[applause] jew maall right. [applause] as speaker of the house of delegates and president of the joint assembly, its my pleasure to present to you his excellency, the governor of the commonwealth, the honorable terence mcauliffe. [cheers and applause] thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker howell, leader norment, ladies and gentlemen of the virginia General Assembly, thank you for inviting me to speak to you this evening. And to the people of virginia who are with us tonight or watching from home, thank you for the honor of serving you as this commonwealths 72nd governor. [applause] we are joined here this evening by Lieutenant Governor ralph northam. [applause] and attorney general mark herring. [applause] these two virginia leaders have been great partners as we work to build a stronger, more open, and more prosperous virginia. I thank them. And of course, our first lady is with us this evening. Dorothy. Your work expanding access to healthy nutrition, promoting National Service and making our commonwealth more welcoming to military families has made our state a better place to live. Thank you for your leadership and for our partnership over these past 28 years. [applause] that alone is worth a great round of applause. We are free to meet here tonight because of the brave men and women at the federal, state and local levels who risk their lives to keep us safe. Each and every day. [applause] we think all of our men and women in military uniform and werrejoined this evening by one family that embodies the service and commitment that our men and women in uniform and their loved ones make to protect our great country and our commonwealth. Sean is a key member of our commonwealth Emergency Management and Disaster Response team. He is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the Virginia National guard. While we were celebrating the holidays with our families this past year, john was separated from his aunt deployment to kuwait with the 29th infantry division. Johns wife is with us here tonight with her two children. I hope you will join me in thanking her and their family and every single virginian who service and sacrifices in uniform to keep us safe. [applause] before we begin, let us pause for a moment of silence in memory of our friend and colleague chuck colgan. Senator colgan was the longestserving member of the Virginia Senate and a true example of a virginia gentleman. He will be dearly missed. On this day, three years ago, we met on the steps of this historic building, and i was honored to take the oath to serve the people of virginia as their governor. That was a day of celebration but we all knew at that time that a significant amount of work lay ahead. Virginians hired each of us to work for them here in richmond to solve problems and make their lives better. In a state as large and diverse as ours, that can be a daunting task at any time. But we began our partnership at a unique moment in our commonwealths history. For years, virginias economy had floated above a massive wave of federal spending that created millions of jobs and brought billions in Economic Activity to Northern Virginia and hampton roads. That relationship created Economic Opportunity, but it also made us overly reliant on federal spending. We all know what happened next, as other states began their climb out of the great recession, congressional dysfunction led to defense cuts and sequestration that severely hampered virginias ability to regain its footing. Sequestration cost virginia 9. 8 billion and 154,000 jobs between 2011 and 2013 alone. And unless Congress Takes action, another more severe round of sequestration will hit our economy this october. And so as we began our work three years ago today, we had a choice. We could sit back and watch external forces limit our growth or we could Work Together to open a new chapter of opportunity. We needed to build a new virginia economy that would grow and create opportunity no matter what happens in washington, beijing, or anywhere else in the world. We needed to redouble our focus on Economic Development and make virginia more attractive to job creators in sectors like Cyber Security, bioscience, data analytics, advanced manufacturing. We needed to align every public system, from transportation to Public Education to Workforce Development, with the needs of a 21st century economy. We needed to build a more open and welcoming climate to attract families and job creators from every walk of life. And so we got to work. Recognizing that 95 of the worlds customers live outside the u. S. , we took the virginia story to 19 countries in every corner of the globe. We took every meeting we could get and convinced job creators to bring new operations to our commonwealth, or to buy the worldclass goods, agricultural products, and services our businesses create. And those efforts are paying off. As of tonight, weve helped close 853 new Economic Development deals worth 14. 