thank you, thank you very much. statewide leaders, legislators and special guests, thank you for the warm welcome and the honor of being here today to present the state of the state. it was not too long ago that i stood here and laid out a bold plan for the future of missouri. back then, many were worried about the direction of our state. some of you were probably worried about how your new governor would league and address the problems within missouri. but because i love this state and the people of the state, i knew i was ready for that challenge and with your help, ready to chart a new path for missouri, a path that would push just to the forefront of the nation, providing more opportunities for our citizens and make missouri a destination for others around the country ready to embrace our show me way of life. i also want to thank the many of you in this room and the thousands around the state who had confidence in me, supported my vision and offered me patients at a trying time for missouri. even though it was a challenging time, it was also an opportunity to do things differently, to tackle tough problems and propose bold solutions. the poet -- and with your help, we have made tremendous progress and that is why i am comfortable telling you today that the state of our state is strong and we will be ready for an even better future. (applause) one one year ago, i told you my administration we take a very disciplined approach to working for the people of missouri and that workforce development infrastructure must be our dedicated priorities. focusing on these issues would allow us to not only make short term gains for our state but also provide long term stability and a solid foundation for future generations. there are issues that we worked on together, regardless of party or regions of the state and most importantly, after listening to community, civic and business leaders from across missouri, i knew they shared the same belief that these issues would help strengthen every community across our state. in fact, in just a single year, missouri's workforce developed agenda has caught the attention of the rest of the country. our states are now -- other states are watching us now and taking notes and we are rapidly working towards our goals of becoming the best in the midwest, and frankly, the best in the nation. (applause) for example, through our collaboration with employers, we now have 42,000 missouri and signed up for on the job training through the one star program, 42,000. we have reached second in the nation for apprenticeships and we fully intend to keep that momentum going. our fast-tracked scholarship program has reached hundreds of applications and i'm very proud that these scholarships are being primary used in our community colleges where women make up 61% of the total enrollment. another workforce development program i'm very proud is a 20-week program that helps incarcerated women develop business plans and prepare for successful reentry into the workforce. here with us today in the upper gallery is emily kerr shaw and nicola gibson. both of these ladies served in a woman's correction center. both would tell you they made for choices in their past, but they stand before us today as graduates of this program through which they have shown dedication to learning new skills, taking responsibility, giving -- getting back on their feet and into the workforce. miscarriage off is employed at a call center that connects veterans to health care services. mrs. gibson is employed at a storage and logistic company in st. louis, and if we are to be a society that believes in forgiveness and second chances, it is the next chapter and their lives that will matter most, please join me in recognizing mrs. kerchief and mrs. gibbous. please know we believe in you, we support you and we wish you the best in the days to come. the opportunities we have provided for individuals to better themselves and in return provide a more stable environment for their families will truly change lives long after all of us are gone. when we talk about these successes in workforce development, it is also worth pointing out that real incomes are rising faster than any time in recent history. more people have more money in their pockets and the tax cuts at the state and federal level are absolutely having a positive impact here in missouri. missouri now ranks seventh in the nation for small business wage growth and at 3.1% our unemployment rate continues to remain at historic lows and what has been below the national unemployment rate for 40 consecutive months. another example that missouri's growth is strong and that we are on the right track. , not to mention, that the african american unemployment rate in missouri has dropped from over 10% in 2014 to 5.5% today, nearly in half. , and our workforce efforts have created over 40,000 new, jobs 40,000 new jobs here in missouri and more importantly, it is the private sector that is driving these investment, not government, and here are just a few examples. a fortune 250 agribusiness company announced the relocation of its global headquarters from new york to st. louis. they are announced it will add 500 new jobs the st. louis region and pfizer also invested over 230 million dollars. boeing secured a 16 billion dollar contract to build bts trainer and the nba was just broke ground on their billion dollar campus -- and on the other side of the state, companies like swiss -- for russia, cbs and while they'll read have made huge investments in the area and of course, kansas city, made more than 130 other cities around the country to land two divisions from the usda and over 500 new jobs for the first time in our nation's history. our big cities are not the only ones generating new jobs in attracting investment. griggs and stratton is creating 130 new jobs in poplar bluff. dollar tree is investing 110 million dollars for a new distribution center in orange, bird creating 375 new jobs, new core steal, the largest steel company in the united states is close to production at his 250 million dollar steam ill steel mill and will create 250 new jobs into dalia, missouri, aurora organic dairy opened a new processing plant in columbia creating over 100 new jobs, and kareena