Transcripts For CSPAN3 West 20240704

State address due to term limits. It runs just under 1 1 2 hours. Ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the great state of West Virginia, the honorable jim justice. [ applause ] [applause] [applause] [applause]. Okay. Sit down. Yall look like you are getting tired. You got to clap a lot tonight. Oh, me. I will get to the meat and potatoes in just a second. But i want to thank you. I want to thank you from all of us. All of my family in every way for all of the years and all of the time that we spent together bickering at times, but hopefully loving each other in the end. And absolutely loving West Virginia no matter what. Now, if i can make some incredible introductions here. It is just this. You know, i would like to introduce my family. Especially kathy. Who has to put up with me all of the time. And please give kathy and jill and jay a big round of applause, please. [ applause ] [applause] [applause]. Okay. The member presidency of my cabinet. And i really dont see any need in going through each secretary but, in thinking about it, maybe i should. You know, because of all of the great work that they do all of the ti. You know, we have three new secretaries. The secretary of health, the secretary of human services, and the secretary of health facilities. You know, so, if young, percley and karuso can stand up, maybe you can give them a round of applause. [ applause ] now now, we have a new interim secretary of revenue in larry pack. And god knows all yall know larry and you have known him forever. [ applause ] him forever. [applause] him forever. Are secretary of our secretary aof administration, mark scott. Our secretary of homeland security, our secretary of transportation, our secretary of veterans assistance ted diaz, our secretary of Economic Development mitch carmichael. Please give them a round of applause, please m a round of applau m a round of [ applause ] se [applause] se now this man. Now this man demands uniqueness beyond belief. Our randall smith. I am going to hustle around. I have a lot, a lot to talk about tonight. Our secretary of tourism, our secretary of our det, doing a phenomenal job, harold ward, and our secretary of commerce, james bailey, please give them a round of applause bailey plead of a bailey plead [ applause ] e. [applause] e. Our adage into general general bill crane general bill crane and our command Sergeant Major james jones, our chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education policy commission sara tucker, and our commissioner of bureau of Senior Services denise swirley and last but not least, our director of our Herbert Henderson office of minority affairs, jill upman, please give them a round of applause. [ applause ] [applause] but dont [applause] do not hit your hands so much your hands get sore and blame it on me later on. But, think about this just a second. Please, my staff. My staff has been with me for a long, long time and they have done so much good work and they had to put up with me with maybe come to jesus meeting or put up with me when i was having a nut fit or whatever it may be. And there are times i can be dead wrong. Pu, please give them a big round of applause. [ applause ] se. [applause] se. Now, our supreme. Now, our supreme court, our chief Justice Justice beth walker. Justice john hutch inson. Give them a giant round of applause. [ applause ] [applause] thank you. Oh, thank you. I have to tell you this. But John Hutchinson looks so innocent, doesnt he . [ laughter ] now, just think about this. We were practicing basketball at Woodro Wilson in the year, the year i believe i believe i was a sophomore and john was a junior. John is way, way, way older than me. But, in all that, we were lining up at the Center Circle at the Raleigh County armory to jump ball. There were five sophomores on the team. We ended up winning the state championship. But, with all of that being said, those five sophomores, one of 15, were just we got run over every day. In this situation i truly did. As the ball was thrown up, john wheeled around at warp speed and hit me right in the nose with his head. My nose broke in three places. Blood was going everywhere. And the coach was screaming, justice, give off the court so, any way, brother john, i will never forget that. [ laughter ] our constitutional officers, from our left. Our attorney general, patrick morissey, please give him a big round of applause. [ applause ] [applause] our state. Orthe state auditor, another round of applause. Our secretary of state mac warner, please, another round of applause. Our commissioner of agriculture, same. Our state treasurer, riley moore. And our state superintendent of schools. [ applause ] well t has been easy up to now. Just think about this. Seven years ago and seven years for some i am sure it has gone really, really fast. This is my last day seven years, my gosh it seemed like an eternity when it all started. It has gone really fast. And i am sure for several of you it has gone really slow. Along the way i have tried to do this. I have tried to give wisdom. Wisdom that i was fought mostly from my dad. Wisdom about dont confuse effort with accomplishment, you can not get it done in 24 hours a day you have to work nights. You know, dad would of said as i stood in front of him and said dad, anything that i can do, and he exploded and he jumped forward as an 18year old around my shirt and just slammed me down on the desk and said, darn you, he did not say darn you, he said you best better always remember this, there is is always something you can do, and you darn well ought to always remember that. Well, that is how i lived my life. That is all there is to it. I believe that. I believe that if you give it to god above and you give your best and you give your best like nobodys business, good things will happen. Now, i will give you one more bit of advise right now. I gave this the same advise to that bunch of young ladies that is right up there. That is my Basketball Team. A bunch of kids that are the best of the best. I said to them, there is no substitute for being there. Absolutely always showing up. Always giving your best. And there is no substitute for being there. Now, with all of that being said if we can focus on just being there, let me tell you something. I just came up with this probably yesterday. I looked at the mileage deal on my vehicle. And this is this is four or five vehicles into this. 248,000 miles right now. I totaled up the vehicles over the last years that i have been your governor. And i am approaching driving one million miles in the state of West Virginia. A million miles. I do it on my dime and i do it proudly because i really think that i am here to serve. Now, just think about it. What is a million miles . Do you realize that if we left here right this minute and we headed to the Pacific Ocean in california. I could have done that 500 times. 