Ladies and gentlemen the governor of thef great set of West Virginia the honorable jim justice. [cheering] [applause] [applause] okay, sit down you look like you are getting tired. [laughter] and you have got to clap a lot tonight. I will get to the meat and potatoes in just a Second Period but i want to thank s you. I want to thank you from all of us. All of my family in every way for all of the years and all the time we spend together. Bickering at times but hopefully loving each other in the end. An absolutely loving West Virginia, no matter what. Now, if i could make some incredible introductions here. And it is just this. I woulde like to introduce my family, especially kathy who has to put up with me all of the time. Please give kathy and jill, and jay a big round of applause. [applause] okay the members of my cabinet, i really do not see any need going through each secretary but in thinking about it, maybe i should. Because of all of the great work they do all of the time. We have three new secretaries the secretary of health, the secretary of Human Services and the secretary of health facilities. If sherry young, cynthia and mike would stand up . I may be if you would give them a round of applause. [applause] enow we have new interim secretary of revenue in larry pak and god knows you all know larry, youve known him forever. Our secretary of administration, mark scott or secretary of homeland security, our secretary of transportation jimmy, our secretary of veterans assistance ted diaz. Our secretary of Economic Development ms. Carmichael please give them a round of applause. [applause] now, this man demands uniqueness beyond belief. Smith. Ator randall reed [cheering] im going to hustle longer because it got a lot left to talk about tonight. Our secretary of tourism chelsea ruby, secretary done a phenomenal job, harold and her secretary of commerce james and bailey please give them a round of applause. [applause] are added to general, general bill crane and our command sgt major james jones. Our chancellor of the West VirginiaHigher Education policy commission sarah tucker and our commissioner of a bureau of thef Senior Services denise. And last but not least our director of our Herbert Henderson office of minority affairs,on jill, please give thm a big round of applause. [applause] now do not hit your hand your hands get sorghum blame that on me later on. But think about this just a second, please comment my staff. My staff has been with me for a long, long time and they have done so much good work. They have to put up with me with that periodically may be a come to jesus meeting or they have to put up with me when i would have a net fit or whatever it would be. And there are timesre i could be dead wrong but please give them a big round of applause. [applause] now our Supreme Court our chief Justice Tim Armstead justice beth walker, Justice John Hutchinson justice haley von and Justice William b wooton please give them around of applause. [applause] thank you. I have to tell you this, John Hutchinson looks so innocent, doesnt he . [laughter] now just think about this. We were practicing basketball at Woodrow Wilson in the year i believe, i believe i was a sophomore and john was a junior. Sir john is way, way, way older than me. But in all of that we were lining up at the center circuit that Raleigh County jump ball there were five sophomores on the team we ended up winning the state championship. But with all that being said those five sophomores one of 15 were just ground fodder. Absolutely, we just got run over every single r day and in this situation i truly did because as the ball was thrown up john wheeled around at warp speed and hit me right in the nose with his head. My nose and broke and three places, blood was going everywhere and the coach was screaming justice get off the court. So anyway, brother john and i will never forget that. [laughter] our constitutional officers from our left, our attorney general Patrick Morrissey please give him a big round of applause. [applause] our state auditor another round of applause. Our secretary off state Michael Warner please another round of applause. [applause] our commissioner of agriculture cans, same it. [applause] our state treasurer riley moore. [applause] and our stated superintendent of schools michelle. [applause] well, it has been easy up until now. But just think about this. Seven years ago, seven years for some i am sure has gone really, really fast. This is my last state of the states. Seven years my gosh it seemed like an eternity when it all started. For a lot of it has gone really fast and i am sure for several of you it has gone really slow. [laughter] but along the way i have tried to do this. I have tried to give wisdom. Wisdom that i was taught mostly from my dad. Wisdom about dont confuse effort with accomplishment you cannot get it done in 24 hours a day youve got to work nights. Dad wouldht have said as i stood in front of him and said dad there wasnt anything i could do and as the desk exploded as he jumped forward and grabbed me as an 18yearold around my shirt and slamming another desk and said darn you but he didnt say darn you he said you best better always remember this there is always something you can do any darn well ought to always remember that. That is how i have lived my life. Thats all there is to it. I believe that. I believe that if you give it to god above you give your best in andyour best like nobodys business, good things will happen. Im going to give you one more bit of advice right now. I gave the same advice to that bunch of young ladies right up there. Thats my Basketball Team. A bunch of kids that are the best of the best. I said to them, there is no substitute for being there. Absolutely, always showing up. Always giving your best. There is no substitute for being there. Now, with all that being said if you could focus just a second on being there let me tell you something and i just came up with this probably yesterday. I looked at the mileage deal on my vehicle. This is for five vehicles into this. 248,000 miles right now. I totaled up the vehicles over the last two years that i have been your governor. I am approaching driving a 1 million miles in the state of West Virginia. 