[ applause ] come on, here. Speaker of the house. My pleasure. To present to you the governor of virginia. Come on. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, my fellow virginiaens. Good evening. Good evening. Speaker cox, senator newman, justices of the supreme court. Ladies and gentlemen. Of the virginia General Assembly. I do once again appreciate the opportunity to address you one final time. [ applause ] todd gilbert i would be careful. Last yore every republican i gave a shout out theyre not back this year in the chamber. You guys have done just fine. Before i begin seriously, i would like to thank speaker bill howl for his many years of service to the commonwealth and tell him and his family that we are praying for his speedy recovery. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate you, mr. Speaker on your election to this historic office. Congratulations. Speaker cox. I am so proud to be joined this evening by so many people who have worked tirelessly to help this administration and this commonwealth succeed over the last four years. We have with us my incredible wife. And my better half. The first lady of the commonwealth of virginia. Dorothy is with us tonight. Her leadership on childhood and nutrition has resulted in more than 12 million more meals being served to our students this year than in my first year in office. And her work on behalf of our military students in their families has ensured that virginia will remain the number one in the world for Service Members and loved ones to call home. Thank you, dorothy, for your great work. I would like to take this opportunity and recognize and thank our five children. Four who are here with us tonight. I want to thank my daughter, mary, sally and peter. For enduring this governor ship and making me a better governor and being a great partner to their dad. Thank you. Our lieutenant governor. And governor elect. And our next first lady, pam. Are in the house with us tonight as well. I have been so fortunate to have you as my lieutenant governor. And my friend. I know you will make a great 73rd governor of the commonwealth of virginia with pam at your side. Congratulations and good luck. To our attorney general, mark herring. I want to thaurng for your unwavering dedication to upholding the law and protecting the rights of all virginiaens. I have loved every minute as you know, but i loved working with ral of and mark. They will continue that great work alongside our next lieutenant governor. Justin fair fax over the next four years. Congratulations, justin. And to my entire cabinet who has been nothing short of spectacular. I take pride in i believe t greatest cabinet ever assembled. Tremendous work. I want to thank any chief of staff. My deputy chief of staff. To the great work they have done. They have never failed to think big and try new things. On behalf of our citizens, thank you. All of you. For what you have done for the commonwealth. There is one cabin secretary in particular who i think has tremendously helped everybody in this chamber. He helped us all sleep better at night. Finance secretary rick brown will soon retire. After 47 years of dedicated service to this great commonwealth. Rick, thank you for your leadership. [ applause ] congratulations, buddy. The men and women of my cabinet have done tremendous work over four years. Our accomplishments wouldnt be possible without the most talented and dedicated stay Employee Work force anywhere in the globe. I am so proud that wefbl able to Work Together to get them to well deserved pay raises. And i hope you will accept my proposal for another one. Please join me in recognizing the 110,000 state employees who keep this state running. We are also so fortunate to have the greatest first responders, Law Enforcement, national guard, active duty military and veterans in the nation. Right here in the commonwealth of virginia. We should never forget these men and women who put their lives on the line every day. So that we can gather here safely tonight. It is hard to believe its been four years since i first stood at this desk and spoke at what i hope to achieve as governor. In that speech if you remember, i promise you to work with you to build a new virginia economy. And an economy that worked for everyone. That was a tall order if you remember four years ago. The economic model that served virginia well for decades had begun to crumble. Our over reliance on federal spending left us to exposed to shut down sequestration and significant defense cuts. Many of the under pinnings of the economy. Like transportation. Education, Work Force Development systems were in need of dire reform and nvrsment. Scandal had shaken the faith as virginia placed in the integrity of their Public Officials. And years of partisan warfare of social issues had damaged our reputation with employers all over the world. The agenda that i presented to you four years ago and every year after that was designed to solve those problems. And to open up a new chapter of growth and opportunity in every single corner of our great common wemt. Four years later we can look back with pride on the record of accomplishments that we have by building a new virginia economy and building itting to. We reformed Transportation Decision the to prioritize the benefit to virginia over the economy over the desire of politicians. If you recall, when i took office, virginia had just wasted 300 million on 46 0 a road that was never going to be built. In contrast, thanks to our reform we are transforming the interstate 66 corridor using no state dollars and saving our taxpayers 2. 