500 times on the mileage that i have spent traveling all across this unbelievable state. Now, if i would absolutely tell you just this. Along the way, maybe i am different, maybe i am the guy that is not crazy about spending your money. Maybe i am the guy that really is not crazy about having a party every other night, or maybe i am the guy that is not crazy about flying in your aircraft, can you imagine i have been in your helicopter one time, one time. I am crazy about just this. I am crazy about serving. You know, our forefathers stepped up and an awful lot of you are doing exactly the same thing. You are on the cusp right now of being away from your families for all practice purposes for 60 days, and what you are paid is nothing. Absolutely at the end of the day i can not thank you enough. Now, i will tell you this job, at times, can be pretty dog gone tough. There are days that it is plenty lonely. And there are days that you are tired and you feel beat up and lo and behold in the clear sky there are families that are devastated with floods or whatever it may be and there is not maybe anything you can do. You see our heroes, the heroes that are the first that we all call that maybe we lost. And, you said briefing after briefing after briefing and you read the names of 7,000 plus people lost. We dont read the names, do we . We read the age, the sex, the county. It was terrible. I know very well what each and every one of those families was going through was really tough. I see the pain at times that my family has and i only tell you just this, though, a thousand, a thousand, a thousand times over i would do it again. And a thousand, a thousand, a thousand times over they would, too. Now, let me just read a couple lines to you. When the first time that you saw me i stood before you pledging to fight for the soul of our state. We were staring down a dark tunnel. Our state was bankrupt, our jobs and our people were leaving and our spirit was broken. Do you remember those days . Do you remember what that was like . It was not any fun, was it . Now, i would also tell you that oftentimes things come in really odd looks packages. And i am it. You know, you got a big guy, for crying out loud he has a bull dog, too, with all of that being said, the big boy brought white boards in the beginning, sweat running off of him in every direction known to man while i was trying to get this written and this written and this written. The big guy is creative, and the big guy has got big, big, big dreams. I do have a ton of energy that god has given me and a lot and lot and lot of enthusiasm. I believe there was real hope. And i believed it. I believe most first and foremost overwhelmingly that god above was at play in all of our hearts. Right here with us, each and every day. It did not matter to me that we were absolutely the benefits of who would be 50 in this country. It did not matter to me. I knew, i knew how good you really are. And i knew it. And i believed it. I asked you to close your eyes at that point in time. A long way back, and think of the place, the place. Has four seasons and all of these Natural Resources and the real treasure, you, you, the greatness of the people. I will ask you before i am done tonight to close your eyes one more time. I came in at the first state of the state and i said just these. Think about just there for a second. I said, we need to make education our centerpiece. We need to grow tourism, we need to diversify our economies, we need to never, never, never forget our coal miners, our gas workers and our fossil fuels. We need to absolutely change our standard of life. We need to pass roads to prosperity and change our image. Nothing changed. Nothing changed. From the first crack out of the box, nothing changed. Just think about it. You know, we absolutely stepped up to the plate in regard to education, we sure got a long ways to go. We got parents now that can choose where they want to go and what they want to do. Absolutely, we grown tourism off of the charts. And every dollar that you put into tourism you dont put enough and you dont put enough and you dont put enough because every dollar that you put in it comes ripping back to us instantly. I said diversify the economy. We could not just depend on one industry all of the time. My family has been in the coal business forever. We could not depend on one industry all of the time. But we dont forget, do we . You know what happens . Because putting another stake in the sand saying we are not going to forget our fossil fuels and for those crazies that are out there in lala land that believe we can do without fossil fuels today go back to your crazy stuff, you know, to be perfectly honest i dont want to start the death in the dark. [ applause ] [applause] [applause] when you are thinking about standard of life. You have to be thinking about two things. Who do they have . Schools and roads . Over and over and over and over. The same thing. Think about it. Granted. Our schools have a ways to go. But you know, i think we should always, all never forget this. Jim is in the schools all of the time. All of the time. Why would i tell you anything but the truth . I challenge the media every day, over and over and over and over and over, find something that knowingly i told you that is not true. Politicians do it nonstop find something that jim justice has told you that is not true. You cant do it. You cant do it. Now, with all of that being saturday, think about that standard of life and schools, here is the next thing that i absolutely challenge you to do. Pick a school. I dont care what school. Pick an elementary school, go to the school. Walk into the 4th grade class, do this, please, do this, walk into the 4th grade class, it may be miss lilys class and ask miss lily to go out in the hall and say to the kids, what do you think of miss lily and they will say