Governor John Carney delivers address to General Assembly

A call for change and for reform highlighted Delaware Governor John Carney's first address to a joint session of the General Assembly.  

In front of the legislature inside the Senate Chamber in Dover, the Governor talked about the challenges the state faces and challenge number one is the budget.  

“We all seem to agree on one thing. Business as usual has to change,” said the Governor. “If we are going to tackle the tough issues that confront us, we need to get our financial house in order.”  

The budget and the $385 million dollar shortfall were the central focus of the speech which lasted well over 20 minutes.  

“Some things are beyond our control but this one is not. It is within our power this June to put ourselves on more sustainable financial footing,” said Governor Carney.  

Other topics included the department of corrections, the drug epidemic, agriculture, economic development and education.  

“Perhaps more important than anything we do to strengthen our economy is getting our schools on track and making sure that every child in our state is college or career ready,” the Governor said.  

Local legislators on hand for the speech were both apprehensive and appreciative of the Governor's efforts.  

“Unfortunately I didn't hear a lot about Sussex County,” said Senator Brian Pettyjohn. “He mentioned Seaford once in terms of redoing the industrial park but in terms of Sussex County, I didn't hear much about it and that's a little disappointing.”  

“This is a difficult budget environment,” said Senator Ernesto Lopez. “As someone who represents an area with a $6.9 Billion dollar economic impact on the state it's important for us to do the math early and I appreciate the Governor giving us those numbers early knowing full well they're going to be fluctuating. We'll all be kind of playing transitional defense over the course of the next three months.”