[applause] thank you distinguished members of the 131st legislature, members of my extraordinary cabinet and honored guests, thank you for joining me tonight. Im pleased to be joined by the members of my cabinet as i mentioned including Major General douglas who is retiring next month. Thank you for being here. [applause] is join me in welcoming the Major General nearly 40 years of service. [applause] im also joined by members of my family including my daughter and my sister and her children, anthony, julia and my brothers peter and paul. Tonight we are sadly missing my brother who passed away last friday and i honor him tonight in my thoughts. My approach to the state of the state is a little unorthodox. A change to discuss highprofile issues, challenges and opportunities. True to its purpose must be a reflection of the times especially these past few months have been anything but normal. People value strength talk so i will put it to you straight. Weve had a rough couple of months. We have been tested time and time again. We have some pretty serious stuff to talk about. In late october a gunman took the lives of 18 innocent civilian citizens from ages 14 to 76 and injured many more physically and emotionally in an act of senseless and unconscionable violence that demonstrated. The worst mass shooting in history and tenth worst in the nations history then in december another traumatic event hit and heavy rain and powerful wind massive flooding and destroyed homes and businesses, roads and bridges into four people lost their lives. And in january, two more violent storms caused some of the highest tides ever which swept fish houses into the sea and dooms and breakwaters, roads and seawalls and changed the very landscape of the coast. These things break our hearts. Now, people do not welcome the crisis on disaster. But we will always rise to meet them. And in these difficult times when it sometimes feels like we have little control over our future, the people of maine have banded together in the future of our state and ability to prepare for and overcome whatever challenges the future has in store. What gives me such optimism in the face of such hardship look no further than the simple acts of kindness, compassion and generosity demonstrated by people in the wake of these recent storms when the dairy barn was destroyed by powerful wind, his neighbors brought all his calls to safety and shelter. When the fishing boats ran aground at the height of the storm, fire and rescue crews twice in the middle of the night to rescue all four people on board and when the storms threatened to toss the boatyard into the sea, the fixture that has withstood the storms since 1855, this whole Community Stepped up to save it, young and old, friends and family and when it receded, there stood the strong and tall owner that said it worked because the whole town turned out for us. Thats what people do. We take care of each other. We roll up our sleeves and rebuild. With help from the federal government and the support of this legislature and ingenuity and great that are the hallmarks, we will rebuild stronger than ever like other states feeling the brunt of extreme weather events maine is not safe from Climate Change. We know more storms will come and make no mistake about it, it is Climate Change causing storms to be more frequent, more intense and devastating. We no longer know the storms and winters of yesterday because when we burn fossil fuels, we expel hostile Greenhouse Gases into the atmosphere and the gases envelop our planet and truck moisture that melt glaciers and raise sea levels and increase global temperatures. Scientists know this and meteorologist snow this. Farmers, fishermen, foresters, our sportsmen, our kids. We all know this now. It will address Climate Change by investing in clean energy and whether arising homes and businesses and expanding the States Network and advancing cleaner more efficient technologies while also creating good paying jobs and informative by the main counsel where science, citizens, Business Leaders in the state and local officials we lead the nation in many of these respects. In fact we have received the original goal of installing the heat pumps and set a new ambitious goal, and as a result of the clean energy initiatives, we are seeing significant Capital Investments in the state that are creating new jobs and businesses. We have the fastest economy in all of new england have taken part in this voluntary program and we rewarded more than 6 million to them. A city that was hardhit by the recent storms as you know recognized that its waterfront years in a seawall order deteriorating and need of repairs even before the storm. These resiliency funds used not only to plan for the result to make improvements to public spaces and infrastructure. That gives a clear path to obtaining other available funds and to protecting and strengthening its downtown waterfront. This is important work. The cities and towns are along the front lines of Climate Change and the recent storms underscore the importance of fortifying them in the long term. I propose to add 5 million to the Community Resilience partnership to allow cities, towns and governments to identify the vulnerabilities of extreme weather events and to be ready for the next storm, the next flood, the next washout, the next threat to the bridges, peers and homes. Lets give them the tools to continue this desperately needed work and lets turn those plans into actions. In 2021 we created the Infrastructure Adaptation Fund that provides grants to municipalities, tribal governments