Doesnt just look like this, it looks like this. Where americans are see democracy at work, where citizens are truly informed, our republic if thrives. Get informed straight from the sources on cspan. Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the nations cap a toll to wherever capitol to wherever you are, because the opinion that matters the most. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan, powered by cable. Next, Missouri Republican governor mike parson delivers his final state of the state address before a joint session of the legislature in Jefferson City. The governor, whos in the final year of his last term in office, highlighted his policy achievements and shared his ayen a da for the states future. He touched on several issues including Work Force Development, education, infrastructure investment, judicial appointments and the fentanyl crisis. [applause] [applause] [applause] if. Governor, welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, help me welcome the 57th governor of the state of missouri, michael l. Parson, to the dais. [applause] i thought maybe, speaker, you was going to do this. Oh, okay, all right. Well, first of all, thank you, Lieutenant Governor, mr. Speaker, statewide officials, members of the General Assembly, esteemed guests. And it is my honor to welcome for the first time in our states history, judges of the first ever female Majority Supreme Court of missouri. [applause] theres another person i want to recognize today that i normally dont do, but im going to do it very quickly. It is a gentleman that has been doing this job for 20 years making sure these teleprompters work correctly. Todd mayfield is doing his e 20th session here in the state of missouri. Todd, thank you. [applause] well, to say the least, its an honor to be joined by first lady as i welcome, as a a i we kohl. Welcome to the dais as the final time as the 57th governor of the gate state of missouri. During our time as a golf, weve accomplished more than any of us probably thought was ever possible. But i wouldnt be standing here today without my support system, my family. And thats where i want to start today. First and foremost, the first lady. Teresa has been by my if side every ten of the way step of the way. And after 38 years of marriage, i wouldnt be the husband, the father, the gramps or governor i am today without her. Thank you for serving in a role you never asked for but doing it each and every day with grace and passion, commitment to best serve the people of missouri. Ladies and gentlemen are, the first lady of the tate of missouri. [applause] the state of missouri. [applause] theres another a group of people with me today, and its the my family. And i am one of the most blessed people in the world to have the family i have and for all of them to be here. And it really started with my son and my daughter years ago. They really made me a better person, having those two come into my life, and theyre both here today with us. Naturally, theyre the ones that have all my grandkids, and i just cant say enough how much my childrens meant to me in my life and my grandkids. And most of them are here today, but i do have one i want to give a little bit of a shoutout to. It is his first public event at the ripe age of six months, so he is with us here today for the first time. And then also i have another great grandchild on the way thats here. My brothers are here, i have nieces and nephews and cousins, brothers, all my family from here. But i tell ya, theres two things i know in life that are important. Thats god almighty and my family. I love all you guys. That are here today. Would you please recognize my family and show them your appreciation. Please rise. [applause] like the legislators in this room and and missourians across this state, my faith, family and the next generations are the driving force behind the change we have made in missouri. And last year when i stood before you, i highlighted many of our historic achievements weve accomplished together. As we laid out bold and historic proposals, i declared that this governor, this dad, this gramps is not done yet, and i tell you, we are not done yet. And while thats still true, im here to tell ya were getting close. After serving six sessions in the house, six sessions in the senate, two sessions as Lieutenant Governor and now my sixth and final session as your 57th governor, i am expected to say this is a bittersweet moment. But while the view from this dais facing all of you is a fine sight to see, it is no comparison to the view of that polk county farm behind the windshield of my john deere tractor. [laughter] [applause] but look, i promise i will think of all of you occasionally. [laughter] but in all seriousness, ill be leaving here with my head held high. Because like many of you who came here for the right reasons, we never wavered from those wise words on our capitol and inscribed in our state seal. Let the good of the people be the supreme law. In every decision we make, we must look to the effects on the next generations and the ability for them to achieve their american dream. In every decision we must put people first. Easy said but hard to do. Its a simple idea that has been our guiding principle since the very beginning. And thats our final commitment to you. Until our final day, we will continue to put people first. [applause] when i became governor, missouri was tired of the turmoil. Political infighting and selfinvolved personalities. They were tired of quitters. And when i first stepped into the Governors Office amidst the thousands of camera clicks, hundreds of shouted questions and countless state, local and national media, we closed the chapter on scandal and began a new direction because there was no turning back. We declared a fresh start and the return of stability. We committed to insuring the next generations have their opportunity at the american dream. We promised the return of integrity to State Government. And above all, we promised to return people first mentality. And today i firmly believe we have done just that. [applause] every year we have approved conservative and balanced budgets. We have maintained our a a a a d weve always left funds on the bottom line. Actually, with the budget we outlined today, we will leave office with over 1. 