[applause] [applause] [applause] >> 65 million years ago, what is now our home state here in north dakota had a vault into a large subtropical delta where dinosaurs like triceratops and tyrannosaurus battled to the death amid a lush environment of woodlands, swamps in ponds. yet here we are, 65 million years later, as north dakota's, and we are benefiting mightily from our incredible jackpot of geology there was set in motion all those eons ago. our spectacular geologic history led directly to the rich deposits they give us our abundant oil, abundant gas, and abundant coal resources, as well as our newest multi billion dollar jackpot, our vast unrivaled underground co2 storage capacity. in far more recently, ice age glacial deposits and central eastern north dakota created the nutrient rich soils that support our enormous crop production and our vast pasture. and today's global uncertainty, our energy and food security make us the envy of many. today, the state of our state is one of strength and infinite opportunity blessed with the abundant national resources, inherent freedoms, and industrious caring people. [applause] mister speaker, lieutenant governor miller, distinguished members of the 68 legislative assembly, the majority minority leaders, chief justice jensen and the justices of the supreme court, all of my fellow elected leaders, the tribal leaders, the cabinet leaders, first lady kathryn, second gentlemen craig, my family and friends that are here today, thank you. thank you for joining us today, thank you to the legislature for inviting us to speak. thank you if you're online, over the airwaves or in person. this morning we had an incredible opportunity here from chief justice jensen and chairman jamie azure we, and we're grateful for all of you and your thoughtful words this morning and for you dedicated service all citizens in north dakota and for chairman azure for year courageous leadership of the total mountain band of chippewa. [applause] as we enter our seventh year of our administration, and our fourth regular legislative session, catherine and i remain deeply humbled and deeply honored to continue serving all the citizens of north dakota, and we are very excited to welcome the 39th lieutenant governor of the state of north dakota, tammy miller, welcome tammy. [applause] we are also deeply grateful for the six years of dedicated service by lieutenant governor brent sanford in his nearly a decade before that in watford city and his positive impact on the lives of north dakota's will be felt for generations to come. please join me in thanking brent and sami for the lifetime of service and wishing them all of the best. [applause] from the earliest indigenous inhabitants of these lands to the pioneers of modern agriculture, our success in north dakota has always come from the strength and resiliency of our people. we are only two weeks since the official first day of winter, yet some cities like bismarck have already received an entire season's worth of snowfall, over 51 inches, which is a record for the last three months of any year in history. this is on top of the april snow and ice storm the drop 40 inches of snow across north dakota and knocked out power to tens and thousands of residents, coming right in the middle of spring, making it the fifth most costly disaster on record in the largest since the 2011 flooding. that april storm, the november veterans day storm, the mid december blizzard, and then the white out conditions that stole christmas travel, north dakota's have handled it all with grit and resiliency. and at the state level, we have seen incredible around the clock life protecting efforts from our department of transportation, snowplow drivers, highway patrol troopers, state radio dispatchers, and the department of emergency services personnel. [applause] our dot had over 350 snowplow operators working across our expansive state to clear 8,500 road miles after april's storm event. in the harshest conditions, these operators may be found leading the way so rural rdot had 350 snowplow operators working across our expensive state to clear 8500 miles after april storm event. in the harshest conditions, these operators can be found leading the way so that rural volunteer ambulances first responders can reach those in need of help. with us today representing the dedicated state team members, we have michel fender-nagle, who serves as a snowplow operator in india ortiz valley city east section. michelle, we are grateful for you, for your courage, your skill, and determination they're not just these last rounds of storms, but for 34 years of service keeping north dakota safe and keeping our economy going. please join me in thanking michelle and all of our local plow operators. michelle, please stand! [applause] [applause] [applause] i have a chance to do a ride along a snowplow, and i'm telling you, the one that we have on the road today, the dashboard looks more like an aircraft in does a truck that i drove growing up. anyways, thank you michelle. you may also recall how we got into this winter with our first powerful winter storm that began on november 9th and it came across the, state and temperatures dropped and a dangerous freezing rain coated i-94. north dakota highway patrol trooper alex breitbach was driving east that evening just past jamestown when he observed a semi truck jackknifed across the westbound lanes nearly blocking the entire road. he quickly turned around in the median, left on his emergency lights to warn other traffic. as we approach the semi to check on the driver, rupert breitbach astutely heard another truck coming behind him. he quickly jumped over the median cable barrier and watched as a semi trucks smashed into a squad car, but it wasn't over. during the next several minutes, seven additional crashes involving 18 vehicles occurred that location before additional first responders could arrive on the scene. through it all, trooper breitbach went from vehicle to vehicle but himself in great danger as he checked on crash victims and directed them to safety if they could and incredibly no lives were lost in one was seriously hurt. this is just one single example of the types of instance where north dakota's finest, and with the cota highway patrol, and all over other first responders experience every day. risking their lives to alvin protect others. trooper breitbach, who is here with us today, and all of our first responders, we say thank you for your service and your bravery. [applause] [applause] give us a wave trooper, how about a bigger way, thank you. [applause] then president start to the winter season has trained resources at every level of government. this historic weather calls for prompt action. with a sponsorship of senator terry wanzek and representative mike brandenburg, we can expect 20 million emergency snow removal grants toward the state, local, and tribal governments who have already exceeded their average snow removal budgets. as state leaders, we have an opportunity to act quickly to relieve the pressures in communities across the state. let's make this relief bill one of the first pills to reach my task. desk. [applause] our citizens also endured a year of near record inflation that put a strain on household budgets, but higher prices on everything from eggs and flour to gasoline and automobiles. we're grateful to this legislature for passing a historic bonding bill in 2021 that allowed us to avoid inflation and take advantage of lower interest rates and construction costs, thereby instilling tens of millions in taxpayer dollars, while building roads, bridges, water, and other critical infrastructure. we have made great progress on deities ten-year infrastructure plan investing 318 million so far to rebuild aging roads and bridges, and our executive budget, which we close last month, as a non president 2.4 billion dollars to accelerate that work. we can also build on our worked on and water infrastructure last action by investing over 600 million to advanced flood protection and regional and critical water supply in the structure across the state. we do continue to make strides towards our goal of becoming the first state in the nation to reach 100 percent across of our citizens with fast, reliable broadband. at the funds allocated from the arpa, american rescue plan act for broadband, there are projects proposed to install 111 -- 1100 miles of fiber connecting 2150 unserved and underserved addresses across the state. having smart, efficient infrastructure, healthy, vibrant communities in a stable tax and regulatory environment are key to attracting capital into north dakota, and boy have we been doing that. in less than the last two years, we have had over one billion of private sector investments just in new soybean processing plants and house for north dakota. remarkably, these three processing plants will have the capacity to process roughly 75% of our states current annual soybean production, adding value to this key commodity, and creating new in closer markets for our farmers. increased global demand for sustainable biofuels in agriculture, transportation, and in sustainable aviation represents a huge growth opportunity for north dakota and expanded opportunities for collaboration between our two largest industries, agriculture and energy. in case you are still shoveling out of the word came, and we received some very fun news just before christmas. our states population, you are part of this record, hit an estimated all-time high of 779, 000, 261 residents as of july one 2026. this rebounded from the slight dip that we saw in 2021. and this slight bump up from our previous record in 2020, census count, can be attributed to a lot of little bumps of the baby kind. north dakota had 2800 more births than deaths in the last 12 months. and the number first was up from the previous year. in fact, only utah has a higher rate of growth per capita than north dakota. a record population speaks to the abundant opportunities and exceptional quality of life we enjoy with north dakota. the hundred and 6000 residents we've added since 2010 is the equivalent of adding another grand forks and another minot. [screaming] >> we know randy like that. the rest of, you if it's too difficult to imagine a whole other might not, or whole other grand forks for some of you class b folks, think of it as adding 3:28 more arthurs. we do remain one of the nation's fastest-growing states, we are up 16% since 2010, and that is faster than all but six other states. and turning to the future, we are faced with unprecedented opportunities to improve the lives of north dakota ends. this legislature has a historic opportunity to diversify our economy and invest in infrastructure, build healthy, vibrant communities, and support research and innovation and transform and higher ed and improve government and great tourist destinations and address our urgent workforce needs. and together, we begin this position, we begin this journey from a position of strength. our combined reserves are the highest in state history. our general fund revenues are running 23% or $700 million ahead of forecast. our oil tax revenues are running 60% over 1.5 billion dollars ahead of forecast. we have the nation's second lowest unemployment rate, at 22%, behind only utah. our three largest cities, bismarck, fargo, and grand forks were among the top five metropolitan areas in the entire nation for having the lowest unemployment rates in the month of october. now is the time for strategic investment in our states future. [applause] north dakota continues to successfully engage on and all of the above approach that harnesses our oil, gas, coal, our hydro electric, renewable fuels, wind, and solar. on a per capita basis, only wyoming produces more energy than we do in north dakota. yet tapping these abundant resources, creating jobs, transforming our communities, our state, and our nation, it only happens when the risk takers, entrepreneurs, and innovators invest their capital and their talent in our state. entrepreneurs like harold hamm, who grew up the 13th child of sharecroppers in rural oklahoma and founded continental resources in 1967 when he was just 21 years old. harold and continental helped lead the horizontal drilling revolution. they started that over 25 years ago. it was a game changer that unlocked, for us in our state, and our tribal, vast shale oil reserves that change the course of the economy of our entire