Welcome 



Victor Atiyeh 



Governor of Oregon and Vice Chairman of the 



Western Governors' Conference 



G< 



overnor Herschler, fellow governors and honored 

 guests, I am pleased to welcome you to Oregon. 



Our government, our industry and our citizens have 

 generously joined hands — so that we may be as 

 perfect a host as possible while you are here And, I 

 must tell you that I am very pleased to welcome the 

 distinguished officials and panelists who have assem- 

 bled here in the beautiful and gracious setting of the 

 Oregon coast to discuss the very serious issues that 

 occupy each of us We are delighted to see you, and 

 we are looking forward to a productive three days 

 together 



We could not have selected, for many of us, a 

 more timely occasion to learn from each other, 

 exchange information, and work together on common 

 concerns. 



And I do mean "work " I have said time and again 

 that one of the things I like about the Western Gover- 

 nors' Conference is the fact that we as governors get 

 together and we do work to articulate strategies that 

 we can put into action and bring home to our citizens 

 of our respective states and territories the things we 

 have learned here. 



There is much to concern us here Forty-five of 50 

 state legislatures have already met this year. For the 

 vast majority, the news was bad and the meeting was 

 painful. 



Only nine of 45 states have been able this year to 

 avoid major budget cuts and increased taxes The 

 nationwide recession has meant revenue shortfalls and 

 serious budget crises in most states Thirty legisla- 

 tures this year have had to face up to budget deficits 

 prohibited by their state constitutions. 



Oregon is one of them. 



I called Oregon's legislature into special session 

 once already in January of this year to balance our 

 budget in the face of a serious revenue shortfall. Yes- 

 terday, I again announced a special session for June 

 14th because of the continuing lag in our own revenue 

 forecast. We have stretched budgets in Oregon until 

 virtually no slack is left. We are searching for strate- 

 gies and incentives to help our ailing housing and for- 

 est products industries We are at the same time 

 moving strongly to achieve a more diversified eco- 

 nomic base for our timber-dependent economy. 



It is a story that may sound ail-too familiar to you. 

 Services are being cut, state employee work forces 

 are being reduced, and new revenue mechanisms are 

 being explored by many of you as well. Idaho's reve- 

 nue shortfall, for example, has already precipitated a 

 4-day work week and severe limitations on in-state as 

 well as out-of-state travel. And Governor Evans is 

 facing another shortfall forecast even as we meet this 

 morning, 



I need cite no more examples of why "Economic 

 Issues in the West" is the central theme of our confer- 

 ence this year. 



In fact, this 35th Annual meeting of the Western 

 Governors' Conference is much different from last 

 year's meeting in many respects Last year, as Gov- 

 ernor Herschler's guests in Jackson, we focused on 

 natural resource issues; land, water, on- and 

 off-shore energy development, and other matters of 

 concern to the Western states. 



But this year, the economy has affected us all. We 

 have been challenged to do more with less in so 