23 billion in capital investment. I am proud to say that is nearly 5 billion more than any administration in the history of the commonwealth of virginia. [applause] and lets start the year out with a bang. Tonight, i am proud to announce that Navy Federal Credit union has agreed to locate 1,400 new jobs and invest 102 million in Frederick County. [cheers and applause] i hope you will join me in welcoming navy federal ceo Cutler Dawson and vice chair of the Frederick County board of supervisors gene fisher, who are here tonight to celebrate this major victory for our commonwealth. [applause] and i am very pleased that we beat out the state of florida for this important project. [applause] they have sharks in the water everything down there. Forget it. [laughter] bringing new projects like this one to virginia is critically important. In fact, i just took the redeye back after two days of Business Outreach in california, and we are closing in on bringing thousands of new jobs and billions in investment to virginia, which we will announce this year. But we also need to build lasting infrastructure that will generate even more jobs and Economic Activity for generations to come. And working together, we are doing just that. Last year we passed a budget that invested more than 1 billion in Public Education, the highest level of investment in virginia history. [applause] we are transforming our k12 system to prepare students for the jobs of the 21st century, with a particular emphasis on modernizing the sols and how we deliver high school education. I want to recognize delegate tag greason, and the late senator john miller for their partnership in transforming our commonwealths Education System. [applause] thank you, guys, for clapping for tag. [laughter] thanks to the leadership of our first lady, we are connecting more students with the nutrition they need to thrive in the classroom and grow Healthy Minds and bodies. Virginia students are hungry to learn, but they cannot learn if they are just plain hungry. That is why i am so proud that, last year alone, virginia schools served 5 million more School Breakfasts than the year before. And i thank you, dorothy, for your efforts. [applause] that success would not be possible without leaders who recognize that strong, accessible nutrition programs are essential to a quality education. Dr. Scott brabrand is one of those leaders. As superintendent of lynchburg city schools, dr. Brabrand helped oversee a 20 increase in School Breakfast participation in just one year, adding 550 students to the program. He has also thrown his support behind afterschool and summer meal programs to help ensure that the more than 6,000 students who rely on school meals do not go hungry when classes end. Lets welcome scott here this evening and thank him for his leadership on behalf of our students. [applause] over several sessions we have reformed virginias Workforce Development system and incentivized institutions and students to complete degrees and credentials in highdemand industries. And this work comes at a critical time. Virginia is unique, our problem is not that we dont have highpaying jobs available, its that we dont have the trained workers to fill those jobs. Last year, virginia saw 149,000 jobs open in the Technology Sector alone. And we have 36,000 jobs open today in Cyber Security. Parents, listen to me. The average starting pay for these jobs is 88,000. Our mission is to prepare students with the skill sets to fill these jobs so they can lead our economy into the future. We helped veterans get into the private workforce faster by offering workforce credit for military training. We expanded the Virginia Values Veterans Program to help more than 20,000 veterans find work. We funded the opening of two new Veterans Care Centers so that virginia men and women who have served in uniform no longer have to wait for the federal government to get its act together to get the health care they need. If they wont do it, we will do it for our virginia veterans. [applause] we launched healthy virginia to extend services to 10,000 virginians with serious Mental Illness, and help 378,000 virginians Access Health insurance through the Affordable Care act. [applause] we took Great Strides forward on transportation, undertaking significant projects in hightraffic corridors across virginia like i95, i64 and i66. We passed the smartscale prioritization process so that decisions are based on data about the benefits to taxpayers and our economy, not backroom dealmaking. After several disastrous Publicprivate Partnership deals that cost virginians hundreds of millions, we transformed the process and brought a taxpayerfirst approach to negotiating these deals. The results of our efforts are clear. If we had followed the old process, the i66 outside thebeltway project could have cost taxpayers 1 billion. By reforming our system and strengthening how we negotiate, the final deal will not require virginians to invest one single tax dollar. [applause] and the Winning Consortium has agreed to include an additional 800 million in private funding for transit, 350 million in corridor improvements, and a 500 million payment to the commonwealth at closing. Our reforms and leadership resulted in a 2. 5 billion turnaround on this one project alone. [applause] we won a 165 million federal grant for the 1. 4 billion atlantic gateway project, which will unlock travel and commerce on road and rail all across the commonwealth. We returned the port of virginia to financial solvency and made record investments to position our commonwealth as a leader in global trade for generations to come. As a result, the port, which had suffered seven straight years of operating losses and was once unwisely put up for sale, is now profitable and leading the nation in import volume growth. [applause] we ensured a Bright Future for private spaceflight in virginia by strengthening the mars spaceport. [applause] thank you, winwood. We leapt from the back of the pack on Cyber Security, bioscience, autonomous vehicles, and Renewable Energy to become a National Leader in these cutting edge industries. I am particularly proud of the work we have done on Cyber Security. This is a critical issue for virginia. Last year, we experienced more than 70 million