Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Sets Forth Her "Four Cornerstones of Reform" (LINKS)

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer released a paper today setting forth what she considers the "Four Cornerstones of Reform" that will propel Arizona to "reclaim its historic position as a national leader in population growth, job growth and economic energy" during the next four years.  Read it here.

For those who want the shorter, press release version, click here.  Or, you can read the following synopsis.

The four cornerstones are "Economic Competitiveness", "Education", "State Government", and "Renewed Federalism". 

Economic Competitiveness:  Gov. Brewer proposes "a special session of the Legislature for the purpose of enacting an economic competitiveness package," to be convened "in the coming month."  The special session should set up a new "Arizona Commerce Authority", set up new "tax incentives that reward companies for creating high-quality jobs", and new tax reforms to reduce the corporate income tax rate and the business personal property tax.

Education: "Further details of Governor Brewer's education reform plan will be announced forthwith", according to the news release.

State Government: The Governor's policy agenda paper sets forth several budget reforms already released, and operational reforms that are in the works.  The latter include dealing with the state personnel system, the retirement system, and strengthening right-to-work provision by proposing that the governor cannot impose a meet-and-confer process.

Renewed Federalism:  Governor Brewer suggests that "the United States has a federal government, not a national government."  (emphasis hers) Her plan suggests that Arizona will keep fighting the federal government on border security and health care reform.  In addition, she urges eligible local governments in Arizona to remove themselves from the requirment that the federal government pre-clear any changes that may effect minority representation.




We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com. Thanks.