4 billion. And just this morning, i announced a deal to extend the i95 hot lanes ten miles south to fredericksburg without asking the taxpayers to put up a single dollar for construction. In fact, this project will require the builder to cut virginia a check for 277 million when this contract opens up. [ applause ] that is how you negotiate deals. We took the port of virginia, which had foolishly been put up for sale. We took it off the market and invested 670 million in it, turning it around after five straight years of losses before we took office. Today, its profitable for the Third Straight year. And now were attracting some of the biggest container ships in the entire globe are now coming to our great port. We took executive action. [ applause ] we took executive action to make virginia a leader in reducing carbon and combatting Climate Change, and we built a new Clean Energy Economy from the ground up. In addition to being one of the first states in the nation to announce an offshore utility wind project, im particularly proud of the progress we have all made working together on solar projects. When we took office, virginia was home to 17 megawatts of power installed. One of the lowest in the United States of america. Today, four years later, we have installed more than 2600 megs under development or installed today in our great commonwealth. [ applause ] even in our times of fiscal difficulty, im proud that we protected k12 education from budget cuts, and we worked together to make the largest investment in education in the history of virginia. [ applause ] we reformed the standards of learning. We eliminated five tests. Transformed our workforce Training Programs and redesigned our High School Curriculum to better align it with the needs of a 21st century economy. When draconian regulations threatened to shutter nearly all of virginias Womens Health clinics, we stood as a brick wall to protect womens access to Quality Health care. [ applause ] we reformed our ethics laws to restore the people of virginias trust that we are here working for them, not for ourselves. We passed the first meaningful gun safety law in more than two decades. We expanded access to Critical Health services for the people who needed it the most in virginia, and we were the first state in the nation to bring a functional end to veteran homelessness, and we connected more than 31,000 veterans with a new job here in virginia. [ applause ] we secured and modernized our election system. We transformed our criminal Justice System, which posted the lowest recidivism rate in the United States of america for the second year in a row. [ applause ] now, like any relationship, we have had our rough patches. I, for one, to be honest with you, did not come into this job expecting the Republican Leadership of the General Assembly to sue me for contempt over my restoration of rights efforts. But i think the fact that i was the first governor to receive such an honor only underscores what a truly historic four years this has been for virginia. [ applause ] even the justices are chuckling a little bit up front here. But despite a few bumps in the road, our Work Together has been defined far more by serious policy accomplishments, and the people of virginia are a better place for it, and i thank all of you. Every step we took tied back to our mission of building a new virginia economy and job creators are taking notice around the globe. As a testament to that, tonight, i am proud to announce that Service Center medals will invest 45. 2 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Prince George county. [ applause ] to the surprise of absolutely no one, we beat out the state of indiana for this great award. We will create 58 new jobs, and let me tell you why this announcement is so important to me personally. Because of the opportunity it will create for virginia families, but it also has a much larger significance tonight. With this project, and the over 1,100 others we have announced during our four years, virginia has now attracted more than 20 billion in new Capital Investments since i took office. [ applause ] and not that any of you are counting, but that record exceeds any previous governor by 6. 5 billion. Service center medals cofounder, chip downs and the chairman of the Prince George county board of supervisors, allen carmichael, are here with us this evening. Stand up and lets give them a great round of applause. [ applause ] the investments, policy decisions, and Economic Development successes of the past four years have contributed to a new chapter of Economic Growth in our commonwealth. After 35 domestic and International Trade missions across five continents, we have seen virginias agriculture exports skyrocket 30 from 70 billion in 2014 to 91 billion last year. Tourism revenues have grown by 2. 