Baker talked about opioid abuse, renewable energy, transportation infrastructure and Affordable Housing. From the massachusetts statehouse in boston, this is 40 minutes. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] it is my pleasure to be able to introduce to you his excellency the governor of the commonwealth charles baker. [applause] thank you. [applause] thank you very much, thank you. Thank you for all being with us tonight. Thank you. Tom, its nice to have you with us. Thanks for being here. Mr. Speaker, madam president members of the house and senate, congressman neal thank you for joining us, fellow constitutional officers, members of the governors counsel mr. Chief justice, welcome. Members of the judiciary, members of the cabinet, my administration, sheriff, district attorney, mayors, local officials reverend and clergy, distinguished guests, members of my family that are here this evening. [applause] [applause] andy, kristin and william, my children charlie, he has the 91. A. J. And carolyn and to my wife lauren, the love of my life for the past 30 years and an outstanding and committed first lady. [applause] [applause] and to my fellow citizens, when the Lieutenant Governor and i began this journey three years ago we set out to create a government that worked well for the people who needed it the most and we were creative thrifty and hardworking for the people of massachusetts. While much remains to be done your help we have made great progress. We began with a 1 billiondollar structural budget deficit. Today we have reduced the deficit to less than 100 million without raising taxes. [applause] [applause] we begin with 1500 homeless families families duck in hotels and motels isolated from their support systems today. There are fewer than 60 families with a 95 reduction. [applause] we begin with a department of children and families in freefall. Today 99 of social workers or license with the lowest caseloads they have had in years and clinical teams to support their work. We began with a Health Connector who is was by all accounts msn today finishes third consecutive positive open enrollment providing more than 240,000 working families with Affordable HealthCare Coverage here in massachusetts. [applause] we began with the state in bridgewater that for decades was beset by a series of terrible tragedies but nothing was done. Today with the help and support of the legislature and many others Bridgewater State hospital is a completely different place and families who never expected anything to get better finally have hope. [applause] [applause] we began in the midst of an Opioid Crisis with death overdoses in prescription growing by double digits for more than a decade. It was the worst case of negative momentum i have ever seen it today with your help and support we have reduced opioid prescribing by 29 and Overdose Deaths have dropped for the first time in over a decade like 10 . [applause] [applause] we have made significant progress in many other vital areas that directly influence the quality of life for everyone here in nasa two sets. For the first time we are attracting capital grants for book is not Technical Schools to upgrade equipment and expand popular programs providing students with realworld skills and experience and employers with job ready employees. Publicprivate partnerships with Colleges Universities researchers and the federal government and materials advanced manufacturing, robotics and Digital Health are and keep waiting the next generation of great commercial clusters. Partnerships with our colleagues in local government and the private sector have translated into billions of dollars in Economic Development projects grading thousands creating thousands of jobs and preserving and creating thousands of units of affordable and workforce housing. Working with you we have allocated more than 700 million in local bridge funding, the largest investment in years and another 3. 6 billion has been spent on hundreds of road resurfacing and improvement projects. All in we are prepared to replace 80 bridges and paid paid enough miles of roadway to crisscross the commonwealth five times. [applause] we have also built on estate historic commitment to bipartisan commitment to veterans. Enhance the benefits to gold star families enacted the home act, created attacks credit for the turns hired and to celebrate this milestone we joined tonight by u. S. Navy veteran tom miller who lives in the soldiers home director of nursing debbie and superintendent cheryl, god loves you and thanks for joining us. [applause] [applause] as you all know the Public Transportation system collapsed during the brutal winter of 2015 2015. Three years later the state is investing hundreds of millions of dollars more in upgrading its koritha structure than it has in years modernizing its operations and rescuing projects like the green light extension. After more than three decades of lip service we are going to make Commuter Rail to boston a reality. [applause] [applause] we have much more to do, much more but for the first time we plan to modernize the system that is in moving forward fixing decades of neglect doesnt happen overnight but make no mistake we will deliver the Public Transit system that the people of this commonwealth