[applause] thank distinguished members of the 131st legislature, members of my extraordinary. H, thank you for joining me tonight. Im pleased to be joined by the members of my cabinet as i ioned including Major General douglas who is retiring next month. Thank you for being here. [applause] in welcoming the Major General nearly 40 yea of service im also joined by members of my family including my daugh a chi, anthony, julia and my brothers peter and sadly missing my brother who passed away last friday and i honor him tonight in my to the state of the state is a little unorthodox. A■4 change to discuss highprofe issues, challenges and opportuns. Its purpose must be a reflection of the these past fes have been anything but normal. People value strength talk so i will put it to you straight. Weve had a rough couple of months. We have been tested time and time again. We have some pretty serious stuff to talk about. In late october a gunman took the civilian citizens from ages 14 to 76 and injured many more physically and emotionaloly in n act of senseless a demonstrated. The worst mass■ ho nations history then in december another traumatic event hit and heavy rain and powerful wind massive flooding and destroyed homes and busins, liv. And in january,iolent storms caused some of the highest tides ever which swept fish houses into the sea and dooms and breakwaters, roads and seawalls and changed the very landscape of the coast. These things break our hearts. Now, people do not welcome the crisis on disaster. But we will always rise to meet them. And in these difficult times when it sometimes feels like we have little control over our future, the people of ■ have banded together in the future of our state and ability to prepare for and■ overcome whatever challenges the future has in store. What gives me such optimism in the face of such hardship look no further than the simple acts of kindness, compassion an . He e recent storms when the dairy del wind, hisht all his calls to safety and shelter. When the fishing boats ran aground at the height of the stor fire and rescue crews twice in the middle of the night to■w rescue allr people on board and when the storms thatened to toss the boatyard into the sea, the fixture that has withstood the storms since 1855, this whole Community Stepped up to save it, young and old, friends and family and when it receded, there■, tall owner d it worked because the whole town turned out forhat people do. We take care of each other. We roll up our sleeves and rebuild. With help from the federal government and the support of this legislature and ingenuity and great that are the hallmarks, we will rebuild stronger than ever like other states feeling the brunt of ex events maine is not safe from Climate Change. We know more storms will come and make no mistake about it, it is Climate Change causing storms to be more frequent, more intense and devastangthe stormsd winters of yesterday because when we burn fossil we expel hostile Greenhouse Gases into the atmosphere and the gases envelop our planet and truck moisture that glaciers and raise sea temperatures. Scientists know this and meteorologist snow this. Farmers, fishermen, foresters, our sportsmen, our kids. We all know this now. It will address Climate Change by investing in clean energy and businesses and expanding the States Network advancing cleaner more efficient technologies while also creating good paying jobs and informative by the main counsel where science, citizens, Business Leaders in the state and local officials we lead the nation in many of these respects. In fact we have received the original goal of installing the heat pumps and set a new ambitious goal, and as a result of theanrgy initiatives, we are seeing significant Capital Investments in the state that are creating new jobs andnc we have the fastest economy in all of new england have taken part in this voluntary program and we rewarded more than 6 million to them. A crms as you know recognized that its waterfront years in a seawall order deteriorating and need of■r repairs even before the storm. These resiliency funds used not only to plan forhe result to make improvements to public spaces and infrastructure. That gives a clear path to obtaining other available funds and to protecting and waterfront. This is important work. Esecent storms underscore the importance of fortifying them in the long term the Community Resilience partnership tonts to identify the vulnerabilities of extreme weather events and to be ready for the next storm, the next flood, the next washout, the next threat to the bries, a. Lets give them the tools to continue this desperately needed work and lets turn those■y plas into actions. In 2021 we created the Infrastructure Adaptation Fund municipalities, tribal governments and others to improve infrastructure that is vulnerable tolooding and rising sea levels and other weather events exactly the type of upgrades that will withstand the kind of storms we are seeing now. For example, in kennebunkport the town is using a grant and utilitiesyc underneath it and o prevent road closures, reduce disruption from commercial fishermen and the need for costly repairs. Replacing stormwater with those that would handle more water to reduce the risk of flood a property damage. These are commonsense projects that will strengthen the resiliency in the long run and tonight i propose that we bolster this Infrastructure Fund high Rainy Day Fund to remain and rebuild infrastructure, working waterfronts, stormte systems make them tough enough to withstand the impact and Climate Change. Essentially im talking about taking from the rainy fund to respond to the rainy days weve had some pretty rainy days ahead. [applause] as soon a sweep as the supplemental budget and we and towns to get things up and runninghing season, its urgent and as we recover and rebuild from past storms as we prepare for those to come, so will we recovernd prepare from those shocking events that have threatened our personal security, our community safety, the very character of the state. Its time to have a conversation about violence, violence in the media that pervades subconscious. Violence in homes, streets, towns and schools, violence in , violence that has been all too common and wrong way to resolve differences. Violence that we know all too well this past year on a scale previously unknown us. On monday october 203rd, we boasted that we were the safest stlq the nation with the lowest Violent Crime rate in the country according to the fbi. We relished the comfort of this brand that attracts people to the state along with the National Beauty and a sense of place and community unmatched in october 205th, everythingy. Recreation doing what many people do all the time, bowling with their kids enjoying a colde with family and friends. Those people had their lives sh by. Eighteen people lost their lives to a senseless act violence and many others injured. The tens of thousands of people ailers, public buildings collegeudents n libraries and dorms and classrooms. The streets emptied and silence. But those moments of darkness were punctuated by great heroism. They each rushed the shooter int their lives. [applause] or when he ushered a groupf bacf that Bowling Alley getting shotl ar reeling from the grief to ensure that crucial information was delivered to those that are deaf and hard of hearing. And so many more. [applause] ■g■w state champion in 2022. [applause] tonight we acknowledge all of them, recognizing their heroism and that of their loved ones ane lost. Please know people are standing by■ side, offering what comfort we can in a moment of immeasurable pain, that we know that the pain and the a lifetime. And the recognition to create a fund is similar to the one created in virginia last year to cover the medical needs, the health needs of those injured last long into the future. I propose that we capitalize it within an initial investment of be long, but we will help you walk. [applause] may prefer to conside shooting an aberration, the individual on a rampage that is unlikely to recur. Pple felt its unlikely to occur before. It is of little comfort to the partners and parents who in an instant lost a child, a spouse, a breadwinner, stable of the community and who now facing an uncertain future without them. To all the businesses, schools, shops and homes where a shooter on the runui in place before hee long hours. While they were simply driving down the highway mindingness, ty killed his parents and two other people in their home. It gives no comfort to the families who lost loved ones to the tragedy of suicide, of Domestic Violence. Yes we are different than other states. But violence is here and does exist here in the state of maine and its right to the heart of who we are and eing we hold spirit david capricious place we call home. It creates a cynical attitude that certain things are inevitable and we cant do i refuse to give in to that idea and refuse to let us stop it from taking action. As some have said its really just a Mental Health issue and we need to fix the Behavioral Health system and the violence. Certainly there may be people with Mental Health issues that commit Violent Crimes. But the vast majoriteople with those issues do not commit Violent Crimes and it would be wrong to stereotype anyone that has mentalealth problems as a potentially violent individual. Ive heard others say we shouldnt do anything until the independentssion finishes its work. They are right the findings of the commission may result in conclusions that need■h a policy remedy and we will welcome the commissions conclusions when they are ready. About fixing the wall to addreso anticipate those other acts of violence which we might with wi actions prevent. Actions which might also restore our sense of perna actions whose time i believe has come because for the sake of the communities, iivid now suffering immeasurable pain for the sake not an option. Doing nothing is [applause] throughout my time in office i tried to bring people together, lawmakers and Law Enforcement, Public Health and others to achieve enduring reforms that strengthen Public Safety and that protect our Constitutional Rights and honor the longstanding outdoor traditions. And you have weve enacted lawst allow judges to remove weapons from people under Domestic Violence orders, to ensure that survivors of Domestic Violence are notified that the abuser tried to buy a firearm, of firearms. Incentives for the safe storage of firearms, funding to help make the schools safe and an extreme protection law that remove weapons from someone that is a danger to themselves or others with appropriate due process protections. These commonsense measures were the end with a product of discussions, but together we got them done and to me they arehe pragmatic and responsible solution that we can also achieve this session. In recent months, my office has talked with republican and democratic lawmakers and people with listening to ideas and concerns and trying to develop a balanced approach to this iue heard from folks all across the state as they recognize the problem of gun violence. They see it in acts of Domestic Violence, suicide and mass shootings. And each person had ideas about what we could do to address the problem and each of those ideas was different. What was not different, what wan overarching belief that violence prevention is important, that we have to strenhen our Mental Health system and that dangerous people should not have access t. Out of those discussions, tonight im announcing that i will be filing legislation to address these three major areas of concern. Protections that would honor the rights afforded by constitution to safe and legal gun ownership and that will uphold the states longstanding ■2td heritage. First lets talk about prevention. Many states have approached the issue through the broadealth ino understand and address longterm trends. Maine is not one of those states and i wod like to do something to change that. Right now data has kept separately and Police Reports id medical files, vital records, Emergency Department records those things are not easy to understand and a but tonight i propose we establish a Prevention Program at the cdc as a central hub to bring together all this information already collected by diverse entities like healthcare, education, social services, criminal justice agencies bringing together the data that will allow us to identify patterns of Public Health and pve to reduce suicide and homicide in maine. Lets do■k a better job of and make maine a safer state. As i mentioned was almost unanimous bipartisan support enacted in extreme from an individual determined by a Mental Health professional to be a risk to them or others. Law enforcement first must take a person as protective custody at whi p tlth evaluation and a judge issued a decision on whether to temporarily remove their weapons. Its come under some scrutiny since the shooting which is appropriate. Its always right to question whether they areserving their ie and whether more if anything can be done to change or strengthen them. For■ example, some question the necessity of a Mental Health assessment, so it only makes the removal of weapons more difficult. Rights and makes it less subject to being struck down as anyone were to challenge■c it. Q its been used 94 times in theph about once a day since the shooting. About 15 times more often than it was used two and a half the years before it was first implemented. The law is being used and it is working. Its not to say we shouldnt strengthen the law access to the services can still be a serious struggle. I want to expand Behavioral Health sercearticularly for those in crisis. So i propose that we establish a network of Crisis Centers across that any person suffering a Mental Health crisis can get prompt and appropriate care instead of being alone or languishing in an Emergency Department over jail as is too often the case and i want to establish a center in lewiston. [applause]■ n and we will find it in the forthcoming budget. My bill will direct the department of health and Human Services to expand these receiving centers over time into a Broad Network to provide greater access to services for people. We know they work. My administration wour support opened the first center in portland in february, 2022. In 20 months after that, nearly 00enter to get help and resolve a crisis. Since then we announced plans to create a hybrid crisis receivi. Crisis centers work. Lets build them. Now lets talk about how to keep weapons out of the hands of people that shouldnt havehehata lewiston shooter, Law Enforcement offices were not able to take them into protective custody to initiate to remove the weapons. Whether they could have or should have done Something Different is heavily scrutinized. Itls be addressed. What happens in this circumstance when a Law Enforcement officer knows where a person trouble, causing trouble but is not able to take them into protective custody and still believe they pose a likelihood of serious harm to themselves and others. My proposal will close that gap by allowing Law Enforcement to seek the approval of circumstane a person thats protected custody and is deemed dangerous by a medical judge remove their weapons pending a full court hearing. What about preventing dangerous people from getting a weapon in the first place . I think we can address this. When1ur extreme Risk Protection law, their name is entered into a prohibited from having firearms that includes people subject to a Domestic Violence order among other words people we all agree shouldnt of a dangerous weapon. This is a process that worksivis to buy a gun and is federally licensed Firearms Dealer the local gun shop or l. L. Bean for example they are the dealers required through the National Instant criminal background check system. If that person is in and prohibited and the system flags them, the sale was denied but its not you process that works well and that the same person can walk out of a gun shopnd go to the facebook marketplace and buy through private commerci they were just denied that they are not legally allowed to have. In 201 the qst background checks put through the referendum its whether they wanted to close the socalled private sale loophole. At the time people rejected and that food has framed my approacb quit frankly but now in the aftermath of the violence we have seen, ive asked myself whether is still the correct one. Ive arrived at the conclusion i dont know how we can allow people w legally cannot have guns to buy them through a private sale and pose a risk to themselves or the public and i do not know how we can hold commercial sellers to a higher standard while allowing the private commercial sellers to advertise ■vguns any restrictions. [applause] in my conversations with people i believe they agreed people who cant legally owned guns shouldnt have such easyccess to them and i believe the time has come to address the issue of private gun sales so i things. One, that we require any sale of a firearm that is advertised through facebook, craigslist, the gun show or other means require them to be checked agait system used by licensed Firearms Dealers and in doing so ensure that when a gun is sold through the advertised sale it cant be at sold to someone prohibited from having a firearm. Secondly, you are probably wondering what about sales that are purely private, its a good question and thats when i thought about a lot because are most often from one Family Member to another, from oneei in other words, the type of sale. We have to acknowledge someone could sell a weapon privately and unadvertised without knowing whether they are allowed to own a weapon. So i want to encourage people ta firearm to someone they dont know, they should know that person is allowed to own a gun and thats way that respects our longstanding tradition of passing down family firearms or one lawabiding gun owner to another. Now please forgive me in advance. Right now its a crime, a intentionally or knowingly sell a firearm to someone whos a prohibited person intentionally or whether or not you actually know. I dont think that is quite the right approachd know and most would want to know. Lets change the law to reflect that. I am proposing that we expand the law and in adding the term recklessly to intentionally or knowingly making it a stronger standard and easier to successfully somee thats prohibited, not allowed to have a gun and on top of that that we toughen the a felony, na misdemeanor. What does all this man and mean impracticality . It means if you are transferring a firearm to a relative or friend you know is allowed to own one, you have nothing to changes. The longstanding tradition remains the same. It also means if you are selling to a a licensed Firearms Dealer to make sure because im sorry i just ft used to and you wouldnt want a felony charge and possible prison time that comes along a sale to someone that then goes out and does something terrible. Now i know its quite a bit of stuff so let me recap. Lets strengthen by establishine Prevention Program. Lets expand our crisis Mental Health system and keep weapons out of the hands of people by strengthening the extreme Risk Protection law and advertise foe check the system and by toughening the law that already makes it illegal to tr prohibit. Prevention, Mental Health, keeping weapons away from dangerous persons. Thats what my proposal boils down to. I recognize that on the one hand this legislation may be too lile t those■ believe that more is needed while on the other hand it may be too much to those that believe the opposite. Violence is not a sim problem. And the remedy is not a simple single measure into these proposals i believe represent progress and they do not trample on anybodys rights. They are practical, commonsense. They are not a cookiecutter version of some other state law. They are true to the cultured and longstanding traditions while meeting todays■ needs. If you are a lawabiding citizen, you have nothing to fear. If you are a collector of firearms in ma y to fear. If you like to hunt deer, bear, duck, pheasants, coyotes, you have nothingr. And if you are a 14yearold boy bowling with your dad on a weeknight, you should have nothing to fear. If you are a 35yearold father of two that got hisdegree out ft with friends you should have nothing to fear. Over the past■d■ few months, ie been to too many funerals expressing condonc loved ones of too many lost too soon and upset with myself and my own conscience■ ri to remainn the wake of lewiston and the tragedy of the suicide and Domestic Violence that are all too prevalent in our. Reflecting on not only what you may think is right or best, blie is best as well. The issue of guns in america so often■ marred with acrimony and of goodwill pardoning ourpeople uncharitable opinions of one another and widening a great divide that only seeks to immobilize and obscurereasonabl. Let us not lose our way and the rhetoric that too much the company is debates. Let us have respectful vigorous discussions. Its worth doing for the victims of■■e yesterday for the survivs of today and the vulnerable of tomorrow. Its worth doing for Peyton Brewer ross, brian mcfarlane, joe walker, max■■< conrad, micn the second, jason walker, tricia, young, bob violet, lucy violet, billy bracket. For cynthia and david for the people thatheir own lives into those who were killed by an abuser for the family and friewith an unimaginable that cs to violence and those that survive the violence but those that can never heal. As i close, i cannot escape the troubling fact that violence has become all too common in culture. Acts of brutality, anger, glorified and normalized in social media. Tv shows, films and a bitter and angry another, acts that are part of a culture that too often promotes violence as a way to address but never really resolvedn differences. As a society, weve got to consider how we can reject the vitriol that consumes us and how we can tune out the rhetoric and recognize the humanity and dignity of others and lead with grace, compassion and understanding in our own private and public lives. We cant legislate off of this. Instead i think the true our heart. And the lessons we in part to our children and our daily interactions withkt each other,n our spiritual faith and people who despite many differences trul we know, we walk the same roof, breathe the same■h■ffor purposee chance to love and be loved and perhaps to make a small positive difference in our short time on this earth. My we cannot this month, this spring alone heal every damaged heart or life and protect nor can we prepare every broken bridge and reple. Neither will we let it define us and to believe in each other every day we are still a civil, safe and welcoming state with a back are who we always have bee. He people with a deep and abiding sense of right and wrong determined to look out for one another■ ng how lucky we are to live in this beautiful state. So we will repair this violence on our communal soul just as we rebuild with cohesive will and consciousness in the future and the states with Climate Change with of the security and collective safy based on the principles of the golden rule, protecting others as we would ourselves and in the end the nation and fundamentally we would continue to look within ourselves and to, courage and compassion to face the future to whether things bed defeat the dangers of today and prevent the disasters of tomorrow as we replenish our souls and renew our indomitable sense of hope. One people made up of many. The one purpose, the■tad vision to be the best we■a. I know that we can because we are, all of us the people in the great stat of maine and the state of our people is■h good aa privilege to serve as your governor. Thank you. [applause] a former member of congress and