my judgment, a meaningful step toward meeting this serious problem would be taken if the sale and use of firearms throughout the Nation were put under strong but equitable control. This is not solely a matter for federal action. The States, and we as State Governors, have an important role to play...I now ask each one of you, when you return to your State, to strive for the enactment of stronger firearms control legislation..."

Selected Resolutions Adopted:
(1) Making progress toward a lasting peace shown by the historic and long-sought treaty limiting nuclear weapon proliferation, and pledging support for a national policy of moral, economic, and military strength in seeking now and in the future a just and favorable peace and a world of new opportunity for a quality life for all mankind; (2) rededicating to, and seeking the fulfillment of, the principles reflected in the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments to the Constitution, and pledging state efforts to maintain law and order with justice, and to eradicate racial discrimination in employment, labor unions and management practices, housing, education, and social services; (3) requesting the President to appoint an Administrator of Law Enforcement Assistance and two associate administrators, urging Congress to appropriate funds authorized in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, and urging states to implement the legislation; (4) accepting the challenge and responsibility of promoting and enacting appropriate legislation dealing with the sale and possession of firearms; (5) urging states to give serious consideration to enactment of the National Guard Mutual Assistance Compact; (6) urging the President, Congress, and the Secretary of Defense to act to retain Air National Guard Strategic Airlift units; (7) urging the Department of Defense to provide modern equipment and training for the National Guard; (8) urging the President and Congress to give formal status to the existing federal-state program now operating under the auspices of the Office of Emergency Planning; (9) supporting a shift from categorical grants to block grants; (10) urging the adoption of new federal intergovernmental fiscal policies that would, in addition to existing grants-in-aid, provide more discretion and responsibility to the states and localities; (11) recommending plans for federal revenue sharing; (12) supporting the annual publication by the federal government of a complete compendium of operating programs offering assistance to state and local governments, and the creation of a federal commission to improve government management and organization with respect to their effects on state and local governments; (13) requesting that future amendments to the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 and the administration of the Act guarantee full authority to Governors to exercise the right of review and suspensory veto applicable to most programs administered under the act; (14) opposing retroactive Department of Labor equal opportunity requirements for federal contract bids; (15) petitioning Congress to adopt a policy of "enhancement and distribution of opportunity" to provide an incentive for more even population distribution by state and identifying methods for achieving such distribution; (16) urging that the federal government more efficiently distribute tax dollars through methods that did not bypass state government in dealing with local government, and calling upon Congress and the Administration to recognize the Governors as full and equal partners in the planning and administration of all federal assistance programs; (17) requesting the National Governors' Conference Committee on Health and Welfare to study such problems as state financial burdens in administering public welfare, restrictive federal rules and regulations with respect to the operation of welfare programs, and the negative effects of differing welfare benefits from state to state; (18) urging Congress to defer effective dates of legislation eliminating the entitlement of recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children to disregards for income provided by the Economic Opportunity Act, the Manpower Development and Training Act, and Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; (19) urging Congress to enact a comprehensive program of federal aid to education that embraced both general and categorical aid and included participation at the state level in policy formulation, provided advance funding, and ensured maximum administrative simplification; (20) urging Congress to take action to consolidate all vocational-technical educational legislation; (21) urging Congress to enact legislation prohibiting any further impoundment or withholding from obligation any authorized federal-aid highway apportionments, and urging the Administration to exclude the Highway Trust Fund from the planned $6 billion cutback; (22) urging Congress to enact legislation to ensure that meat inspections done by states were deemed to have met requirements of inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; (23) pledging support for an overall national water policy allowing consideration of the differing needs and goals of the regions of the nation, and for state and regional participation in developing national water management legislation; (24) urging Congress to enact legislation making available to the states the services and resources of the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies when fires became beyond the control of the abilities and resources of the states to handle adequately; (25) requesting Congress to authorize states to enact legislation and establish procedures for dealing with labor disputes involving intrastate activities that created regional emergencies; (26) urging states to consider legislation and state constitutional amendments, where needed, to authorize the Governors to reorganize the administrative structure of state government; (27) authorizing the Council of State Governments to establish a training program for executive aides; (28) extending affiliate status to the Council of State Planning Agencies; (29) urging state legislative and administrative action to permit investment in the securities of the Asian Development Bank by banks, insurance companies, fiduciaries, state fiscal officers, and others restricted by law as to investment in securities; (30) urging that steps be taken, together with the Joint Economic Committee of Congress and other federal executive agencies, to develop and publish economic indicators that would provide necessary economic information on trends in geographic parts of the United States; (31) expressing opposition to federal legislation that would eliminate the exemption from air travel tax to which state and local governments were entitled; and (32) opposing federal legislation to restrict the jurisdiction of state and local governments to tax the business activities of firms doing business in more than one state.

Presidential Addresses: