1992 New York State of the State Address

Lt. Governor Stan Lundine: Pursuant to a resolution duly adopted in each of the houses of this legislature, the Senate and Assembly of the state of New York are met in joint session for the purpose of receiving the annual message to the legislature from the governor of the state of New York. It is my distinct honor to present to you at this time the governor of New York State, Mario Cuomo. 

Governor Mario M. Cuomo:  Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Lieutenant Governor Stan Lundine. All my distinguished colleagues on the platform and in the audience, friends, guests. 

Before anything else, I know that I speak for everyone in this chamber and in the state of New York, as I wish our President, President Bush a quick recovery, a safe return, and the strength and health that he needs to do his work. 

And I'm sure we're all pleased to welcome the new speaker of the Assembly and distinguished assemblyman from a great county, Saul Weprim. Good luck. 

 In this year of extraordinary difficulty for us in the state of New York and for most of the nation, New York has a very special beacon to guide it. It's provided by perhaps the most admired New Yorker of nineteen ninety-one. A man from Batavia. A hero. And today, we congratulate him. And we thank him for his courage and for his example to all of us. Wherever you are, Thank you, Terry Anderson. Now, with his with, his fate in the hands of people he could not control, Terry Anderson resolve to do all that he could with his personal strengths. He marshaled those strengths. He overcame negativism, never losing hope, always believing in himself, in his capacity to overcome it all and to emerge from the years of privation stronger, better, freer, more whole than ever. His struggle and the devotion of his family, and particularly of his extraordinary sister, Peggy Say can be a model for us as a state for what we must overcome, for what it will take for us to succeed. For how glorious our triumph can be. 

New York State, like other states, is struggling with a powerful force it cannot control, a national recession. As a result of a decade of excesses and omissions and bad choices, the nation has lost its grip on the world economy. And that is hurting us in the most fundamental ways. Businesses are closing. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs. They have gone from working middle class to struggling poor. And there are more of them now than ever before in our history. With the new poverty, the resources we needed for the growing problems of unemployment, welfare, health causes, health costs would diminish. With the new desperation in the streets and the communities, there was more violence. That deepening recession is more and more desiccating resources that we desperately need to meet this onslaught. As a matter of fact, as a result of the weakening economy, much of the nation's strength, much that would have come to us, has leaked away, indeed is flowing away into foreign markets, creating progress there, leaving pain behind here. 

The national government, unable or unwilling to handle the challenge, gradually has shifted the burden to the states which, like New York, have been forced to cut their investments and good things, raise taxes on their already heavily burdened taxpayers. Borrow more than they wished to borrow. And states with this new pressure were pitted against one another as they scrambled to pick the pockets of neighboring states for a few jobs. The national government has called this the new federalism. It perhaps would better have been called the new retreat because it was, in fact, a great leap backward for America. Just when our already powerful economic competitors are merging their strengths in Western Europe, getting stronger, we are fragmenting this nation by pitting state against state, making ourselves weaker. Perhaps worst of all is the effect of all of this on the spirit of the American people. All across this nation and even here in the Empire State, people are disillusioned. Fearful that the American dream may be slipping away, many of them are angry. Many are trying to find someone to blame. And many blame us. Their elected officials.

How we, those of us assembled in this chamber today, respond to all of these challenges will be the test of leadership in 1992. We can give in to the temptation to blame someone else. And some of us are doing that. We're in this mess. You know it and we're in this mess. Oh we're going to have a debate. I can tell. 

We're in this mess, some say, because the poor people are getting too much or because of the Japanese. Or because of the Germans. Or even because of the immigrants. Or because of the Republicans or because of the Democrats. That's easy. We can look for someone to blame. Or we can look for solutions instead of safe scapegoats. Now, clearly, as elected officials, we have no lush pastures to lead our people into at the moment. All we can offer them apparently is a longer and harder climb to a new ground. That's a hard time for politicians. It's a time that calls for strength and courage and vision to keep us all growing together so that we don't grow any further apart. 

Now, no one has ever responded more effectively to this kind of challenge than the people who for decades have assembled in this chamber, at the beginning of every year. Certainly ever since the Great Depression, when their governor lifted himself from his wheelchair to join them in lifting this state and this nation from its knees. Now, New York is called upon to do it again. 

And for myself, I am sure that we will, because New Yorkers know, that as a great state and there's an even greater nation we can do much better than we are doing today. We know that we are too smart to have our people have to beg for work while our dollars make foreign economies rich. And we know surely that this nation is too good to make war our most successful enterprise and ugly divisiveness, our most effective political tactic. We here in the Empire State, the Empire State that has helped build this great nation from the very beginning. We believe that we have come too far, we have done too well, now to abandon the basic values and instincts that assured our success in the first place. We refuse to let wither the profound belief in the dignity of hard work. The proud commitment to earning one's own bread that brought many of our forebears to this land in the first place. We refuse to lose our sense of responsibility to ourselves, to the children we brought into this world, to the parents that gave us birth and nurtured us, to the unlucky, to the unloved. to the state and the nation that we inherited. 

We in New York will not allow to be diminished, that belief in something larger than ourselves. A faith that makes the pain tolerable, that makes the struggle worthwhile, And that makes the accomplishment joyous. And we know what we have to do. First, we must be positive. We must commit ourselves to moving forward, together. You can't do it any other way. Despite the difficulty, despite the discouragements, despite the provocations, together. New life must be pumped into the economy, which is the lifeblood of the nation and of the state.

And clearly that has to begin in Washington. It is a national economy that went down and took all the boats with it. That's why 85 percent of the American people live in states that are in trouble. It is too much to say that all at once, all the legislatures and all the governors of 30 different states went mad. That's not what happened. The national economy subsided, we have to bring the national economy back up and that has to be done in Washington. They will have to do it. That same national government that first denied there was a recession, then ignored the recession, then said the recession had ended and tells us now that it will end soon, must right away enact a comprehensive economic growth plan for the nation, a real one that delivers the tough news as well as the good news.

It has to be, it has to be a real plan, not just sweet one shot tax cuts for either side. You see those those tax cuts are great fun politically. They're like little bon bons. They give you a little pleasure. They don't give you any real strength. We need more than just those tax cuts. And Washington must renew its partnership with the private sector. And more than that, with state and local governments that Washington has abandoned now for 10 years. And we and we must work together to produce jobs for all of our people, to create prosperity for the many instead of just the free enterprise for the few that we've had over the last 10 years. A lot of people did well, about one percent, had a ball for the last decade. We need an economy that brings more people into affluence and comfort and security. That's for Washington. That would have been nice.

In the meantime, however, while we wait for Washington to act and even prod them, we must use our limited financial resources wisely right here in the state of New York. We must pump confidence and capital and jobs into our own state economy. We must build a new New York with our own hands, without waiting for Washington. 

Sometimes I think we do not see ourselves as clearly as we should. For the last nine years, for example, we have built on a tremendous, massive scale in this state. We have committed to one of the most far reaching infrastructure programs in New York state's history. We will add to what is already 50 billion dollars in commitments over nine years. You add it up for yourselves. Take all the bond issues, all the building at SUNY. All the other building we've done. 50 billion in commitment over nine years. We will add billions more before the century is over, through the new New York plan, which I launched in September. Together, the projects in that new New York plan will generate more than one hundred thousand jobs, more than nine billion dollars in economic opportunity for the state by the new millennium. 

Now, here are some of the pieces, only a few. Some of you are familiar with them already. But just to give you some sense of the dimensions and of the immense value that the new New York plan will add to the state's economic strength, an automated billion dollar people move up a light rail system that will connect New York's major airports to the rest of the transportation network. That's one point six billion dollars. The funding already virtually guaranteed. 

The Freight Link America project that will connect New York City and Long Island to the rest of the nation. Queens west in Queens, overlooking Manhattan, one of the largest residential commercial developments of its kind in the United States of America. The world's most extensive, the world's most extensive science, business and industry library. A library without walls, unique, literally unique, costs nearly a hundred million dollars financed by private money. Some federal money, state money, etc.. On its way. We've begun that project already. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. Calverton Airports conversion into a state of the art transportation facility is on the list. Completion of the fourth lane of the Long Island Expressway and other extensive highway work is on the list. For the first time, a connection between Long Island and New England. You can't build a bridge. They won't take it on the other side. Governor Carey summed it up beautifully, says, I'm not going to build half a bridge when you tell me where it's going to come down. We'll make a deal. We can't make a deal. So we're going to do it with futuristic high speed ferries. This is really exciting and is going to lend a great deal of value to Long Island's economy. A 10 year, 300 million dollar statewide capital improvement program for New York's unparalleled park system. Three hundred million dollars for our park. 

 A new environmental assistance fund will generate long term revenue streams to finance recycling, solid waste and open space protection programs all over the state of New York. In central New York, we were there recently to announce the new New York program. Parallel Computing for Syracuse University, the an exquisite application of high technology and a great, great boost for the economy in the years to come. Work on the Inner Harbor, the reviving of the Erie Canal, thanks to the good work we did on the bond issue last year, enhancing commerce and recreation and tourism in that part of the state. In the north country. The Adirondack Plan. Yes, to preserve the magnificent beauty of the Adirondacks. But at the same time, to give them an economic development boost that they haven't had for years and since the park was instituted, instituted. And we will soon announce new plans for Rochester, specifically. Buffalo, specifically, the Hudson Valley, the southern tier, the capital district. We will be going to each of those areas and announcing the new New York plan in great detail. 

Every region of the state, every region of the state will be dramatically influenced by the new New York plan. And on top of all of this economic stimulus, this year we can add a dramatic additional piece to our new New York agenda. 

Eight hundred million dollars of capital investments in a bond act called Jobs for the New New York. Now, this jobs program will allow us to jump start projects all over the state from the waterfront in Buffalo to the Ticonderoga Industrial Park in Essex County, from the Greenbelt Waterfront Park in St.. Lawrence County to the Rochester Science Park Project in Monroe. From the Geneva Industrial Park in Ontario County to the Baxter Health Care Facility in Orange County. When our people need it most and in all the time I have been governor, surely this is the time when they needed it most, We will be able to provide thousands of jobs for them through this eight hundred million dollar jobs program. Thousands of jobs in the construction industry to begin with, leading to permanent jobs that come from the industries that are rejuvenated by this infusion of economic development investment. 

As the voters proved last year to you and to me, by overwhelmingly supporting our Job Development Authority bond issue, and it was opposed and the voters overwhelmingly supported it in a year of extraordinary negativism when they said no to just about everybody and everything. But they went to the polls, went past all that negativism, blew away the smoke and said, we want jobs and we want you to invest in jobs. They'll do it again. You put it on the ballot this year. They will write you a note saying thank you. Eight hundred million dollars to put our people to work, to make this state stronger for all the years to come. That's the bond issue I offer you. 

Clearly, one of our great strengths and this, too we've talked about it for a few years. I really don't think that we give ourselves enough credit here. One of our great strengths is our ability to profit from the rapidly developing world economy. They've had the decade of the Pacific. We're going to have the decade of the Atlantic, the European Economic Community. Three hundred and seventy five million people, largest market in the world may be threatening to us, competitive, sure, but also an opportunity to do business. And we're tied to them by history, by blood, by geography and by contacts in the business world. This is a natural for us. And in Japan, we're doing very well. We are the international state. We always have been. We're more the international state than we ever were before. The home of the United Nations, the global center of information, of ideas, of exchange and commerce. People still come. The city of New York's population is growing. Thirty seven percent of the people who live in the city of New York now were born somewhere else. And they come here from Japan and they come here from the Caribbean and they come here as families and they come here educated. And they come here speaking the language and ready to invest. Unlike some of us, my mother and father came here and made a magnificent contribution. But they couldn't read or write. They couldn't do anything but dig a ditch. And my father had to do it. And they made a contribution. This new immigration, new immigration brings everything my father did, the same ability to bite his lip, the same willingness to give up everything for their families, or they come educated with money to invest, with skills to share. We should be embracing them, hugging them, kissing them instead of disdaining them. We are the international state. It will make us strong and make this world better if we use that prerogative already handed to us more wisely in the future. And we will. We went to Japan, we made a deal. 100 hundred companies here will invest in Japan. We'll go over to Japan and do business with the Japanese. They have agreed to work with us to do that. There is already a tremendous growth in exports. We've doubled them in three years from here to Japan. Did you know that from New York State to Japan, the rest of the country is having trouble? We are delighted by how we are doing with the Japanese. Their investments in this state now growing faster than their investments in California. No one in the United States is doing as well. Who knew it before today? Who among you knew it? This is part of the truth of the strength of this state that we have to become more familiar with and talk about more. And we have to do more with the idea of global economy, the international state, 80 percent of our exports now are done by 50 companies in the state of New York. Think of that one, 80 percent of your exports, only 50 companies. 

There are thousands of companies that could do business overseas. We're going over, lining up the markets, putting them on a computer, coming back here, going to Buffalo, going to Irondequoit, going to Suffolk, saying you make the widget that they need. Here's the place to go. We'll teach you the language. We'll show you how to deal with the federal government. We'll show you how to do business. Then we'll take a piece. It's called Your Business Tax. Don't get upset, you're going to get rich anyway. That's the way it's going to work. 

Now, amidst all of this change and there's a lot of it, there are some things we're not going to abandon. We are not going to abandon our commitment to the members of our family who are left behind by incapacity, by misfortune. 

There is, for example, a public health crisis. A real one, grew suddenly the way AIDS did in the beginning, and HIV. It's the spread of HIV infection, the spread of AIDS. It's the new epidemic, measles, measles, again, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases. And the result of all of this is needless suffering, even death for children. And adults as well. It's a terrible, terrible loss. And this year we must find whatever it takes for a major expansion of our effort, already begun, to halt these epidemics. We will have to work with the local governments and we will, all across the state with hospitals, with physicians, with businesses, with citizens and community organizations to bring all of our strengths to bear against these horrible vulnerabilities. The state will purchase vaccines. We will expand screening. We will develop countywide immunization plans. We will mount education campaigns where they are most needed. And we will do all of these things,because especially in this decade of the child, we must do all of these things without excuses. 

We also need to continue to open the door of opportunity through education and training. That require some changes that we have been reluctant to make, frankly, because some of them are politically hard. 

For years, we have acted as though all our school system needed to succeed was a continuous infusion of new money. You know it and I know it. But if that's all it took, was new money, how come we now have the richest system in the nation, but it is nowhere near being the best system in the nation? So obviously there was not enough just to give you money to schools. Some education reforms are so apparent, so badly needed, that it is difficult to explain even to ourselves why we haven't done them. How, for example, do we explain this? I was asked and I couldn't explain it, except in the worst kind of terms, and so I didn't. In Nassau County, the population that uses the schools today is one half of what it was in 1972. In Suffolk County, it is one third of what it was in 1972. But the number of school districts and presumably superintendents is the same as it was in 1972. One hundred and twenty seven. How come? Would that happen in any business, you know? Why don't we do something about that? Why don't we give more incentives to consolidate school districts to consolidate their services? Why don't we encourage them to get rid of duplication of services? Why don't we demand that they get rid of duplication of services? Or do you save that hard talk for other, easier areas? 

And then we have to keep working on the basics, keep working on the basics. The regents gave us, I thought, a new compact for learning that was very good. We have to raise our sights and our standards. We have to stress performance , there's no point in saying, "OK, I let you read history for four years, now you're an historian." It doesn't work that way. We have to measure the results. We have to heighten the standards. We have to be tougher. We have to be, frankly, the more our parents were with us. And I think most of the people in this room had the same experience. They didn't know nearly as much as some of the geniuses know nowadays. But they know one thing. They understood accountability. They couldn't spell it, but they understood accountability. And we have to bring accountability back. 

We have to remember the at-risk school population particularly. We have to develop new school to work initiatives for those who are not bound for college because not everyone will go to college. Not everybody will want to. Not everybody should. Some people can make a better contribution, be happier, be more useful to the society without going to college. And we can't forget that part of the population as well. Helping our people choose high skills will save them from working for unnecessarily low wages. Helping out people to choose high skills will save them perhaps from not being able to work at all. 

But while we build our economy, and that's what we've been talking about, building our economy for the future, starting right now, creating power and resources in the years ahead. That's important to do because that's the source of your strength, is your economy. While we're dealing with that, we have to deal, regrettably, with the harsh reality of the moment. And the harsh reality of the moment is the recession and the dwindling state revenues and the little help from Washington. Less certainly than we need. We have to deal with that reality, with its impact right now. Now, how do you do it? It's very simple. We're grateful, I see some of our congresspeople here, Nita Lowey and Sherry Boehlert, I apologize to those I missed. Maybe Tommy Mann. And we're grateful for the help, incidentally. The transportation bill. Thank you very much. It was a terrific bill. And we're grateful to all of you that made it happen. Who else, Charles Schumer. Chuck Schumer, Chuck Schumer is I didn't notice you, you weren't sitting behind a bank grill. Nice to see you, Chuck. But we're grateful for all of that. But we know you're not gonna be able to bail us out with programs like that. So we we have to do what we can with diminished resources. Well, how do you deal with it. It's very simple comes down to this and there can be no argument politically. 

There are a lot of things you must do. You must educate. You must protect your people. You must put violent criminals in jail. There are some things you cannot escape doing. You must take care of elderly people who without you, wouldn't be taken care of at all. So we have needs and we have to deal them, but we have to find more intelligent ways to deal with them. We have to re-form the way we deliver services. We have to restructure the operations of government to meet those needs at less cost, say more with less if you wish. And we have to give some things up. Forget about you can have everything. You have to give up the wants. You cannot have them, make up your mind that you're gonna tell your people the truth. You can't have them, period. That's what we've been doing.

You don't want to raise taxes. I don't. And unless and even if you push me very hard, and I know every in the past you've gotten that temptation at the last moment. I read all your new literature. I love this charismatic literature I'm getting now, boy. No new taxes. Terrific. I hope this time you mean it, because I mean it, even if you change your mind. So no new taxes. OK. No new taxes. Same needs. How do you do it? You restructure and reform. Restructure and reform. 

 When you're dealing with something that is recurrent, you call it structural reform. School consolidation would be structural reform. Right? Because it happens every year. That's what  and I talk a lot about structural reform. Someday we're going to reform your structure. Senator Bruno. Don't be like that. All right, so structural reform. Come on. Come on, let's get out of here. We're gonna get in trouble with this. We have to do it all through the government. Now, frankly, thanks to Senator Bruno and the Republicans, thanks to Speaker Weprin and the Democrats, we have a good start on structural reform. Everybody tries to take all the credit. But the truth is, both houses have been working on structural reform reform effectively. We're off to a pretty good start. Think about it. Few states in the United States of America. 

I can't think of any local governments in the state, and certainly not the federal government, can claim that they structurally reformed their workforce as dramatically as we have. It's painful and it hurts some people. And I'm not delighted that we did it, but it had to be done. Your workforce was reduced by 10 percent. This government structurally reformed the workforce by ten percent. That's a very big number. That's over 18000 slots. Who else in this state did it? Who else in this country did it? Health care costs. We talk a lot about it. Health care costs, thanks to Governor Carey, thanks to David Axelrod, are better contained in this state than anywhere in the United States of America. And although certainly we have to do more, much more because it's also the fastest growing part of the budget. Last year, you and I saved millions of dollars by beginning to restructure Medicaid by instituting managed care reforms. That was very good work by the legislature. 

This year in my executive budget, which I will give you, I promise, although it's going to be more difficult than it's been in 10 years, I will give you the budget on time. On the constitutional date or before the constitutional date, which means the 22nd or the 21st, I will propose further Medicaid, welfare and social services changes reforms that will save the state more than one billion dollars this year.

