Governors Discuss Driving American Competitiveness at 2024 Summer Meeting

Hawaiʻi Governor Josh Green, Co-Chair of NGA's Public Health and Disaster Response Task Force, and Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, Co-Chair of NGA's Education, Workforce and Community Revitalization Task Force, led an NGA Task Force session at the 2024 Summer Meeting on "Governor's Driving American Competitiveness." The conversation centered around energy, healthcare, defense and cyber security, and education and workforce development initiatives.

Governors were joined by Western Governors University (WGU) President Scott Pulsipher, who moderated the discussion. Pulsipher opened the session by highlighting the important role Governors play in advancing state policies that foster business friendly environments, entrepreneurship and innovation, and the importance of convenings like the NGA Summer Meeting in fostering collaboration among the states and between the states and the private sector:

"While our country certainly faces many challenges and the geopolitical positioning of the United States is changing, Governors are providing greater certainty in uncertain times… Through [Governor's] leadership and collaborative efforts, we can address shared challenges and contribute toward improving American competitiveness and shared prosperity."

During the discussion, Governor Green discussed the importance of health and well-being to overall American competitiveness:

"Health is one of those issues that we all have to focus on. It's certainly never partisan because any of our people can get sick and if they're sick, they can't have a good life and they can't thrive in our communities… America sometimes loses its way on the health discussion because we get focused on end-of-life issues and technology and so on, but we really have the capacity to lead much of the rest of the world."

Governor Gordon emphasized the importance of the energy sector for America to stay competitive on a global level and the need for an education system that meets the needs of the modern workforce:

"You really have to meet the challenges where they come from. It is clear that if we're going to continue to be economically competitive, we're going to have to do that with energy. We're going to have to do that across borders and it really can't be a red or blue situation…We need to have an education system that meets people as they're wanting to find new talents and new skills, but we also need to recognize that there is a cultural significance to what we've been doing. Instead of saying to people: 'you can't do this' we have got to figure out ways to engage people and I think education is central to this."

During the meeting, Wisconsin Governor Evers, Co-Chair of NGA's Education, Workforce and Revitalization Task Force, highlighted innovative strategies Wisconsin has implemented to support the state's workforce through expanded apprenticeship opportunities and stressed the importance of affordable housing, early childhood programming and immigration reform in addressing workforce concerns.

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy posed a question to Governor Gordon on Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and considerations for smaller, more densely populated states like New Jersey. Governor Gordon outlined permitting and grid infrastructure challenges related to SMRs and emphasized the need for more streamlined processes across agencies in order to move projects along faster.

This important conversation and work will continue through the work of NGA's three Governor-led Task Forces. Learn more about their work and priorities here.

Watch the full session below:

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