and others to improve infrastructure that is vulnerable to flooding and rising sea levels and other weather events exactly the type of upgrades that will withstand the kind of storms we are seeing now. For example, in kennebunkport the town is using a grant and utilities underneath it and to prevent road closures, reduce disruption from commercial fishermen and the need for costly repairs. Replacing stormwater with those that would handle more water to reduce the risk of flooding and property damage. These are commonsense projects that will strengthen the resiliency in the long run and tonight i propose that we bolster this Infrastructure Fund with 50 million from the record high Rainy Day Fund to remain and rebuild infrastructure, working waterfronts, stormwater systems make them tough enough to withstand the impact and Climate Change. Essentially im talking about taking from the Rainy Day Fund to respond to the rainy days weve had some pretty rainy days ahead. [applause] as soon a sweep as the supplemental budget and we get contractors and fishermen and towns to get things up and running back again before the height of fishing season, its urgent and as we recover and rebuild from past storms as we prepare for those to come, so will we recover and prepare from those shocking events that have threatened our personal security, our community safety, the very character of the state. Its time to have a conversation about violence, violence in the media that pervades our subconscious. Violence in homes, streets, towns and schools, violence in america, violence abroad, violence that has been all too common and wrong way to resolve differences. Violence that we know all too well this past year on a scale previously unknown to us. On monday october 203rd, we boasted that we were the safest state in the nation with the lowest Violent Crime rate in the country according to the fbi. We relished the comfort of this brand that attracts people to the state along with the National Beauty and a sense of place and community unmatched in other parts of the country. October 205th, everything changed. Recreation doing what many people do all the time, bowling with their kids enjoying a cold beer after work spending time with family and friends. Those people had their lives shattered by. Eighteen people lost their lives to a senseless act of violence and many others injured. The tens of thousands of people sheltered in place for several days. Restaurants, shops, retailers, public buildings College Students locked themselves in libraries and dorms and classrooms. The streets emptied and silence. But those moments of darkness were punctuated by great heroism. They each rushed the shooter in an attempt to stop him and lost their lives. [applause] or when he ushered a group of children out the back door of that Bowling Alley getting shot himself. Or someone still far go reeling from the loss in their own moment of grief to ensure that crucial information was delivered to those that are deaf and hard of hearing. And so many more. [applause] he was the state champion in 2022. [applause] tonight we acknowledge all of them, recognizing their heroism and that of their loved ones and honoring the memory of those we lost. Please know people are standing by your side, offering what comfort we can in a moment of immeasurable pain, that we know that the pain and the hardship of the strategy will last a lifetime. And the recognition to create a fund is similar to the one created in virginia last year to cover the medical needs, the health needs of those injured last october long into the future. I propose that we capitalize it within an initial investment of 5 million. We know the road to healing will be long, but we will help you walk. [applause] some may prefer to consider the shooting an aberration, the operation, theproduct of one une individual on a rampage that is unlikely to recur. But many people felt it was unlikely to occur before. It is of little comfort to the children, the wives, the partners and parents who in an instant lost a child, a spouse, a breadwinner, stable of the community and who now facing an uncertain future without them. To all the businesses, schools, shops and homes where a shooter on the run requires them to shelter in place before he ate long hours. While they were simply driving down the highway minding their business, this after he already killed his parents and two other people in their home. It gives no comfort to the families who lost loved ones to the tragedy of suicide, of Domestic Violence. Yes we are different than other states. But violence is here and does exist here in the state of maine and its right to the heart of who we are and everything we hold spirit david capricious place we call home. It creates a cynical attitude that certain things are inevitable and we cant do anything about it. I refuse to give in to that idea and refuse to let us stop it from taking action. As some have said its really just a Mental Health issue and we need to fix the Behavioral Health system and the violence will end. Certainly there may be people with Mental Health issues that commit Violent Crimes. But the vast majority of people with those issues do not commit Violent Crimes and it would be wrong to stereotype anyone that has Mental Health problems as a potentially violent individual. Ive heard others say we shouldnt do anything until the independent commission finishes its work. They are right the findings of the commission may result in conclusions that need a policy remedy and we will welcome the commissions conclusions when they are ready. About fixing