Tune in to the WEBCAST to see her speech.

Laura Thielen, director of the State Department of Land and Natural Resources, was the first of Lingle's Cabinet members on the webcast to talk about some 2008 initiatives.

Some goals of her department including strengthening the preservation of natural resources and to prevent against the damage and theft of Hawai'i's natural resources.

Speaking next was Marsha Wienert, the state's tourism liaison. She's discussed how tourism is always changing and how Japan has been a very important market for Hawai'i. But she said there's also a lot of new developing markets, including Korea, China and niche markets.

The department is working on meeting the needs of the traveler.

The third Cabinet member speaking about Lingle's 2008 initiatives with webcast emcee Bernadette Baraquio is Ted Liu, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

His responsibilities include moving forward with the state's innovation package, which is based on a vision of a Hawai'i economy that is healthy. He said investing in Hawai'i is the way to get there. The economy must be driven by innovation, he said.

Liu said he is keeping his eye on the federal government regarding the fiscal stimulus package.

But he said there is stability in Hawai'i's visitor industry and the construction sector is strong.

Hawai'i's economy is healthy although it is slowing down in growth, he said, but we should still be optimistic about the economy.

Labor Department director Darwin Ching was up next on the webcast. He started by saying that Hawai'i has a 2.7 percent unemployment rate, one of the lowest in the nation.

But one of his concerns is that the state workforce is coming to a point of retirement.

He said 30 percent to 40 percent of managers and employees will be ready to retire in the next three years. The state will be "losing a bunch of institutional learning" once those workers leave, he said, and Hawai'i will need a succession plan to train the other workers to get them ready to take over leadership programs. Ching said this will be critical for both the public and private sectors.

Up next was Hawai'i Director of Health Chiyome Fukino, who stressed the need of education when it comes to keeping the people of Hawai'i healthy.

She said the department is pushing personal responsibility and prevention — educating people about how to take care of their bodies and what they can do to be in the best possible physical shape.

Education must start with the young people, she said. For example, telling children how bad smoking is and how people have died of cancer can mean those kids going home and taking away the cigarettes from mom and dad.

Among the final topics the webcast touched on was transportation.

Brennon Morioka, interim director of the state Department of transportation, says much of the vision for the department has already been laid out and he will focus on implementing it.

There are major projects going on for O'ahu's 'Ewa plain, about $40 million in highway resurfacing and maintenance work and the massive $2.3 billion project to modernize the state's airports. He said upgrading the airports is critical in enhancing the visitor experience.

Among other major highway-widening projects on the Neighbor Islands, Morioka also discussed a major modernization plan for the state harbors.

The final guest on the webcast before Lingle's State of the State address was Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state's adjutant general.

He's a McKinley and University of Hawai'i grad with a degree in mechanical engineering