i love miss lily and ask her about her students you will get the same thing. Then, go downtown and say what do you think of Cameron Elementary School . What do you think . Here would be the answer. We love our school. We love our school. It means everything to our community. We just have to improve. It is the kids, love the teacher, and the teacher loves the kids and the community loves the school. We got a lot going on in a good way, too. Our roads to prosperity launched and we had if we liked it or didnt like it. We had to change our image. Today of all things. And if i could say it in slang, who could of ever thunk it. Think about it. In world travel magazine. In countries so far away we dont have any idea where they are. They are saying West Virginia is the place you out to go. You are seeing it all around you. You are seeing it everywhere. Absolutely we are a different place today. With all of that together, what happened . Then the rocket ship took off, didnt it . Now. I want to read just a couple more lines to you. We have climbed that mountain together. We have pulled the rope together. Every step of the way and the view from the top is breathtaking. If i can just touch on just a couple more. It all started like i said with the road to prosperity program. You know. Our roads are anything but just steel and concrete. The roads are arteries that are pumping life back into our very error towns and towns and cities. They are jobs that are coming home and to families that can stay home. And speaking of families, we stepped up. We stepped up for our troopers. We stepped up for our teachers and our public servants. We absolutely stepped up when they were having a tough time. We delivered pay raise after pay raise. Our schools now have new life. Our streets are safer and our state runs like a well oiled machine at this time, pumping out pride and not desperation. Remember the taxes that we pay. The regulations that burden our businesses. We slash them together. Together, all of us. We cut the red tape and what happened . Businesses are absolutely booming. And jobs are multiplying. And West Virginia has become a magnet for dreams not dust. Our revenue surpluses reached heights that nobody could of ever dreamed of. That is all there is to. And, we are returning those dollars to you. But it is not all dollars and cents, is it . When it really boils right down to it, it is about the soul of this state. We protected our coal miners, our gun rights, and our unborn babies. I could not be more proud. [ applause ] we fought for our faith, did we not . Our families, our freedoms. We stood tall in West Virginia and West Virginia strong we were through covid and fires, floods, and storms. And the world is seeing the West Virginia grit that we got. Now, i am going to lay aside what we have done. Because my dad would say to me over and over and over, again, at one time, believe it or not i was skinny and had brown lair and i was a hottie to they golfer. I won state junior amateur a couple times and played tournament, tournament with sam smead. He thought i was a good player. With all that being said, my dad would of said to me 1,000 times, son, the only shot in golf that matters is the next shot. If your last shot went dead in the middle of the swamp what can you do about it . If the last shot was a holein one, what does it matter . The only shot in life in many situations is the next shot. So, with that being said, i would say to you, we are a long ways from being done in West Virginia. We have jobs to create, schools to enhance and communities to lift. So, lets make this last year that i have and then the decades to come, better and better and better and better and better. Please lets do just that. If i could talk just a second about Economic Development here is what i would say to you. How does it feel . How does it feel to go to the place today and every single time you go to the plate you are hitting a home run . That is how it feels. For gods sakes, you can not imagine the businesses that are calling over and over and over and over. And opportunities for jobs and goods other states had that we never had. It is real. It is absolutely real. These are numbers that i have been given and everything but numbers, since 2017 we created 12,591 jobs, retained 20,150 jobs, 240 companies in the mix somewhere. We do have a seat at the table now. And in my words, we are the seat. Do you get that . For gods sakes of all things, West Virginia is the seat. We are competing on that world stage and we are winning. There are six new businesses that i am going to announce to you, go through them pretty quickly. Wet fuel sell is coming to the airport with 230 jobs, clean seeds is comes to quincy with 40 new jobs and a 50 Million Investment, we have an expansion or retain businesses alcon that has spending 70 million and 500 jobs, gstamp is coming to South Charleston with 70 Million Investment and 400 new jobs. Smr technologies is coming to Nicholas County with 40 new jobs, no, i am sorry, with 40 jobs, 100 retain jobs and 23 million in investment and Mountain Top Beverage is coming to morgantown with 240 Million Investment, 210 retain jobs and 140 more jobs that are being added. Please give all of these folks your heartfelt applause [ applause ] folks an applause. Folks an [applause] amazon is coming to west amazon rgis coming to West Virginia again. This time amazon is coming with aws. You know, we can not even run the internet without aws. It is amazing the partnership that is beginning to happen with our schools there say lot, lot, lot still to be put forth in the end to regard to this. We have two people i think they are here tonight. It is kim majaris with us, kim are you here . Okay. There is kim. Please give her a big round of applause. Think about this, you deserve so much credit. Tax cuts, we cut taxes in West Virginia 23 times since i walked in the door. 23 different times. And delivered on the biggest tax cut, the biggest tax cut in state history, hands down. I would tell you just this. The faster that we can get rid of the taxes on the individuals, the better we will be. [ applause ] you cant [applause] you cant we cant do it all on day one. We got to mind the store properly. That is all there is to it. You got to mind the store properly. You cant do it all on day one but it does not mean we dont see the beacon and dont drive ourselves there as fast and as hard