Public Television Companies and brought to you by your cabler or satellite provider. Next, Massachusetts GovernorCharlie B Charlie baker delivers the annual state of the state address in boston. He talks about Education Funding, combatting the states Opioid Epidemic, and tax credits credits. This is just over 30 minutes. Thank you. Thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you. Please, please. We have lots to talk about. So the real test is if you do that when i am finished. [ laughter ] so mr. Speak, mr. President , members of the house and senate, and distinguished elected officials, honored guests and fellow citizens. About 750 days ago Lieutenant Governor karen polito and i stood here to pledge with you and work with others to move the commonwealth forward and we have done just that. We built a bipartisan team, worked in partnership with the Led Legislature and looked for common ground. We worked to fix State Government, and passed groundbreaking legislation, and focused on growing the economy and it is working. [ applause ] our economy is among the strong nest the nation. And over the past two years weshg e years,we have added 120,000 jobs and the welfare caseload has dropped by 25 . [ applause ] the companies of the future are moving to massachusetts bringing millions in private investment while new companies are born here everyday. In fact, for the second year in a row bloomberg named massachusetts the number one state for innovation in the whole country. [ applause ] g. E. s decision to relocate the world Head Quarters to boston and the north American LifeSciences Center in marlborough was based on the belief of the talent and the vision of our people. Believe me, any discussion of g. E. s relocation would not be complete without noting the extraordinary work and collaboration of boston mayor marty walsh and his team. Thank you. [ applause ] mr. Mayor, i look forward to working on you on the next patriots super bowl victory party. The job gains benefited every corner of our state. For example, new bedford had the steepest unemployment decline in the country, with the Unemployment Rate with an Unemployment Rate that has fallen from 6. 5 to 3. 7 in the past year, and it is not an accident that massachusetts is such an attractive place to do business. It is a reflection of the quality of the people and the climate that we have created here. The progress that we have made on energy is a perfect example. Together, we pass landmark legislation. And that will reduce our Carbon Footprint while maintaining a competitive supply of energy, and we have built on the efforts by issuing a executive order of Climate Change to direct state. Go to work with local governments and businesses and nonprofits to further develop and protect the environment and reduce Green House Gas emission s. Thanks for the hard work of state and local officials, and the teachers and the parents and the students are number one in the the nation in both math and reading for the sixths straight year. That is a good number. [ applause ] our shared commitment to funding local schools has led to the alltime high in chapter 70 Education Funding representing an increase of 227 million over the past two years and we have made at the ending a Public College more affordable. Through the commonwealth initiative, we have pave ad way for student s s to get a bachels degree from umass in four years for 15,000. And Jacqueline Bell is here s, d she is a great example of who this program is helping. Jacqueline is 26 years old, and she has a 6yearold daughter and a straight a student in m massaquoi college. And she said it has changed her familys life. Look at you. Jacqueline, we all look forward to watching you build on your success. We have also reviewed an update and eliminated thousands of pages of outdate and obsolete state legislation which has are reduced the red taper for employers and nonprofits and cities and towns do their jobs. We know that high Speed Internet is central to the way we communicate and learn and do business burk in too many communities in western mass, they dont have access to the central service. So this last may, we completely overhauled the last mile program for the rural communities. We started with 53 towns lacking Internet Speed access and while we have a lot more work to do and in just six months we have moved a dozen towns forward and that is more progress on the local broadband than we have made in the last five years, with lots more to get done in the near future. We have done all of that and more while closing 1 billion state budget gap without raising taxes. [ applause ] fiscal responsibility is challenging work, and it is not the stuff that wins popularity contests, but by working together, we have controlled the run aaway growth in spending, and nearly eliminated the structural deficit in just two yea years. Have reduced the states bureaucracy and saving hundreds of millions of dollars and working smarter to make the State Government more accountable to the people who pay the bills. And we have ended the previous practice of using the rainy day funds to bail out the state budget. Instead, we have invested in the fund despite the lower revenue growth, and put the commonwealth on solid financial footing. We have closed the tax loophole on the airbnb and we will oppose any effort to pass a tax increase on the hardworking people of the commonwealth. [ applause ] we have also made Real Progress in supporting those who need our help. Helping families to fight ho homelessness and ending the practice of putting homeless families in hotels and motels is a priority for