JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Republican House Speaker Tim Jones said Gov. Jay Nixon’s sixth state of the state address was full of “rousing in rhetoric,” but “short on substantive solutions” for the state.

In his televised response address, Jones – serving his final year in the General Assembly before a likely statewide campaign in 2016 – said the Democratic governor is focused on the wrong policies, and called on Nixon to join him in pursuing his policy choices, including tax cuts, medical malpractice reform, right to work, and a solution to the school transfer issue impacting Kansas City and St. Louis.

“Our governor is not listening to the people who elected him,” Jones said. “He wants more of your hard-earned tax dollars so that he can increase spending and grow the size of government. He wants to pick winners and losers through budget games and centralized planning and not help the truly needy.”

Jones touted his visits across the state – including Joplin, Clarance, and Kansas City – saying, “across Missouri, the message is the same: People want a smaller, more accountable government, a lower tax burden, and less regulatory burdens.”

As Nixon called for more funding for K-12 and higher education, Jones was critical of Nixon’s budgetary withholding practice, which has effected higher education specifically.

“We must put an end to the governor’s practice of cutting back room deals that provide higher levels of funding to some areas of our system of education while neglecting there.”

Jones praised Nixon’s efforts to work directly with members of the General Assembly in pursuing the Boeing 777x commercial airliner package for Missouri, saying Nixon at the time focused “his efforts on policy issues rather than press conferences and political speeches.”

“I would like to work with that governor again,” he said. “Not on policies for the few, but on bold reforms that will benefit every family and every business in our state.”