cyberattacks, or one every 4 seconds. We have a responsibility to protect our data from cyber criminals and to realize the Economic Opportunity this industry presents. As chair of the National Governors association i have made Cyber Security the centerpiece of my agenda and i am proud to say that virginia is leading the way. We made virginia safer by reforming our juvenile Justice System, and posting the lowest adult recidivism rate in america. [applause] we took action to protect virginia from the threat of Climate Change and sealevel rise, winning a 120 million federal resiliency grant for norfolk and other communities in hampton roads. That is the largest grant given to any state in america. [applause] we have made Great Strides protecting virginias historic and natural assets as well. After 30 years, attorney general herring and our team finally reached an agreement with dupont on the largest Natural Resource settlement in virginia history bringing 50 million back to virginia to improve our environment in waynesboro and the surrounding area. [applause] we undertook an initiative to preserve 1,000 virginia natural and historic treasures for the enjoyment of generations to come and we accomplished it one full year ahead of schedule. And tonight, i am proud to announce that we have finalized negotiations with the United States army to expand virginias historic fort monroe so that virginians and visitors can fully explore its unique place in our nations history. [applause] these three years have been defined by significant substantive accomplishments on one key policy issue after another. Those achievements are not victories for one party or another. They are victories for virginia. We achieved them by working together and doing what it takes to build a new virginia economy from the bottom up. And if you look at the numbers, its clear we are making substantial progress. When i took office, virginias Unemployment Rate was 5. 4 . Over the course of this administration it fell to as low as 3. 7 , which represented the steepest decline in any governors term in 32 years. [applause] today, as more and more virginians respond to our strengthening economy by returning to the labor force, our 4. 2 rate is 1. 2 lower than when we began our Work Together and the Second Lowest rate of any major state. In total, virginia has created 167,100 net new jobs over the past three years. [applause] these are important indicators that our efforts are working and that our trajectory is indisputably upward. But we should also remember that these numbers represent real people, with real stories. I would like to take a moment to tell you about a few people who have benefited from actions we have taken over the past few years. One of the proudest moments of my life came on april 22nd of last year when i stood on the steps of this capitol and brought virginia into line with 40 other states that restore the civil rights of people who made mistakes and served their time. [applause] that action was greeted by cheers from some corners of this room and lawsuits from others. But the principles of redemption and Second Chances are essential to a Healthy Society and i was proud to fight for them. Since that day, my team has worked hard to restore the rights of individuals who have served their time and reentered society to build productive lives. And tonight i am proud to announce that, thanks to those efforts, we have given more than 127,000 virginians a Second Chance at citizenship since i took office. I want you to meet one of the [applause] she found sobriety and turned her life around. Today, in addition to her role as a loving mother and grandmother, terry is respect Community Leader and is now sponsoring recovering addicts and former offenderes. Terry made misstick stakes. She served her time. She became productive member of the community but the policy of disenfranchisement made her a second class citizen but last november she walked be a voting booth, regaining her place in our society and showing all of us oh powerful a second how powerful a Second Chance can be. She is here on behalf of so many virginias who are proud to have a voice her commonwealth again. I join you and welcoming terry,. [applause] when men and Women Volunteer to fight for our countries in the armed forces we have a responsibility to support them when they return to civilian life. Unfortunately, too many end their military service and face enormous challenges with too few resources or opportunities for success. Many find themselves without a place to call home. Shortly after my administration began, First Lady Michelle Obama sent a challenge to all the mayors in america to end veteran homelessness in their cities. I can still remember the look on secretary john harveys face when i suggested that we take that challenge, not just for our virginia cities but for our entire commonwealth. But he and fantastic team got to work so find safe, affordable and permanent housing for the homeless veterans, anden veterans day 2015, i was proud to announce a that virginia was the first state in the nation to be certified us a functionally ending veteran homelessness. [applause] that accomplishment should be a source of pride for all of us, particularly when you meet the men and women who have benefited the most Dennis Roberts is with us from chesapeake. The served in the Army Airborne in several Missions Including operation desert storm. He failses champing lengths when he returned home after nearly 11 years without a rely home of his head, i want to you for joining us and thank you for service to our great nation. [applause] these virginians