His final state of the state address before a joint session of the legislature in jefferson city. The governor who was in the final year of his last term in Office Highlights achievements and shared his agenda for the states future he touched on several issues including workforce to velma, education, info structure investment, judicial appointments and the fentanyl crisis. [applause] [applause] [applause] [background noises] [background noises] ladies and judgment help me walk with the 57th governor of the state of missouri michael l parsons. [applause] [applause] quick so it may be a speaker you were 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] [applause] [applause] there is another person i want to recognize today i normally dont do it but im going to do 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 us 20 of the session here into the statef missouri, thank you. [applause] [applause] welt to say the least it is an honor to as i welcome for the final time is a 57th governor of the great state of missouri. During our time as governor we have accomplished more than any of us probably thought was ever possible. But i would not be standing here todayys without my support syst, my family. And that is where i want to start today. T, first and foremost the first lady. Teresa has been by my side every step of the way. And after 38 years of marriage i would not be the husband, the father, the gramps, or governor that i am today without her. Thank you for serving in a role you never asked for and youve been doing eachce and every day with grace and passion and commitment to best serve the people of missouri. Ladies and gentlemen the first lady of the states of missouri. [applause] [applause] there is another group of people with me today and it is my family. Am one of the most blessed people in the world to have the family that i have and for all of them should be here i really started with my son and my daughter years ago. It really made me a better person having those who come into my life and they are both here today with us. Naturally they are the ones who have all of my grandkids and i just cant say enough of how much my children have meant to be inki my life and my grandkids and most of them are here today but i have one i want to give a little bit of a shout out too. It is his first i public event t the ripe age of six months. He is with us today for the first time. And i have another great grandchild on the way thats here my brothers are here i have nieces and nephews and cousins, brothers, all of my family from here i tell you there two things i know in life that are important. That is god almighty and my family. I love all of you guys who are here today. Would you please recognize my family and show them your appreciation. Please rise. [applause] [applause] like the legislators in this room and missourians across the statend my faith, family, and te next generations are the driving force by the change we have made a 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 high declared this at governor, this in dad, this gramps was not done yet. And i tell you, we are not done yet and while that is still true i am here to tell you we are getting close. After serving six sessions in the house, six sessions in a 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. Rs but, while the view facing all of you is a fine sight to see, but it is no comparison to the view of the output county farm behind the windshield of my john deere tractor. [applause] but look, i promise i will think of all of you occasionally. [laughter] but in all seriousness, i will 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 generation and the ability for them to achieve their American Dream. And every decision we must put people first. If this had been hard to do. It is a simple idea that has been our guiding principle since the beginning and that is our final commitment to you until our finalil day we will continue to put people first. When i became governor, missouri was tired of the turmoil. Political infighting self involved personalities. They were tired of quitters. When i first stepped into the governors office, through thousand local media we close the chapter on scandal and begin a new direction because there was no turning back. We declared a fresh start the return of stability we committed to ensure the next generation have thedr opportunity of the American Dream. We promise the return of integrity to statete government and above all we promise to return to people first mentality. And today i firmly believe we have done just that. Every year we have approved conservative and balance budgets. We have maintained our triple aaa Credit Rating we have 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 interStates History. We are also pleased to report we have paid down the dirt missouris debt by over 600 million leaving the states with 53 less debt then when we started. That is quite the contrast compared to what we have seen happening in washington d. C. In missouri we dont leave future generations a pick up the tab we pay our bills and put people first. [applause] working with all of you balancing conservative budgets norm never been the the exception. We have always been more interested in giving back hard earned dollars rather than spending them. In turn that creates jobs and increased revenue 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 a revenue created by it missourians spending their own money not to government programs. And one of the huge factors is this three separate tax cuts we approved including the largest in ourto States History. We have decreased tax burdens by over 20 on leaching and economic powerhouse in the state of missouri. [applause] when i became governor we were ranked 47th for gdp growth in last among our midwest neighbors but today we are ranked 23rd in the nation. Top five in the midwest for gdp growth. That is a real reckoning here in jeff city. At that is not all talk and hot air that is a true reckoning of growth, opportunity that missourians have come to expect from this administration and State Governments. That is our leadership creating a real formula for success and that is something all of us should celebrate in this chamber. Overall missouri has the 13th lowest tax burden of any state in the nation and under our administration, our Unemployment Rate fell 2. 1 . The lowest rate of reported in our States History. Actually it has been so low our problem is not creating job filling jobs since becoming governor we have added more than 100 10,000 jobs to our economy and closed out the year ranked 15th nationally for job creation. And today as i stand before for the final time as missouris 57th governor i declare the state of our straight is stronger than it has ever been. [applause] [applause] we have done it all by putting people first and that started with stateen governments. Nothing we do in this room is possible without the dedicated Public Service across the state to implement these ideas. When i became governor governments became underappreciated, understaffed and underpaid. That is why we approve three historic pay increases to recruit and quality talent across State Government raising Team Member Pay by over 20 since 2018 and let me just say the investment in our state employees have been worth every penny. [applause] and thats y why this year we ae proposing additional threepoint to percent costofliving increase for all of our state employees. [applause] and representing our more than 47000 team members here today is my cabinet. There every crisis i turn to my cabinet and its team not the federal government i have always maintained the answers to our problems are in the state and among our people. If we disallow ourselves to put egos and selfimportance to decide and just listen and while they may have already been recognized, i want to ask myab cabinet to stand with me for one last time. I alwayst say being a good leadr is not about being the best. It is about making those around you better and today i thank you and your teams for proving that to be true. [applause] the largest deregulation ever in our States History eliminating nearly one out of every five state regulations and during covid19, we waved over 600 more regulations. We made many of these changes permanent in statute and improved the Regulatory Environment in missouri because to be honest with you, many of these rules should have never existed in the first place. [applause] when i became governor, we also inherited nearly 4,000 pending clemency applications. I am a law and order governor. 