Journal of the Senate of the Regular and the First Called Sessions of the Seventieth Legislature of the State of Texas, Volume 1 Page: 41
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the quality of life for all Texans. We must make certain that our young people have
the opportunities that we had. We must re-open our lines of communication with
the Federal government in Washington and with Mexico: both are vital to the
future of Texas.
We must ensure quality education, attract and encourage the best teachers we
can for our schools and universities, restructure the criminal justice system, protect
Texans from crime, set our fiscal house in order and create a proper economic
climate to attract business and provide jobs.
The next four years in Texas can be literally a historical time, but only if we
believe the status quo is not good enough. Abraham Lincoln put it well: "As our
case is new, so must we think and act anew."
We can have more jobs and a new economic base. We can establish new
frontiers in research and development at our universities that are vital to attracting
jobs and creating the new technologies for Texas' future. We can reach pinnacles
of excellence in education that will provide our State a skilled work force. We can
dream the impossible dream and make it come true...we can, if we act now and if
we work for a future of new solutions, new answers.
And to those in need and in despair, I promise we will leave no one behind as
we move Texas forward. Our efforts will always be guided by a strong sense of
compassion.
Many of these tough issues will be addressed in the coming legislative session.
Several will be tagged as emergency items for quick handling in the next few weeks.
For example, I will immediately propose to the Legislature reforms in our prisons
so we can keep the prison doors open without a policy of early releases.
There is, indeed, an urgency that we get on with this job and so many more.
Our situation cries for action.
Our problems are not insurmountable. Our salvation doesn't depend on some
magic cure. It depends on us.
On what your leaders in State government do.
On what the men and women who run Texas businesses and farms and ranches
do.
On the quality, spirit and determination of our working people.
In short, our success depends on each and every Texan rolling up their sleeves
and going to work together to get our State on the move again.
Churchill said that war was far too important to leave to generals. To
paraphrase, our problems are far too severe to leave them to State government
alone. This is the real world, and every single citizen has the responsibility to play
a role in making this transition to a new Texas.
Some Texans have already, in a spirit of patriotism and selfless service to our
State, joined me in working for this transition. Texans from every part of the State
and from every strata of its society are serving on some blue-ribbon task forces that
are tackling these tough problems.
Today is not the time to unveil their detailed programs and recommendations.
These will be discussed in my State of the State Address in a few weeks and at other
appropriate times in the future.
But some of these task forces have been hard at work on how to create more
jobs in Texas, how to make our criminal justice system more just and more certain
and how to solve the tough budget problem that faces our State.TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1987
41
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Texas. Legislature. Senate. Journal of the Senate of the Regular and the First Called Sessions of the Seventieth Legislature of the State of Texas, Volume 1, legislative document, 1987; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth204529/m1/47/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.