and their stories are an uplifting reminder of the impact that we can have on peoples lives weapon we Work Together. As ive traveled virginia and met the families we serve i have taken great pride in process that we have made for them to help them withtheir lives but we still have problems to work on together. The agenda i present to you builds on the work we have done together over the past three years. Every single proposal is tied directly to building a virginia economy that helps every family. One of the most severe challenges face are our commonwealth today is how we care for our fellow virginiaon who suffer from Behavioral Health disordersful as too many recent tragic evens hayes caught us our system is fragmented and underfunded. The budget i submit to you includes new fund topping allow the community serviceboards boards to offer virginians and allow our csbs to serve virginians. One result of our challenged mental system is that too many individuals who suffer from Behavioral Health and have these disorders sometimes wind up in jail. Where there are not enough resources to properly care for them. Have proposed legislation and funding to expand Mental Health screenings in jails and working to prevent future tragedies i have proposed legislation giving the virginia board of corrections the authority to investigate deaths in virginia jails so that role is very clear if one does occur. Want to thank senator deeds for his leadership on this very important issue. [applause] we cannot full where reform our Mental Health system without tackling the massive epidemics that virginia and other states face, the addiction of drugs of he have seen fellow virginias die due to opioid take and overtoes and hen final data is available we expect to the total in 2016 to have exceeded 1,000. Tackling the problem is a matter of life and death for people in every corner of virginia mitchell Budget Proposal includes 5. 3 million for increased Substance AbuseDisorder Service and new tools to prevent overdose deaths. I have proposed requiring eprescription for all prescription products and allowing Community Organizations to distribute during the opioid response training. The men and became affect bid the crisis are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives. If we act together boldly mere in virginia we can fine the epidemic and keep the virginiaons and theyre families and communities healthy. I look forward to working with members. To confront this urgent problem. These investments and policy changes will enhance our Mental Health system and confront our growing Opioid Epidemic. Additionally, as we wait for congress to determine the future of the Affordable Care act we should always remember that Medicaid Expansion offers us an additional 300 million per year. The budget gives the Government Authority to expand medicaid and even if that does not happen and is not the case, we should all agree that we do have a responsibility to help as many people as we can Access Health care. Virginians eye selected to us solve problems. 400,000 People Living without health care is a problem. We should never stop seeking ways to solve this problem. [applause] another matter that deserves our attention is insuring that our criminal Justice System is keeping our Community Safe in an effective and cost efficient mannerism im proud of the progress we have method transforming virginias juvenile Justice System to a data drink enterprise aimed at putting young people on a better path. We one way to gauche accomplice this goal is to increase the threshold for felony larceny from 200 to 500. Virginia is 50 out of 50 for the most punitive felony threshold in the nation. Let us work to bring virginia up from the bottom of the rankings on this important issue. Another step that we can take to protect virginiaans economic productive is to lilt the numb of peoples who is drivers licenses are suspended because of nonviolent it limits their ability to work which makes it more difficult to earn the money to pay off the debt and build a better life. Im proposing to maci easier for people who have been wrongly convicted of crimes to clear their names. This bill will allow individuals to petition for a writ of actual innocence if new evidence indicates they were wrongly convicted even if they have pleaded guilty. [applause] last month i submitted my amendments to the commonwealth spending plan for fiscal years 2016 through 2018. The plan addresses the commonwealths revenue shortfall, while protecting Core Services lick education and public safety. It has not always been easy but our Work Together on the budget has been marked by bipartisan cooperation. I particularly want to think chairman jones, ware, norman and hanger for dealing with virginias budget and spending plan. [applause] our state work force is the best in america, and they deserve more compensation than the currently receive. I am proud we have worked over the past three years together to pass two such salary increases. While language in our budget restricted the second raise due to our revenue shortfall the bug offers virginia teachers, state employees 1. 