Last week, Governor Hogan addressed the General Assembly and the State of the State on Wednesday. The Governor’s address was optimistic and upbeat as he outlined his goals, and his hope for continued bipartisan efforts to improve Maryland in areas such as education, business climate, and tax reform. Governor Hogan continues to enjoy a historically high approval rating, and it not hard to see why. Before Governor Hogan took office, the state’s economy was floundering. Onerous regulations, high taxes, and the unnecessary red tape were stifling growth in our communities. Under his leadership, the state has gained over 110,000 jobs, we’ve had the fastest job growth in the Mid-Atlantic region, and businesses are expanding. Other accomplishments include:
- Delivering over $700 million in tax, toll, and fee relief to the citizens of Maryland.
- Reduced or eliminated over 250 fees across state government.
- Cut taxes on military pensions in his first legislative session.
- Created the Regulatory Reform Commission to conduct a top-to-bottom review of every single regulation in the state, in order to eliminate the needless and burdensome regulations that make it harder to do business in Maryland.
- In 2017, CNBC’s annual list of best states for business moved Maryland to #25 – jumping 5 spots from the previous year’s ranking. CNBC ranked Maryland 4th for technology and innovation and ranked Maryland 7th for its economy (up 16 spots from the previous year).
- In 2017, U.S. News and World Report named Maryland the 8th best state in the country.
I am excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with Governor Hogan, along with my colleagues to achieve our shared goals to make Maryland a place where people can thrive.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to see the entire speech, here are some notable excerpts:
“We had the best year for business in Maryland in 15 years and the best year for job growth in a decade. We went from losing 100,000 jobs to gaining more than 110,000 jobs. We’ve had the fastest job growth in the mid-Atlantic region and one of the strongest economic turnarounds in America. Maryland truly is open for business.”
“Let’s work together to make our schools more accountable by passing the Accountability in Education Act of 2018. No child should have to pay the price for the mistakes of adults who have failed them. This is too important to play politics. This is about our children and their futures. It’s about giving every Maryland child opportunities and a hope for a better future.”
“When it comes to rebuilding Maryland’s transportation infrastructure, we are moving forward with nearly all of the highest priority transportation projects in every single jurisdiction all across Maryland. We are making record investments for innovative traffic relief with major improvements to the Baltimore Beltway, I-95, the Capital Beltway, Route 270, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.”
“In order to uphold the public trust and to truly represent the interests of all the people we were elected to serve, let’s put partisanship and self-interest aside and join together with the overwhelming majority of Marylanders to end the practice of partisan gerrymandering in Maryland. Instead of becoming more like Washington, let’s send a message to Washington by putting the politics aside and coming together for all Marylanders.”
You can watch the address here: http://www.mpt.org/