5 billion on the bottom line which has never been done before in our tates history. States history. [applause] we are also pleased to report that we have paid down missouris debt by over 600 million, leaving the state with 53 less debt than when we started. That is quite the contrast compared to what we are seeing happening in washington d. C. In missouri we dont leave future generations to pick up the tab. We a pay our bills and we put people first. [applause] working with all of you, balanced and conservative budgets have always a been the norm, never the exception. Weve always been more interested in giving back missourians hardearned dollars rather than spending them. In turn, that creates jobs, Business Growth and increased revenues to the tate. To the state. In fact, state revenues have increased 40 since 2018 with a Significant Growth coming from sales revenue. Not income tax, not Corporate Tax and not fuel taxes, but from revenue created by missourians spending their own money, not government programs. [applause] and one of the huge factors is the three separate tax cuts we approved including the largest in our tates history in our states a history. We have decreased missourians tax burdens by over 20, unleashing a economic powerhouse in the state of missouri. [applause] when i became governor, we were ranked 42nd for gdp growth and last among our mid e west neighbors. Today we are ranked 23rd in the nation and top 5 in the midwest for gdp growth. Thats a real reckoning here in jeff city. Thats not all talk and all a hot air. That is a true reckoning of growth, opportunity that missourians have come to expect from this administration and State Government. [applause] that as our leadership creating a real formula for success. And thats something all of us should celebrate in this chamber. Overall, missouri now has the 3th lowest 13th lowest tax burden of any state in the nation. And under our administration, our Unemployment Rate fell to 2. 1 , the lowest rate ever recorded in our states history. Actually, it has been so low that our problem is not creating jobs, but filling jobs. Since becoming governor, we have added more than 110,000 jobs to our economy and closed out the year ranked 15th nationally for job creations. And today as a i stand before you for the final time as missouris 57th governor, i declare that the state of our state is stronger than it has ever been. [applause] weve done it all a by putting people first x. That a started with State Government. Nothing we do in this room is possible without the dedicated Public Servants across the state to implement these ideas. But when i became governor, State Government was quickly becoming underappreciated, understaffed and underpaid. Thats why we approved three historic pay increases to recruit is and retain recruit and retain quality talent across State Government. Raising Team Member Pay by over 20 since 2018. And let me tell you with, the investment in our state employees have been worth every penny. [applause] and thats why this year we are proposing an additional 3. 2 cost of living increase for all of our state employees. If. [applause] and representing our more than 47,000 state team members here today is my cabinet. Through every crisis i turn to my cabinet and their teams. Not the federal government. And i have always maintained that the answers to our problems are in this state and among to our among our people. If we just allow ourselves to put egos and selfimportance to the side and just listen. And while they may have already been recognized, i want to ask my cabinet to stand with me for one last time. I always say that being a good leader is not about being the best, but its making those around you better. And today i thank you and your teams for proving that to be true. [applause] putting people first is something we implemented across State Government because we set the example from the Governors Office. From the start, we got straight to work. We completed the largest deregulation effort in our states history, eliminating nearly one out of every five state regulations. And during covid19 we waived over 600 more regulations. By working with the General Assembly, we made many of these changes permanent in statute and improved the regulatory the environment in missouri. Because, to be honest with you, many of these rules and laws should have never existed in the first place. [applause] when i became governor, we also inherited nearly 4,000 pending clemency applications. While im a law and order governor, 4,000 people in limbo waiting for an answer is not how we do good business. Whether we approved them or we denied, we set out to provide answers. Today i am proud to announce that the clemency backlog we inherited has been totally cleared for the first time in decades. [applause] but as a former sheriff, this reform did not mean we were letting people out of prison or forgiving violent criminals. We pardoned people who deserved it, people who had truly turned their lives around. People like e kenny batson who joins us here today. In his youth, kenny was drinking, getting into fights and found himself on the wrong side of the law. But today kenny has turned his life completely around. Kenny is a proud