invested 150 million dollars to expand in bloom field, missouri. and about one month ago, general motors announced one of the largest single project investments in our states history in winds field with a 1.5 billion dollar investment to build mid size trucks for north america and we like our trucks here in missouri. this is just the beginning and the successes will help us build further momentum. all of these are shared successes and show that by working together our investments in workforce development infrastructure are succeeding. i am proud to report we exceeded even our own estimates and the result has been a better cost savings and more projects for the people of missouri. as a matter of fact, senator shots, representative ruth, i want to thank you for your leadership on getting the bridge bonding resolution completed and let you know that our first round of bonds was achieved an interest rate of 1.2 five. and what triggered these bonds was 80.2 million dollar grant from the united states department of transportation to build the roach port bridge. even more to celebrate our vital grants we have received to complete the mcarthur bridge in st. louis, make significant improvements to the river port and keep toronto, solidify the east look at reservoir product -- project in northern missouri and finally wrap up funding for the i-49 bellow vista bypassed in southwest missouri. i appreciate the support and leadership from our federal delegations in securing those funds, especially congressman sam graves and senator roy lob long. these products -- projects are critically important to the region and i am proud of the hard work to leverage every tax dollar to the fullest and make our transportation system safer for all missouri and. in addition to these projects, we got even better return than expected on the infrastructure and cost share program that you all passed, and i'm excited to tell you that this nearly 50 million dollar investment will lead to nearly 150 million dollars in new infrastructure investment and an economic impact of approximately 350 million dollars. the bold infrastructure proposal we all worked on together and netted one billion dollars in new projects across the state of missouri. there is so much excitement and optimism across all parts of the state, but right here in jefferson city, we shook things up a little more. we stop talking about reform and pushed through real reforms that have changed state government for the better. our first reorganization effort, the state government, took effect this past august, impacting hundreds of state employees. these changes represented the most significant reorganization of state government in decades. this was the right thing to do, to make government more efficient, more accountable and more customer oriented to the people we serve. as part of our efforts to restore state government, we also successfully consolidated a state prison that will save us 22 million dollars every year. and on top of, this through greater efficiency, better management and more accountability to the missouri taxpayers, we gave our state employs a much-needed pay raise. an effort like that does not happen if you don't have bold leaders who are dedicated to making state government better so i would like to recognize all of my cabinet members seated in the rear gallery. would you please stand and recognized today? i am proud of the support and commitment you show this state every day and it is my honor to work alongside you. we have made record improvements in just a short period of time but i believe that there is still more to do and much more we can achieve with hard work. of course it is important to note that these bold ideas are working but most importantly it is about the impact it has on the lives of everyday people in missouri, that is why i called this legislative session, is to propose initiatives aimed at building stronger communities, improving education and workforce development, revitalizing our infrastructure in making government more accountable. it is critical to understand that all of these issues provide individuals with more opportunities to strengthen public safety and create healthier more stable communities and i have learned that no one knows more about their communities then the mayors. seated in the upper gallery are the mayors and their chiefs of police of the four largest metro areas of our state. mayor clinton lucas of kansas city, mayor light a christian of st. louis, mayor ken mockler of springfield. and mayor brian breeze of columbia you. all of these mayors care deeply about their cities just as i care deeply about our entire state. we all know that missouri is diverse, and so are the opinions and needs of the people within it but regardless of what part of the state we come, from we all want our communities to be safe and we worry when we see violent criminals threaten our neighborhoods. that concern for our citizens brought the five of us together. despite our very background and different opinions we have stayed focused on what we can of folk -- what we can accomplish by working together while also showing respect and willingness to listen to one another. these mayors understand my commitment to support the second amendment for law-abiding citizens and let me be clear, during my six years in the united states army, 22 years in law enforcement, and as a lifetime member of the nra, i have never ever wavered my support for the second amendment. but we all have to understand the very real issues violent crime affecting our neighborhoods and the potential consequences of doing nothing. by working together, we have come up with a solution to help combat violent crime, such as providing greater protection for victims and witnesses, providing more mental health resources and services, and finally, strengthening our laws to target violent criminals. we won't always agree and there will always be issues we each feel passionately about but i am confident that by working together the potential for our regions and the entire state of missouri is even greater. please join me in recognizing our mayors and our police chief from kansas city, st. louis, springfield and columbia, missouri. we will continue to promote initiatives