1 million miles. I do it on my dime and i do it proudly because i really think i am here to serve. Now just think about it, what is a million miles . Do you realize if we left here right this minute we headed to the Pacific Ocean and california i could have done that 500 times. 500 times on the mileage i have spent traveling all across this unbelievable state. Now, if i would absolutely tell you just this along the way maybe i am different. Maybe i am the guy who is not crazy about spending your money. Maybe i am the guy who is really not crazy aboutab having a party every other night. Maybe i am the guy that is not crazy about flying in your aircraft. Can you imagine ive been in your helicopter one time, one time . I am crazy about just this i am crazy about serving. Our forefathers stepped up and i think an awful lot of you are doing exactly the same thing. Youre on the cusp right now of being away for n your family sml practical purposes for 60 days what you are paid is nothing. Absolutely at the end of the day i cannot thank you enough. Now i will tell you this job at times can be pretty doggone tough. There are days that it is plenty lonely. There are days that you are tired, you feel beat up low and behold out of the Clear Blue Sky theres more and more days that you see families that are devastated with floods or whatever it may be and theres not may be anything you can do. You absolutely see our heroes. Our heroes out of the first that we all call that maybe we have lost you said briefing after briefing after briefing and you read the names of 7000 plus people that was lost. We dont read the names, do we . We read the age the sex and the county and it was terrible. Absolutely terrible. Because i know so well what each and every one of those families were going through it was really tough. I see the pain at times that my family has. And i would tell you just this a thousand, thousand, thousand times over i would do it again. And a thousand, thousand, thousand times over they would too. Now, let me just read a couple lines to you. When the first time you saw me i stood before you pledging to fight for the soul of our states. We were staring down a dark tunnel our state was bankrupt. Our jobs and our people were leaving and our spirit was broken. Do you remember those days . Do you remember what that was like . T . Now i would also tell you that often times things calm and odd looking packages and i admit. [laughter] you know youve got a big guy for crying out loud and hes got a bulldog to with all of that being said the big guy brought whiteboards in the beginning sweat was running off of him in every direction was running back and forth to get this written in this writ in this written. The big guy is created and the guy is big, big, big big, big dreams. I do have a ton of energy that god has given me and a lot of enthusiasm. I believe that there was real hope, and i believed it. I believe first and foremost, overwhelmingly, that god above was out playing in all of our hearts right here with us each and every day. It didnt matter to me that we were absolutely the benefactors of decades after decades on who was going to be 50th in this country. It didnt matter to me. I knew just how good you really are, and i knew it and i believed it. I ask you to close your eyes add to that point in time a way back into think of the place thats within two thirds of the population with all these Natural Resources and the real treasure you the greatness of the people. I will ask before im done tonight to close your eyes one more time. The first state of the state, think about this just one second. We need to make education our centerpiece. We need to grow tourism and diversify the economy. We need to never, never forget our coal miners, gas workers and fossil fuels. We need to absolutely change our standard of life. We need to pass roads to prosperity and change our image. Nothing changed. Nothing changed. From the first crack out of the box, nothing changed. Wewe absolutely stepped up to te plate regarding education and weve got a long way to go. Weve got parents and now that can choose where they want toy o and what they want to do. Absolutely, we have run tourism off the chart, and every dollar you put in tourism you dont put enough and you dont put enough because every dollar you put in it comes back to us instantaneously. Absolutely ive said diversify the economy. We could not just depend on one industry all the time. My family has been in the coal business forever but we couldnt depend on the one industry all the time, but we dont forget, do we and you know what happened becausepe of us putting another stake in the sand saying we are not going to forget our fossil fuels and for those that are out there f in lala land. Go back to your crazy stuff. I dont want to start. [applause] when youre thinking about standard of life, youve got to thinke about two things, about people coming to West Virginia, how are the schools and the roads. Over and over the same thing. Granted the schools have got a way to go. But you should never forget this. All the time. Why would i tell you anything about the truth . I challenge the media every day over and over and over, find a something that knowingly ive told you it isnt true. Politicians do it nonstop. Find a something the justice told you is not true. He cant do it. Now with all that being said, think about the standard of life and our schools. Heres the nextt thing i will challenge you to do. I dontt care what the school i. Pick the middle school, elementaryar school, go to scho, walk into the fourth grade class. To do this, please walk into a fourth grade class and ask ms. Lily to come out in the hall and go back in and say to the kids