Tuesday, 01/31/2006 Print Version |
Governor Schwarzenegger Highlights Public Safety Budget and Strategic Growth Plan to Protect California's Communities Tuesday, 01/31/2006 01:00 pm
Thank you very much, Chief Brown, for the wonderful introduction. I didn't know you were a comedian, too. I mean, this is really great. At least you gave me a lot of good stuff, good material for jokes because of my motorcycle accident. That's okay.
It's nice to be here today with all of you, and thank you, like I say, for the great introduction, and of course it's great to be back here, also, because I was talking to you last year. And I know - and I've said this many times - that government's first duty and it's highest obligation is public safety. And, of course, because of your skills and your dedication and all your sacrifice, California is a better place to live, to work and to raise our families. Of course, I am a little bit partial about officers and about law enforcement and being a cop because my father was cop, and I remember how proud he always was putting on his uniform every morning and going to work to serve the people. As a matter of fact, he was always so excited about the job (IA) he wanted me also to be a cop. Well, I only went as far as Kindergarten Cop. That's as far as I went. But anyway, I think that I played enough cops and FBI agents and secret agents in all my movies that I made up for it, not becoming a cop.
But anyway, I just want to thank all of you for the terrific job that you have been doing and the extraordinary work that you are doing every day and putting yourself a risk to keep us all safe.
Our city police departments make seven out of ten arrests in California, so I know that you're very busy doing your job. But we also, government, has to do their job. We have to do our job, and that is to give you the tools and the support that you all need. And that is why in my budget this year we will increase funding for public safety by more than $300 million. This means local law enforcement programs will be fully funded. And on top of all that, we will put more money into programs like drug enforcement, GPS monitoring, gang task forces, sex offender enforcement teams and much, much more.
And another thing that I know is very important to all of you is dealing with the booking fees. Now this - that's right. That's all I've hearing is booking fees, booking fees, booking fees for the last two years. And I'm asking myself, why have the biggest governors haven't really responded to that and have fixed the problem. But that's where I come in. Hold on. This is money that you're paying out that should actually be going to hiring more officers, buying more equipment and improving the training. So I am setting aside - here is the good news - I am setting aside $40 million in my budget to take that burden off your shoulders. So that you can take that money and make it work for you and also for the people that you serve.
Supporting you also means getting tougher on violent offenders. Over the next few weeks I will be working hard with the legislators to pass Jessica's Law to protect young people from child predators. And having you on board with this effort has been a huge boost for this cause, and I want to thank all of you for your great support.
Now something else that I want to talk to you about, and this is something that we fought over last year, and this is pension reform. Pension reform is something that needs to be looked at for the financial health of our state, but we must do it in a way that does not jeopardize public safety and does not undervalue the service of those who are working on the front line. So let me say this once again, and once and for all: Any plan that I approve and any plan that will be negotiated will have you at the table.
And I also want to mention the death and disability benefits. Since last August alone we have lost nine California peace officers in the line of duty. I spoke with each of their families. I thanked them for their own sacrifice on behalf of the people. And I know that the pain and the impact of this tragedy is unimaginable. So I want to assure you -- and I have said this once before, and I will say it again -- that I will not allow any reform to impact your death and disability benefits for any of the law enforcement. I will fight for that as long as I'm Governor. (Applause).
Even the possibility of such impact was enough for me to drop the entire pension reform package last year. And my position on this will never change.
Now, I also want to talk to you a little bit about what I talked about during my State of the State address, and that is our infrastructure. Our Strategic Growth Plan is a blueprint to build the kind of California that will meet the needs of this generation and for generations to come. A few of the elements of this plan include transportation, flood control, education and public safety.
I know that traffic control is one of the major responsibilities that you have, and smoother traffic flows means smoother shifts for all of you. Our plan will reduce traffic congestion by almost 20 percent in the next ten years, even though there will be a population increase by millions and millions of people. We will widen our freeways, resurface the roads, build on and off ramps, overpasses, bridges and interchanges, HOV lanes and all of those things all across our state. We're going to fix the traffic problem once and for all.
And the most important thing is, also, that we also fix our flood control problems, because our levees are very vulnerable. I know that you also appreciate the fact that we need to strengthen our levee system, because disaster preparedness is absolutely crucial. Some parts of California are protected by levees that are more than 100 years old and were built by farmers more than 100 years ago, and we don't even know what they're built of. So I know that we're one big storm or one big earthquake away from a Katrina style disaster. I never want you to be in a position where you have to respond to a disaster like this just because we failed to plan and we failed to build our levees. So my plan will invest billions of dollars for the levee system and give the people the flood protection that they can count on and that they deserve.
Now, here's another thing that is very important, and that is education. I think we all agree that the best place to fight crime is in a class room. I want to give our kids every opportunity to stay in school to get the skills that they need to be productive and to keep them off the streets and in a safe environment and out of trouble. As a matter of fact, after school programs are very important to accomplish that goal. And you all were very important and very, very helpful, the whole law enforcement community was very helpful to get the Proposition 49, the After School Education and Safety Act, passed in 2002. This year for the first time we will get this money coming through -- $428 million for after school programs so that every elementary and middle school will have after school programs or can apply for after school programs so that we can get those kids that have no parents waiting for them in the afternoon off the streets into a safe and educational environment. And also with our infrastructure plan we will build and modernize more that 180,000 class rooms and expand programs like Career Tech and Charter Schools.
And finally, a very important part of my Strategic Growth Plan is public safety. You know more than anyone that our jails and prisons are overcrowded. Some offenders are out on the streets because we don't have enough room to lock them up, and I think this is unacceptable. So my plan will invest more that $11 billion in the next ten years to expand prison capacity, improve staff safety and keep offenders locked up for the full term of their sentences. I will be working with the legislators to get this plan passed and make our commitment to public safety stronger than ever.
And, of course, as far as the legislators are concerned, I'm going to work very hard with them on all of those measures and on our whole infrastructure package, because we must work together, Democrats and Republicans, to get this passed and to ask the people for approval.
A bright future for California means better roads, better schools, greater prosperity and better public safety. Some people say, of course, that this plan is too big. It is too ambitious and we can't afford it. I say we cannot afford not to build. To secure our future for California, we must all be courageous and take the same bold action that our leaders took 50 years ago to build the California that has served us so well. So we must now build for the next 50 years.
By working together we will not only make this the greatest state in the nation for now, but also for generations to come.
Thank you very much for listening.
