In his final state of the state address new Jersey Governor Chris Christie talks about his administrative. He also discussed the response to Superstorm Sandy in 2012. His successor democrat sal murphy will be sworn in tuesday. [applause] thank you. [applause] [applause] thank you. Thank you all very much. Now, before we begin im going to ask you for a favor. Not for a moment of silence but for a moment of celebration for the extraordinary life of governor brendan byrne. That is what he would have wanted. He would not want to settle he was one of celebration so lets all rise and celebrate governor bernd. [applause] [applause] nine years ago yesterday i went to pick up then 8yearold patrick and then 5yearold ritchie from school. On my way out of school with them on the front lawn of the Assumption School and mars town i announced to the media that i was a candidate for governor of new jersey. On that day i said many things but looking back on it the most important thing was this, i said if you are looking for the same old stuff you got the wrong person. Little did i know just how right i would the nine years later. Nine years is a lifetime ago and todays culture, the culture of dvrs to skip commercials Twitter FacebookInstagram Snapchat and the short Attention Span that comes from these latest waves of communicators. So today i want us to take a breath. We need to remember where we were nine years ago, on the brink of financial ruin as a state. More people unemployed than at any time in modern history, a culture entrance and of avoiding the tough decisions, taxing more, spending more, borrowing at breakneck pace, the highest property tax in america, rowing at a record rate. [applause] i iran to be different in iran to speak bluntly, i iran to shine life on all of new jerseys problems. I iran to offer Achievable Solutions and i iran to be a governor who did not just mark time. I iran to win and i always run to win. I iran to be a governor of consequence and even though it is easy to forget those days into minimize the crises of nine years ago and in crisis we indeed were in 2009. About the new policies in the new attitude that a band of former prosecutors brought here nine years ago, the crisis could have defeated us and now in the same way we revert to the policies of the past believe me, it is a short road back to the edge of disaster. Einstein said while he was a professor down the road at preston we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. To the fighting attitude we brought progrowth policies and we have fought for and achieved together and im proud to be here to say to tell you that the state of our state is very good and without question much, much better than it was eight years ago. [applause] i say to my friends on both sides of the aisle the facts are the facts. Eight years ago we inherited a statement on rate at 10 and in our eight years that on the payment rate was cut in half. Eight years ago we had lost 248,000 private sector jobs and businesses were leaving our state at a record pace. Today, eight years later, we have helped the private sector create 334,400 new jobs and this year, 2017, 108,000, 252 new businesses were created in new jersey in 2070 alone and all time economic record for our state. [applause] the facts are the facts. More new jersey are employed today than in any time in our States History even though our population is growing at the slowest rate it has grown in state history. A long way from the depressing record of eight years ago and i want you to remember this as we sit here today this morning 4. 3 million new jersey and spoke up and had a job to go to work to today to support their families and we are proud of that. [applause] how did it happen . Where did new jerseys Economic Growth and operation come from . In 2011, together, we passed broadbased business tax cut that led to 3 billion in lower taxes that are corporate citizens in the state prou grodo drop production. Thousands back to work. We taken on appointment Insurance Fund that was 2 billion in debt eight years ago and we have paid off that debt in record time and we passed the constitutional amendment to prevent politicians from stealing from this fund again and today, as we prepare to leave office, that fund is over 2 billion in surplus, not 2 billion in debt. [applause] by the way, the reform of our on appointment Insurance Fund has led to an additional 400 million in job creating tax cuts for our new jersey businesses not tax increases. We passed Economic Opportunity act of 2013 together which has helped us to make new jersey more competitive at attracting and attaining jobs and putting more of our citizens back to work. We reduce job killing regulation at the direction of Lieutenant Governor by one third over the Previous Administration freeing up resources to put new jersey back to work not waste money on lawyers and accountants to understand the next government to do or not to do and thats how to create jobs not to the government doing it. [applause] finally, most importantly, we held the line on new and increased taxes. I vetoed income tax increase and i vetoed tax increases and i vetoed energy tax increases. In fact, over the last eight years i have vetoed more tax increases than any governor in modern american history. [applause] let me say this to my friends on the side of the aisle just stood up. Each one of those vetoes was sustained by my republican colleagues in the legislator with the leadership of senator tom king junior, the late alex approach, assembly and john brandman. [applause] the beleaguered taxpayers in new jersey were perfect for the first time in a decade from tax increases. That is all i want to say. Tom, to john, to betty lou, on behalf of her late husband and all the republicans stood up and made those difficult votes, on behalf of the people in the businesses of new jersey who have much more of their own money in their pockets because of their leadership, thank you very much. [applause] lower tax policies have worked to revive an economy and led to seven consecutive years, 72nd of years of privatesector job growth. That is a very consequential accomplishment, consequential for all the people in the state of new jersey. Eight years ago we inherited a budget that was bloated, out of balance and riddled with gimmicks, riddled with gimmicks. 