as we possibly can go to get there. Tonight, i am proposing two more. I am proposing the elimination of Social Security tax on all. On all [ applause ] [applause] im proposing a [applause] i am proposing a child and dependent care tax credit to where folks that are struggling with daycare, can write them off of your taxes against your revenue. We need this. We need this very badly and we need it right now. [ applause ] this for all practical purposes we had a flat budget. I want to say. I dont enable growing government and my administration does not believe in dipping into our Rainy Day Fund and using our Rainy Day Fund. We use surpluses. We use earnings to absolutely make choices to do projects, to grow this state. But we got to do it while minding that store that i refer to all of the time. Tonight, i have a few things that i am adding based on earnings and dollars that we have got, and these few things are first just this. We have dr. Eric hayes with us here. If you can please stand. This may surprise you but absolutely that is one whale of a school, i grew up and cut my teeth from a business standpoint running an ag operation and it grew and it grew and it grew. We need a state of the art agriculture lab. I am proposing we put 50 million in a new state of the art aglab and locate it at West Virginia state university. [ applause ] university. [applause] university. We need to stand behind our moms, dont we . I am proposing 3 million for crisis pregnancy centers. We need to stand be side, behind our seniors. Absolutely the very people that brung us to the dance. The very people that in oftentimes we run away from and we think they will be okay. No. They will not be okay. 20 million to our Senior Centers, 15 million to our state parks, 5 million to absolutely never forget our fireman, our ems, and their agencies. We need to fund them with 10 million. This is a pile of money. But we have grown this state to have a pile of money. So, instead of just sitting there staring at a pile of money lets put the money to work. Lets make the money work for us. 2 million for the very, very, very people that we owe everything in life to, to the states veterans homes. 5 million for seed money to start charter schools. 150 million is a large investment to the School Building authority. 50 million for flood resiliency. You know, i have gone over and over and over and seen bad, bad, bad things happen. And maybe they did not cost all of the money in the world. And the folks did absolutely not qualify for fema and there they were. There they were with the inloader. At the end of the street, picking up all their memories and everything and throwing them in the back of a dump truck be and off they went. Tough, really tough. When you got to just sit there and put your arm around them and say there is nothing that i can do. Then i think about dad. Absolutely there is always something you can do. And this will help a lot of folks. In our hospitals, all across the land, step up for us over and over and over and over. I know this is not all of the money in the world. But i want to propose that we spend 100 million listen to all of our hospitals, let them figure it out because ann can make 3 go from here to texas and back. [ applause ] back. And where all of this leaves us today, you may think, my gosh. All of this money. Where this leaves us today is with 310 million in the Income Tax Fund and a billion, 200 million in a Rainy Day Fund. 1 billion 500,000 in this state it still leaves us right where i said. Mind the store. Blind the store. So, i want to put 10 million back into the posey period fund. We have now spent 9. 5 million of the 10 million we had last year. Some way, somehow, all of you have got to realize and all you got to do is go with Kathy Justice and communities and schools or wherever, all you got to do is go to the school. Go and be with the kids. What you are going to see is you are going to see in a lot of situations that maybe, just maybe it may be the parents fault, but the kids are suffering. The kids are hungry, too. Go somewhere to a Senior Center to see somebody that is really having a hard time, they are having a hard time getting to, getting food to, we have got with all of our bountiful harvest that god above has given us we have got to stop hunger in this state. So, i tell you just this. There is a man with us tonight, his name is larry lester. Larry works this food bank where my uncle, his name was posey perry. He was a coal miner. He died when he was 94, for 30 years he worked the food banks. 39. Is that larry . Stand up. Please. [ applause ] please. [applause] larry now has the raping and has been there a long t larry now has the reigns, he has been there a long time himself. He knows what hunger is really about. We got to stop it. We got to stop it. I am proposing an across the board 5 pay raise for the fifth time, for the fifth time, to all of our teachers and Service Personnel and all of those in government. Hopefully this will more, more than cover, and it will, it will more than cover the pei extra costs and with all of that at the end of the day what we wanted to do is not to cover we wanted to cover and those folks put some money in their pocket. [ applause ] the ems, answer the call initiative, think about this, in 2021, 542, in 2023, 938. It is amazing, amazing. So many West Virginians are now working and become emts and we need them, we needed them so badly. We have a gentleman with us tonight. I am proposing that 10 million to where we can continue funding this through my budget and this program is unbelievable. There is a fellow with us tonight his name is darren crocher. Absolutely, i want to read to you a quote that darren said. And the glare on this is giving me a little bit of a fit. I will hold it here. It says i am so thankful to be a part of Something Like this. To see tax dollars going to the betterment of West Virginians. We do this because we love West Virginia and we love our communities. This training has helped me in so many ways. It gave me a career. Great Health Benefits for myself, my wife, and my three children. This was very rewarding and it taught me that i could learn again. Please, give a great big round of applaud to again, one of our heroes, darren crocher. [ applause ] [applause] think about nursing. Think about. Think about nursing. Think about what we did. We decided, you know, because we had extra