4,000 people in limbo waiting for an answer is not how we do good business. We set out to provide answers. Today im proud to announce the clemency backlog we inherited has been totally cleared for the first time in decades. [applause] as a former sheriff, this reform did not mean we were letting people out of prison. People who truly turned their lives around, people like kenny who joins us here today. He was drinking, getting in fights and found himself on the wrong side of the law. But today, he has turned his life completely around. He is a proud husband and father of three kids and 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. [applause] another way our office has been able to capitalize historic opportunity is appointing over 155nd missouri judges and three Supreme Court judges, meaning more than 40 of the judiciary hasee been appointed by our administration. By focusing on core values we truly reshaped judiciary for generations to come. A judiciary thatti upholds the w and not the politics of the moment additionally putting the people of Missouri First our office put politics aside and appointed five strong statewideo officeholders which has never happened before in our states ghistory. Lieutenant governor, attorney general bailey, honor fitzpatrick and though he is not here today, senator smith and i thank you all for f stepping up and answering the call to serve missourians and i trust you will never quit on the great people of the state of missouri. [applause] and today i want to highlight another one of our quality appointments in the city of st. Louis circuit attorney we didnt pick him because of his politics. Matter of fact we never even asked. It was because he clearly cared alfor the people of st. Louis. He valued strong communities, fighting crime, returning law order and putting people first. The level of professionalism between the circuits attorneys office, the metro police, the courts, the Attorney Generals Office andan our office is grear than ive ever experienced. Please join me in recognizing the attorney dave gore. [applause] when the history books tell the story of the 57th governor, i hope its our Workforce Development infrastructure accomplishments that stand out and this year as we propose our final priorities as governor, there is no turning back. We know the Strong Foundation starts with a quality education and our children. This year we will once again fully fund the k12 Foundation Formula with an additional over last years level and also fully Fund Transportation across the state of missouri. [applause] in total, our administration has increased funding for k12 funding by 700 million and i will note that is state funding, not the federal government, and at the same time, our administration and this General Assembly took the First Step TowardsSchool Choice for more families in the Education Savings Account program and whether its public, private, charter or christian, we dont care where they are getting a quality education as long as they get one. [applause] this year, to do our part on teacher pay, we are including funding to increase the baseline increase the teacher baseline pay to 40,000 per year. This represents a 15,000dollar0 increase for teacher pay during our administration. [applause] we were also recommending 6 million. Together these programs benefited tens of thousands of teachers and every corner across our state. Weve also made historic investments in the Higher Education. Weve increased Higher Education funding by 24 and invested 1. 2 billion in stateoftheart Capital Improvements and upgrades on the college campuses. This years budget we included another 3 core increase for the institutions and Community Colleges and 54 million from the workforce Training Programs on the college campuses. [applause] when i graduated high school, i went straight into the workforce and joined the United States army and for me, there was no turning back. Nearly 60 of the workforce dont have College Degrees and thats okay because we know it doesnt take a College Education to be successful. He helped establish, upgrade and transform 57 career and Technical Education institutions across the state. More of our young people are earning a quality skill, a certificate or credential that will help secure them a good paying job without a college degree. [applause] we are also upscaling the current workforce and helping them secure the skills they need to succeed. Since its upgrade in 2019, they have helped train more than 173,000 workers. Additionally, since its creation, our Fast Track Program has benefited over 1,700 students with more than 55 going into healthcare and ladies, i want you to listen up. More than two thirds of that being women. [applause] we have also made tremendous progress by prioritizing apprenticeships in this state and joining us today are some of the individuals who benefited from our historic support. In the upper gallery, we have isaac from four rivers career center, kayla, and apprenticeship reservist from springfield and a trucking apprenticeship from pleasant hill. I firmly believe that with hard work, determination, and a skill of some kind, anyone can achieve the American Dream and these individuals are proving it. Please join me in recognizing these hardworking folks and others like them across the state. [applause] this group represents just a sample of the more than 57,000 new apprenticeships we haveps added to since becoming governor. Under our administration, yearly apprenticeship activity has grown by more than 100 . Thats why this year we are including another 3 milliondollar investment to support even more youth apprenticeship opportunities. As you can see these targeted investments truly make a difference in the lives of missourians and thanks to our past efforts, i am proud to report that missouri is ranked second in the United States of america for apprenticeship and that is something we should all be proud of. [applause] like any challenge in this we rise to it. We dont hide from it. This year we are also investing another 10 million for advanced Semi Conductor research, development and skills training as well as nearly 7 million to support critical mineral development. Missouri ranks fourth in the nation for new manufacturing when it comes to Semi Conductors and critical minerals. We can lead and we will lead to an sure we never have to rely on nations like china again. [applause] another focus in the Workforce Development arena that the first lady and i are especially proud of is jag commiserating with students that may be struggling academically and may have found themselves in some trouble or are at high risk. When we first began the initiative back in our Lieutenant Governor days, it was supporting just six programs into serving 225 students. Today, it supports 212 programs and serves more than 4,000 students with a high schoolud Graduation Rate of 98 . [applause] and that is thanks in large part to the first lady for taking this program under her wing. In the upper gallery, we have current and former students joining us today. These students are well on their way whet