2 billion in deficit in the fiscal year it was only five months from ending in a protected 11 milliondollar deficit in the coming fiscal year a total of 13 billion projected deficit over our first 18 months and too many public employers doing too little and costing too much. One shot gimmicks that accounted for over 13 of our revenue when i enter this chamber eight years ago we deferred raises in the last administration we deferred payments in the last administration and all of them left as a ticking time bomb and little gift for the new governor. In addition in eight years before we arrived debt issued by State Governments increased by more than 10 a year every year. Its unsustainable rate of debt. In our eight years we reduced the rate of growth by three quarters to only 2 a year over the last eight years and weve stopped the decade of exploding debt growth initiated by our predecessors. Today budgets have been balanced for eight years in a row and today there are over 10000 fewer state employees and today Discretionary Spending is nearly 2 billion less than it was ten years ago, not growth, actual dollar for dollar spending and those oneshot revenues that created those enormous chasms down from 13point to percent to 2. 8 . Lets be clear before the next team comes in here we are handing off a state that is growing jobs and a budget that is honestly balanced, unlike what we inherited eight years ago. [applause] one other way we control that is for eight years we have said no to unbudgeted, unplanned for exorbitant spending and we have used the veto and line item veto to enforce fiscal responsibili responsibility. It has been eight years and how much spending have we used to veto the line item veto to stop for our taxpayers . Probably knows enough out of the top of her head and i will tell you. We have vetoed and line item veto 7. 3 billion in spending that the legislator appropriated and wanted to do that we simply didnt have the money to pay for. That is nearly a billion dollars a year every year that we kept in the pockets of her citizens and out of the hands of trenton politicians that is the way you honestly balanced budget in the state not by continuing to raise taxes on the people of new jersey. [applause] for governor elect murphy, we hand him a budget that is balance with surplus not the 2 billiondollar deficit we were handed eight years ago and those are the actions of an administration that treated our citizens as if it were our own and those are actions with real consequences for every taxpayer in this state. While the budget crisis was most immediate task that we faced eight years ago we did not win to just fix those problems. We had a vision for finally tackling the problem in new jersey and in the ten years before we came to trenton property taxes increased 70 , an average of 7 a year every year for ten years. Fact. That is a chronic problem which is currently in our citizens ability to buy and keep a home thats why when the legislator wants to go home in 2010 after passing the budget i used my Constitutional Authority to call them back to finally address the growth of these taxes in together we passed the 2 cap on property tax with only four exceptions. It was tough medicine but medicine was needed to deal with this issue. Here is the good news. We did of our constituents and work. In 2017 bca gave us the numbers and property taxes in new jersey increased by only 1. 64 . [applause] there for the last seven years property taxes have increased an average of 1. 98 a year to 2 cap worked and dont change it. [applause] what has them in for property taxpayers across the state . It is saved property taxes pairs 18point to billion dollars over the last seven years compared to the system previously in place, 18point to billion dollars. Why else does it work . Because we also gave the town and the countys the tool to control their large single expense, police and fire salaries. We have great men and women who serve in the states. However. They are also the highest paid firefighters in america and the second highest paid Police Officers in america. They are objectively not, not underpaid, not seven years ago and not today. To make the 2 cap real we needed to cap the interest arbitration salary increases given every year. So we did it in a bipartisan way twice. And it has saved over 500 million in salary increases alone over the last seven years which would have been paid for by higher property taxes. The 2 cap in the arbitration cap works and in the state that suffered with 7 property taxes every year for a decade that is in the complement of consequence for every new jersey homeowner. [applause] here is my first warning for taxpayers in new jerseys futu future. If you do not act in a bipartisan way to renew the arbitration cap the property taxes of our citizens will skyrocket again in the cap expired nine days ago. The progress we have made over the last seven years is at real risk and our governor elect has refused to ask the legislator to act