• Agriculture and Rural Development (AG) – agriculture and the environment; and environmental issues in the Farm Bill
• Economic Development and Technological Innovation (ED) – developing a state-federal partnership for affordable housing; and implementing the Anthony Commission findings on public finance [In 1989, the Anthony Commission issued a report titled "The Federal-State-Local Partnership: The Role of Tax-Exempt Financing"]
• Energy and Environment (EE) – ensuring sound environmental management of federal facilities; and national energy strategy
• Executive Committee (Exec) – the President’s budget
• Human Resources (HR) – "Can Access and Cost-Containment Meet? The Modern Health Care Dilemma;" and the failure of the child welfare system
• International Trade and Foreign Relations (ITFR) – The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); the Tourism Policy and Export Promotion Act; and Europe in transition
• Justice and Public Safety (JPS) – developing a national drug control strategy
• Transportation, Commerce, and Communications (TCC) – U.S. telecommunications in a global economy; and national transportation policy and programs
• Other Governors’ Sessions – Task Force on Education; Task Force on Global Climate Change; Task Force on Solid Waste Management; and Corporate Fellows’ roundtable discussion with Governors on opportunities and challenges in Eastern Europe
• Plenary and Special Session Discussion Subjects - Education goals; and the environment

Dr. Ernest Boyer with the Carnegie Foundation offered recommendations to meet the education goals. First, to ensure that children entered school ready to learn, Boyer said that the problem of poverty had to be addressed, and he applauded President Bush for proposing a $500 million increase for Head Start in the coming year.

With respect to the goal that schools be drug free and that the dropout rate be reduced to 10 percent, Boyer emphasized the importance of after-school programs. He also noted that when the school year was originally established a century earlier, 90 percent of families lived on farms and children needed time off in the summer to help their parents. Now, fewer than 3 percent of families lived on farms, and Boyer argued that this demographic change justified an adjustment of the educational clock to increase the number of school days to 200 annually.

As for assessment of educational progress, Dr. Boyer advocated measuring basic proficiencies by the 4th grade and measuring cultural literacy—including achievement in science, geography, literature, and the arts—at the 8th and 12th grade levels. He also expressed the view that every high school senior should be required to write a paper demonstrating their ability to think critically, integrate ideas, and focus them on an issue of importance.

Boyer also recommended the addition of two goals: to have better prepared and empowered teachers who along with school administrators were held accountable for outcomes; and to expect parents to become full partners in their children’s education.

During a special session on environmental issues, Secretary of State James Baker said the conservation movement had taught us that government, business, labor, national organizations, and individuals needed to work together to craft effective environmental policies. In an interdependent world, we needed to think local and act global, recognizing that U.S. environmental interests could not be met without addressing worldwide environmental concerns.

Baker argued that environmental concerns played a major role in the achievement of our foreign policy objectives of encouraging democracy, ensuring security, and improving international cooperation. He said first of all that the conservation movement had proven to be one of the greatest success stories for grass roots democracy in the United States—a story that could be shared with the world. Second, the U.S. was helping to promote sustainable development around the globe. Third, the definition of security must include recognition that environmental degradation posed a threat that knew no borders. And finally, because environmental problems affected the entire world, they required worldwide cooperation.

Secretary Baker noted that no position was being taken on the legitimacy of arguments regarding global warming. Rather, the President’s policy was one of "no-regrets," meaning that contributing financially to the effort to cope with greenhouse gases would be an end in itself, even if the threat of global warming was not proven.

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas Foley referred to the triumph of democracy that was taking place in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Central America, telling Governors that reductions in international tension provided an opportunity to redirect our energies to domestic policy. The central challenge of the 1990s, according to Speaker Foley, was to renew our economic capacity and regain control of our economic destiny. He said that the greatest test of our strength would be in classrooms, not missile silos, and the gravest threat to our security would come not from the attempt of any nation to dominate the world but rather from every nation’s complicity in the worldwide destruction of the environment.

The Speaker went on to criticize President Bush for limiting his proposed increase for education spending to two percent. He also argued that greater investment needed to be made in repairing and replacing the nation’s decaying infrastructure, but that despite the existence of surpluses in both the highway trust fund and the airport trust fund, the President had used the highway trust fund in particular to hold down the size of the federal deficit.

Former Delaware Governor Russell Peterson argued that additional funding was needed for both national and international programs to: reduce population growth; achieve more efficient use of energy and develop renewable energy sources; reforest the earth; promote alternative forms of agriculture; acquire and protect critical habitat; encourage development of industrial processes and lifestyles that would avoid the production of waste; recycle and recover materials; and educate people to think globally. He told Governors that the argument about environmental protection being a tradeoff against economic advancement was largely a myth and that in fact taking the precautions necessary to protect the environment helped to create jobs.

Secretary of State James Baker said: "Controversies that raged around the Governors’ Conference back in 1908 continue down to this day. Indeed, environmental issues have never been simple and they never will be. Environmental problems are complex and…sometimes very slow to develop, and sometimes we are even slow to recognize them. Yet, despite the intense debates, despite all the uncertainties, despite the sheer complexities involved, there remains before us, as there remains before all peoples, the unquestioned responsibility to act. Emerson, the 19th Century American essayist and poet…said, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children." So this is a sacred debt that must be honored. The splendor of nature enfolds and unites all of humankind. So, now together the earth’s peoples must work so that this precious web of life shall embrace in beauty and embrace in peace all of the generations to come."

Former Delaware Governor Russell Peterson opened his address to the Governors with this recollection of his first Governors’ meeting: "It was back in December 1968 after I had been elected but not yet sworn in. We met in California. Governor Reagan was the host. The first night, we drove to a beautiful canyon, where we mounted horses to ride to a barbecue. As we assembled, my horse wandered seemingly uncontrollably. I had never heard of western reins, nor had the horse that I rode on a farm in Wisconsin. Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller on their horses were chatting. My horse moved over and nudged in between their two horses. I was really embarrassed. And ever since, those two segments of our party have been split."

U.S. House Speaker Tom Foley said: "I believe the central challenge of America in the 1990s is to renew our economic capacity and regain control of our economic destiny. The greatest test of our strength will be in our classrooms, not in our missile silos. The gravest threat will come not from any one nation’s attempt at world domination but from every nation’s complicity in the worldwide destruction of the environment…the principal lesson [of the last 40 years] is that a strong America is essential to the political and economic health of the world communities…The federal government ought not and cannot ensure the success of private economic endeavors but we in government at all levels can help create the conditions and the means for vibrant economic growth. Education, I believe, is the key to this endeavor. Our ability to realize our full economic potential depends on the degree to which we provide our workers with the skills they need to participate in an increasingly competitive marketplace. In addition, our strength as a society depends on the ability of our citizens to participate knowingly and knowledgeably in our democracy and our democratic institutions."

Selected Policy Positions Adopted:
(1) Supporting the National Education Goals; (2) supporting development of a Peace Dividend dedicated to reducing the federal deficit and investing in productivity-oriented investments, including investments in human resources; (3) suggesting legislative changes in federal agricultural programs to help farmers strengthen their commitment to the environment, including giving farmers more options in planning decisions without having to forego federal benefits; (4) to deal with automotive pollutants, recommending the use of cleaner burning reformulated gasoline, the conversion of fleet vehicles to alternative fuels, and the initiation of alternate fuels in urban areas; (5) calling for the development of regional fuel reserves; (6) emphasizing the importance of increasing air service to states for the purposes of promoting economic development and tourism; and (7) urging states to increase contact with nations of Eastern Europe, and supporting most-favored nation status to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Eastern European countries that did not already have that designation.