Ducey speech hits important topics for state

However, issues hurting Yuma still need attention

On Monday, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey laid out his vision for 2018 in his annual State of the State address.

Ducey cited education as a top priority, as well as a crackdown on opioid prescription abuse, lower state income taxes for veterans who get military pensions, new mandatory sentencing laws for people driving drunk who go the wrong way on freeways, and helping former prisoners get state-issued ID cards, according to a Capitol Media Services report.

These goals all sound wonderful. Who can argue with reducing opioid prescription abuse, or helping veterans with lower state income taxes?

Education, meanwhile, has been a hot-button topic and has been underfunded for too long.

The governor also issued a call for continuing to work across the aisle on bipartisan solutions for state issues. Ducey noted that by working together, legislators can continue to move Arizona forward — a sentiment that we applaud.

But there are other state-driven issues that also need to be addressed, such as restoring the Highway User Revenue Fund (HURF) for roadway repair, and fixing the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) fund issue that is crippling cities and counties across the state.

And Yuma County consistently has had the highest unemployment in the state — an issue where we’ve seen some positive growth, although it’s too soon to say whether or not that growth will be sustained. Our latest number from November is 15.6 percent, down from October’s 18.0 percent, but still significantly higher than Arizona’s overall 4.3 percent, or Apache County (the next highest county) at 9.2 percent.

Ducey noted Arizona’s “recipe for success. Lower taxes. Light regulation. Great public schools. Superior quality of life. And responsible water policies that will protect us from sharing in California’s water crisis.”

We agree with those points, but we would love to see the governor take this a step further. How would he apply these qualities to Yuma County’s unemployment level, to help turn it around?

The future is bright for Arizona, and the governor’s address touched on a variety of important topics. This session, however, there also needs to be a focus on some of these state issues that have lingered on for too long, such as Yuma County’s unemployment, HURF and PSPRS funding.

DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS OR NOT?