I will also propose that the state gradually from now until the end of the 90s, relieve the counties and the city of New York of their share of Medicaid expense with the cost control measures we're talking about that are included in that billion dollar package that brings down the total cost of Medicaid. Then you start picking up the local share. By the millennium, by the end of the 90s, We'll save one point six billion dollars for the states' local governments. At the same time, we will have a better, more rational and responsive system of care and we will not be breaking the backs of our local taxpayers. That pickup is part of our effort to help local taxpayers avoid mounting real property taxes that are imposed by local governments. Regrettably, for us at the state level, a lot of the people in the local areas think that we put the real estate tax on them. And frankly, a lot of us contribute to that because we come up and we argue, well, if you do that, the real estate tax is going to go up. And all the guys, the local level. Great. Now we can raise the real estate taxes and say he said so in Albany. Or, she said so. So you're caught in this political box. Anyway, for the good of the local taxpayers. Let's see if we can't pick up that Medicaid. That will help a lot. 

There are some other things you should do to keep the real estate taxes down. Education mandates have to be relieved. Let's reform the school aid formula. Let's control the local governments and the services they give in places where we think they are being duplicative. Let's consolidate those school districts and consolidate local governments and services in both those areas.

Restructuring, I said, will be pervasive. It has to affect criminal justice as well. You can't leave criminal justice out. That's another rapidly growing part of this budget. Medicaid is the most rapidly growing part of the budget. But you cannot stop with Medicaid. Education is a very rapidly growing part of the budget. Criminal justice is a very rapidly growing part of the budget. One point on criminal justice, a simple question. You cannot, we all agree I'm sure, let hard times, make us soft on violent criminals, but we have scant resources. How do you save those resources to assure that you're putting violent criminals away? We have the best police, the best prosecutors, the best courts. But to ensure that the system works. We have to be sure that the correctional system is used appropriately. And so we have to focus here intelligently. Let me put a question to you. How does it make any sense to keep a non violent drug felon in a jail cell that cost maybe one hundred and thirty thousand dollars to build, maybe thirty thousand dollars a year to maintain? Nonviolent, drug felon, addicted. Then you'll let him out after two years, or her, still addicted with the addiction that got them there in the first place. How does that make sense? If there is an alternative, at a fraction of the cost, to give them a treatment which maybe will free them from the addiction? Guaranteed, no, of course not. No recidivism? No, of course not. High recidivism. But still, you'll save some and you'll save the cost of the cell and put into that cell violent criminals. How does it make any sense to have a law that says whether they really need incarceration or not, the judge has no jurisdiction, a prosecutor has no jurisdiction to make any other decision. Lock him up. It's dumb, but lock him up. Because we're afraid to change it. Why? Well, we're afraid that people will misunderstand and they'll say we're soft on crime. You don't need that. Come out for the death penalty. That would show them how tough you are. And then get rid of this reform. Get rid of this law. Reform it. Be more intelligent there and unintelligent on the death penalty. You'll save money and still get the votes you after. Okay. 

Well, let's give a shock incarceration, we ought to expand as well. Give the prosecutors more discretion, shock incarceration, both structural reforms that will help. In these difficult, even dangerous times, we have to be careful that we avoid to avoid mistakes of overdoing things or of doing some things because they sound good. Even though they're not really good in sound. Take welfare, for example, a proposition. New York State leads the United States of America in intelligent welfare reform. That's absolutely true. Our system is designed to end dependency, not to encourage it. Our taxpayers in New York State believe that work is better than welfare. All of them. And overwhelmingly, the people on welfare believe that work is better and want to work. We will continue, proudly, to innovate, to help all of those who need help, especially by assisting them into the workforce. At the same time, we will continue aggressively to guard against fraud. I will propose further reforms in this year's budget that you'll have in a couple of weeks to make the system more efficient, more honest, more fair. The truth is, many of them I have already submitted to both houses as part of the negotiations. I expect that those reforms will save the state millions of dollars and will be supported by both houses and both sides of the aisle. Because I believe that there is a middle ground here on this issue. That's pure intelligence, very sound, good for the people of New York. But let's keep it clear, there will be welfare reform because there should be welfare reform, but we will not offer up cuts in welfare benefits as the panacea for our fiscal ills or simply to pander. In a recession, in a recession, when jobs are scarce, when the unemployed have exhausted their benefits, we will not force people who are eager to work but unable to work because they don't have the chance. We will not force them to choose between food and rent. We will not push people into the streets where it costs more to house them in a shelter, at one hundred dollars a night, than it does to provide the little bit of home relief that we now give them. We will not do it. 