what do you all think of ms. Lily and i bet you overwhelmingly they say we love her. And then go out and ask what she ythinks of her students and you will gethe the same answer. Then go downtown and say what do you think of cameron elementary school, what do you think if the answer we love our school. It meanso everything to our community. Weve got stuff to improve. But for gods sake, if the kids love the teacher and the teacher loves the kids and the community loves the school, weve got a lot going on in a good way. The roads to prosperity and we had, whether you like it or didnted like it, we had to chae our image. Today of all things, and if i could say it in slang, who couldve ever thought it, think about it in world travel magazines, in countries so far away we dont even have any idea who they are they are saying West Virginia is the place you want to go. Youre seeing it all around you. Absolutely a different place today. What happened, then the rocketship took off, didnt it . Now i want to read a couple more lines to you. Weve climbed that mountain together. The view from the top is breathtaking. If i could touch on just a couple more it all started like i said with the roads to prosperity program. Our roads are anything go to buo justt steel and concrete. The roads absolutely are arteries that are dumping life pumping lifeinto the towns and. Every mile we pave is a mile closer to new horizons into jobs and jobsthat are coming home any families that can stay home. Speaking of families, we stepped up for our teachers and public servants. We absolutely stepped up when they were having aou tough time and delivered pay raise after pay raise. Our schools now have new life. Our streets are safer and or state runs like a well oiled machine at this time pumping out friday and not desperation. Remember the taxes we paid. The regulations that burden our businesses. We put them together, we cut through the red tape and what happened . Ybusinesses are absolutely booming and jobs are multiplying. West virginia has become a magnet for dreams, not just. The revenue surplus nobody could have ever dreamed of. Thats all there is to it. Its not all about dollars and cents. What it boils down to is about the soul of this state. We protected our coal miners, gun rights and our unborn babies. I couldnt be more proud. [applause] we fought for our faith, did we not, our families, our freedoms. The world is seeing the grip that weve got. My dad would say to me over and over again at one time believe it or not i was skinny and have hadhair and was a golfer. I went all over the place playing a tournament after tournamente with sam that was something. He actually thought i was a prettyoo good player. All that being said, my dad would have said to me a thousand times son, the only shot in golf that matters is the next shot. If your last shot went to bed in the middle, what could you do about it . Of the last shot wins a holeinone, what does it matter . The only shot in life in many situations is the next shot. So with that being said, i will say to you we are a long way from being done in West Virginia. We have to create and enhance, so lets make this last year that i have and then the decades to come better and better and better. Please lets do justea that. If i can talk a second about Economic Development, heres what i would say to you. How does it feel to go to the plate today and every single time you go to the plate, you are hitting a home run . That is how it feels. You cant imagine the businesses that are calling over and over and opportunities for jobs and other states had to that had. Of these are numbers that ive been given but numbers since 2017 we created 12,591 jobs. We have retained 20,000, 155 jobs, and theres 240 companies in the mix somewhere. We do have a seat at the table now. And in my words, we are the seat. Do you get that . For god sakes, West Virginia is the seat. We are competing on that world stage and we are winning. Others six new businesses im going to pronounce into go through them pretty quickly. The sale coming to the bridgeport area with an investment of 64,000,000. 203 jobs, clean a sneeze is coming to quincy with 40 new jobs within investment and we have an expansion with the county thats spending 70 million of 500 jobs. At the technologies are coming to the county with 40 new jobs, im sorry, with 40 jobs, 100 detainedtm and the mountaintop f average is coming to morgantown with 220 million of investment, 100, 210 retained and 140 that are being added. Please give these folks our heartfelt applause. [applause] amazon is coming to West Virginia again, but this time amazon is coming and we cant even run the internet without. Are you here . Theres kim, please give her a big round of applause. [applause] think about this, and you deserve so much credit. Tax cuts. Weve cut taxes in West Virginia 23 times since i walked in the door. On and it delivered on the biggest tax cut in state history hands down. I will tell you just this the faster we can get rid of the taxes on the individuals, the better we will be. [applause] we cant doo it all on day one. Weve got to mind the store properly. Thats all there is to it. Weve got to mind the store properly. We cant do it all on day one. But it doesnt mean that we wont see the begin and we dont drive ourselves there. As fast and as hard as we can possibly go to get there. Tonight i am proposing two more. I am proposing the total elimination of Social Security tax on all. [applause] i am proposing a independent care tax credit for folks are struggling with daycare and at least write them off the taxes against the revenue. Leaning into this and we need to this very badly and right now. [applause] as far as the budget goes weve absolutely had a flat budget. I dont want to sound braggadocios about anything, but my administration does not believe in growing government. My administration does not believe in dipping into the Rainy Day Fund and using the Rainy Day Fund. We use surpluses and