2 billion since we took office. Personal income is up 12. 3 . Our initial unemployment claims have just reached a 43year low. There are now more than 200,000 more jobs in virginia than we took office in january of 2014. [ applause ] come on, you like jobs. I mean, come on. Jobs are bipartisan. There are no democrat and republican jobs. A job is a job. In 2017 alone, im proud to say we created 33,700 net new jobs, compared to 1,500 jobs that were created in the year before i took office. We have driven unemployment, folks, down to 3. 7 from 5. 4 when i took office. And im proud to say, in every single city and county in virginia, they have seen their unemployment drop in the last four years. [ cheers and applause ] folks, these are not just numbers. They are a reflection of the remarkable turnaround we have seen in the virginia economy over the past four years. They translate to real jobs and real opportunities for thousands of virginia families. As the most traveled governor in the nation, i can also tell you firsthand that they translate to even more economic activity, as we have told this amazing story to job creators all over the globe. Virginia is a different place than it was four years ago, and for that, we should all be proud. But theres still more work to be done. I may not be here to continue the battle, but the Budget Proposal that i am leaving behind reflects the enormous progress that we have made and the need to keep moving forward. If you remember, in my first year in office, we were forced to Work Together to deal with an inherited 2. 4 billion shortfall. Since then, our bipartisan cooperation and virginias strong Economic Growth have improved our financial picture significantly. In fact, i know you all will be happy to hear that for the First Six Months of the current fiscal year, i announced today that revenue collections are up 5. 9 over last year, well ahead of our estimate of 3. 4 , which we had already revised upward, and you know what that means. That means that we are running nearly a half a billion dollars ahead of our revised forecast heading into the final six months of the year. [ applause ] were talking money. Virginias Strong Revenue picture is a clear sign of a strong economy, and the budget picture i present to you builds upon that momentum. It invests in the modern economy like Public Education and workforce training. It strengthens our commonwealths response to our ongoing mental crisis as well as our opiate crisis. It advances the work we have done to diversify our economy so that we are no longer relying on one industry for our future Economic Growth. This is so important today because virginia is no longer just a Defense Industry state. Im proud to say today were a cyber state, an advanced manufacturing state, a Data Analytics state, a bioscience state, a Renewable Energy state and an Unmanned Systems state today. By making those right decisions and investments, we have built a new virginia economy, and the budget i leave you with will keep that momentum going. In addition to the budget, this year presents a very unique opportunity to move virginia forward on a number of issues that are important to the health, to the safety, and prosperity of the families that we all serve. Yesterday, governorelect northam and i stood together and outlined several pieces of legislation that we hope the new General Assembly will pass this year. They include reducing obstacles to voting by doing away with barriers to absentee voting. Building on the executive action that my administration has taken pursuing to cut carbon and create Clean Energy Jobs by becoming the First Southern state to formally join the regional Greenhouse Gas initiative. [ applause ] we need to close the loophole in our ethics laws by prohibiting the personal use of campaign funds. Finally, raising the threshold for felony larceny from 200 to 1,000 so that one mistake does not ruin a persons entire life. [ applause ] giving virginians the tools to manage student debt and hold predatory lenders accountable by passing a borrowers bill of right and creating a state ombudsman for student debt, and keeping families safe from gun violence by requiring background checks for guns purchased here in the commonwealth of virginia. [ applause ] none of these items are inherently political. They are proposed solutions to real policy problems. It could well be the case that there are better ideas to solve these problems, and to make life better for our virginians. Those are the questions that were all elected to consider. We were not, however, elected to ignore problems like those or allow Real Solutions to become bogged down in the mud of partisan politics and special interests. As i look across this room, i see many new faces. The people of virginia, in their wisdom, have made significant changes to the composition of this General Assembly with a simple message in mind. Work together and get things done. [ applause ] this is the opportunity that the voters have given you, to do things differently than they have been done in the past, and to finally break the gridlock on issues where