Because we must, we must change our ways, there is no doubt about that. But we must do it without losing our way. No matter how fiercely the political winds blow at the moment, we're not going to give up our integrity as a people to win an election. And we must not forget, to be fair about redistributing the burdens of these hard times. Now, I know Speaker Miller, I know I said it a couple of times from this platform, and I know some of you have said it and I've read it in newsletters. In this time of difficult decisions and the sharing of burdens, no sacrificial lambs, no sacred cows. It's a good line and I like it a lot. And I think it's worth living by. So let's apply it. If taxpayers can be punished for failing to meet their obligations on time, then what happens when we, elected officials, led by the governor and you, are delinquent in meeting our obligations? Let's be honest. If we fail to pass timely budgets and send school districts and local governments to the brink of bankruptcy, why should we be allowed to continue enjoying our own considerable compensations paid for by the taxpayers we punish with our delinquency, without paying some price ourselves/ How does that make sense? It's not fair. It's not right. And we should change it. Now, I have given you a bill that would guarantee a timely budget by making the executive budget effective on April 1st if we fail to produce a different version before them. If you refuse that solution, I ask you please to show respect for the people we serve, by passing another bill, which I have given you, which requires that we elected officials surrender our pay for every day, that the budget is late. Period. No excuses. No explanations. Now, a. OK. We're just. Oh, oh, oh, ow. Tony, listen to me, Tony, if you need a loan, I'll lend it to you. If we don't, if we don't do our jobs for employers, the people of the state of New York should not have to pay us a dime for failing. We should, especially those of us who are so tough on law and order, Antonio, you know, those of us who are talking about law and order. Let's show a little law and order. You don't show up for work. You don't get paid. That's my position.  Well, let's be honest. Let's be let's. Tony, Tony. OK, well, then, Tony, you vote against it, at least this way, we'll get a vote out of you. Yeah. All right. Now, let's be let's be honest with ourselves, all right? Now, this makes a very good point. 

This makes a very good point. Let me get to something that will really intrigue you, because this this makes a good point. I'm glad that at least everybody is awake. Now this is something we should have changed a long time ago. But it's inconvenient and there are other things we should change and you know it. And I know it. And some of us talk about it and admit it, especially when the voters aren't listening. But surely, you know, as I do, that the voters are listening all the time now and they're watching and they don't like what they see. They're angry. They're angry at all of us. I know they're angry at me and I suspect they're angry at you. They believe the system is rigged. They believe that it's set up to serve entrenched interests, special interests. They believe it's designed to serve the powerful and the politicians like the governor and the legislators instead of them. They really, honestly believe it, many of them, not all of them, but enough of them to be very significant. You know it. And I know it. You hear it all the time. Now, our recent, damaging failures to pass timely budgets. Think about it. We haven't passed a timely budget in how many years? Can you remember? Costing millions of dollars to the taxpayers? Some of us are indignant at being accused of not functioning, but we haven't. And you know it. And it's cost everybody money. And in some cases, it was as though we were doing it cavalierly, suggesting to the constituents that this is good for you, because in the long run, we'll be able to get you more. You know it and I know it. These are only the latest examples of a system that cries out for change, for fundamental change. I was heartened to hear that Senator Marino, on behalf of the Republican conference in the Senate, has taken the same position that we need to change things and change them dramatically. I agree. And I've talked with others of you who feel that way. 

 Let me make a suggestion to you, please. I think the best way to do it is through a constitutional convention, a citizens convention, a coming together of representatives chosen directly by the people. That's the way, that's the way our Constitution was written in the first place. It was written by people and those founding fathers, let's remind ourselves, when they wrote the Constitution, provided that there should be people's conventions to improve the Constitution when needed. As a matter of fact, they made it mandatory that you consider that. Now, in the past, we have heard from some legislators, from some academicians, from some very intelligent people in this society, I have discussed it with some of them, even some very, very good friends in the legislature. We've heard this kind of argument. You can't do it, Mario. Why not? You can't trust the people. They'll foul up the abortion. They'll foul up the death penalty. They'll do the wrong thing here. They'll do the wrong thing there. Think about it. You can't trust the people. Which people? The ones that voted for you. What do you mean you can't trust the people? No, no, no. We can't trust the people. There are some things you have to stay away from the people on. We will make the decisions. OK. That's that's worked for a long time with a lot of people. Let's think about it, in view of our embarrassing performances in recent years and especially in the last two years when our failure to function, I'm talking about my failure. I am not proud of what I have done. I'm the chief executive. I was supposed to produce a result. I failed. But so did you. And when we, all of us failed, over the last few years, how could we conceivably be left where we could plausibly utter to the masses out there, "We can't let you speak. These difficult questions must be left in our capable hands. And to our good discretion." How would you dare say that under these circumstances. 

