Thank you so much. Weve got a lot to share tonight, so lets get down to business. Mr. Speaker, mr. President , members of the legislature, congressman seth magaziner, thank u for being here. Our general officers, chf justice and meers of the judiciary, municip leaders, members of my cabinet, and my fellow Rhode Islanders whore watching at home, including my mom, willa and i want to thank everybody always asking how my mom is doing. Good evening. When i staed thinking about this years state of the state address, i thought back to the first inaugul speech i made in march of 2021. Rhode island was in a time of significant change. We were faced with many challenges and what felt like endless unknowns. At that time, i asked my fellow Rhode Islanders to join me, to come together as one team and meet that moment head on. On that day, i shared something i used to tell the players i coached in basketball. The team i coached was called the rhode island shooting stars. They were a group of young men from all different walks of life, family sittions, and backgrounds, and no one thought they could succeed. They were underestimated as a team and as individuals. But through hard work and dedication, they did compete, and they did succeed. Ill have more to share about their successes later in this address. But throughout the teams journey, i always reminded them, good teams are built when talented individuals do their best. But the best teams, the very best teams, are built when talented individuals use their skills to help others do their very best. When i became governor, i believed that rhode island could do better, be better than just a good team. I knew we could be one of the very best. Over the last three years, weve risen to that challenge. Weve shown that its our turn. That we can compete. That we will compete. And that if we work gether, all we can do is succeed. Tonight, im here to cheer on our home team and share our game plan for Rhode Islands future. I have never been more confident that the state of our state is strong and getting stronger every single d because of the team thats doing the work in all 39 cities and towns. [applause] in the end, its about the work that wget done. And although i dont have as much time to be on the Basketball Court these days, im enjoying my new role as coach of Team Rhode Island. And why wouldnt i be . Together, as one team, weve made so much progress over the last few years. Here are some of the quick hits from our record a record that i shared with our speaker and Senate President and the members of the General Assembly. Reached the lowest Unemployment Rate in Rhode Islands history. [alause] 98 of our schools have improved attendance this ye. 13,000 fewer students are chronically absent this year. [applause] we have a Record Number of jobs at quonset. Our states fiscal outlook was upgraded. Were ranked second best in the nation for Young Workers seeking a job. And were ranked in the top 10 best states for raising a family. [applause] theres more work ahead, but tonight is about the people o are doing the work to make all this progress happen. Last year, we set a challenge, for rhode island to reach masshusetts student achievement levels by 2030. Were doing this by improving three main areas ricas scores, student attendance, and fafsa completion. When we set that goal, i told a story about a painter who wanted to paint the perfect sunrise. Every day, the painter would get up, ready to start, then hed think, thisunrise is beautiful, but maybe tomorrow will be better. Long story short, he never got it done. Last year, i said, when it comes to improving Rhode Islands education system, we cant be like that painter. We cant wait. And the good news is, we havent. 38 out of 39 cities and towns have joined this effort that were calling learn365ri. [applause] its a commitment to prioriti learning in all our communitie a simple concept every home, every day, learning matters. Weve built a remarkable statewide team whs doing the wo on education. And thin our administration, we he experienced staff leading the y education commissioner angelica infantegree who was recently appointed by theiden administration to rve on their National Assessment gorning board. Thank you, commissioner. [applause] postsecondary commissioner shannon gilkey, who has over 15 ars of service in education, with 10 of those in higher ed. And he is reimagining our state schools,hode island college, ccri and uri. Thank you, shannon. [applause] and jeremy chiappetta, our new Senior Advisor on education within my office who has firsthand experience as an educator, a principal, and a certified superintendent. There has never been somebody as qualified in education sitting in the Governors Office that i am aware of in theistory of the state of rhode island. Thank you, jeremy. [applause] and they are not alone theyre not alone in this effort. Last year, under the leadership of bob walsh, a nonproficalled always learning rhode island was formed to support our learn365ri efforts. To provideuidance to the munipal leaders who have signed those contrac. To date, theyve raised over half a Million Dollars with the help othe local business communitand civic leaders. Im proud that my wife, susan, a retired teache is joining the team as an honorarchair of that board. [applause] we know wenow that students who attend school regularly perform, on average, about 20 points better on reading and math than those who are chronicay absent thats why attendance