us. To get there [ applause ] to get there, we have taken a different approach. We have been working with the housing authorities and other housing provide arers to hepp families avoid homeless neness the first place, and in are relying on more permanent solutions, and in two years the population of homeless families in hotels and motels has been reduced from 1,500 to fewer than 1,100 families today. Fewer than 100 families today. [ applause ] thank you. Two years ago the department of children and families which serves more than 50,000 atrisk kids was in crisis. It is a different place today. There are 270 more social workers on the job than just over a year ago and 95 are licensed which is up from 50 when we took office. Caseloads [ applause ] thank you. Caseloads are as low as they have been in decades and long promised clinical and administrative supports are now in place. New policies concerning investigations, homebased service, and the supervisory practices and the missing children have been collaborately implemented with the full support of the dcs union workforce. [ applause ] but when it comes to the atrisk kids, we cannot ever rest easily. Dcs needs to recruit more foster homes and do a better job working with the foster families and dcs will continue to work with the courts and the community to reduce uncertainty for kids by shortening the time they have to wait for a pe permanent and loving home. And now, dcs commissioner linda spears is with us tonight. Linda, you and your team are doing a great job. On behalf of the families and the children that you serve, thank you. As in other states, we continue to deal with the heinous crime of human trafficking. And through the compassion for young boys and girls, my wife lauren championed bringing back the state police antihuman trafficking unitment for that and so many things that she does everyday, i say thanks. [ applause ] we worked with all of you to craft legislation for uber lyft and other Transportation Networking Companies and this legislation respects the Important Role of sharing the economy while benefiting hundreds of thousands of passengers and drivers here in the commonwealth. For example, people with disabilities often have trouble finding Reliable Transportation especially for the unexpected trips and making it difficult to complete the education or work full time. It is a huge problem. The ts ride took advantage of the new law to set up a pilot with uber and lyft to serve 400 people with disabilities and so far that pilot has delivered more than 7,000 rides. Thank you. Maniche is blind and he uses the ride. He and his wife live in arlington with their young daughter. Recent recently, he had to take his daughter to the doctor unexpectedly, and he used the Pilot Program and called uber instead of waiting for the ride, and it was easy and prompt and cut the travel time in half. Thanks for the Pilot Program, he could focus on the needs of the daughter instead of worrying about transportation. Maniche, i want to thank you for being here tonight and for sharing your story. [ applause ] his story, by the way, it echos those that we have heard from many others who have used the pilot. And the overwhelming message from participants could not be more clear. This program laz changed my life. We hear it over and over again. Now, we all know especially here in the room the Opioid Epidemic is ravaging individuals and families across the country. We no that our prolonged efforts will make a difference. We know that 4 of 5 heroin addicts first become addicts through prescription drugs. For the first time e medical and dental and Nursing Schools are asking their students to master opioid therapy management, and this is part of the state licensing programs, and after years and years of increases, the number of opioids prescribed in massachusetts is down by 15 . [ applause ] thank you. Prescriberers have made more than 2 million searches of the new prescription monitoring program, and this is making it harder for the people to doctor shop for pills or pill mills operating in massachusetts. The services has been increased by 50 , an hundreds of treatment beds and vol untary programs online and family and peer support groups doubled and funded across the commonwealth and thousands of the narcan kits are distributed to First Responders and family members. The work on this has not gone unnotice and unprecedented 46 governors have signed on a compact to fight opioid addiction based on our efforts here in the commonwealth. Thank you. [ applause ] and make no mistake, drug trafficker s as are part of the Opioid Epidemic. They prey on the Vulnerable People and selling them more and more deadly and addictive substances and we propose 2 billion in the budget to arrest and convict drug traffickers. With your help, we also ended the decades old practice of sending women civilly committed because of ad ddiction to framingham state prison. [ applause ] thank you. Instead, they now enter a treatment program, and include ing the new one at Taunton State Hospital and these have been a gamechanger for many of the women they serve. Based on this success, we will are request the same for men who are committed due to addiction as well. [ applause ] and now, there is a storm going on for the last couple of days and all i can think about that is that i am sure glad it is not 10 degrees colder. The mbtas historical failure of the winter of 2015 laid bear the vital need of a complete overhaul, but never forget, the t had the money, but what it lacked is the capacity to turn the resources into the action plan to deliver the safe and