GOVERNORS OF MINNESOTA

State-of-the-State Address

Article V, Section 3 of the Minnesota Constitution states:

"The governor shall communicate by message to each session of the legislature information touching the state and the country."

Generally, an inaugural address is given the first year in office and a state-of-the-state address every year thereafter. The governor usually also gives a budget message at the beginning of each legislative session and sometimes special budget messages.

The state-of-the-state address has not always been called that. According to research done by the Legislative Reference Library, Governor LeVander's 1969 message to the legislature was the first one to be titled "State of the State." For many years, the governor’s annual address was called the inaugural address, even in subsequent years of a governor’s term. For more information see the Legislative Reference Library's brief background on the State-of-the-State Address.

View the text of Governor Pawlenty's speeches:
   Inaugural Address (January 6, 2003).
   2004 State-of-the-state Address (February 5, 2004).

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