that incorporate more mental health resources into public safety, provide more targeted and tactical support of the pursuit of violent criminals and encourage more coordination among law enforcement. we know some of these efforts are already paying off, operation triple beam in kansas city and our commitment of state personnel in st. louis has achieved remarkable results, including the arrest of hundreds of violent criminals, gang members, and the seizure of nearly 30 pounds of illegal drugs. with us here today are members of the missouri state highway patrol and the division of fire safety who have been part of these efforts in st. louis. please join me in recognizing their hard work and commitment to protecting the people of missouri. these results reflect real progress and show that by all of us working together, federal, state and local law enforcement and community leaders, we can make a difference and keep violent criminals off our streets. i also want to point out that we included community leaders, as governor, i have the greatest honor and privilege of representing all parts of our state but i have learned that the most powerful voices is often the ones in the communities. with us here today are several members of the missouri faith leadership coalition. i want to thank them for stepping up, leading by action and not just words, putting their communities and congregations ahead of politics and helping me better understand the struggles those communities face. these leaders are also special to me because i know we all have a special fate and it is that special faith that allowed us to look past whatever differences we may have and come together for a purpose higher than any one of us. would the members of the missouri faith-based leadership coalition please stand and be recognized? there is also another special guest i would like to recognize today. mrs. bernece jones. but looking at, us you might not think mrs. jones and i have much in common. but one saturday at a grill for glory event, we realized we both have and events love for children. mrs. jones has 13 grandchildren and i have six. being a grandparent of children is something we both cherish. i also learned that mrs. jones has been involved in her same community in st. louis for over 50 years, keeping an eye on things, offering assistance to the youth and always serving others. sadly, she and i met because of a tragedy, of children being shot in the streets, but this also made me realize something else very important about working together. we need to take more time to celebrate community leaders like miss jones, who are making a real difference, not those who are trying to tear it apart and relish in the fear they've created by headlines in the newspapers. what it is hard to find the light in a bad situation, sometimes a spark is all you need to get the fire going again. mrs. jones has been that spark in her community. she had the chance to leave but she chose not to. mrs. jones stayed to fight the fight and was truly changed lives for the better. i had the opportunity to go to mrs. jones is home, very humble home, typically, like most of our grandma would have, clean, well put together, and we sat, there she sat on the couch and i sat in a chair right beside her and we visited and she told me the trial she had living where she lived and the things that were happening in her neighborhood in her streets and during that conversation she pointed to the wall between me and, her which was about three feet wide and she said governor, do you see that hole right there? that is a bullet hole, coming into my house. people, we can do better. we can do better and if all of us had a few minutes and a little bit of time, to spend a little bit of time with mrs. jones and we all worked a little harder to understand what she goes through, this state and this nation would be better off. please help me recognize mr. just -- misses jones in the upper gallery. as a former sheriff, it is important to me that we also give special thanks to those who risked their lives to keep our safe. our law enforcement emergency personnel do a job that most of us don't want to do, but others expect them to do it. we must trust them and we must stand up for these brave men and women. i hope that this legislative session, serious time consideration will be given to these proposals to strengthen our communities. while reducing violent crime is our media goal, i strongly believe that at the end of the day, it is about better education and skills to get a quality job, because that is going to be the long term solution. last year, our workforce development efforts focused on new training opportunities for working adults. however, in some of the most troubled communities, or any community in missouri for that matter, our children are the true workforce of tomorrow. the most important and impactful time of a child's development is the early years of his or her life, and missouri recently received a 33.5 million dollar pre-school development grant aimed at creating a more effective high quality early learning system. with this funding, we have the opportunity to strengthen our early childhood offerings and better prepare missouri children for success, which is crucial to development of our strong workforce. in addition to early childhood education, we will also focus on increasing opportunities for high demand training at the high school level. we need to ensure our students understand the many opportunities out there, whether it be going into the workforce, the military, a community college, a technical school or a four-year degree, currently in missouri, approximately 30% of our population has a four-year degree with the college or university, meaning that 70% do not. we need to move away from the stigma that not having a college degree is a failure when in fact there are many other excellent education and job training opportunities. this is why we are seeking 750,000 dollars to certify approximately 12,000 new high school students as work ready through the work he's program, and this is a major step that can open doors to students not sure if college is in their immediate plans but still put them on a path to greater opportunities. in addition, we are