dollars, we figured it all out and everything, we put 48 million into an salute situation to be able to train and to retain and to track nurses in the state of West Virginia. It worked, didnt it . It worked. We had 810 new nursing students that enrolled in the first year. I am proposing that we add 30 million to this Great Program and continue the funding and geniveve johnson is with us, she say graduate. She is working at wb madison thomas. She graduated early. You knowity can not ever say i graduated five months early i was very fortunate to make an arb. Sometimes it was not. An a or a b. Our foster care system needs us to step up, doesnt it that is all there is to it. The kids need it so badly. We made a move in dividing up dhhr. We have three great, great, great secretaries now. But there is still tons of work to do. Tons and tons and tons of work to do. We need cps workers. We need more dollars, there has been real improvement made. We have gone from vacancy numbers from 33 down from 17. From 45 needed that were vacancies to 9. It sounds great, doesnt it . But there is so much more to do. At the end of the day we need to do all that we possibly can to help these families and help these kids and we are going to do it. Jobs and hope it is the same kind of story. First started out as jims dreams, went to job and hope and everything, there have been 5,024 that have gone through the jobs and hope program and gotten jobs. 1765 gotten their drivers license back. 1244 are not on snap payments anymore. There is a fellow with us right now here tonight his name is james, james was a graduate, james absolutely founded a solardesigned insulation company. A graduate. And founded a new company in this state. And has hired two other additional people that went through jobs and hope. Gjames, please stand, lets give you a great round of applause. [ applause ] stand. [applause] stand. Correction, corrections were ino the papers all of the time. Absolutely with all in as we know, we all know we got work to do there. We all know the simple, simple thing that happened, for gosh sakes, lets call it like it is, what happened . Was, you know, absolutely everybody said maybe subconsciously but said, you know, we got to do this and we got to do this and we got to do this. And those folks did bad stuff. And really at the end of the rainbow maybe they were the last that got fed. We got to do stuff. And so we have. We have tried to step up and we have tried to do an amazing work right now. We recently graduated 227 graduates that can now work in our jails all across the state. You know, we are, we are effective as we speak downsizing the National Guard in our facilities. And it is my hope beyond belief that by the end of the summer, the National Guard will be out of our facilities and we will have solved this problem in many ways. There is a corporal with us tonight. His name is james hamilton. And absolutely i congratulate him in many, many, many, many different ways. You know, he worked at mount olive. He was in our National Guard. And then decided the pasture is greener somewhere else because of lots of different factors. And then all of a sudden, you know, we had pay raises and we pushed the right buttons here and there and he has come home. And so, he is doing great work and absolutely he has been honorably discharged for the National Guard and working full time at mount olive and he is with us tonight. James, please stand wherever you are. Do this. While you are standing and everything, i want to hear you at the top of the rel m and everything from the standpoint of just showing your appreciation and your love and your thanks for our National Guard it is unflat believable what they do. [ cheers and applause ] i told you this a million times. But i have said over and over and over, we owe every single thing that we have, everything that we have, first and foremost to god above. But, secondly to our veterans. We do. And all of those that are serving in our active military today. You know, this world today it is a spooky place. That is all there is to it. We have two people jamie and jihan and it is springston. They absolutely came back and seeked education and they came back as veterans to West Virginia. Jamie is enrolled in marshall right now and heads up the student vets chapter. Absolutely these folks came back. Why did they come back . Why did they pick rather West Virginia . I will tell you why they picked West Virginia. They picked West Virginia because there is no personal income tax on their pensions. There is absolutely because they see us on a pathway to irrat making more and more moves, they chose us. They could have gone anywhere. Absolutely as they have this message through all of the grapevines, it brings more and more super qualified people to us. Our veterans, wherever you, please stand. [ applause ] are,less stand. Are,less [applause] im going i am going to stick with the veterans. I am going to go quickly. I am going to stick with the veterans for a minute. I am announcing a bill tonight that i am i am sorry, to give all of our veterans nobody is going to pay out of state tuition. We are going to pay instate tuition in the state of West Virginia, in addition to that, two more initiatives, i want to spend 5 million to super charge the Ascend Program in West Virginia and 2. 5 million from a joint Initiative Recruitment of our big bases all across the land to bring more veterans to West Virginia. You know, we truly, truly, truly do love and appreciate our vets and absolutely West Virginia has made the contributions and stepped up more than any other per capita. We absolutely owe them, owe them. So, please support those initiatives. I want to talk to you just a second about kathy. And communities and schools. You know, in all fairness, we started down a path in the beginning where there were no money, there was no money to do anything. In all honesty, just remember, just remember when they gave me the books the first go around and we looked and for gosh sakes we were halfway through the year like you will give a new governor, you know, sometime about this time next year, what if that governor got something halfway through the year he was told then you will be 217 million short. What are you going to do . What are you going to do . You have a constitutional amendment to have a balanced budget and they will say that is not the bad news the. The bad news