My biggest priority is to bring spending under control.
Spend No More Than You Earn
Balance the budget: The state needs to balance the budget and not impose any new taxes to balance the budget. Departments need to adhere to a spending cap.
Borrow No More Than You Can Pay Back
Reduce long term debt: Once the budget is balanced the state needs to address its long term debt and how to pay off its creditors. The rate the state pays for bonds will drop once the state shows a plan to get out of this hole.
Pension reform: After the state budget and the state debt are taken care of the state pension plan needs to be funded to meet promises made to state employees. That said the pension needs to be aligned more like social security, the pension should be based off of all the years' salary and not just the last three years. Longevity payments, overtime, unused sick and vacation time should not count in the calculations. And like social security early retirement comes at age 62 with a partial benefit and full benefits come at age 66.
Fight fraud: The DSS and the Chief State's Attorney's office should take existing staff and dedicate them to fraud control.
Regulation reform: There should be a temporary moratorium on any new regulations. The permitting process needs to be expedited. There should be a 90 day maximum for state review and action on the permitting process. The cost and environmental benefits of existing regulations need to be reviewed.
No More Unfunded Mandates: Towns should not be forced to comply with new regulations without a plan to pay for them.