Deval Patrick in 2012 Governor's State of the State speeches
On Crime:
Reform mandatory sentencing law: longer time for 3rd felony
We have proposed reforms to both our Habitual Offender law and to our mandatory minimum sentencing laws to make the public safer. In the past ten years, 84 people have been convicted and sentenced under our existing Habitual Offender law for committing
three felonies. I proposed to lengthen the time before a third-time violent felon would become eligible for parole, and will support a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole for anyone whose third felony is murder or a similarly
heinous act of violence. These reforms are not about sweeping up the innocent or the unlucky. They rightly focus on the worst of those who repeatedly prey on our residents. We cannot and will not pursue a strategy that categorically rejects the proper pl
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Crime:
Comprehensive reentry program with job training & education
Alongside our reform of the Habitual Offender rules, we must have a comprehensive reentry program. We need more education and job training, and certainly more drug treatment, in prisons and we need mandatory supervision after release.
And we must make non-violent drug offenders eligible for parole sooner. By permitting them to have supervised release after serving half their sentence, we can begin to re-integrate
400 to 500 non-violent offenders in the next year and save millions in prison costs every year.We must be smarter about how we protect public safety. That means targeting the most dangerous and damaging for the strictest sentences,
and better preparing the non-dangerous for eventual release and reintegration. We don't have to choose the one or the other, and emphasizing prison time without successful re-entry has failed.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Drugs:
Warehousing non-violent offenders is a costly policy failure
In cases of non-violent drug offenders, we have to deal with the fact that simply warehousing non-violent offenders is a costly policy failure. Our spending on prisons has grown 30 percent in the past decade, much of that because of longer
sentences for first-time and nonviolent drug offenders. We have moved, at massive public expense, from treatment for drug offenders to indiscriminate prison sentences, and gained nothing in public safety.
92 percent of the total prison population--92 percent--is eligible for release at some point, and many come out more dangerous than they were when they went in. States across the country--most recently, Ohio,
Delaware and South Carolina--have already recognized the folly of mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders and made significant reforms.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Families & Children:
Parents wonder if their kids will do as well as them
We made choices inspired by our generational responsibility, our commitment to leave to others a better Commonwealth than we found. To the members of the Legislature: I know that some of the votes I have asked you to take were politically tough.
There are parents across our state who wonder tonight whether they will be able to do as well for their children as their parents did for them. There are workers, some unemployed for many months, who wonder tonight whether this new economy has a
place for them. There are small businesses and working families who now have the security of health insurance, but who wonder tonight whether they can manage the ever-increasing costs.
There are children tonight who wonder whether they will be safe when they step outside their own front door. We are not yet fulfilling our generational responsibility to them.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Health Care:
Replace fee-for-service model with quality-of-care model
We can do more to control health care costs. Nearly a year ago, after lots of study and broad consultation, I asked you to act on a plan to control the rising costs of health care. Hospitals and insurance carriers have reopened their contracts and cut
rate increases, in some cases by more than half. The market is moving in the right direction and that's very good news. But it is not enough.We need to put an end to the "fee-for-service" model. We need to stop paying for the amount of care, and start
paying instead for the quality of care. We need to empower doctors to coordinate patient care and to focus on wellness rather than sickness. And we need medical malpractice reform.
I believe that with
these tools and the right oversight, we can slow the growth in health care costs significantly. Just as we have to make the progress to this point, I am confident we can do this the right way.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Homeland Security:
Massachusetts leads the nation in veterans benefits
Like every state, we cut spending and headcount, and slimmed down programs or eliminated some. But we also chose to invest in education, in health care and in job creation--because we all know that educating our kids, having health care you can depend
on, and a good job is the path to a better future.- That's why today our students lead the nation in overall achievement and the world in math and science.
- That's why we lead the nation in health care coverage with over 98 percent of our
residents insured.
- That's why we lead the nation in energy efficiency and in veterans' services.
And it's also why we have not only closed our budget gaps, eliminated our structural deficit, and achieved the highest bond rating in our history, but
made the kinds of meaningful reforms in the pension system, in municipal health benefits, in our schools, in our transportation and so much more that had eluded our predecessors for a long, long time. None of this is happening by accident.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Jobs:
Address "skills gap" by aligned community college strategy
There are 240,000 people still looking for work in Massachusetts--and nearly 120,000 job openings. Why? Business leaders tell me over and over again that it is because the people looking for jobs don't have the skills required. Many of these openings are
for so called "middle skills" jobs that require more than a high school diploma but not necessarily a four-year degree. We have a "skills gap."We can do something about that. And our community colleges should be at the very center of it.
We have
15 public community colleges, uniquely positioned to help close our skills gap. They must be aligned with employers, voc-tech schools and Workforce Investment Boards in the regions where they operate; aligned with each other in core course offerings;
& aligned with the Commonwealth's job growth strategy. We can't do that if 15 different campuses have 15 different strategies. We need a unified community college system. To support this mission, I will propose to increase overall funding by $10 million.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
On Welfare & Poverty:
Housing First strategy: 1,000 families out of shelters
A thousand families moved out of shelters and motels and into permanent housing last year--not by accident but because we chose to move toward a "housing first" strategy, to work to end homelessness for good. This and much more of the progress we have
made together is happening because of the choices we have made together, choices inspired by our generational responsibility, our commitment to leave to others a better Commonwealth than we found.
Source: MA 2012 State of the State Address
Jan 23, 2012
Page last updated: Aug 10, 2019