Plenary Session Transcripts

Accordingly, 1968 was the first official “Winter Meeting” of the Governors. At an opening plenary session, Governor John Dempsey of Connecticut cited progress that was being made in federal-state relations, including the issuance of Bureau of the Budget Directive A-85, which called for consultation with Governors prior to the implementation of new federal programs.

Governors were addressed by congressional leaders, including Senator Russell Long of Louisiana, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee; Representative Carl Albert of Oklahoma, House Majority Leader; Representative Gerald Ford of Michigan, House Minority Leader; and Representative Melvin Laird of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Republican Conference (speaking in place of Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, who was unable to attend).

Senator Long said that Medicare and Revenue Sharing were issues his committee was preparing to address, and he called on Governors to communicate their views on these issues to him and to other Finance Committee members. Representative Albert told Governors that the House would be devoting attention to housing legislation. Representative Ford noted that gubernatorial input had been instrumental in crafting both the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Act and the Juvenile Delinquency Act, which had incorporated the block grant approach favored by states. And Representative Laird referred to the newly-released report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders chaired by Governor Otto Kerner of Illinois. Rep. Laird also expressed support for revenue sharing as the only way to address problems such as unrest in innovative ways that were tailored to meet the specific needs of individual locales.

Ambassador at Large Averell Harriman urged Governors to join with the President in celebrating 1968 as Human Rights Year by issuing proclamations, establishing citizens’ committees, and engaging in other activities that emphasized the U.S. Bill of Rights and United Nations declarations and treaties on the subject of human rights.

At a closing plenary session, the following committee reports/recommendations were presented:

• Committee on the National Guard, Civil Defense, and Natural Disasters – reported that rapport had improved between the states and federal military authorities, with the Department of the Army demonstrating a greater willingness to recognize state needs, particularly regarding the role of the states and the National Guard in suppressing urban violence.
• Committee on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice – recommended that the federal government not bypass the states in dealing with local governments in urban areas, and that state officials be given discretion in dividing funds between the police on one hand, and the courts and other correctional activities on the other.
• Committee on State-Urban Relations – emphasized the importance of summer and permanent jobs programs; urged states to develop model building and housing codes that recognized the need for variations between urban and non-urban areas; and recommended the correction of zoning abuses that prevented more rational regional land use planning and development.

Selected Recommendations Adopted:
(1) Calling for new and expanded job and job-training programs; (2) seeking the development of incentives to cut rising hospital costs; (3) directing the Education Commission of the States to study the feasibility of federal aid programs for teacher salaries as well as the problem of teacher strikes; (4) calling for a retirement program and other fringe benefits for full-time technical National Guard personnel; (5) seeking more aggressive implementation of Circular A-80, which requested that state planning agencies be informed before federally-assisted sub-state districts were formed; (6) calling for a survey of block grants to determine, from the state point of view, which grants should be consolidated; and (7) urging the U.S. Treasury Department to seek the participation of interested state and local organizations in the formulation of any ruling to remove the tax-exempt status of industrial development bonds.