proposing greater access to virtual education for high school students as well as home school students and we will also be working to expand opportunities through jobs for american graduates a program that helps youth graduate from high school and transition to the workforce. and for our college band dunes, we have secured a total of 5.3 million dollars to increase a plus scholarship funding. we are also proposing another 19 million dollars for the excels workforce initiative what we can do all of this while increasing school transportation funding and still fully funding our foundation formula. this focus on training our future workforce has been a true collaborative effort and i really appreciate the partnership you have had from the private sector. many of these changes to our workforce system would not be possible without our teachers, and that's why i also want to start discussing ways to improve teacher pay. however, the solution could not just be asked that the state write a bigger check. we are going to ask school districts, to school boards to propose a better plan and a bold plan for our teachers. being an educator today is not an easy job. by supporting them, we also support our children, their futures, and the future of our state. here with us today is the missouri teacher of the year, mr. grand all, no person has a greater impact on our children's education then teachers who helps them flourish and grow. mrs. granddaughters a shining example of this. please join me in recognizing the missouri teacher of the year, miss grand ole. and you all missouri outstanding educators, thank you for what you do. the next phase of our plan will help continue our momentum but we can't emphasize workforce development without infrastructure. that is a big reason why approximately five billion dollars in new private investment has poured into our state while our unemployment rate remains at record lows, what we are pulling ahead of neighboring states and we must keep up this hard work and we will continue to build our critical infrastructure and we will once again proposed setting aside 4 million dollars in disaster recovery funds. unfortunately, the flooding we saw last year was some of the worst we have seen in decades and even historically, but i want to truly think the work of senator harry graham, and representative andrews and the other legislators for their leadership in the communities during these trying times. despite these challenges, we have still made some major a compliment instruments with celebrating, we have proven that we can get through tough times and together we are creating a new horizon of opportunity for infrastructure in our state. some of the most exciting infrastructure investments we will see this year can be tied back to the infrastructure plan that you as legislators passed. more than 250 pages around the state will be repaired or replaced. these bridges are not only critically important their local communities but also to public safety and for example, by combining our bridge proposal and federal funding is secured by congressman graves, missouri is now on track to significantly reduce the number of deficient bridges in the six congressional district which encompasses nearly half of the entire state, and that is a major milestone. one of the benefits of the plan we laid out last year it was not only the immediate impact but also the additional resources it would free up for other critical projects. an example of this is the recent announcement of a huge investment to build a substantial portion of i-270 throughout north county. this renovation is been needed for a long time and because of our bold steps in innovation, we have made a real change to this system, and another very successful part of our transportation plan last year was a cost-year program and i am excited to announce that we will again be putting another 50 million dollars towards the cost sharing program this year. and before i move on, there is one more very special project that i am so proud to announce, especially in front of marilou cars and our kansas city delegation and that is, we will build the -- bridge. these investments are exciting to celebrate we have been working hard to make them a reality. we have also been driving greater efficiency and more accountability for missouri an, 's harder tax dollars so that we can reap those returns without increasing taxes. by rolling up our sleeves and doing the hard work we have generated impressive cost savings. the single largest area we have been able to find savings is the medicaid system, which accounts for over ten billion dollars, over one third of our state budget. under the leadership of director todd richardson, a new level of accountability and enforcement have been put back in place. both common sense things expected by the average missouri and. the results has been the savings of 84 million dollars, further protecting citizens who need the services most and taxpayers who deserve their tax dollars we used wisely. well some of the press are eager to criticize improved efficiency or outright broken for many years serving every missouri and who is paying for it. at the same time, opponents have been criticizing our increase accountability, they have also been promoting expanding the system but the reality is that expanding the system comes at the cost of other vital services, such as education, workforce development and improving our aging infrastructure, so make no mistake about, it the vague proposal they're not explaining or purposely withholding is a massive tax increase that missouri is cannot afford. the hard work we are doing a drive officials say is not just by supporting policy provisions. it is fundamentally reforming state government and driving accountability across all systems. this is a major shift from the same old style of government that is often supported where small changes are made around the edges but real changes are thought to big and too hard to do. my ministration has and will continue to do the hard work and the benefit will be for missouri taxpayers, the progress we are making israel and exciting but there is more we can do to improve government and promote our state, we must have a real discussion about tort