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00:00We get elected. We always say that the governors really can't be that partisan because potholes aren't partisan.
00:08We actually get judged by what we accomplish. We get held accountable for that.
00:13So unlike Congress, we have to do those things.
00:16And there's this cool thing. We're celebrating America 250.
00:20But the way our country was set up, most of the power was left to the states, not to the
00:25federal government.
00:26That's certainly changed over the years. Unfortunately, we think that that's one of the problems.
00:30But but here's I think why this this really matters and should matter to all Americans.
00:35That is that we are the laboratories of democracy.
00:37So if if a blue state comes up with a new policy that solves a problem in their state, I'm
00:43going to steal that.
00:44I want I want the best for my people. It goes the other way around.
00:47We were just talking about Mississippi today and their reading scores, third grade reading scores.
00:52They went from 49th to top 10. Yeah, it was. And all of us looked around and said, hey, what?
00:57What? Yeah. What is Mississippi doing? We should copy that.
01:00And so almost all of us, I think, have adopted some portion of Mississippi's policies around the science of reading.
01:05That's why that's why governors and mayors are, I think, more popular, why there's a little more trust, although we're
01:12all struggling with that right now.
01:13But we're we're lucky to have these events where we can get together and learn from each other.
01:18I can tell you, I took it a step further where we saw what was happening in Mississippi.
01:22We didn't just copy the model. We actually stole their superintendent, who's now the superintendent in the state of Maryland.
01:28And so it's now becoming the Maryland model. I don't know if I want to encourage that.
01:33Governor said no, no poaching people, guys. Everybody play nice in the sandbox.
01:39Governor said when you talk to constituents, what is the number one issue, number one or two issues that they
01:45talk to you about?
01:46And have you found when you go to the NGA, when you talk to your colleagues, that those are common
01:50pretty much about across all the states right now?
01:55Yeah, I mean, I tell people all the time and every year of my I've been governor now for eight
02:00years and it hasn't changed.
02:02I mean, I believe that whether you live in rural Oklahoma or urban Oklahoma, you want the same thing, whether
02:08you're Republican or Democrat.
02:09You really want the best education for your kids, the best opportunity.
02:13I want to make sure I put my kids in the best situation possible so they can chase their American
02:18dream.
02:18I want the best access to health care. I want the best roads and bridges and infrastructure and utility costs.
02:25And then I want the best economy. I want wages to growth. I want opportunities for upward mobility.
02:29And so those four things are nonpolitical. And I always tell Oklahomans, hey, let let D.C. play politics.
02:36We're all Oklahomans. Let's make Oklahoma top 10. And so I focus on those things.
02:40And I don't think it's any different when I meet with my colleagues around the country.
02:44They're doing that. They're dealing with the exact same things in their state. So it's those four things I always
02:50focus on.
02:50People are starving for government that delivers for people that delivers.
02:54There's so much nonsense out there, not just in in politics and government, but everywhere.
03:00And I think people are just looking for people they elect to roll up their sleeves and get actual real
03:05work done to help educate their kids, deal with child care.
03:08I have three kids, one more on the way, and the costs are skyrocketing, making sure when you go and
03:14get gas, it's affordable.
03:16And so that's really what we're spending time on all day.
03:19You look at the national news and things people are fighting about.
03:22Most of what we do are kitchen table issues, just trying to make life a little bit easier for the
03:27people that live in our respective states.
03:28I would just add the price of housing is a big piece of that.
03:32That's when we hear energy, too.
03:34Yeah, all of the consumer costs, that's that's huge for all of us.
03:38That's that's funny. I was actually just to say so.
03:39Obviously, I'm here in New York.
03:41I moved here recently and I talk about on the show a lot.
03:43Everything here is insanely expensive.
03:45But I grew up in Colorado and I was talking to a friend who has a very different life than
03:49me earlier this week.
03:50And she was saying the same things I was dealing with.
03:52She was like, we've gotten to a place in our lives.
03:54We always wanted to be my husband and I are making the money.
03:57We always wanted to.
03:58And we feel like we can't afford even the basic things.
04:01So, Governor Moore, I want to start with you.
04:03But what is your plan to tackle affordability?
04:06How are you going to tackle this?
04:07And then I brought it out to the group.
04:08What are you guys doing to bring these prices down?
04:12Well, I think one thing that all the governors recognize is that, you know, we wish we could control the
04:17price of gas, you know, that.
04:19But that's not something that governors control.
04:22You know, we know we are seeing how nationwide the price of gas has just skyrocketed over the over the
04:28past 12 weeks.
04:29We see how, you know, we wish we could control the price of groceries.
04:34Unfortunately, we're now seeing how inflation is the highest that it's been in three years.
04:37And so you're watching the price of groceries continue to go up.
04:40And so there are certain factors that that as governors, we don't control the fact that things continue to rise,
04:45but we can control the things we can control.
04:48So, for example, when we're talking about best practices that we've seen and that as other states, we've also brought
04:54on board.
04:54You know, we actually in Maryland, we passed legislation that deals with the issue of price manipulation at supermarkets where,
05:00you know, supermarkets and big supermarket chains cannot use your data against you when you walk into a supermarket and
05:06increase the prices because they know that you will pay for the increased prices.
05:11So we were the first state to actually ban price manipulation that when it came to things like rising energy
05:16prices that we're all wrestling with, you know, in our state.
05:19And I know other states have done the same.
05:21We've now put, you know, hundreds of dollars back in the pockets of our people in Maryland.