before this cap expires and if our Public Safety officers were underpaid, underpaid, i could understand this debate but even after seven years of a 2 arbitration cap they remain the highest paid Public Safety officers in our entire country. While our taxpayers still pay the highest property tax in america. Let me be clear. Failure to renew this cap is a failure of leadership and a failure which would cost our citizens money they need to support their families so seven days and im just another property tax payer and as another property taxpayer i am begging you stand up to these interest pass arbitration cap like you have done it twice before and do not return the citizens of our state to 7 annual property tax increase because if you do shame on you. [applause] we keep at trenton, i believe, we had a Higher Education system which was underperforming its potential and sorely needed Capital Investment to modernize technology. Governors for decades had tried to address this situation and failed to do so. It is not the political will to do what would maximize our educational, economic potential and that of our students. We are more afraid of offending then we were of failing. We refuse, we refused to accept that state of affairs. We worked hard and we negotiated and we find a bipartisan new Jersey MedicalHealth Sciences education restructuring act and we fixed decades of lost opportunity. I want to thank all those who helped make this happen but most particularly governor talking helped me develop the blueprint and Assembly Majority leader greenwald who led the fight for this in the legislator against all of the opposition. Lou, it would not have happened without you and i want to say publicly thank you mac. [applause] to all the skeptics lets review the facts and i do this for you as much time doing me. Today rutgers have a medical school in schools of Public Health in their own cancer institute. It has gone from 55th and nih funding to 22nd and we rid ourselves of the corruption and selfdealing that was going on it um tmj that i began as us attorney and im proud to say that we finished as governor. Rowan university became a Public Research university and gained a school of osteopathic medicine and now operates two medical schools and nationally acclaimed school of engineering. Its poised to double its student population and creative innervate of partnerships for Trinity College is to allow the students to get a four year degree without unthinkable student debt. Lets be clear. No one has been a greater champion of creasing Higher Education opportunities for south jersey than Senate President or sweeney and roman would not be what it is today without his persistent leadership. [applause] then we needed to turn to the challenge of Capital Improvements for colleges and universities. This had not been done by any administration for 25 years, since the governor tom kane in our schools showed it through facilities and higher tuitions and together we made the case to the people of new jersey and we passed the building our future bond act which invested 1. 5 billion in public money and billions more in private and philanthropic money in expanding and modernizing our campuses all over new jersey. Over 208 individual projects are finished in helping and our campuses are being transformed. While other administration have failed our Higher Education institute for 25 years due to lack of courage and lack of funding we refused to accept that failure and let me tell you nothing is more consequential to our States Economic future then Educational Opportunity for our citizens. We didnt play small ball everybody. We acted together in new jerseys Higher Education system is far better today than it was eight years ago as a result of our actions. [applause] another failing gem of our state eight years ago was the beautiful and historic resort of Atlantic City. From the ms. America pageant to the horse under diving horse and from americas playland in the casino gaming Atlantic City has been a national and International Destination for more than a century. As often happens corruption in Atlantic City combined with actions interest and help to bring us down to the brink of bankruptcy, bad decisions and action based on Political Correctness led to trenton nearly killing the goose that laid the golden egg for all of new jersey. This is another problem that i began to work on his us attorney by putting corrupt Atlantic City politicians in jail for stealing from the people but unfortunately that was not nearly as we entered office let us remember closing in the hundreds of millions of dollars in the streets were unsafe and the private sector was clean. Not only that as a result property taxes were soaring for the residents of Atlantic City so i turned to john hanson chairman of the new jersey Sports Gaming and entertaining commission to develop a blueprint for change. We created a tourism district and took over policing their and we invested in National Advertising and supported efforts by the City Government which will wellintentioned but ultimately failed. We needed to do more but we are being stopped by politicians inside and outside of this chamber were just trying to score cheap political points while they were burying their heads in the sand. Finally we fought back those entrenched in misguided entries enacted in a bipartisan way to replace the ineffective City Government were either unwilling or unable to bring about needed change through legislative and executive action we took over Atlantic City and lets look at what has happened. First, we appointed former United States senator just to relieve the effort and his done so with incredibl