Transcripts For CSPAN3 Governor Charlie Baker Delivers State

Transcripts For CSPAN3 Governor Charlie Baker Delivers State Of The Commonwealth Address 20170201

Now, Charlie Baker delivers the state of the state address. Topics include funding for k through 12 education, combatting the states heroin epidemic and offering tax credits for Small Business owners who hire veterans. Thank you very much. Thank you. Please. We have lots to talk about. The real test is if you do that when im finisheded. Mr. Speaker, mr. President. Members of the house and senate. Distinguished elected officials. Honored guests. And fellow citizens. We stood here and pledged to work with you and others to move this commonwealth forward and we have done just that. Built a bipartisan team, look frd common ground. We worked to fix government, pass Ground Breaking legislation and focused on growing our economy and its working. Our economy is among the strongest in the nation. Today, more people are working than at any time in the past 20 years. Our welfare case load has dropped by 25 . Millions in private investment while new companies are born here every day. In fact, for the second year in a row, bloomberg named massachusetts the number one state for renovation in the whole country. G. E. s decision to relocate the world Head Quarters to boston and the north American Life Sciences 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 emissions. Thanks for the hard work of state and local officials, and the teachers and the parents and the students are number one in 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 students to get a bachelors degree from umass in four years for 15,000. And Jacqueline Bell is here, and 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 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 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 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 homelessness in 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 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 unit. 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. 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 voluntary 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 unnoticed 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 traffickers 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 addiction 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 the Core Infrastructure and while a lot of great work has been done, anyone will tell you we have a lot 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 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 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. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you. And we all know that the world is becoming more and more dependent on technology, smart buildings, smarter machines, robotics, autonomous vehicles, digital health, and decision manufacturing and big data to name a few, and these are the platforms of the next generations of Great Companies and new jobs. Cyber security that the moves as fast as the hackers and the thiefs and the troublemakers is what makes all of this possible. Success in predicting the databases and the smart machines will make sure that people benefit in the best ideas off science, the technology and more to come. We are already one of the most important parts of preventing attack. But this industry is taking off. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent over the next decade to presents a sets. Going live with an all electronic tolling system did taking down the toll booths could have been a disaster. In fact, many people in this room predicted it would be. But a terrific engineering and planning effort across multiple agency made sure the work was we know our strength is is based in many ways on our work with 351 cities. The important reforms in session give local leaders new tools to petter serve their constituency. You dont have to take my word for it. The Mass Association called those changes the most significant reform of municipal governance in more than 50 years. 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 empow empowerment zones. These zones create the educators to have the legislation necessary for a better environment for our kids. I visited one in springfield and its already clear this model is making a positive difference for teachers and students there. In addition, the experience of struggling districts is demonstrating state takeover can make a difference for parents and teachers 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 committed to Bridgewater State hospital. Little has changed hand 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 deploy them outside the facilitate to provide the facility to provide security. Second, the size and scale inside the hospital will be significantexpanded. This reform will not come cheap. It will increase by 37 million. [ applause ] this is the

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