Mr. Speaker, mr. President , former governors, distinguished justices of the courts, representatives of our congressional delegation, members of the hawaii state legislature, elected officials, military leaders, honored guests, family and friends. Good morning and aloha. As a new legislative session opens, i want you to know i am ready to work with you on the issues that affect us all. The state of our state is strong. We are a resilient people. And the future is bright. As i stand before you today, im struck by the beautiful and often challenging complexity that makes hawaii our home. We really are the most beautiful place on earth. We are of many cultures and faiths and we live together in greater harmony than any place in the world. People from all over the planet come here to enjoy our environment, our culture and their gifts to all of us, the gifts of aloha, tolerance and respect, and the celebration of each other and our differences. We often need to be reminded of what makes us so special. We are one of the healthiest states in the nation. People here live longer than anywhere else in the country. We have led the nation in Health Insurance for decades and the current chaos and in the current chaos, we stand firm in caring for each other. We have the lowest Unemployment Rate in the nation. We are strong financially. Our bond rating is the highest it has ever been in our history, making it possible for us to get the most bang for our buck when we borrow money. This saves the state tens of millions of dollars, allowing us to make critical investments in our schools, housing and highways. And we have made our voice clear. Hawaii will not stand for the hateful and hurtful policies of the trump white house. [ applause ] we are doing more than any other state to stand up for what is right, such as daca and the paris climate accord, and to stop what is wrong, such as the travel ban and stopping transgender members of the military from defending our flag and our freedoms. [ applause ] and yet so many of us are living payche paychecktopaycheck, relying heavily on our extended families to make ends meet. Owning a home is out of reach for many families with housing costs rising faster than wages. Too much of our time is spent in traffic, affecting our families and quality of life. The growing gap between those doing well and those who are not should concern all of us. We depend too heavily on imported food and fuel. And we must find a just place in our relationship with our own history and with the people of the first nation of hawaii. [ applause ] and the challenges to our island environment arch as Global Climate change stare us in the face every single day. I honor my predecessors, former governors, and i have built on what they have done. In doing so, i affirmed three truths about hawaii and the way we govern. First, i see hawaii as a place and a people that cherish our children, celebrate our diversity and want a better life for the next generation. Second, i see hawaii as a place and a people where we believe in ohana. We respect our capuna and understand that our ina and our ocean are critical to our quality of life. And finally, i see hawaii as a place and a people where we still believe in the promise of hawaii and the prospect of limitless opportunities. This is the legacy of our host culture. The cultures of our immigrant families and all those who choose to call hawaii home. We have put these values and beliefs into action to chart the course to our collective future. It is one thing to say our children matter. It is quite another thing to do something about it. We have invested more widely in classrooms than in previous years. We promised to cool 1,000 of hawaiis hottest classrooms where soaring temperatures have hindered learning for years. Im proud to report with the legislatures support that we exceeded our original goal and were at 1,200 classrooms and counting. [ applause ] i also promised to empower our schools so they can focus on 21st century skills and critical learning. In meetings around the state, Community Members, teachers, staff and principals expressed frustration about the topdown mandates and one size fits all approach to schools. And so with more than 3,000 parents, teachers and Community Members from around the state, we created a new blueprint for education. This blueprint for change is now in the hands of new d. O. E. Leadership. I also recognize that it is not enough to say to our teachers we respect how hard you work. Thats why weve given our educators the pay raise that they have long deserved. [ applause ] now lets talk about housing. When we say ohana, we truly mean nobody gets left behind. For those who want to live in hawaii, probably no issue is more challenging than finding a decent affordable place to live. And probably no issue challenges us as a society more than the daily sight of those who are now living on our streets and in our parks. We have dedicated more money to Mental Health treatment and services, including to our homeless population. We have initiated the largest annual increase in production of affordable housing, with thousands of new units coming to market. We are on track to meet our goal of 10,000 new Housing Units by 2020, with at least 40 affordable. And this session, im requesting 100 million to maintain the momentum and produce more Affordable Homes across the state. [ applause ] it has been my firm belief that the state must remain committed to developing and delivering hawaiian homelands to beneficiaries. In 2016, we provided 24 million in funding to the department of hawaiian homelands. This was the highest level of funding in the departments 95year history and more than double what had been set aside previously. For its part, hawaiian homelands has been ramping