And this week, I am proposing legislation to strengthen our Open Records laws to make public access to our public records surer, faster, and more comprehensive.

We made a good start toward preserving recreational areas like the Chattahoochee River.

By creating a Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, we will give local governments a framework for working together on an issue that affects our whole state.

There is no country on earth with a stronger tradition of protecting the public's right to know.

I want business to prosper and make a profit caused by business expansion and prosperity.

The time has come to end social promotion in our schools.

I am committed to making Georgia a model for open and honest government.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

As the leaders and decision-makers of this great state, it is our responsibility to strive for perfection.

Business and the state have a common interest; not an adversarial interest.

No one in government should ever think that the citizens they work for can't or won't scrutinize their actions.

So today I say, the outlook in Georgia has never been brighter.

We will never forget those like my great-grandfather who fought at Vicksburg.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

We live in a state with a wonderful climate and plenty of natural beauty, from the shores of Cumberland Island to the Chattahoochee River to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

As the population of Georgia increased dramatically, so did development.

And this week, I am proposing legislation to strengthen our Open Records laws to make public access to our public records surer, faster, and more comprehensive.

Georgia is in an enviable position today, but we can't rest on our laurels.

But the fact is, no matter how good the teacher, how small the class, how focused on quality education the school may be none of this matters if we ignore the individual needs of our students.

Repeating a grade needs to be the last resort, not an automatic response to a child who is struggling to learn.

Enhancing revenues will help us improve education and solve our infrastructure problems.

Traffic is only one of the side effects of growth.

Neither political party is clean when it comes to tactics that divide our people.

One thing I learned a long time ago as a prosecutor is that it's tough to get people to obey a law if there is not penalty for breaking it.

What I am proposing this year are not lofty concepts far removed form the daily struggle so of ordinary Georgians. They are proposals that directly effect the lives of the people we serve.

The First Amendment rejects red tape, cover-up and double-speak.

In my first year as governor, we solved some of the problems that had begun to undermine the Open Records Act. We gave the act teeth by providing criminal penalties for knowing violations.

We are all one - or at least we should be - and it is our job, our duty, and our great challenge to fight the voices of division and seek the salve of reconciliation.

We changed the names of our technical schools to colleges, we expanded the eligibility for HOPE scholarships for technical training, and we added some formula funding.

The First Amendment rejects red tape cover up and double speak.

Georgia is in an enviable position today but we cant rest on our laurels.

A quiet worker but a very productive one and a great one for the state of Georgia.

As the population of Georgia increased dramatically so did development.

The laws were not made so much for the direction of good men, as to circumscribe the bad.

The severity of the laws prevents their execution.

Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life.

Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph, is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk.

The unions claim the deck is stacked against them when it comes to labor laws, but the truth is many private and public sector workers are forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, yet they have little say in how the unions spend their money.

Nature's laws must be obeyed, and the period of decline begins, and goes on with accelerated rapidity.

It should be possible to explain the laws of physics to a barmaid.

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

As a strong supporter of our 2nd Amendment rights, I believe tougher enforcement of our nation's existing gun laws must be done before any more laws are enacted and put on the books.

If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.

It's difficult to believe that Al Gore was oblivious to the existing laws. He has to respond at some point.

There are no good laws but such as repeal other laws.

What is crucial is there be laws.

Unless one is a religious fundamentalist and believes that man was created in the image and likeness of God, it is foolish to believe that human beings are exempt from biological classification and the laws of evolution that apply to all other life forms.

They will sustain the constitution and laws and institutions of the United States, and be the champions of liberty and of that constitution when its integrity shall be threatened.

When we fled from the oppressions of kings and parliaments in Europe, to found this great Republic in America, we brought with us the laws and the liberties, which formed a part of our heritage as Britons.