05:26You know, it's three hundred million dollars that we've now put back to the people of Maryland to deal with
05:31these rising energy prices.
05:32And so we're making sure we can control the things we can control, making historic investments in child care, as
05:39Matt was talking about, because that is one of the largest costs that families are dealing with, where they're now
05:44having to choose between, are my kids going to be OK or can I go back into the workforce?
05:49And so we're making sure as governors that while we cannot control a lot of the dynamics that are existing
05:54within our states, the things that we can control to make life a little bit easier for the people of
06:00our states, we can and we will.
06:03Does anybody else want to get anything, any other specific policies that you all want to highlight that you are
06:08trying to do, either on housing or I know energy is a big concern, especially with data centers going in
06:12a bunch of places, food costs, child care?
06:15Are there any other policies that come to mind that you're trying to enact in your states?
06:21Well, you know, go ahead.
06:22I think we all want to jump in.
06:24All right.
06:25I'm trying not to just keep going down the road, but you're grown up, so you can figure it out.
06:28All right.
06:29Thanks, guys.
06:29Good.
06:29Go ahead.
06:29Well, I would just say on housing, we're all dealing with affordability.
06:35We want, you know, home ownership is so important.
06:37My whole career has been in the mortgage business and banking and promoting home ownership and strengthening families and how
06:43important that is to own homes.
06:46And so when you see that cost rising and you see people delaying housing, purchasing the first house until they're
06:51in their 30s now, what is that?
06:53Well, if you believe in economics, I believe it's a supply problem, right?
06:58So how do we get more houses built?
06:59Some of that is zoning problems.
07:01We're not allowing more developers.
07:03To me, it's always over-regulation, right?
07:06So we passed a bill to encourage zero-interest loans to developers to develop more houses.
07:11And then for that, they had to produce affordable houses for the working families.
07:16The Build Act that we did allows developers now to burden the cost of utilities, infrastructure as far as water,
07:27sewage, instead of back onto the municipality.
07:30So we're doing everything we can to encourage more supply coming in.
07:34We're already very affordable in Oklahoma, and we're getting tremendous economic development.
07:38But we want more.
07:40We want to unleash the innovation of companies to go meet the demands of Americans.
07:45And I think that's the best policy, just a free market approach.
07:48Governor Meyer, one of the big things that we were just talking about with big costs is energy.
07:54And energy costs are really going up.
07:55And we're seeing that coincide, of course, with these big data centers that are going in all across the country.
08:01I'm wondering if you are hearing from your constituents that they are concerned about AI,
08:05they are concerned about the energy draw of these data centers, and what you're doing about that in your state.
08:11I am hearing a lot.
08:12I think all of us are hearing a lot about data centers and their concerns about AI.
08:17They run the gamut from security concerns, privacy concerns, environmental concerns, and wealth inequality concerns.
08:25And I think each of us have a different approach.
08:29We're looking to attract employers in Delaware.
08:31In my first 18 months in office, we've been very successful at doing that.
08:35But I've also been very clear that if you're going to negatively impact our environment,
08:40if you're going to increase rate payers, energy bills, by a single penny, then we're not going to have you
08:46here.
08:46So we're putting in place rules.
08:48We're about to finalize and about to sign some legislation that does just that, that says,
08:53hey, if you want a data center or anything like that in our community, you have to come with benefit
08:58for the community.
09:00I think a number of us are doing behind the meter policies where kind of bring your own energy.
09:04If you bring your own energy and you're not drawing from the grid, it's much easier to get a pathway.
09:10I think we also understand that data centers and AI at some level is a national economic and security imperative.
09:18We cannot let China win on this one.
09:20We have to make sure that our respective states aren't blocking each other and blocking things so that we as
09:26a country cannot move forward.
09:27All right, gentlemen, we're running a little short on time.
09:30I really appreciate you taking the time.
09:31Before I let you go, I do want to play a game.
09:35So if everybody could please raise your hand like this.
09:37Wait, I have to find my camera here.
09:38Put your hand up.
09:39We're going to we're going to do put a finger down if I'm sure you have children or have been
09:42on the Internet and you understand how this works.
09:44All right.
09:45You ready?
09:45Please put a finger down if you are concerned about affordability in your state.
09:50Put a finger down if you're concerned.
09:52If you're concerned about affordability in a state, put one of your fingers down.
09:55Please put a finger down if you have released a book in the past year or are planning to release
10:00a book in the coming year.
10:07All right.
10:08That's that's two out of the four.
10:09Put a finger down if you're going to Iowa this year or in the next cycle.
10:14Iowa.
10:15Oh, oh, buyer.
10:17He's good.
10:18Yeah.
10:19The gentleman from Delaware has put a finger down.
10:22And finally, please put a finger down.
10:24We're just going to New Hampshire.
10:26New Hampshire also counts.
10:32My final question of the day.
10:34Please put a finger down, gentlemen, if you are running for president in twenty twenty eight.
10:40I'm looking.
10:41I'm looking.
10:42All right.
10:43No one committed.
10:44No one committed.
10:46Thank you for being good sports.
10:48I appreciate it.
10:55Thank you again.
10:56Good luck with the task.
10:57I have to say, though, I am.
10:58I am the only one of this group who actually has a reelection in less than 100 days.
11:04So I'm sweating a whole lot more than my friends are here.
11:08That's right.
11:08If it's a little hot, maybe one of your new friends can let you borrow a hat.
11:12Gentlemen, thank you so much.
11:14Have a great time at the Stockyards.
11:15We really appreciate you joining us today.
11:17Thank you so much.
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