deserves. [applause] economically we are hitting on all cylinders. In 2017 we have more people working than at any time in the states history. Our economy has added 180,000 new jobs since we took office and best of all the number of people looking for work has dropped in every county over the past three years and at most cases by more than 35 . [applause] the progress we have made together has been noticed and should be. Bloomberg ranks massachusetts number one in innovation for the past two years. United Health Foundation called massachusetts the Healthiest State in the nation. In 2014 a National Survey massachusetts got a d for Small Business friendliness and last year they gave us an a. [applause] u. S. News and world report ranks massachusetts the best state in the nation in which to live, work and raise a family and for the third time in four years the new England Patriots are going to the super bowl. [applause] [applause] [applause] i can stand here tonight and say without question that the state of our commonwealth is strong. [applause] a strong commonwealth is built on a foundation of strong communities, friendly welcoming bustling neighborhoods and downtown, Great Schools safe accessible attractive places to play, growing local economies and the belief that anything is possible. Thats why for the past three years we have focused so much of our time strengthening communities. Her First Executive order created a new partnership for state and local governments. Funded by the legislature and overseen by the Lieutenant Governor 330 towns have joined this partnership adopting more than 800 800 best practices in everything from Financial Planning to regional collaboration. This is how government should work. [applause] when we took office more than 50 communities in western massachusetts didnt have access to highspeed internet services. I first heard about this one a local official told me Horror Stories about life without a pretty mentioned students like Sarah Beckwith from mt. Washington who often did her homework sitting in the car next to the library after hours so she could get access to their wifi. Sarahs astray day student at mt. Everest high school but come on, the parking lot . Heres the good news. Washington now has highspeed internet and sarah is using the wifi in her home in the vast majority who have none when we took office either have it in our have plans to install it thanks to this legislations help with funding for the buildout. They will all have the infrastructure over the course of the next two years. [applause] [applause] our program planted 10,000 trees in gateway cities and we look forward to planting 10,000 more. By the fall of 2018, 71 of all streetlights will be a leading saving communities millions of dollars and cutting power usage by 60 . To support our coastal communities we are establishing a statewide task force to study resiliency and adaptability and it began making millions of dollars in strategic investment to preserve protect and properly use this critical natural resource. With the help of Committee Leaders and their legislative colleagues who instituted programs for maintenance and repair made Major Investments in past walking trails and municipal infrastructure. We also Work Together with their colleagues and local government to welcome fellow citizens from puerto rico and the Virgin Islands after the devastating hurricane. [applause] [applause] state agencies that Work Together to help thousands of families relocate here to find housing, schools and jobs. Our budget will include additional aid for communities hosting these families. Over 20 years ago we committed to what became a longstanding bipartisan investment in k12 education. High standard equitable funding and other major reforms that worked. We continued to finish first for the tenth year in a row on the National Investment of educational project of mapping the spree with the highest fouryear Graduation Rate in the lowest dropout rate we have ever we have ever had do we continue that Momentum Funding kate through 12 education at the highest level in history more than 4. 7 billion in tomorrows Budget Commission will boost that number by another 100 million representing an increase of nearly half a billion dollars since we took office. [applause] [applause] the commonwealth effort as you know doesnt stop with k12 education. For students and families struggling to pay for college we will expand three key successful initiatives. First well increase College Scholarship funding by more than 7 million so that all Community College students who qualify for pell grants with an unmet financial need will have their remaining fully paid for it. [applause] [applause] second we will significantly expand our Early College programs which give students the opportunity to take collegelevel courses and earn College Credit while they are still in High School Pages prepare students for academic success reduces their costs and boost College Completion rates. And third we will continue to expand our commonwealth plan which makes it possible for students to earn fouryear degrees for less than 30,000 and thats including scholarship state or federal grants. [applause] in addition to help the next generation of students get off to a good start we