Posted on May 15, 2010 by Tim Albrecht in The Branstad Blog

The Iowa Vision 2020 conference successfully kicks off!

Gov. Branstad invited 100 Iowans from across the state to his Iowa Vision 2020 conference today. In this picture, State Auditor Dave Vaudt is informing participants of Iowa’s state budget realities. For more pictures, click HERE.

The conference will identify the challenges Iowa faces, and the solutions needed in order to lead us through this decade.

Here are Gov. Branstad’s opening remarks from the conference:

Welcome to the Iowa Vision 2020 Policy Conference.  Thank you for taking the time to help me in our continuing effort to develop a strategic vision for Iowa and chart a course to a prosperous future.

 We have the talent in this state and in this very room for solving the big challenges facing our state. 

Our campaign for Governor is about the future and building a better Iowa.

To that end, I have laid out four ambitious goals:

  1. 200,000 new jobs for Iowans
  2. Reduce the cost of government by at LEAST 15%
  3. Increase family incomes by 25%
  4. Restore Iowa’s place as the best place to educate our children

 

Over the past 7 months I have travelled to 77 counties and have actively asked Iowans for their ideas about how we can build a better future for our state. 

Today I am grateful for your help as we continue that process.   You are here because you have great expertise and experience and I am counting on your help to identify strategies and suggestions for how we can accomplish our ambitious goals. 

You all live and work in Iowa every day and it is many of you who will be responsible for helping implement the future policies that will be an outgrowth of this conference. 

We must transform our state.  We must put the best and brightest to work solving the problems that face our state and boldly move forward with a vision that charts a future course for our state that results in:

  1. New jobs for our people and the means for keeping our young people here in Iowa
  2. A smaller, streamlined government that more effectively serves the needs of our people
  3. Healthy and stable families that have the resources to meet their needs
  4. A transformational educational system that puts the needs of students first and restores our place as the nation’s leading provider of a quality education in America

 

The talent to develop this vision and accomplish these ambitious goals exists in this very room and I ask for your best efforts today in helping me to craft a future vision for our state and then work with me to make it a reality.

But, before we can do all that, we need to have a good understanding of our state’s financial picture.  So, I have asked my good friend State Auditor David Vaudt to walk you through the numbers.

Paid for by Governor Branstad 2010