the wall to address a single attack does nothing to anticipate those other acts of violence which we might with wise actions prevent. Actions which might also restore our sense of personal safety, actions whose time i believe has come because for the sake of the communities, individuals and families now suffering immeasurable pain for the sake of our state, doing nothing is not an option. [applause] throughout my time in office i tried to bring people together, lawmakers and Law Enforcement, Public Health and others to achieve enduring reforms that strengthen Public Safety and that protect our Constitutional Rights and honor the longstanding outdoor traditions. And you have agreed. Together weve enacted laws that allow judges to remove weapons from people under Domestic Violence orders, to ensure that survivors of Domestic Violence are notified that the abuser tried to buy a firearm, penalties for straw purchases of firearms. Incentives for the safe storage of firearms, funding to help make the schools safe and an extreme protection law that remove weapons from someone that is a danger to themselves or others with appropriate due process protections. These commonsense measures were not easy to achieve the end with a product of discussions, but together we got them done and to me they are the type of pragmatic and responsible solution that we can also achieve this session. In recent months, my office has talked with republican and democratic lawmakers and people with organizations listening to ideas and concerns and trying to develop a balanced approach to this issue. What i heard from folks all across the state as they recognize the problem of gun violence. They see it in acts of Domestic Violence, suicide and mass shootings. And each person had ideas about what we could do to address the problem and each of those ideas was different. What was not different, what was largely agreed upon was an overarching belief that violence prevention is important, that we have to strengthen our Mental Health system and that dangerous people should not have access to firearms. Out of those discussions, tonight im announcing that i will be filing legislation to address these three major areas of concern. Protections that would honor the rights afforded by the state and constitution to safe and legal gun ownership and that will uphold the states longstanding outdoor heritage. First lets talk about prevention. Many states have approached the issue through the broad lens of Public Health in order to understand and address longterm trends. Maine is not one of those states and i would like to do something to change that. Right now data has kept separately and Police Reports id medical examiner files, vital records, Emergency Department records those things are not easy to understand and analyze. But tonight i propose we establish a Prevention Program at the cdc as a central hub to bring together all this information already collected by diverse entities like healthcare, education, social services, criminal justice agencies bringing together the data that will allow us to identify patterns of Public Health and prevention measures to reduce suicide and homicide in maine. Lets do a better job of preventing violence and make maine a safer state. As i mentioned earlier, maine was almost unanimous bipartisan support enacted in extreme from an individual determined by a Mental Health professional to be a risk to themselves or others. Law enforcement first must take a person as protective custody at which point they undergo a Mental Health evaluation and a judge issued a decision on whether to temporarily remove their weapons. Its come under some scrutiny since the shooting which is appropriate. Its always right to question whether they are adequately serving their intended purpose and whether more if anything can be done to change or strengthen them. For example, some question the necessity of a Mental Health assessment, so it only makes the removal of weapons more difficult. But it protects Due Process Rights and makes it less subject to being struck down as anyone were to challenge it. Its been used 94 times in the past 97 days since october 5th about once a day since the shooting. About 15 times more often than it was used two and a half or three years before it was first implemented. The law is being used and it is working. Its not to say we shouldnt strengthen the law. Access to the services can still be a serious struggle. I want to expand Behavioral Health services particularly for those in crisis. So i propose that we establish a network of Crisis Centers across maine so that any person suffering a Mental Health crisis can get prompt and appropriate care instead of being alone or languishing in an Emergency Department over jail as is too often the case and i want to establish a center in lewiston. [applause] and we will find it in the forthcoming supplemental budget. My bill will direct the department of health and Human Services to expand these receiving centers over time into a Broad Network to provide greater access to services for people. We know they work. My administration with your support opened the first center in portland in february, 2022. In 20 months after that, nearly 3,000 people visited the center to get help and resolve a crisis. Since then we announced plans to create a hybrid Crisis Receiving Center that offers such as well. Crisis centers work. Lets build on them. Now lets talk about how to keep weapons out of the hands of people that shouldnt have them. We know that in the case of a lewiston shooter, Law Enforcement offices were not able to t