delivered one of the largest increases in funding an early chat with education over a decade and are 2018 budget. [applause] all and we increased state spending on Early Education delivering a 45 milliondollar wage increase for teachers. [applause] [applause] for seven years in a row massachusetts has been ranked the most energyefficient state in the country and in a few days the commonwealth will announce the results of the Largest Renewable Energy portfolio to history that process enabled by her 2015 legislation will be to clean Energy Pricing that is competitive with carbon admitting fossil fuels which is a huge win for our family is our businesses and our environment. Later this eurocard played a competitive process that could lead to the construction of the largest offshore wind power operation in the nation. This effort will further reduce emissions, create thousands of green jobs and solidify our standing of the Global Leaders in innovation and clean energy. We are also making new investments in the development of energy. By helping bridge the gap a peak demand expanded storage will boost the effectiveness of wind and solar power, provide further price really for repairs and pave the way for a future independent for fossil fuels. [applause] [applause] but despite the tremendous progress we have made we will continue to make your massachusetts our climate is still changing and thats why we are dedicating an additional 2 million to Climate Adaptation of resiliency Planning Efforts in our 2019 budget providing Additional Support to municipalities and accelerating statewide Hazard Mitigation planning. On health care we made a strong statement and while everyone will have access to quality care. [applause] [applause] by working with governors and members of congress we were able to preserve the Health Insurance program put in place in the commonwealth executive. We must continue to be vigilant to protect what has worked for us and will continue to advocate for bipartisan fixes in the Affordable Care act that many governors democrats and republicans fought for last year. We made in equally strong statement on Womens Health care when we pledged that regardless of the outcome in d. C. No woman in massachusetts will be denied health care reproductive services. [applause] [applause] now we have just six months left in this legislative session to Work Together on a long list of important initiatives. Lets start with the opioid epidemic. In 2015 mayor walsh and i testified on behalf of opioid addiction legislation which this body and acted several months later. Mr. Mayor i want to thank you for your steadfast bipartisan leadership on this issue. [applause] [applause] recently secretary and i testified on the Affordable Care act. The care they care act will provide a framework for communitybased care Addiction Services expand schoolbased education and broad pathways to treatment for people dealing with addiction. In 2015 we have added over 1100 treatment beds increased state spending on the diction services by 60 upgraded our Prescription Monitoring Program required medical dental nursing social Worker Pharmacy schools to teach every student about opioid therapy and pain management, increased access to narcan certified hundreds of solar homes expanded schoolbased Education Programs and created new pathways. Over the next five years we plan to add 500 more treatment beds and increase spending on Addiction Services by more than 200 le in dollars. [applause] but everyone in this room knows we need to do more. Please move quickly to enact the care act. [applause] [applause] thank you. Thank you. In addition we have to deal with fentanyl. Fentanyl is present in less than 30 of Overdose Deaths in 2014 but it was present in more than 80 Overdose Deaths in 2017. Federal state local Law Enforcement agencies are working on this issue but we have more to do to get this deadly drug off of our streets. A bipartisan fentanyl bill will make it easier to arrest and convict traffickers and i asked you to and acted as soon as possible. [applause] [applause] we also have work to do to bolster Behavioral Health services. The budget we filed tomorrow will include more than 83 million in new funding for the department of Mental Health to strengthen communities based services for adults with serious mental illness. [applause] [applause] in addition to integrating behavioral and Clinical Health care these services will provide active outreach and engagement support residential support clinical coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week and include parents and recovered coaches as part of the team and we would ask that you make this Initiative Part of your budgets. Many of you know we significantly stranded our work force and Affordable Housing over the past three years and hundreds of millions of dollars to create and preserve over 30,000 units of housing often combining them with development. Here too we must do more. For decades as they produce enough housing to keep up with demand. The result has been predictable. This proposal be taken up quickly, for parts many people has in the commonwealth is unavoidable. [applause] [applause] to increase the takehome pay for more than 400,000 working families, we Work Together to expand the earned inc