matters. This school year, ouwork to dramatically improve attendance is already having a positive impact. I want to recognize alejandro, a second grader from Webster Elementary School in providence, who is here with us tonight. In kindergarn and first grade, he was chronical absent however, he turned this around and just received his first perfect attendance award. [applause] alejandro, keep up the great work [laughter] wonderful. And bella is here tonight. Shes a student at nowell academy. Because of circumstances beyond her control, last year, bella was chronically absent. However, she made the commitment to improve her attendance and this year shes on track and no longer chronically absent. Bella, rhode island is proud of you. Please stand up and let us recognize you as well. [applause] and that story keeps on going. With us tonight is alondra, a senior at Central Falls high school and a member of our chronic absenteeism working group. Shes dedicating her free time to help us create Attendance Solutions for students across our state. Thank you for stepping up in a big way, bella. Thank you so much. We appreciate your leadership. [applause] look, were serious about improving ricas ores and closing the gap tween rhode island and massachetts by 2030. Rhode island began to move t needle this year, and we want to ensure that progress continues. Thats why my budget will propose 15 million for math and english Language Arts coaching for studts and professional development r teachers to help us meet the goalhead of us. Lets get this done for our students. [applause] when it comes to education, we are moving ahead as one team, with strong education leaders in the General Assembly like reprentative joe mcnamara and where is joe . Joe is around here somewhere. And senators sandra cano and val lawson. That Team Includes our municipal leaders, our teachers, our superintendents, principals, and local aft and nea Union Leaders like frank flynn and mary barden, who are with us tonight. Thank you for being on team rhode land. [applae] now, were askinall rhode island famils, parents, grandparents, nts, and uncles and guardians to join our team and get in the game. Because it matters that in every homeevery day, lening matters. This is my third state of the ste as governor, but my first as a grandfather. And while my granddaughter, mabel james, isnt ite old enough to be here tonight, just like general callahans new grandchild by the way, congratulations, general. [applause] and although mal james is not here with us tonight, she reminds me of why im here she reminds me owhy you are here. She reminds me of why everyone is listening why everyone listening in the state of rhod island is on board. Beuse we all want to build a rhode island thats better for our kids, for our grandkids, for the next generation, and the one aftethat. We want to eure rhode island is the place they want to call home and a place they can afrd to call home. In last years state of the state, we set a goal on education. This year, were going to set a goal to raise per capita income by a minimum of 20,000 by the year030. [applause] just think, how much housing insecurity and Food Insecurity we could address as a state, if we double down and work to raise per capita income across rhode island, helping every family. And just like we did with our education goal, wiin the next 100 days, we will roll out a game plan for raising incomes with the help of ernie almonte, the executive director of the league of cities and towns, and ed tibaldi, an economist and professor at bryant university. Later is week, ill be submitting my budget to the General Assembly. The budget will prioritize progms and initiatives that will help us rai the incomes of our fellow rhode islander while controlling recurring costs. We will continue the fiscal discipline we have shown over e past two years, using onetime funds for onetim investments and budgeting within our means so we wont be forced to revise our budget and make disrupti midyear cuts, as other stes are. [applause] our budget will make key investments in education, Small Businesses, and Rhode IslandsHealth Care System without raising any broadbased taxes. [applause] i happen to think that is worth applause. The good news is, we dont have to start from scratch. Thanks to presidt biden and our congressional legation led by senator jack reed, rhe island has secured an histor amount of federal funds. Congressman magaziner, on behalf of rhode island, thank you to you and your colleagues r securing these funds. [applause] those dollars were earmarked by your leaderships. Thank you our te put these dollars to work to create an unprecedented pipeli of projects that will put people to work in goodpaying jobs and help raise incomes across our state, an impact that will be felt for decades to come. In addition to creating goodpaying jobs, we must ensure that rhode island is an affordable place to live. We must ensure that our young families can purchase their first homes and that our nurses, Public Safety workers, our laborers and teachers can live in the communities they work in. For far too long, rhode island has had one of the lowest Housing Production rates in the nation. Thats why our Administration Proposed and im grateful to the General Assembly for approving over a quarter billiondollar investment in housing in 2022. [applause] and an additional 71 million in housing in last years budget. In sum, nce ive been governor, weve allocated