Governor Janet Napolitano: Biography

Janet Napolitano
Governor

Governor Janet Napolitano has forged a path of visionary leadership in Arizona by building partnerships with businesses, communities and individuals to move the state forward. She became Governor during the worst financial crisis in the state’s history and balanced a $1.3 billion budget deficit without cutting education programs and without raising taxes. Her ongoing accomplishments reflect what matters most to Arizonans: a strong public education system, sensible economic development, a safe and secure homeland, affordable and accessible health care, the long-term stewardship of our natural resources, and a government that lives within its means.

Protecting Arizona’s Children

Governor Napolitano has made the education and protection of Arizona's children the driving force of her administration. During her first year in office, Governor Napolitano tackled a problem that had been ignored for too long in Arizona: the under-funding of the agency that cares for abused and neglected children. She fought for and secured sweeping procedural reforms and funding for Arizona’s Child Protective Services system. And she continues to make critical investments in programs that create brighter futures for Arizona’s children and families — childcare support so every family can make work a lifestyle, child abuse prevention for at-risk families, and health care for our neediest children.

Preparing Students for the New Economy

Governor Napolitano believes that a quality education system is the cornerstone of a prosperous economy. The top job of our schools today is to prepare our children — and our state — to compete in the rapidly changing economy. The Governor’s efforts have focused on modernizing Arizona’s schools, better preparing students for the future, and ensuring that quality teachers keep teaching. She successfully led the effort to implement voluntary full-day kindergarten in every school by 2009 so that every family in Arizona can take advantage of this important initiative. She challenged school districts to redeploy a nickel of every administrative dollar back into the classroom, resulting in more than $100 million in new classroom spending. The Governor is also working closely with Arizona’s education and business communities to strengthen the connection between ‘learning’ and ‘earning’ to create a learning experience that is more valuable to students seeking jobs and to companies seeking qualified workers.

Investing in Communities

Governor Napolitano believes that while we prepare students for life in the real world, we must create real jobs that will be there when they graduate. To move Arizona into the new economy, Napolitano created the Governor’s Council on Innovation and Technology, whose recommendations are leading to the growth and development of the state’s high-tech industry. Governor Napolitano’s 2005 tax relief plan will attract more businesses to Arizona and expand opportunities for Arizona’s graduates.

Securing Arizona’s Homeland

Governor Napolitano is a longtime champion of law-enforcement and border security. Under her leadership, Arizona implemented the first state homeland security strategy in the nation and developed the Arizona Counter-Terrorism Information Center, a 24/7 multi-agency intelligence fusion center that tracks and shares critical data used to keep our cities and our borders safe. The Governor has secured more than $100 million in homeland security funds for first-responder equipment and training for local communities to address critical threat and vulnerability issues throughout Arizona.

Building a Healthy Arizona

Responding aggressively to the health care crisis our country faces, Governor Napolitano stands out as a leader in developing creative solutions. To address the critical shortage of doctors in Arizona, Governor Napolitano worked closely with the Universities to break ground on Phoenix’s first medical school. She partnered with the private sector to create one of the nation’s first free prescription drug discount cards, the Arizona CoppeRx Card, which saves seniors $100,000 a week. She also worked with Arizona’s business community to revitalize a unique initiative, Healthcare Group, which provides affordable health insurance to thousands of small business owners and employees that would otherwise be without.

Preserving Arizona’s Natural Resources

Governor Napolitano is dedicated to preserving Arizona’s most precious natural resources: land, forests and water. By pre-positioning fire equipment and doubling the number of emergency response crews, Arizona has gotten through multiple consecutive severe fire seasons. Governor Napolitano has also been at the forefront of water management planning by creating the state’s first comprehensive drought management plan and providing an influx of resources and support to help Arizona’s most drought-prone communities.

Running Government Like a Business

Despite tight fiscal times, Governor Napolitano made these investments by shifting resources from government waste and inefficiency to government productivity. Through her hallmark Efficiency Review initiative, Governor Napolitano is changing the way state government works — from how it buys paper and pencils to how it provides health insurance. Through common sense strategies, state government has identified permanent savings and cost avoidances that will save the state more than $800 million over five years. Governor Napolitano has demonstrated that what matters is smart government, efficient government, and effective government.

In the coming years, Governor Napolitano will continue to work across Party lines to Move Arizona Forward. Her common-sense, get-things-done leadership style will continue to be a hallmark of the state’s independent spirit and the foundation for Moving Arizona Forward.

Janet Napolitano was sworn in as Arizona’s 21st Governor on January 6, 2003. She is the first woman in the nation’s history to serve as U.S. Attorney, State Attorney General and Governor in immediate succession. Prior her election as Governor of Arizona, Napolitano served one term as Arizona Attorney General and four years as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. Born in New York City and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, she is a distinguished alumna of Santa Clara University and the University of Virginia Law School. She has lived in Arizona since 1983, when she moved to Phoenix to practice law.

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