5 bonus. If our revenue improves im eager to work with you to prioritize more significant pay increases. Even as we have death with a challenging revenue picture the budget i submitted to you does not make any program cuts to k through 12 education. [applause] it also requires fewer reductions from our Higher Education system than originally anticipated. I am proud of the work we have done together to strengthen virginias Education System from prek through higher ed and midcareer work force training. This session we can build on those accomplishments together. We all agree that Technology Provides us with the opportunity to offer high quality education to students unable to attend school in a traditional setting. This er i propose tougher full time, high quality, Virtual Training to every single student in virginia. I am also proposing legislation aimed at helping virginiaans access Student Financial aid and pay the loans off as quickly and easy as possible. Right navaidsons collectively owe over 30 billion but the loans lack protections against predatory more information assistance on repaying debt and also proposing legislation that will give virginiays institutions of Higher Education the authority to restructure Financial Aid to innocent vice students to complete incentivize students to complete degrees with four years. This will hell minimum mime the amount of debt on the way to a degree. Two senators have been leaders on the issue and look forward to working with them in the next coming weeks. [applause] as we prepare our students to work and succeed in new virginia economy, we have a responsibility to use taxpayer dollars wisely to ensure that there are jobs waiting for them when they graduate. I know we all agree that we should strengthen how our Commonwealth Services taxpayers. We have had success inside bringing new jobs and Economic Activity to virginia. However if wore going to truly build a new virginia economy we must use every single dollar to the greatest impact creating jobs and opportunity. Nearly 22 years ago it was created and the virginia Economic Development partnership as served the question. s the commonwealths driver. There are many hard working men and women but as a recent report identified the organization is in need of stronger management and accountability. Reforming vedp should not be a partisan issue. Its problems have persisted over the terms of five previous governors and 21 General Assembly sessions. I am ready to work with you to ensure that virginias Economic Development infrastructure is delivering the return on investment that taxpayers have a right to expect. Making virginia the best home to veterans and military families is another area of significant bipartisan achievement over the course of the last three years elm the budget i propose to you will expand the success we have had connecting veterans with jobs through our v3 program. I am proposing a twoyear pilot to assist veteran entrepreneurs who want to start companies. We can also direct or social Service Agencies to better coordinate with military authorities in the case of family abuse and neglect of military children. These initiatives with strengthen our commonwealths position as the best place on earth for veterans and military families to call their home. [applause] last year we worked together on a historic bipartisan package to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and people who could not pass background checks. Want to thank todd gilbert for the great work in assisting thus. Lets give todd a great round of applause. [cheers and applause] there goes his career. [laughter] im only teasing. Come on. The legs legislation we passed include the fer meaningle restrictions in a generation and showed the rest of the world that common sense and mice is possible on this issue. This year we have an opportunity to strengthen the Domestic Violence protection law which is already the toughest in america by standing to include nonfamily abuse orders as well as permanent protective orders. This change, which is being sponsored by senator jan howell and delegate Kathleen Murphy would keefe more virginians safe from gun crimes and lets make 2017 the year we make universal background checks for firearm sales the policy of the commonwealth of virginia. [applause] over the years we have also worked together to reform our commonwealth ethics system. The reform includes a cap of gifts from lobbiests have contributed to a new culture of accountability in richmond that reinforces virginias reputation for clean and wellrun government. This year i propose that we ban the personally of campaign funds. Theres room for honest disagreement on many ethical issues about we should all be able to agree at that time political contributions to be spend informing voters and not in lining politicians pockets. [applause] any effort to build a stronger economy in society must begin with giving virginians a full voice in that society. Unfortunately in virginia and across the nation too many laws have been passed design to restrict access to democracy rather than to expand it. When it was passed our photo i. D. Law made it significantly harder for many virginians to vote without any evidence that voter fraud is a problem in virginia, so this year i hope that we will repeal that law. [applause] i will also submit legislation this session to allow nonexcuse inperson absentee voting and to add a new excuse for absentee by mail for child child caregivers. Virginia is strongest when we maked easier to vote not harder. For the past three years or Work Together has been seen by the bipartisanship together than divisive battles. Were not always going to athats what a democracy is all about. While political fights rage in washington, we have proven time and time again that virginia is a place where leaders can still Work Together to get things done. In fact we havent work to pass 72 of the initiatives i presented to you and i thank all of you for that. We can build on the record this year. But only if we remain focuses on the issues most important to virginians as we begin our Work Together