nearly half a billion dollars to housing. And while building doesnt happen overnight, we continue to see signs of progress. Under the leadership of housing secretary stefan pryor, we already have over 1,600 homes in e pipeline, with more on the way. And thanks to our downpayment assistance program, were helping over 100 first time homebuyers, like the cruz family, who are with us tonight. [applause] juan and emelin and their two sons moved into their first home inest warwick last year using our down payment assistance program. I was there to welcome them. Their son actually gave me a little seashell. And we love that. Because it meant something to him that he was walking into his first home and he wanted to say thank you. He gave me a gift tonight. So thank you so much. I want to congratulate them on their new home and thank them for choosing rhode island. It is important that we recognize that homeownership is a key to creating generational wealth. In addition new housing tools passed last year, the budget ill propose will call for a 100 million Housing Production bond on the llot. This would be the largest Housing Production bond in our states history. And were going to ensure that, if approved by the voters, these dollars will create more inventory and help put young people on a path to homeownership in our state. More young people on a path to homeownership in our state. [applause] because we know that homeownership for everyonen this room is one of the top ways to build generational wealth. So lets get it done. We know that states across the country are dealing with issues in their Health Care Systems hospitals are facing Financial Difficulties and shortages of primary care doctors are creating challenges for patients. Der the leadership of health and human seices secretary rick charest, our administration is dedicated to strengthening the states Health Care System. And rick is no stranger to this work he is the form ceo of landmark medical center, where heed a significant turnaround, bringi the hospital out of receership. And when i recruited him to State Government thanks, ri, forccepting, you are hangg around here somewhere thank you for accepting and taking my call. He immediate went to fix the longstanding chaenges we inherited at Eleanor Slater hospital a made significant progress iimproving Patient Safety and ireasing staff morale. And thank of the General Assembly for appropriating dollars to go out and fixed at hospital. [applause] and fix that hospital. [applause] the budget i proposed last year that the General Assembly passed included new state directed payments to hospitals. These nepayments, combined other changes, resulted in over 110 million inew medicaid funding to our stas hospitals. The budget illropose this year will once again ilude this crucial funding. Additionally, our budget will propose over 135 million in investments to increase Health Care Provider rates and support the Behavioral Health needs of Rhode Islanders. Some provider rates have not incrsed in over ten years. We know hoimportant Early Intervention ifor our children and families. This Crucial Program promos the development of infants and toddlers who have a Developmental Disability or delay. In addition to the federal funding that we directed to Early Intervention providers to strethen their workforce, the budget ill propose to the general assely will fully fund the early intervenon rate increases recommended by the office of the health insance commissioner and eohhs. [applause] finally, in collaboration with secretary charest, in the coming weeks, ill be signing an executive der focused on improving Rhode IslandsHealthcare Systems and planning work to ensure we have aess to an efficient and effective Healthcare Delivery system aligned with our states needs. The working group created as part of this executive order will be comprised of members from my health cabinet, professionals, with broad input from a wide array of stakeholders who will be ready to do the work. Under the leadership of the department of Health Director dr. Ndy, were building a new state health lab. Which my partners up here a great deal to do with. This publicprive partnership will also have muchneeded wet lab space which will be essential to growing Rhode IslandsLife Sciences industry. [applause] for over a decade, leaders have stepped up to the microphone and talked about how massachusetts is a leader in life science and that rhode island could be as well. Instead of dreaming of that possibility, thanks to the leadership of speaker shekarchi, were making it a reality. [applause] our administration worked with the speaker and the General Assembly to propose a new quasipublic agency dedicated to our states life science strategy and we included 45 million in last years budget to support this sector. Neil steinberg, whwill be leading our life science strategy, is here with us tonight, and i want to thank t senate for confirming his appointment earlier this month. Neil, stand up. [applause] jobs in the life science sector are goodpaying jobs, uslly commanding six figures. We want these jobs in rhode island to help raise per capita income. To grow the Talent Pipeline and solidify rhode island as a life science leader, my budget will propose building a new life sciee school at the university of rhode island through a bond referendum. I will be out across the state with uri president Marc Parlange rallying Rhode Islanders behind this important, incomeraising initiative.