We should have a constitutional convention. A constitutional convention could make it easier for people to run for public office. It's a disgrace how important wealth is. Everybody here knows that, that if you've got a lot of money, you have a tremendous advantage. You could be dumber, more venal, not as well-intentioned and still have an advantage. Maybe we could change that. We haven't been able to do it in our system. Maybe a constitutional convention could. The way you vote, the way you register, it could allow you to select judges the way these excellent judges were selected, on the merits. Appoint them after they qualify on the merits, merit selection for all judges. It could ensure that Albany would never again make a late budget. It could ensure a new fiscal year. A constitutional convention could empower people to pass an amendment that would compel the houses, both houses, See, what you think of this one Tony, to consider all the bills that they think are important. They couldn't get they couldn't get one house to pass on campaign finance. That's an important subject. They couldn't get one house to pass on bias related violence bills. We can't get a discussion and a vote on assault weapons bills. We can't get a discussion and a vote, in both houses, on life without parole. Is that right? Does that make sense? How do you explain it to your family? How do you explain to some bright young mind that doesn't know anything but common sense and says, "How come you won't vote on that? We're not telling you how to vote. We elected you. We just want you to vote. Tell us where you are." You can't get that. Maybe a constitutional convention will give it to us. Listen, at a time when political dialog, debate and activism are atrophying, and they are, the people aren't constructively, actively debating. What they're doing is insulting us instead. They so disdain the system as it is now, they are turning away from it. Something must be done. I suggest to you that the thing to do is to offer them an opportunity to come together, with some guidance, in a constitutional convention as we started this grand and successful experiment. The people, good enough to write this 10 commandment constitution in the first place, good enough to reform it. The people, smart enough to elect you, smart enough to be responsible when they make other changes. 

I ask you to join me both sides of the aisle, both houses, in considering this. I'm going to set up a group with Dick Nathan over at Rockefeller to work on it intelligently. I would like to discuss it with you, your differences, your opposition. I think it is absolutely a right idea for all of us. And I encourage you to join me in it.

Now, since I have been governor, I guess first year was nineteen eighty-three. Looking back over those years, the one reality that best characterizes this portion of our history is change. The wall came thundering down in Berlin, the hammer and sickle was lowered over the Kremlin. We defeated Iraq, demonstrating the awesome might of what has now become, I guess, the unchallenged military force in the world. And then we awoke to realize that at the same time, we were losing the economic wars to Japan and Germany. Change. Some of it shocking. All of it affecting our country and all of it therefore affecting New York, because New York is America. All of its power, all of its past, all of its magnificent potential and all of its pain. But we have advantage, an advantage. New York does have one distinct advantage. New York will never be and never has been one of those quaint, restored historic villages frozen in time. Change, constant change, dynamic change, unpredictable change. Exciting change is part of the rhythm of New York. And today, for all the privations that we suffer, along with most other states, for all of the arguments that we will have, and they are inevitable, for all of the hard choices that we'll have to make, for all of the sad decisions that we will make, regrettably because we have to, for all of that, New York is again poised to pioneer change, to master it. 

And I personally look forward to working with you all. All of you, on both sides of the aisle, in both houses, in showing this nation once again how futures are built. And I look forward to doing it with you, from right here, as part of the greatest state in the United States of America. Thank you for your patience, God Bless you! 

Announcer: Governor Mario Cuomo’s annual message to the legislature of the State of the State address has come to you through the facilities of the New York network and SUNY SAT and television services of the State University of New York. 

Read the 1992 Message to the Legislature here.