in your first you have a constitutional amendment to have a balanced budget, what on the world is this about . And they say, thats not the bad news. The bad news is in your first year, thats all there is to it. There is a wealth of people behind this, but i am telling you, and you can put it in the bank, jim justice, if you believe anything he tells you in the world, you Better Believe this. I have been in school after school after school after ti school, and ive seen it work and work and work and work. Theres a fellow with us tonight, his name is wilmette us. He was a hunting high school not long ago. And his dad was a nurse, at county ems. His dad died. And will probably didnt know where to turn. And things werent going all at for will. All of a sudden, the coordinator at the school and will connected. Today, will is a marketing major at marshall university, and today hes with us, and the other thing that will has done that will blow you away is, as soon as he got there, he loved photography and he went to the Athletic Department and told him that he could take all these great pictures of the athletes and everything. Today, hes looked on and counted on as one of their shining stars in the Athletic Department. Soever will is, please stand and give him a great big round a of applause. Im calling and asking for you to continue to fund this effort. They need 10 million. 10 million is a drop in the bucket for the amount of kids that we have touched in this program. I would like to tell you just one more thing, real quick. Kathy came up with the idea of bringing therapy dogs to schools. Theres 19 now in the schools, and theres call after call after call every day of schools wanting a dog. Absolutely, you may not think its much. But it absolutely commits us to nurturing, learning and lots of ways. I can tell you this story real quickly. If this doesnt touch your heart, i dont know what does. I think the kid is at pineville elementary, he has real problems. Real, real problems. And everything. Hes in a wheelchair, she didnt want to come to school. He didnt want to come to school. We were losing him in every way. I got a dog at the school, and they got the dog all of a sudden, he started coming to the school, and hed read it to the dog. This is a kid in elementary school. And then someone came to him and said he would hardly talk. Someone said to him, how was your day today . You know what his words were . Best day ever. Doing a lot of good stuff. Onig. Sharon cole. Onig. Shes a 34year veteran educator and shes teach our teacher of the year is with us tonight. Sharon call. Shes a 34yearold, and shes teaching the second game at elementary, and it is the first time we have a winner from wayne county. If sharon cole could stand, please give her a giant round of applause. Are 2020 for school Service Personnel of the year winner is with us. His name is gary, and gary is from cabo county, hes a school bus operator, and i am telling you if you dont think for a second that we need all of our school, Service Personnel, you are out in left field. These people are educators, these people are moms and dads, these people are everything to our kids. Where is gary . In the gallery, we have sponsors, hi mark, blue cross blue shield, and toyota. Are with us tonight, are yall here anywhere . Were clapping for you anyway. Okay. Now, moving along. I dont have very far to go. But i just tell you this. Im going to be really serious with you, and you know me i dont blow smoke at many people, i dont have time to do it. I dont know how anymore point blank. High School Sports in this state is really important. Really, really important. It finds communities together. It does all kinds of really good stuff. I know with the transfer rule and everything that you are trying to do the right thing. Because we want choice. We want choice for our parents, i get that. I get every bit of it. If you dont watch out, whats going to happen and youve got to listen to a guy thats a coach, i tried to tell you before. But absolutely when you got teams that are losing 937 and 860, in football, its got to stop. We have made this situation to where we are absolutely, if we dont watch out we are going to ruin, i said ruin high School Sports in West Virginia. Its going to really hurt us. I dont know exactly what the right solution is but im telling you, theres some smart people in this room, and today i am absolutely pleading with you to figure it out. Get this back on the right kilter. Its really important. You may absolutely not think for a second, what in the world for crying out loud, my kids are grown and gone and everything else. Mine are, too. But, i go to be a coach, the reason i go to be a coach is because, before i tried to tell you, i dont go on vacations. I dont go anywhere, i think we live in the greatest place on the planet. Thats all there is to it, you dont have to send me on these trips. I dont need your dollars, i dont need to go anywhere. I love West Virginia, in all the greatness that we have all around us. Youve got to listen to me on this. Someway, somehow, weve got to resolve this. And weve got to stop this, the last thing i would tell you is, if this isnt enough, i dont know what is. Those kids had to go to school the next day. Do you realize that . You went on the football field and got beat 937. And you had to go to school the next day. What do you think those other kids in that school were saying to those kids . Kids can be tough. They really can. And they can be screwed cruel. Weve got to fix this. Helping kids dual enrollment, 6500 schools have utilized. I am proposed 1. 6 million of helping kids dual enrollment, 6500 students have utilized. I am proposing 1. 