reform in the legislature. the another simple way we can promote government and improve missouri is by offering license reciprocity's the spouses of men and women who proudly serve our country in the united states military. as a veteran myself i am proud that missouri is home to over 480,000 veterans, and i hope that we can bring more to our state, allowing license reciprocity would not only help us track more military families but also feel critical jobs in our economy. senator brown and representative lynch, i am counting on you to get that legislation on my desk as soon as possible, from the beginning, our states economy and future financial health have always been of the utmost importance to our administration and it is our responsibility to pass this on to the next generation so, i have one last proposal i will outline today. as mentioned before, my administration has been more serious than any other in our financial discipline. we have lead by example, and again, we will be leaving over 100 million dollars on the bottom line. however, we can do more which is why i am supporting that we will put a cash operated dispense fun in place to give our state flexibility and stronger finances than it ever had before. it's the beginning of our administration, our state treasurer, our budget director, our chief of staff have been discussing the opportunity, i am proud that we will finally make his vision a reality. i am proposing that we set aside 100 million dollars this year and to ensure this saving remains stable, we will collect way fare collections into this fund until it establishes solvency and we must use the remaining portion to pay off debt obligation, and provide another funding mechanism for infrastructure programs done in a cost share basis. this final allocation would both increase the long term financial strength of our state and create another consistent funding source to further upgrade our aging infrastructure. our progress policies and conservative budget are working and together we can set the stage for greatness, from missouri and our future generation. it is no secret that there are elections in the coming months. i'm sure there are some of you here at the end of your term that feel differently about the coming months. when returning home of the people you serve, at the forefront of your mind will be what you accomplish to help improve the communities. if we thought more about what we accomplished at the end of our time, we would likely spend our days a little differently. my guess is we would spend less time fighting each other over the few differences we have and more time working on the things that we agree on. we have all seen what the outcome of this behavior is when we watch what is going on in washington, d.c.. surely we can do better. surely as the show me state where our namesake inherently, promoting actions and results over worlds, we have a higher sense of obligation to work together. some may argue that all these victories are just coincidental, but i firmly believe they are not. i believe it is about a commitment to finding a solution while still standing up for your values. for me, these values like my faith, my family and our nations flag. and another value i will always stand for is protecting those who cannot protect themselves and all life has value, including the unborn. perhaps it is my great hair but i am at the time in my career where when i leave behind and how i leave it is more important than impressing people and worrying about who i am not. make no mistake, in this arena you will be attacked, you will have to endure reading nothing but speculation about your motives, your commitment and your beliefs, but you also have to choose to stand against these attempts to divide one another and instead be a leader and as long as i'm allowed to serve the people i will work hard to make missouri better and handed off to whomever follows me in better shape than i received it, so my final call is to challenge each of you to know one another better, which also means that we have to be willing to trust one another more and my hope in the near future is that all of us would be able to celebrate more successes with one another, but the real benefits will be for the people of missouri and our future generations. so i never to lead by example i will go a little off script tonight to tell you something personally about myself. i might as, well but there is no telling what you will hear about me from someone else who will falsely claim to know what is in my heart, i was raised, my parents, by parents of the greatest generation, i was one of four brothers who was born in a hospital. i served this country for six years in the united states army and without that experienced, i would not be able to stand before you today. i attended college but i never finished but i still believe in the promise of america and the american dream and all the people that i've had a chance to meet an encounter in my life the person i have been most inspired by with a single mother with two children that i met over 35 years ago. she had a fierce loyalty to her children that exemplified what true love really means. she had a kindness and a way of creating that only mothers are known for. she had a true strength and independence that a lot of us men try to fake. . she was honest and humble, through grit and determination she rose at the highest levels of the banking industry even though she was often passed over for promotions by men. she trust me to come into her children's lives. thank you love them and take care of them on my own, together we watched our children grow into wonderful adults who now have their own families, and have given a six beautiful grandchildren and through it all she is as beautiful and graceful as she was 35 years ago. i met her making a deposit at the bank. she is the one who allowed me to be a father, a grandfather, and the best person that i know how to be. theresa, i would never have done this without you and have only been able to achieve it because of you. it is an honor in a privilege to be the 57th governor alongside an exceptional first lady, god bless, you god bless the great state of missouri, god bless the united states of america, thank you very much.