Thank you, jim. Thank you, christine. Christine, you have a good voice. Lets move on. [laughter] let me join jim in welcoming you all to phoenix. I am pleased to see some any western governors here. We have a Great Program planned, and im delighted we can share this time together. Over the next two days we will have visits with Top Administration officials including the secretary of labor , the secretary of u. S. Foreston, service chief who will be visiting with us momentarily. And although he was not able to stay for todays activities, we visited with the secretary of agriculture. We will hear to other keynote speakers. The president of the arizona cardinals, and john ratzenberger. Most of you know john as the clavin from the tv show, cheers. Johnnk we will all enjoy speak about that. Johns comments will touch on one of the greatest challenges our nation faces which is vital to expanding our Economic Vitality in coming years. That is workforce of element. My initiative as chair is foc
Ladies and gentlemen, i am proud to present the 32nd governor of the state of south dakota accompanied here in phoenix by the first lady of south dakota. The chairman of the western governors association, the honorable dennis dugard. Thank you, jim. Thank you, christine. Christine, you have a good voice. Jim, well. Lets move on. [laughter] let me join jim in welcoming you all to phoenix. I am pleased to see so many western governors here. We have a Great Program planned, and im delighted we can share this time together. Over the next two days we will have visits with Top Administration officials including the secretary of labor, the secretary of transportation, u. S. Forest service chief who will be visiting with us momentarily. And although he was not able to stay for todays activities, we visited with the secretary of agriculture. We will hear to other keynote speakers. The president of the arizona cardinals, and john ratzenberger. Most of you know john as the famous cliff clavin fro
Make the simple but necessary change. As i said at the end of the 2017 legislative session, unemployment tax relief is job one for 2018. I hope you agree. [applause] a 2017 tax debate also led to the Idaho Supreme Court ruling last summer that we must change the way we do the peoples business to ensure public transparency and protect the integrity of our political process. So contrary to traditional practices, all legislation now must be presented to the governor before the Legislature Adjourns sine die. I welcome the new requirement and look forward to working even more productively with you on our shared priorities. Those priorities include adding to the more than 1. 2 billion in tax relief we have provided idaho citizens over the past decade. But that must be accomplished while meeting our constitutional and statutory obligations, sustainably advancing our education and other policy priorities, and ensuring that our state tax laws remain fair, stable and competitive. Its true that o
The joint session will be in order and gentlemen from 13. Thank you, mr. Speaker, the Committee Appointed to the state of idaho has reported and will report. Please step forward and make your report. Mr. Speaker, my honor and privilege to introduce the governor of the great state of idaho. The honorable c. L. Butch otter. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. [ applause ] jerry, how are you . Go get em, man. Good luck to you. Bobby. [ applause ] thank you. Hi, david. Richard. How are you getting along . Are they still putting up with you . How are you doing . Great to see you. Thank you. [ applause ] mr. Speaker. Tim . Secretary, i always used to say i dont anymore. Governor, on behalf of the joint session we welcome you to the house chambers and we look forward to your remarks. Sir, the time and the floor is yours. Please tack yoke your seats. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , honorable legislators, my fellow constitutional officers and distinguished jurors, friends, my family and ou
Thank you very much. Have a seat. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Have a seat. Thank you very much. Good morning. President , speaker, members of the 64th legislature, auditor included, treasurer gordon, superintendent, chief justice burke, members of the judiciary, members of the military, veterans, fellow citizens, my family, good morning. Today i give my eighth and final state of the state address, and in preparing it, i have had a lot of thoughts, including the speaker and president have been kidding me in recent days that its too bad, it takes about eight years to train a governor and just when you get them trained, they leave. It was a couple years ago when the president of the senate, when he was announcing me, rather than saying his excellency, he said the executioner. So it takes awhile to train a speaker and president , too. What a privilege its been to appear before a joint session each year and talk about wyoming, the state we love. I believe our work these past