Text of Ind. Gov. Daniels State of State speech - Chicago Tribune

INDIANAPOLISâ€"

Prepared remarks by Gov. Mitch Daniels for Tuesday's State of the State speech, as provided by the governor's office:

Members of the General Assembly, honored guests, fellow citizens. For an eighth time, and the final time, you afford me the unrivaled privilege of this podium. As it's my last such chance to express my appreciation for the public service you each perform, and to Hoosiers for hiring me twice so I could try to perform my own, I'll start with a heartfelt thank you.

But the time for reminiscing will come later, much later. Tonight, and all nights in today's Indiana, must be about the future, where we are and where we are going.

A reporter asked recently, "What keeps you up at night?" I replied that I generally sleep well, but if I ever do have trouble, I don't have to count sheep. I count all the states I'm glad I'm not the governor of.

Around the time I first took office, a radio caller expressed a fairly common sentiment. He said "I like what you say you stand for, but Republicans, Democrats, nothing ever changes. Nothing's ever different." I recall responding, "Sir, I'm careful not to promise what I'm not sure can be delivered. But I'll promise you one thing. In a few years, you may disagree with decisions we've made, or actions we've taken. But you will not think nothing's different."

I'm pretty sure that good man would agree tonight that things are very different in Indiana now. Then, we were broke and other states were flush. Tonight, while states elsewhere twist in financial agony, Indiana has an honestly balanced budget, a strong, protective reserve in our state savings account, and the first AAA credit rating in state history, one of just a handful left in America. Our credit is better - imagine this - than that of the federal government.

Another host of states raised taxes again last year, while Hoosiers are taxed at the lowest levels in a long time, thanks in part to the lowest property taxes in the nation.

While other state governments stiff their vendors, close parks, delay tax refunds, and ignore unacceptably poor service levels, Indiana state employees are setting national standards for efficiency.

Tonight, Hoosiers are served by provably the most productive government workers anywhere. Indiana has the fewest state employees per capita in the country, the fewest we've had since 1975. And yet our parks have never been in better shape, your tax refund comes back twice as quickly as it used to, and the average customer got in and out of a license branch last month in less than 14 minutes.

I'm not the only one to notice. In a national survey last summer, 77 percent of Hoosiers described their state government as "efficient," far above most states and the second-highest rating in the nation.

Uniquely in public sector America, Indiana now pays state workers on a performance basis, so those doing the best job are properly rewarded for their superior efforts. But I know that the reward they value as much as money is simple recognition from the citizens they serve, and I hope you'll show them right now that you value them and their hard work as much as I do.

Careful stewardship of the taxpayer's dollar, and ceaseless efforts to improve public services, are matters of duty, and basic good government. But they are not the fundamental goals of public life. They are just means to the real goal, which is to make of our state a place of opportunity, and upward mobility, and a better standard of living. A place where young people, and people not so young, know that they can start with nothing and make a good life. From our administration's first day, this has been the central objective around which everything else was organized.

We have worked relentlessly to move Indiana up the list of great places to do business. We set out to build the best sandbox in America, a place where men and women of enterprise knew that, if they risked a buck on their idea or their dream, they would have the best possible chance to get it back, with something left over they could use to hire the next Hoosier.

We have made steady progress, coming from nowhere to the top tier in every ranking: No. 6 according to the nation's site selectors, No. 6 according to CEO Magazine, No. 5 according to real estate decision makers.

But it isn't nearly enough. It was our ironic bad luck to create a top economic climate just as the nation plunged into its worst modern recession, and business investment slowed to a crawl: we became the prettiest girl in school the year they called off the prom.

Despite these headwinds, our recently strong state revenues show that something positive is happening to Hoosier incomes. In 2010, the most recent data we have, Indiana incomes grew at the eighth fastest rate in the country.

Here's another encouraging sign: more people are moving into Indiana than moving out. Our population is growing at the fastest rate from Iowa to Maine. Maybe best of all, thousands more college graduates moved into our state last year than moved out. There is no better indicator of economic promise in today's world than success at attracting top talent, and we are.

We are not where we want to be, nowhere close. But with a welcoming business climate, enormous investments in new public infrastructure, and a stable fiscal picture, we are poised for more progress, and better days.

Beyond the statistics lies a more basic difference in the Indiana of today: we are now, indisputably, seen as a leader. In hundreds of articles about fiscal prudence, economics, transportation, corrections, child protection, we are cited constantly now as an example for others to examine. From Cleveland: "Ohio should follow Indiana's lead and dive in." From Detroit: "Indiana has many of the answers . as seen in Indiana it certainly is possible." From North Carolina: "Fortunately, there's no need to speculate about how a state might proceed ... Indiana has already done it."