6 million additional funding. I commend fairmont state, fairmont state, for stepping up and helping with our foster kids giving the ability for High School Students and everything to come to fairmont state. And study and get College Credits and everything. Over and over and over, so many people are stepping up. Im really, really proud when we signed West Virginia invest to have Free Community college. Since that time, 4500 students have worked and worked with that grant. Good stuff. Ive talked to you just one second about dilapidated structures. We passed senate bill 368, weve gotten rid of 500 structures that were eyesores and problems, coke houses and whatever it may be. Youve helped it. But, in total, in total, i think the dp is projecting that well do another 1500, or have 1500 total, i dont know what exactly it is. By the end of the summer of 2025. Weve got a lot more. Every time we make this move, we make us better. Thats all there is to it. We show ourselves off and make West Virginia shine even more. I got to talk to you a second about tourism. Tourism, i mean, good gracious. I could talk till the cows come home. I said to you earlier, i said, any time youre thinking about it. Any time you have the opportunity to spend a dollar on tourism, especially with the great secretary chelsea ruby at him, if you could spend a dollar, a dollar on tourism, do it. The world has awakened. The world has awakened to all thats going on. Just think, when i said close your eyes, think of the four unbelievable seasons, and the fact that two thirds of the population in our country can drive to us in a day. Think about the money we spent on our state parks. Did it work . Are you kidding me . You cant hardly get in our state parks. Think about the celebration of the new state park that we have. Absolutely right there at summersville. So much going on, it is unbelievable. In 2017, chelsea told me we had four straight years of tourism spending dropping in West Virginia. Boy, has that ever changed. Chelsea, wherever you are, thank you so much. Keep it up. That . [applause] that . Now, thats the really good news. Theres bad news with this. Weve got 40 more elk on the way to West Virginia. How about that . Thats the really good news. Theres some bad news with this. This is not good. One of our folks was down there, i dont know exactly what they were doing, i dont know all the details. But i wasnt going to bring this up, ive got to tell you this and everything but one of our folks is down there working these elk and everything getting ready for transport. And added tranquilizer gun and someway, somehow, it ended up shooting himself in the leg. Thats not a good day. Because the elk is a 500 pound animal, and you just took a tranquilizer dart for a 500 pound animal, and you may weigh 150 pounds. Not a good day at all. We were scared to death that we were going to lose him. We really thought we were going to lose him. And now, i think i can report to you that hes in nashville, in the hospital, and hes doing pretty good. I think its going to be okay. Before i close, let me go back to this. I want to talk to you a second about rhodes. Again, when i first walked into the governors office, and they handed me these books, and they were tough. And i dont know many things in this world, but im a business guy, and i know when somebody is bankrupt and if we werent bankrupt id tell you you were crazy. Literally from that, this is where i really truly believe that god always shows up, always. It may not be on our timetable but somehow, god always shows up. Of all things, its not a very pretty sight, block this out of your mind. I was in the shower. Block it out of your mind. Were good with that being way out of your mind. And i thought, what are we going to do . What in the world are we going to do . And then it hit me, i wonder what it would cost every breathing West Virginia and if we let every road job that we had even remotely on the books, if we let them all go tomorrow. What would it cost . And thats where the idea of roadster prosperity started. And off we went. And absolutely, with that, the grant street bridge or the bridges at wheeling, getting yourself to the convenient mart because you couldnt get there before tearing your car up before. Its unbelievable. Think about this number. In five years, we have done roadwork, get this. To 485,333 miles of roads. In the roadster prosperity program, weve done 1200 projects. Its unbelievable. And before i leave you, i would tell you again, absolutely, with all in you for, were really close. We just approved another award today. Were getting really close. Finished it, and absolutely finish the coalfield expressways and the king coal highway. Finish them. [ applause ] the coalfield expressway and the highway will bring southern West Virginia, the world, in quarter h migration living linking that up to d. C. And all the population and everything will bring us jobs like you cant imagine. Think about this, just a second. In 2017, we very courageously came up and said were going to spend 1 billion. And then in 2020, it plummeted up another 5. 1 billion. And by the end of 2023, it stood at 11. 5 billion. And in 2024, were representing that were going to spend another 2 billion in projects. Now, these men and women from our highway department, i had to bring you something out here. They have a banner, but in, get this in total, thats over 13. 4 billion in cumulative Infrastructure Investment in West Virginia during my administration, and i want you to look, i want you to look at the number of projects and where they are. Theyre everywhere. Theyre blooming everywhere. And these folks are making it happen. Please give them a monstrous round of applause. Good stuff. Good, good stuff. Ive been get up to now except to little, little kids at pineville elementary. I can probably use your prayers a little bit. This is really tough on me here. Ive got a story to tell you, i got a story to tell you, and this is where we end this. Im a real believer, just like i said, god always shows up. Ive been so blessed. How in the world, how in the world did i come up with the idea of roads to prosperity . How on earth did i come up with that . Do you think of it anyway jim justice believes that im good enough to have come up with that idea . No way. No way. In all honesty, i was given that idea. Absolutely, we have been blessed beyond all good sense. And we should absolutely, always, never forget that. Let me tell you a story real quick. My Basketball Team, most of them that are up there, stand up. Now, just stand there. This is going to be hard on you, but you can make it. Last year, we played princeton twice in the regular season. Now, were not used to losing. But then we played them in the tournament, and it just so happened that woodrow had the number one seed, so two and three had to play each other. And we played princeton at our place. We were the two seed. When we played at our place before we won really big, we played a close game with preston not long ago, and it was at princeton. So, they came in and they played a really nice game, and we lost. I was