up development of vacant and turnkey lots. More than 220 lots were awarded in 2017 and that number will more than double in 2018. [ applause ] we have also worked hard with the department to spend down federal funds and identify alternative sources of revenue that can be used to sustain the agency over time. Our Housing First policy focuses on transitional housing as a way to get people into permanent housing. The new Family Assessment Center moves families off the streets and into permanent housing in less than 90 days. A special team at Police Housing reduced the vacant turnaround time from 267 days to just seven days. [ applause ] and our landlord summits increased the number of landlords willing to rent to families transitioning out of homelessness. Even in the tragedy that is homelessness, there are significant signs that these policies are starting to make a difference. Homelessness is down 9 statewide. The first decline in eight years. [ applause ] there is more to be done for sure. We continue our efforts to offer services to those who have so far refused to leave the streets to move into a better life. We have set aside moneys in this years budget to support more progress on the homelessness front. Our budget request also includes 15 million in additional funding for Housing First initiates, Outreach Services and maintaining safety in our public places. [ applause ] we also know how Important Community partners have been in tackling this challenge. Take a village, a permanent Housing Project for homeless families launched by local businessman and philanthropist, dwayne. Brought together the state, local and nonprofits to make the village a reality in record time. The first 30 families moved in recently. Dwayne, please stand to be recognized. Ohana also means that you should be able to put food on the table and be home with your family to eat it. That means jobs that pay well and commutes that work. Even though tourism and up and unemployment is low, many of our residents are living paychecktopaycheck. One Health Emergency or car repair away from crisis. Some people my have two or three jobs to make ends meet. The challenge is not just about creating jobs, its about creating quality jobs and the training that go with them. I understand the frustration of many, and thats why i am working to transform our economy to give residents a diversity of Employment Opportunities that pay higher wages and lead to a better quality of life for all. [ applause ] were tackling another quality of life issue, and thats traffic, traffic congestion. You know, i have three goals. Get projects done quickly. Get them done inexpensively. And get them done with minimum impact on the environment. And we are making progress. From zipper and shoulder lanes and other contraflow lanes to safety around our Public Schools and truck only routes, we are going to where the problems are. Were reducing backups and bottlenecks in west and win ward o o and other communities all across the state. We want commute times to be shorter. We must create a better life for the next generation. It is what we all want. We all dream of our children succeeding here in hawaii. With my three children on the mainland, i know firsthand how hard it is to have them an ocean away. My personal goal, the goal to which i have dedicated my service as governor, is creating a hawaii that gives all of our children the choice to live and call hawaii home. [ applause ] my grandparents came to hawaii in search of opportunities. It is not acceptable to me that many of our kids are essentially becoming immigrants in other places because we dont have the opportunities here in hawaii. While i am proud while there is more to do, i am proud of what we have accomplished together. We have more Early College programs so High School Students can earn college credits, saving families money and making it easier to graduate with degrees. We expanded campuses and offer more courses at uh west oahu. The promise of scholarships helps to pay for the costs of attending uh universities. Brings startups together in one shared space and helps with loans and grants. And we also founded the annual hackathon competition, which enlists hundreds of professionals and amateur code writers to develop solutions for the states biggest Information Technology challenges. We must prepare our young people for jobs in this sector. And that means supporting s. T. E. M. Education. Focussing on science, technology, engineering and math. That the good news is that it is expanding at all levels. The university of hawaii is one of the leaders in this work, with the manoa campus increasing its s. T. E. M. Graduates by more than a third in recent years and the Community Colleges leading the way, tripling their numbers. [ applause ] also helping to train students in our schools are partners like dev league, a Computer Programming and coding academy founded by two local software engineers. They are working with the d. O. E. And private foundations. Together, they are teaching High School Students advanced coding and Cyber Security skills. Wed like to recognize dev degrees founders jason sewell and russel chang. Jason and russel . [ applause ] hes up in the back. To be sure that works in hawaiis existing industries arent left behind, weve made available a wide variety of Vocational Training opportunities through the department of labor and industrial relations. These programs match training with current job openings in field ranging from Computer Science and shipyard welding to banking and food safety. And within state government, as we ride the wave of modernization, we remain fully committed to retraining every worker to use the new computer worker to use the new Computer Systems and technology tools. Captioning performed by vitac