Dear Colleagues:
 
Last night, in my annual State of the State address to the citizens of Michigan, I had the opportunity to thank you for your service to our great state.  I now want to personally thank you for your service to the people of Michigan, your pursuit of excellence in your jobs, and for your sacrifices as we continue to face unrelenting economic challenges. 
 
I am also writing today to highlight what our focus will be in the year ahead.  As I said  in my address last night, in these tough times, government cannot be all things to all people, so we will zero-in on the following four priorities - all of which touch every individual and family in Michigan:
 
1.  Jobs.
2.  Affordable health care.
3.  Safe places to live and work.
4.  Quality education for citizens - kids and adults. 
 
JOBS
 
I announced two major initiatives to help grow jobs and investment in Michigan:  the Michigan Job Creation Incentive, and the new Invest Michigan! investment fund that will put Michigan money to work building Michigan's economic future.
 
The Michigan Job Creation Incentive is a substantial Michigan Business Tax cut for any high-growth sector business that creates new jobs in Michigan.  New businesses in high-growth sectors will pay no taxes in the first year.  Existing cutting-edge businesses will get a tax credit on their Michigan Business Tax.  These incentives are critical to both growing our economy and keeping our budget balanced without deep cuts. 
 
The Invest Michigan! fund will focus on making capital available to Michigan businesses.  The fund will use less than one percent of the state of Michigan pension fund through a professional investment manager who will make prudent investments that provide competitive returns.  We are pledging $300 million over the next few years to open the fund and will be seeking contributions from other institutional investors like universities, other units of government, and the business community to increase that amount.  After the first $150 million has been invested, the program will be evaluated to insure that it is meeting its objectives.  With the creation of this fund, Michigan becomes one of the top three states in the nation for making investment capital available to successful entrepreneurs who create jobs here.  Similar strategies implemented by other states have met with great success.  If we can invest Michigan pension money in multi-state private equity, venture capital, real estate, and stocks and bonds - like we do today - there is no reason we should not be making sound investments in companies that wish to grow and flourish in Michigan.
 
We are also going to aggressively pursue new investments in alternative energy.  We will create Centers of Excellence around the state to bring alternative energy companies and Michigan universities together to create new products and jobs, and we will offer tax incentives for anchor companies in the alternative energy sector that encourage suppliers to relocate to Michigan.  There is no question that alternative energy jobs will be created around the country, and I say we should win these new jobs for Michigan citizens and replace the lost manufacturing jobs with a whole new, growing sector.   
 
We will continue to make education, health care, and protecting our citizens our top priorities. 
 
HEALTH CARE
 
We will continue our fight for the Michigan First Health Care Plan that would provide access to affordable health care for every Michigan citizen.  We will continue to lobby Washington for a federal waiver to expand coverage to Michigan's uninsured.  We will also fight for additional funding for the Michigan Nursing Corps to expand our nursing programs around the state to train more nurses.
 
PUBLIC SAFETY
 
Every citizen and family of Michigan deserves a safe place to live and work.  We will continue to fight to protect Michigan families from foreclosure; we will continue to work with the Michigan State Police and local law enforcement to put predators and other dangerous fugitives behind bars; and we will continue to make sure home and auto insurance rates are fair and affordable with the creation of an insurance advocate who will fight for insurance ratepayers.
 
EDUCATION
 
Our goal for education is to double the number of college graduates or trained adults to give Michigan the best-educated workforce in the nation.  To help do that, we will ask all of our school districts to begin offering full-day kindergarten; we will ask the Legislature to help us raise the drop-out age to 18; and we will create a 21st Century Schools Fund to create smaller, more personal high schools that not only keep at-risk students in school, but also help them get the college education or technical training they need.
 
We will institute these initiatives with no new taxes and no new fees; instead, we are taking advantage of low-interest rates to refinance bonds and debt and will be pursuing an additional $200 million in reforms and cuts in state government.  Some of the reforms on the table include:  concessions in health care and other benefits by both houses of the Legislature that match the concessions made by state employees; further streamlining of the regulatory and business permitting process; and changes in our sentencing policies that will not compromise public safety, but will save money for our Department of Corrections. 
 
Yes, we will have to continue to tighten our belts in the year ahead, but we have done it before, and we can do it again.  If we are to emerge from this challenging decade stronger, and smarter, and even more successful, we must seek every efficiency in state government and spend every dollar as wisely as we can.  I look forward to working with you in the days ahead and deeply appreciate your unparalleled service and commitment to the people of Michigan.
 
Sincerely,
 
Jennifer M. Granholm
Governor 
 
Read the entire State of the State address.