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Lieutenant Governor, Mr. President, Madam Speaker, members of the Legislature, distinguished guests, former Governors, and citizens of the State of New Jersey:

It is my pleasure, and my duty, to present to you my budget for the year ending June 30, 2013.

Two years ago, when I entered this chamber for the first time, the fiscal condition of our state was as dire as it had been for decades. Hope was low. Pessimism seemed like a permanent state of mind. My thoughts wandered back to my inaugural – to why I wanted this job in the first place. On Inauguration Day, I said, “I asked to serve, because I believe we can do it.”

I did believe, even in those difficult days, that real leadership could turn New Jersey around. In those darker days of recession, we began our journey together toward the New Jersey Comeback with some hard choices, some very hard choices. We took those first steps together – we knew what we had to do.

We had to get our budget under control, and so we cut spending – not spending growth, but the actual dollars spent by state government – two years in a row. We were able to preserve and fund essential priorities, but it was the first time in decades that real spending had actually been cut two years in a row.

As you know, we took other steps as well – reforming pensions and health benefits and capping the growth of property taxes and the interest arbitration awards that drive them.

There was one more thing we needed to begin the turnaround of the state we love. We had to feel good about ourselves again. We had to believe in each other again. We had to dig down deep into our well of Jersey strength and restore our confidence. To do this for our state and for each other, there were two indispensible elements – leadership and truth.

Both require courage. Both must come from what we feel from within. Both could lead us to better days. For those of you in this chamber, and you know who you are, who gave both to our state and its citizens – I say thank you. To the millions of New Jerseyans who gave both to our state – I am in your debt. To those who have yet to give, there is good news. It is not too late – because the New Jersey Comeback has just begun. Resolve today to join us in the tough choices which leadership and truth inexorably lead us to and join us now. End the nay saying – join us to accelerate the New Jersey Comeback this year.

I said at the time that these tough choices would pave the way for better ones in the future.

You see, because our previous tough choices have indeed made a difference. Those budgets for Fiscal Year ‘10 and Fiscal Year ’11 were balanced – without raising taxes. Since I took office, we as a state have added nearly 60,000 private-sector jobs. And 2011 was the best year of job growth since the year 2000 and places New Jersey in the top third among the states.

In these last two years, we have begun to move our unemployment rate in the right direction – down, from 10.1% when I was sworn in to 9 percent today.

Today, it is time to continue making those better choices. Today, we will both maintain our fiscal discipline, and drive New Jersey into a new era of growth. Today, it is time to put the New Jersey Comeback into high gear.

I am presenting to you my budget for the Fiscal Year 2013. The budget I propose would total $32.1 billion for the coming fiscal year. While this represents minimal growth from last year, it is still below the level of state spending when I took office. This is in sharp contrast to the increase in state spending of 56 percent that occurred in the seven years between 2001 and 2008.

This budget funds key priorities in order to accelerate job growth and to meet our most urgent needs. Most importantly, it does not raise taxes, and it is truly balanced.

Because we have made the tough choices in these last two years, we can make the right ones now.

In this budget: I propose that we provide tax relief to every New Jersey citizen – through the first year of an across-the-board 10 percent cut in their income taxes; and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor. The people of New Jersey have suffered for too long under the burden of high taxes, it is time for real relief.