we havent made as much progress as we should have. The chief issue that demands your attention is making a clear statement that in a new virginia economy, health care is not a privilege for the few. It is a right for all. [ applause ] you can make progress on that goal by bringing our tax dollars back home to provide health care for nearly 400,000 virginians who desperately need it. The plan that i have submitted would create 30,000 new jobs and free up 422 million in our budget to invest in priorities like a state employee pay increase and a 427 Million Investment in putting our cash reserve fund. All without putting up a single dollar of virginia taxpayer money. As some of you may recall, expanding medicaid to cover working virginians who lack access to health care is an issue that i have felt very passionate about for the last four years. I will tell you this. I am passionate. Im passionate because i know as many of you do the benefit it would bring to our economy and to our budget. I am passionate because i have met hospital administrators in Rural Communities who say they need it to survive. Above all, im passionate because i have looked mothers and fathers and sons and daughters in the eye and heard how they cannot work. They cannot care for their families. They cannot live the lives they deserve because they cannot get the health care that they need. You can end the waiting. You can end the hurt. The worry for so many virginians and put them on a path to greater opportunity and greater productivity. You can shore up rural hospitals that are struggling to stay open because they still care for these virginians, but theyre not being reimbursed for their expenses. Listen to the clear message that the people of virginia sent on election day. Put the politics aside. It is time to expand medicaid in the commonwealth of virginia. [ applause ] [ applause ] as you prepare to write the next chapter of our commonwealths history, i hope you will remember several principles that have guided our work over the past four years. While other states have grappled with discriminatory and socially divisive legislation and the damage it has done to their economies, virginia has capitalized on their misfortune. As you know, i absolutely hated to have to veto the 120 bills that were sent to my office. But let me be clear, those bills took virginia in the wrong direction. They attacked womens rights, equality for lgbt people, and access to the voting booth. They hurt our environment and they made virginia less safe. I honestly wish they had never made it to my desk because the passage hurt our reputation. I vetoed those bills because in a new virginia economy, were about the business of bringing people together and lifting everybody up, not tearing them apart or dragging them down. [ applause ] in the coming years, i hope you will build on that foundation by using your voices and your votes to make virginia more equal. To make virginia more just and more prosperous for all people no matter who they are, where they live, or whom they love. [ applause ] another guiding principle that has served this administration well is the incredible importance of Second Chances. Nobody, no one lives a perfect life. We all do things that we have regretted. We have all made mistakes. Personally, the next time someone offers me a ride on a horse in africa, ill take a seat at the bar instead. For most of us, what defines our lives is how we learn from those mistakes and how we move forward. I believe that that should apply to everyone. Even to men and women who have committed a crime. Over the past four years, we have worked often hand in hand with the General Assembly to reshape our criminal Justice System, to reflect the principle that no person is beyond redemption or unworthy of a second chance. That approach guided the transformation of our commonwealths juvenile Justice System as we reduce the population by nearly twothirds and began to close our huge adult style youth prisons. I hope you will authorize the construction of two facilities to replace them and advance the reforms that will prepare these young people to lead more Productive Lives and at the same time, saving the taxpayer of virginia millions of dollars. The power of Second Chances also define my proudest moment as governor. Many of you have heard me tell the story of standing on the steps of this building and ending more than 100 years of disenfranchisement and racial discrimination. Since then, my team has worked with all three branches of government to finalize a process that we have used to restore the rights of more than 173,000 virginians, more than any governor in the history of the United States of america. [ applause ] over the years, i have met hundreds of men and women whose rights were restored during my term. I have even introduced some of you from this very desk over the last two years. Every one of those virginians represents the same story of hope for a better life that we saw play out just this past election day as these men and women went to the polls, many of them for the first time in their lives. If you want to see the power of Second Chances, watch the videos that were posted on