Plenary Session Transcripts

• Agriculture (AG) – key agricultural programs and policies for 1980; and report of the Subcommittee on Range Resource Management
• Community and Economic Development (CED) – recent White House initiatives in community and economic development (including small communities and rural development policy, as well as community conservation guidelines); housing and community development programs for the 1980s; and discussion of the state role in implementation of the new Economic Development Act (EDA) legislation
• Criminal Justice and Public Protection (CJ) – Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act reauthorization; criminal justice and rural policy issues; key state-federal issues before the Senate Judiciary Committee; issues before the Subcommittee on Public Protection; emergency response planning for areas near nuclear power plants; and Governors' initiatives in criminal justice and public protection
• Executive Committee (Exec) – (discussion subjects not given)
• Executive Management and Fiscal Affairs (EM) – reports of the Task Force on Revenue Sharing, the Subcommittee on Public Retirement Systems, and the Subcommittee on Management Improvement; review of federal fiscal and management issues, including the FY81 budget, general revenue sharing, Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act study, and grant consolidation for the island territories; and review of progress on grant consolidation and federal aid reform
• Human Resources (HR) – update on the White House Conference on Families; operating an adequate Medicaid program in a time of fiscal constraints and rising costs; and the Administration's youth employment initiative
• International Trade and Foreign Relations (ITFR) – review of NGA trade priorities; and report of the Task Force on Refugees
• Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NR) – urbanization and America's environment in the ‘70s and ‘80s; and the national coal transportation program
• Transportation, Commerce, and Technology (TCT) – new public transportation and highway legislation to meet energy needs; and the future of highway financing and legislative remedies to preserve the nation's investment in the street and roadway network
• Other Governors' Sessions – Subcommittee on Renewable Resources and Conservation; Subcommittee on Range Resource Management; Subcommittee on Renewable Resources and Conservation; Subcommittee on the Environment; Subcommittee on Management Improvement; the Human Resources Liaison Committee; and a special day-long conference on hazardous waste management
• Plenary Session Discussion Subjects - Public attitude toward government; new initiatives by the Governors in international trade; and revenue sharing

It was noted that the President's new budget for FY81 proposed in excess of $90 billion in aid to state and local governments, $6.9 billion of which was in revenue sharing. At the same time, the President had proposed establishing a commission to review relations between state and local governments with respect to revenue sharing, which Governors were willing to support with some reservations, and there was concern among NGA members regarding threats of revenue sharing cuts in Congress.

Reference was made to a study released by NGA's Center for Policy Research titled "Bypassing the States: Wrong Turn for Urban Aid," which had concluded that federal bypassing of states to provide direct funding to local governments resulted in the maldistribution of money among large cities in particular.

Pollster Bob Teeter told Governors that Americans who had reached adulthood since 1960 were cynical, believing that government had become too large and poorly managed, hampering public participation. Voting had declined for 16 consecutive years, and if the trend was not broken, 1980 would be the first presidential election year in modern times when fewer than one-half of eligible voters went to the polls.

Federal issues of greatest concern to the public, according to Teeter, included inflation, energy (in particular, price and dependence on foreign sources), and foreign policy, with support for protection of U.S. interests rising in the wake of the taking of American hostages in Iran and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. [NOTE: On November 4, 1979, militant Iranians seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran, taking scores of people hostage. The siege lasted for more than a year, ending in 1981 with the release of the more than 50 remaining American hostages.]

Teeter said that at the state level, concern was increasing again about competency and accountability in educational systems. Also of interest at the state level were health care costs and public employees' labor relations.

Teeter and pollster Arthur White, who had also made a presentation to Governors, were asked how the public's mood might affect the upcoming presidential race. Both agreed that the incumbent—Jimmy Carter—held an advantage as long as foreign policy was the nation's primary focus. However, reaction could shift if the hostages in Iran were released and attention became focused on domestic issues.

Governors talked at length about trade issues, including the recent trade agreement act to pursue new markets abroad. Of note is that 34 states at that time had 59 trade promotion offices abroad. Mention was also made of the President's trade reorganization plan, which was designed to assign distinct functions of trade policy to different federal agencies. Governor Dixie Lee Ray of Washington said that the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) was responsible for negotiating reductions in foreign government obstacles to U.S. exports and helping the President to formulate an effective national trade policy. But the USTR had no role in overseeing implementation of policies in the field. Governor Ray argued that an international trade troubleshooter, or regional trade representative, was needed to gauge and evaluate implementation. She also stressed the importance of involving states and the private sector in developing agreements among the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Governor George Busbee of Georgia referred to a survey conducted by NGA's International Trade and Foreign Relations Committee among 400 companies in 35 states regarding the effects on trade of various laws and programs. Of the companies surveyed, 20 percent responded that their export potential was negatively affected by U.S. antitrust laws, while 40 percent said that it was negatively affected by corrupt practices laws. Two serious obstacles for businesses were: (1) difficulty in securing enough information in advance to know if an action violated U.S. law; and (2) activities considered illegal in the United States were in many cases acceptable abroad. Consequently, NGA proposed using a Justice Department procedure called "business review opinions" that amounted to binding federal decisions as to whether prospective transactions did or did not violate antitrust laws.

Governor Ella Grasso of Connecticut said: "…I believe that we start the eighties with the mood of a country that is one of sober, realistic appraisal and examination of our situation, most especially of the economic impact of energy problems, inflation, and OPEC [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] on our values and on our way of life. And I have been thrilled to watch the individual personal responses with regard to energy conservation…And I think that with this sober realism, there is a revival of faith in our institutions…With open government, there is a larger tendency for fuller information. And even though we don't have a special section of newspapers that says how well we do, it is true that we are everywhere from the front page to the back page and that in a very real sense is what government is all about. One of the things I have noticed is that there is a demand for greater accountability from our voters…It seems that with all of this real-world concept, there is a centrist tendency…and a rejection of extremist solutions. I think as well, one of the very real lessons that we have learned is that with the sobriety of this new realism, there is a rejection of the easy answer…our people know that there is no pie in the sky, and they know that there is no quick fix."

Selected Policy Positions Adopted:
(1) Opposing congressional imposition of an annual cap on Food Stamp spending and fiscal sanctions on states for error rates in the administration of the Food Stamp program; (2) supporting full federal funding, but state administration, of low-income energy assistance (interim policy); (3) supporting maintenance of a gasoline allocation system, with which any rationing should be integrated; (4) encouraging use of ethanol in federal vehicles; and (5) supporting the President's call for cancellation or relocation of the Summer Olympic games.