Reliable Transportation system that our people deserve. The fiscal and management control board, the management team, and the staff at the t cut the mbtas operating deficit in half. [ applause ] these significant savings along with the existing funds are being used to double the ts investment in core inra fra strauk chur and while a lot of great work has been done in the past 18 months, min who rides the t will correct ly tell yo that we have a long way to go. Everything that breaks is at least 50 years old. Making the investments in tracks, signals, switches, Power Systems and vehicles will take year years and not months. But we finally have the team on the ground and the plan in place to get the job done. [ applause ] and after months of discussion, the mbta reached an agreement on the new contract with its Largest Union the Carmens Union, local 589. This is a winwin for all involved. Riders and the taxpayers have a competitive contract that respects the market standards and while the Union Members have predictability and achievable ground rules for measuring p performance. Both sides could have turned this one into an epic brawl, but instead, they chose to be part of the answer. Jim obrien, the president of the Carmens Union and brian shortsleeve and joey aiello of the t are here, and in this difficult time, you deserve our thanks. [ applause ] hey, and remember all of the toll booths that we used to have on the mass pike. Yeah, me neither. [ laughter ] going live with an all electronic tolling system and taking down the toll booths could have been a disaster, and in fact, many people in this room predicted it would be. But a terrific engineering and planning effort across multiple agencies made sure that the work was done at night and weekends to insure that the commuters would not be delayed going to and from work, and kudos to the secretary and the team. [ applause ] with a shared sense of purpose, we have made Real Progress in job creation, and fiscal discipline, and education, child welfare, public health, transportation, public safety, environmental and Energy Policy and Community Building in the past two years, and because of all of that, i stand here tonight and say that the state of our commonwealth is strong. Thank you. Thank you. Now, we all know the world is becoming more and more dependent on technology. Smart buildings, smarter machines, robotics, audio autonomous vehicles, digital health, Precision Manufacturing and big data to name just a few. These are the platforms of the next generation of Great Companies and new jobs. And Cyber Security that moves as fast as the hackers, the thieves and the trouble makers is what makes all this public. Success in protecting databases and smart machines will ensure that people benefit from the best ideas in science, engineering, and technology for decades to come. Were already one of the three most important players in cyber in the world. Businesses in massachusetts protect proprietary information and secure smart machines and Smart Buildings from attack. But this industry is just taking off. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent over the next decade to Protection Information and assets. Massachusetts organizations should play a major role in driving these decisions. And over the next ten months well bring together the best minds locally and globally to develop a blueprint for success here in massachusetts. And then we will follow through and execute on it. [ applause ] now, we all know our strength as a commonwealth is based in many ways on our work with 351 cities and towns. The important reforms enacted last session give local leaders new tools to better serve their constituency. And you dont have to take my word for it. The Mass Municipal Association called those changes the most significant reform of municipal governance in more than 50 years. [ applause ] and thanks to the tireless work of Lieutenant Governor poe leto, more than 250 communities have joined with us to work on 600 best practices that will make local governments more successful. Thank you Lieutenant Governor for your extraordinary work on that. [ applause ] now looking ahead our budget will propose more than 130 million in new funding for cities and towns, including increasing chapter 70 support for k through 12 education by more than 90 million, twice the amount required under state law. And for the first time we propose funding a down payment toward increasing state support for Municipal Health insurance. Our Capital Program will build on previous efforts to invest in local communities. Well continue unprecedented levels of investment in roads, bridges, economic development, and housing because these investments help our colleagues and local government build strong communities, leverage billions of dollars in private sector investment, and they create jobs. [ applause ] we should also be proud of our achievements in he had education but we must also recognize that not every child in the commonwealth gets to attend a first class school. We have an obligation to every parent and child in massachusetts, and in this effort, we must succeed. To assist struggling schools, well work with representative pish, senator lester and their colleagues in the house and senate to create more empowerment zones. These zones create more flexibility in schools and allow educators to make the changes necessary to provide a better learning environment for our kids. I visited one in springfield and its pretty clear that this model is already making a positive difference for teachers and students there. [ applause ] in addition, the experience of