social media as grown men and women broke down in tears of joy after doing something that most people take for granted, voting in an election. That is what citizenship looks like at its very best, and we should do everything we can to Work Together to encourage more of it, not less. [ applause ] so as you begin your Work Together this session, i hope you will continue to reshape virginia into a commonwealth of Second Chances, where people who make mistakes can live among us again as redeemed human beings, not lifelong outcasts. My final request i would like to leave you with is please do everything you possibly can to make virginia a beacon of hope, even in times of fear and hatred. If restoring virginians civil rights was my proudest moment as governor, witnessing the bigotry and violence we saw last august in charlottesville was clearly the lowest. That day was full of hatred, cowardice, and unspeakable loss. But even in that dark moment, the character that makes this commonwealth great came through. We saw it in three virginians who were taken from us on that terrible day. Heather heyer was 32 years old. She was a passionate 32yearold. Who was on the downtown mall on august 12th, fighting for the values that make our commonwealth and our country so great. She died. She died fighting for what she believed in. Against bigotry and hatred. When neonazis and White Supremacists invaded our country, she stood up and met their hatred with love. [ applause ] [ applause ] state trooper pilots jay cohen and burke bates were standing watch that day from above in the helicopter, protecting the people who participated in the day of events. And they were protecting all of them. They made the ultimate sacrifice doing what so many of their brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement continue to do each and every day upholding the belief that every person should be protected by the law no matter whom they are. Nothing, nothing will bring these brave virginians back. But as we continue to mourn their loss, i hope we will honor their legacy by finding the good in each other and in our commonwealth. Even in times of great challenge. Tonight, we are joined by several people who love these fine virginians and they miss them every single day, as we do. Wont you please join me in welcoming Heather Hayers mother susan, her stepfather tim, burkes wife amanda, jays wife karen, and their son ryan. Lets give them a round of applause. [ applause ] [ applause ] [ applause ] thank you for joining us here tonight. Before i move on, i do want to say a brief word about jay, burke, and the many men and women like them. Until you become governor, it can be difficult to fathom how many people work day and night to facilitate your daily movements and to keep you safe. From the moment i took office, countless Public Officials have gone above and beyond to ensure that my family and i can perform our duties and live our lives in safety and comfort. They include the capitol police, the pilots of the Virginia State police, the department of aviation and the staffs at the executive mansion on capitol square. This evening, im proud to have someone with us tonight, were joined by one man who has given more than 32 years of faithful service to the commonwealth of virginia. You all know him because you have been with him for a long time. I am honored to have with us tonight martin tutti townes, the head butler of the virginia executive mansion. [ applause ] and to think he has served nine governors, his father, his stepmother, and two brothers. We thank you for your tremendous service. Despite those decades of service, tutti told me this is the first time he has ever attended a state of the commonwealth address. Which i think is fitting, because i have no doubt now who his favorite governor is. [ applause ] thank you tutti and your family for everything you have done. Were so proud of you. And to all of the people of this great commonwealth, i want to say thank you. There is one group of Public Servants who draw a particularly difficult assignment, the men and women of the executive Protection Unit of the Virginia State police. These brave souls are assigned to spend every moment of their waking hours with the governor, the first lady, and their family, protecting us and helping us get from place to place. Before burke bates became a trooper pilot, he spent nearly three years as a member of my epu detail. He and his colleagues worked around the clock, and i mean literally around the clock, to keep us safe during our official activities, and in the process, also joined us for our family dinners and our holidays and countless sporting and school events. They became part of our family. Often at the expense of time with their own family. I can still remember one day, on one of the many car rides i had with burke, when burke told me that finally he said i didnt vote for you, but he said, i had finally decided that i was glad you had won. That was the greatest honor i could have got. So thank you, amanda. Dorothy and i [ applause ] you know, i told a story at burkes funeral. I had spoken to burke just a couple days before. And he told me he was sending a care package