husband and father of three kids. He earned both a bachelors and masters degree and has been a pastor for more than 20 years including service as a hospice chaplain. Kenny and others like him might have made some mistakes when they were young, but he earned a second chance. Please join me in recognizing kenny batson. [applause] another way our office has been able to capitalize on historic opportunity is appointing over 155 missouri judges and 3 Supreme Court judges, meaning more than 40 of the judiciary has been appointed by our administration. Thats more appointments than any governor in our states history. By focusing on core conservative values, weve truly reshaped judiciary for generations to come and if guaranteed and guaranteed a judiciary that upholds the law and not the politics of the moment. [applause] additionally, in putting the people of missouri first, our office put politics aside and appointed five strong statewide with Office Holders which has never happened before in our state s history. Lieutenant governor kehoe, attorney general bailey, auditor fitzpatrick, treasurer mallick, and though hes not here today, senator smith. And i thank all of you for stepping up and answering the calls to serve missourians. And i trust to you will never quit on the people of the great state of missouri. [applause] and today i want to highlight another one of our quality appointments in the city of st. Louis, circuit attorney gabe gore. We didnt pick mr. Gore because of his politics. Matter of fact, we never even asked. It was because he clearly cared for the people of st. Louis. He valued strong communities. Fighting crime, returning law and order and putting people first. The level of professionalism between the circuit attorneys office, the metro police, the courts, the Attorney Generals Office and our office is greater than i have ever experienced. Please join me in recognizing st. Louis circuit attorney gabe gore. [applause] when the history books tell the story of missouris 57th governor, i hope its our Work Force Development infrastructure accomplishments that stand out. And this year, as we propose our final priorities as governor, there is no turning back. We know that that guaranteeing missouris Strong Foundation starts with a quality education in our children. This year we will once again fully fund the k12 Foundation Formula with an additional 120 million over last years level, and we also full we will also fully Fund Transportation across the state of missouri. [applause] in total, our administration has increased funding for k12 education by 700 million since 2018. And ill note thats all state funding, not the federal government. And at the same time, our administration and this General Assembly took the first step toward School Choice for more missouri families through our Education Savings Account program. And when its public, private, charter or christian, we dont care where missourians are getting a quality education as long as they get one. [applause] this year to do our part on teacher pay were including funding to increase teacher pay baseline, increase teacher baseline pay to 40,000 per year. This represents a 15,000 increase for teacher pay during our administration. [applause] we are also recommending 6 million for career ladder. Together, these programs have benefited tens of thousands of teachers in every corner across our state. We have also a made historic investments in missouris Higher Education. Weve increased Higher Education core funding by 24 and invested 1. 2 billion in state of the art Capital Improvements and upgrades on our college campuses. And this years budget we included another 3 core increase for our 4year institutions and Community Colleges and 54 million for Work Force Training program on our college campuses. Ms. [applause] when i graduated high school, i went straight into the work force and joined the United States army. And for me, there was no turning back. My path is similar to many missourians. As nearly 60 of our work force dont have college degrees. And thats okay, because we all know it doesnt take a College Education to be successful. Since 2018 we have helped establish, upgrade and transform 57 career and Technical Education institutions across our state. More of our going people are earning a quality skill, a certificate or credential that that will help secure them a bit a college degree. [applause] we are also upscaling our current work force and helping them secure the skills they need to succeed. Since its upgrade in 2019, missouri one start has a helped train more than 1734,000 173,000 workers. Officially additionally since its creation, our fast track the program has benefited over 1,700 students with more than 55 going into health care. And, ladies, i want you to listen up, and person tothirds of that being women twothirds of that a being women. [applause]. Benefited from our historic support. In the upper gallery we have isaac lowell from fort rivers career center. An apprenticeship in the Army Reservist in springfield. At a trucking apprenticeship from pleasant hill. With hard work, determination, and a skill of some kind anyway anyonecan achieve the american m and the individuals are proving it. Please join me and recognizing these hardworking folks and others like them across the state. [applause] [applause] this group, represents just a sample of the more than 57000 new apprenticeships we have added since becoming governor. Under our Administration Nearly apprenticeship activity in missouri has grown by one 100 . That is why this year we are including another 3 milliondollar investment to support even more apprenticeship opportunities. As you can see the target investments truly make a difference in the lives of missourians. And thanks to our past