fit to be tied, and probably all of them were pretty sad. This is hard to believe, but for the most part when we are on the floor, we have one junior, a bunch of sophomores, and a bunch of freshmen, and thats what weve got. Now, they, last year, a lot of them that were sophomores now were freshman then. Im on the way to charleston, the next day, and i cant get out of my mind how it went last night, and it went terrible, and we were out whole deal, then, we were gone. A lot of the kids, they feel like, what in the world just happened . And i walked in the office, remember, i said a minute ago, god always shows up. So i walked in my office, and rebecca, who gives me letter after letter after letter, and lots of time there is no way to keep up with reading all the letters after letters after letters, but we try, and we try to read every one we can get. Rebecca said, i dont have any idea who this is, but, you may want to read this. Incomes this letter, to the honorable jim justice. It says, dear coach. I was recently on a run with my two sons, and they started complaining about being tired. When they asked if we could walk instead of run, i told them to keep sawing the wood. After we completed the run, they asked me, what did that phrase mean . While explaining it meant, and this is very small print so its hard for me to see it. By continuing to make steady progress. I was reminded of when i first heard you use that phrase. While facing a large time deficit in the sweet 16 tournament in the aau National Team from ohio, you told me and the rest of the West Virginia allstars to keep sawing the wood. We had paid very poorly in the first half, and in the beginning of your halftime speech was one of only a few times i ever saw you express true disappointment in our effort. However, you reminded us that we could come back just as we did, if we kept sawing the wood. As you already know, we came back, and won that game, and went on to advance to the quarterfinals of the national aau tournament. Then he says, although we won this specific game, and many others, the life lessons, we learned while playing basketball for you, were far more important than the outcome of the game. When i was at army ranger school, or on a military deployment, i reminded myself daily to keep sawing the wood. Now, i apply in the Business World and as a father. Thank you for your leadership you provided during my youth, and more broadly for your leadership to the great state of West Virginia. With only a few days or months left, remaining as governor, i encourage you to keep sawing the wood. Please send my regards to kathy nj and jill. Below is my current Contact Information if you would like to contact me. Note, i currently reside in germany. I have with us tonight, a real american hero. One of many, many, many. A west point graduate. Matt fitzwater, and get this. He served as an army officer in the Field Artillery branch. He obtained the rank of captain. He completed three combat deployments to iraq. He won the bronze star, or was awarded the bronze star, the combat action badge, and the air assault badge. Its amazing. I had not heard from Matt Fitzwater in 25 years. And there was his letter. It stood for every single thing that i stand for. You see, i believe that god always shows up, and i believe in my life that what we all, every last one of you should be doing is trying to make things better. Trying to make things better in every way you possibly can. You see, if im coaching a Basketball Team and i put my record up against anybody, anywhere, anytime, because we want to win just as much as anybody wants to win, im going to tell you right now, when those kids leave me, if all i can give them is the ability to be able to dribble a basketball better, then i havent done much. You absolutely can do so much for this great state. Its unbelievable. Some way, right here with us, is Matt Fitzwater and his family, his mom and dad, don and randy. And i want the roof to come off of this, because its a Great American hero, and absolute, i dont know where you are, matt, but wherever you are, stand up. [ applause ] matts team little rag tag bunch of kids from West Virginia, jay one of them, my son right here. Unbelievable experience wasnt matts team, a little ragtag bunch of kids from West Virginia, my son, right here one of them. Unbelievable experience, wasnt it, matt . With all that being said, matt was a point guard. With all that being said, ill ask you right now to do what i asked you to do a little while ago, where i told you i was going to ask you to do. I want you to close your eyes, just one second. Just one second. And imagine that place that abounds in Natural Resources beyond belief, like i said before. Its close to two thirds of the population of the country. Four unbelievable seasons and the greatest people on the planet. But, imagine the state, this booming job after job, company after company, hope and belief beyond belief, travel guides that say, West Virginia, of all places, is the place to be. And now, open your eyes. And know that place is us. Is West Virginia. I would say to each and everyone of you, keep sawing the wood. God bless you, thank you. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. Were funded by these Television Companies and more, including charter communications. Charteis proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers, and were just geing started. 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On wednesday, the House Oversight committee continues the republicanled impeachment inquiry into president biden, with testimony from a former associate of rudy giuliani. Former associates of hunter biden will also share their testimony, with live coverage starting at 10 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan three. Cspan now, our free mobile video app, and online at c span. Org. Cspan has been delivering unfiltered congressional coverage for 45 years. Heres a highlight from a key moment. Two weeks ago, in the midst of a terrible tragedy on the potomac, we saw again the spirit of american heroism at its finest. The heroism of dedicated rescue workers saving Crash Victims from icy waters, and we saw the heroism of one of our young government employees. Who, when he saw a woman lose her grip on the helicopter line, dived into the water and dragged her to safety. Cspan, powered by cable. And now, indianas governor eric holcomb