struggling districts in lawrence, south bridge and holy oak has dman demonstrated state take overs can benefit students parents and schools that need our support. We encourage the board of elementary and secondary education to continue to use this tool. Now, for decades, Mental Health advocates have urged the commonwealth to redesign the way it serves those who are committed to Bridgewater State hospital. Little is changed, and the results in many cases have been disastrous for all involved. We propose to do two things to address this long standing and unacceptable situation. First, move Corrections Officers out of the hospital and instead depl them outside the facility to provide security. Second, the size and scale of the Clinical Program offered inside the hospital will be significantly expanded. This reform will not come cheap. Spending on Clinical Services will increase by 37 million. Now, this [ applause ] this is the right thing to do, and we ask the legislature to support it. I would also like to extend our thanks to john mow grass and the Massachusetts Correctional Officers Federated Union for being a true partner in our efforts to make these reforms, because, john, they wouldnt have happened without your support. Thank you. [ applause ] now, we must also think differently about how we support and engage older adults. The notion that people are fully retired at the age of 62 or 65 is inconsistent with what i see every day. And even as some have stepped back from what they spent most of their lives doing, most still have tons of time and talent available to do something else. I turned 60 in november. 60 i remember thinking that was ancient when my dad turned 60. Now hes 88, and hes still the smartest and most informed person i know. And, dad, nobody gives better advice than you do. [ applause ] there are thousands of citizens in massachusetts who are still very much in the game in their 60s, 70s, and even 80s. And there will be more as our population continues to age. I will be signing an executive order in the coming weeks that will establish a council on oler adults and it will focus on policies and programs that make it possible for each more older adults and seniors to live vibrant purposeful lives here in the commonwealth. [ applause ] finally, too many of our returning heros struggle to find good jobs. Jesse brown and matt mastroyani close enough, the founders of high drea communications in plymouth and bellingham are with us tonight. Their company constructs maintains and repairs cell towers a booming business in todays wireless world. After serving our country as United States marines they both joined a large firm in the cell tower space. But in 2007 they left the comfort of a big company to go out on their own. The beginning was rocky, but today they employ 70 people, almost half of whom are veterans like them. And their future is bright. [ applause ] like many Small Businesses they want to hire and employ our veterans, and we make it easier for them to get it done. So well be proposing a 4,000 tax credit for credite businesses that hire and retain an unemployed veteran. And we all wish jesse and matt continued success. And we want to thank them and all veterans for their service to our country. [ applause ] now, in closing, on behalf of listen governor polito, our cabinet, our team and the people of massachusetts i want to thank you, the legislature, for your good will. That may seem like a small thing, but its not. Too much of what passes for political dialogue these days isnt dialogue at all. Its talking points, character assassination, and deliberate misrepresentation. Wedge issues may be great for making headlines, but they do not move this commonwealth forward. Success is measured by what we accomplish together. Our obligation to the people we serve is too important to place politics and partisanship before progress and results. And the changes in washington dont change this powerful obligation. Our job remains the same. That is to represent massachusetts to washington and not washington to massachusetts. [ applause ] we can and we do zbreerks but we listen, we learn, and we make the best decisions we can. On energy, public records, pay equity, addition, economic development, and a host of other issues, you have compromised with one another and with us. Now, like other states, we have enormous challenges here in the commonwealth. Issues that are destined to create difficult discussions and opportunities for conflict. And we live in a time where what you oppose seems much more interesting than what you support, where compromising is often viewed as an act of weakness, when, in fact, it is a sign of strength. [ applause ] now, our founders worried a lot about the tyranny of the majority. They designed our form of government to provide a loud voice for minority points of view. They hated the idea of unilateral power and wanted to force advocates and policy makers through structure and process to compromise. Im with them. As my mom used to say, you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Its one thing to stand in a corner and shout insults at your opponents. Its quite another to climb into the arena and fight for common ground. I believe its this conversation that makes us strong. Our economy is strong because we listen and we learn from the workers and employers who make it go. Our communities are strong because local leaders and active citizens listen and learn from the people they serve. And our commonwealth is strong because we listen and we learn from one another knowing that our good will withk make our disagreements a catalyst for