to our son who is a marine overseas. And i said, well, thank you for that, burke. This is the last time i spoke to burke. He said i put some cigars in, a couple books. He said i put some Irish Whiskey in there, too. I said, burke, you cant send whiskey to someone in the u. S. Military. Let alone in a muslim country. Oh, he said, dont worry about it. Its in a listerine bottle. Theyll never know. [ applause ] well, jack got his package, and there was no listerine bottle in the package. Dorothy and i and our children and my entire team cannot say thank you enough to the men and women of the Virginia StatePolice ExecutiveProtection Unit for all they do and all they do for this commonwealth. [ applause ] as this chapter in my life and the history of our commonwealth comes to a close, i want to say how truly grateful i am to the people of virginia for the honor of serving as your governor. You know, i often make a joke about how unlikely it is i would serve as a successor to Patrick Henry and thomas jefferson. The joke is funny because its true. Not many middle class kids from syracuse, new york, would ever find themselves speaking behind this desk. But at the heart of that joke is a statement about the singular privilege it is to be the chief executive of a commonwealth with the people, the resources, the history and the potential that ours has. As you all know, i have loved every second of the time i have spent on this job. Because its one of the greatest jobs on earth, where you literally get to get up every single morning and make an immediate positive impact on the people with whom you serve. That wouldnt be possible without the men and women who serve in the virginia General Assembly. We run separate branchs of government. But we serve the same cause. The good of the people of the commonwealth of virginia. We have had our disagreements but even at difficult moments i have never lost sight of the tremendous honor it is to work with you and the incredible dedication and professionalism you bring to the task of representing your constituents. So i want to say thank you to all of you as well, for your leadership, your dedication and the many ways with which you help make this administration a success. Thank you. [ applause ] four years ago at my inauguration i promised you when this day came the next governor would inherit a virginia that has created more Economic Opportunity and grown our 21st century businesses. I promised to transform prek and k through 12 and Higher Education to prepare our students for a new economy. I promised to maintain our reputation for strong fiscal management. I promised to make virginia the greatest place in the world for our veterans and their families to call homes. I promised to make virginia a leader in the Clean Energy Economy to do our part to fight Climate Change and i promised to be a brick wall to protect the rights of women and lgbt virginians from discrimination. Four years later we have kept those promises and we are a commonwealth of greater equality, justice and opportunity for all the people as a result. This is a legacy that we can all be proud of. Thank you. God bless you and god bless this great commonwealth of virginia. [ applause ] [ applause ] on tuesday, january 30th, President Trump gives his first state of the Union Address pf a joint session of congress. Our coverage begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern with the president s remarks scheduled to start at 9 00. After the speech, we bring you reaction from members of congress. Watch our live coverage on cspan and cspan. Org or listen live on your phone or tablet with the cspan radio app. This weekend on American History tv on cspan three. Saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on lectures in history. Lebanon Valley CollegeProfessor James broussard on the leadup to american revolution. We have attacks on things that the colonists import, paper, glass, tea. Will collect it at the ports. Nobody else has to be bothered. Thats that. Big surprise. More outrage, more anger and more fear. Sunday at 4 00 p. M. On real america, 1963 film assignment iran. He learns techniques to sustain himself in distant reaches of the jungle or an arctic wasteland. Above all, he knows the ultimate alternative faced by the special forces man in action, adjust or die. And at 6 00, on american artifacts, a preview of collections for the u. S. Diplomacy museum set to open next year. Benjamin frankly and arthur lee, really Americans First professional diplomats conducted these two treaties. And this treaty of commerce was essential. It granted france most favored nation trading status. And the french were very excited about being able to sort of get into that economic trading war with Great Britain after the war was over. And this treaty would remain in effe several years afterwards. American history tv every weekend on cspan 3. In his final state of the state address, Florida Governor rick scott discussed the response to Hurricane Irma and outlined his priorities for this years legislative session, including more funding to prevent opioid abuse, and strengthening Workplace Sexual Harassment laws. Currently in his second term,