this session, our neighbor, North Carolina, remains mired in a divisive and counterproductive battle over laws its Legislature Passed the target the rights of lgbt citizen. Attacks on a equality and Womens Health care rights dont just embarrass the states that engage in them, it kills jobs. Since North Carolina passed hb2 and their former governor signed it the state has lost out on millions in Economic Activity and thousands of jobs, as organizations like deutsche bank, paypal, the nba and the ncaa have withdrawn investments. Virginia that taken a ditch approach. We havent worked to send a message to families families anb creators our commonwealth will not tolerate discrimination against anyone, including 0 friends friends and neighbors in the lgbt community. [applause] this year, virginia competed directly with North Carolina for the groups new research quarterback and we started out with a severe disadvantage when North Carolina put an incentive package on the table three times the size of ours in virginia but in the end virginias open and welcoming Business Climate trumped North Carolinas attacks on a equality and co star is bringing 732 new highpaying jobs right here no richmond, virginia. [applause] and so tonight im simply asking for assistance to help us bring more costars to virginia rather than turning them away. First i want to make it very clear that i will veto any legislation that discriminates against lgbt virginiaans or undermines the Constitutional Health care helping rights of our virginia women. [applause] i am 710 on veto override votes, and, folks, im ready to keep my streak alive but i hope you will restrain from sending to me thing that are counterproductive to the business community. Second, we mist protect and enhance our Business Climate by erasing division and discrimination from our code in our constitution. After a landmark rule big the United States supreme court, and which our attorney general played a central role, Marriage Equality is the law of the land. We should not wait for another session to comply with that ruling and lets take it out of our stat and ban it from the books here in virginia. [applause] in years past, virginia also created laws that oververt itselfs to undermine a woman razz actos to preproductive health care. Virginias law tempted to shut a Womens Health clinics that offer abortion services. After working with the Lieutenant Governor to overhaul the board of health and following a lengthy regulatory process im proud to say we kept our promise and prevented the law from closing a single clinic here in virginia. [applause] that law along with virginias law forcing a medically unnecessary ultra sound on a women does not keep people safer or healthier. They do not more than inject government into the decisions that should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor. So lets repeal and vote this year. [applause] if we can Work Together to roll back unweiss a unwise attacks on equality and Constitutional Rights we can send a clear message that virginia is a commonwealth of equal opportunity for people and job creators from every walk of life. The next 45 days offers us the opportunity to cement the progress we have made together on so many issues and to address the problems that still need to be solved. If we seize this opportunity we can continue to build gnaw virginia economy that works for people. We can bring hope to communicated ravaged by the Opioid Epidemic and families with a loved one battling a Mental Illness and we can make sure every to we can expand Virtual Learning for public students and offer low income virginians a shot tet dream of a college education. We ick may virginia a bert place better place for veterans to live and start a successful business and make our government more transparent and accessible for the people who own and it we can continue to show the nation and the world that virginia is a place where leaders come together to get things done no matter their political points of view. Three years ago, we met on the steps of this building and began what some might have thought was on Unlikely Partnership after a very long and very difficult cam pawn, we had every reason to retreat to our bipartisan corners but we took a different course. We identified the issues where compromise could be reached and got to live got to work making life bet for the people serve. For this evening as we begin our final session together i want to say to all of you, thank you. Thank you for your leadership, your partnership, your defend indicated to overcoming political obstacles on the way to doing the right thing. We have real incentive to Work Together. As the father of five, i share the dream of every single virginia parent, that my children will find the opportunities to live, work, and raise a family here in our home state. But that will not be possible without the vision and the leadership of the people in this room here tonight. And so as i conclude i hope you will join me for one more session to strengthen the foundation we have laid for a new virginia economy and to build upon it. I am ready to work with you to achieve the goal it set forth this evening and i look forward to considering the legislation that you will be sending over to me in coming days. If we take this opportunity to Work Together, i know that we will emerge the end of this session with a stronger, more resilient economy that works for all virginians. May god bless you and may god continue to bless the greatest state in the greatest state in the greatest country in world. Thank you. [applause] all of the state of the state spee w