state, and it changed the course of our country. harold is widely recognized as the person who led the charge to lift america's 40-year ban on exporting u.s. crude oil in 2015. getting this archaic federal ban lifted benefited every bakken producer, every mineral owner, every western north dakota community. it also helped the mineral acreage ownership held by the state of north dakota trust lands for our schools and university. the oil and gas industry employs thousands of north dakota that has produced billions of dollars in tax revenue that support the state, tribes, nations, counties, cities, counties, school districts, hospitals, parks, and airports through a variety of funds created by this legislature. it's also funded more than 100% of our eight billion dollar legacy fund and most of our 5.7 billion dollar common schools trust fund, which will have provided, by the end of this by any, i'm 1.8 billion dollars to k-12 public schools in property tax relief in the decade ending in 2025. selling more of our clean u.s. energy to our friends and allies, versus forcing them to buy dirty energy from our adversaries, is the single most powerful change the u.s. could make today to drive american strength up and enhance global stability. [applause] and through their operations in north dakota since 2003, continental has themselves invested billions of dollars of private capital towards u.s. energy independence, and they helped create but we, and the world now know, as the bakken. we are deeply grateful for the investments by harold and continental and all of the other industry leaders and north dakota who have underpinned our current prosperity and help to ensure a secure energy future for our nation and for our allies. we are deeply honored to have harold ham here in person today, representing the incredible positive impact that he, continental resources, and the entire north dakota oil and gas industry have had on every single north dakota. we thank you, harold, your family, and the entire continental team. ladies and gentlemen, harold hamm. [applause] >> providing a viable path forward for cole has been a priority of this body and our states, and we were thrilled to provide assistance to the sale of coal creek station, to rainbow energy center last gear. it's a victory not only for the hundreds of workers of culp creek and fall kirk mine, and the entire region, but for every north dakota who expects the lights to turn on and the heat to come on when they flip the switch and turn up the thermostat. it was also a victory for u.s. energy security, national security, and grid reliability. it wouldn't have happened without people, some of whom are here today. loren kopseng, stacy tschider but, al christianson, brent sanford, the industrial commission, and all the other local and federal officials, including the legislature, who all fought tooth and nail to keep cool critique. the north dakota like night coal industry provides affordable, reliable base load electricity and keeps lights and heat on during bitter cold, like we've seen. so, let's give all of them a hand, including yourselves for saving coal creek, way to go, legislator! way to go, rainbow! [applause] our bedrock industry, agriculture, continues to lead the nation in many categories. we rank first in the production of spring wheat, durham wheat, canola, flaxseed, all dry, edible beans, pinto beans, dry, edible peas, and my favorite, honey. we ranked second in, rice on flaggers, lentils. third in sugar beets, oats, and barley, and the top dozen for corn, soybeans, potatoes, and chickpeas. our farmers and ranchers battle every day to provide food security for our state, our country, and the world. they fight through challenging whether, through droughts and fires, blizzards, and floods. they innovate and expand the use of technology to boost yields and they're implementing resilient and regenerative farming and grazing practices. and they work through the burdensome red tape pushed down from the federal government. these farm and ranch families are the backbone of our rural state, and the work they do is feeding the growing world, and for that, we should all be grateful. let's give it up for all of our north dakota farmers and ranchers. [applause] despite their unwavering dedication and leading in so many of these crops, including a growing abundance of feed for livestock from our many new value added act processing projects, north dakota, we stack up way short when we compare our animal agriculture output to our neighboring states. for example, we are 23rd in cattle and calves on feet. south dakota's seventh, minnesota is a. we're 35th in milk cows. minnesota's seventh. or 24th and hogs and pigs. minnesota's second, and south dakota's tent. consider this. north dakota's record year for cattle and calves was 1975, 2.6 million head, less than one point million today. a record year for dairy cows, 1934, when we had 701,000 cows. now, we only have 15,000. 15,000 theory callous left in north dakota. we import milk into north dakota for our school programs. hogs peaked in 1943 at just over 1.1 million. now, we are down to 150, 000, about a tenth of that. we must ask ourselves, when were so good at agriculture, what do other states have that we don't? let's take a look at right next door, south dakota. in their family farming laws, they've got carve outs that smartly allowed non--related parties to pull capital for animal agricultural operations, like feeding livestock and poultry, operating a dairy farm for pork production. here in america's heartland, we love our freedom. but when it comes to making business decisions, in north dakota, apparently, that freedom applies to everyone, in every industry, except our farmers and ranchers. it's time to change that. we know our farmers and ranchers can compete with anyone, anywhere, anytime, if they're given a level playing field. right now, the field is so uneven when it comes to capital access and capital formation. we can level it, and we could do it wisely, and with smart environmental stewardship. plus, the economics of animal agriculture increased land values and help rural communities to grow and thrive. i urge this body to change this long, downward trajectory of animal agriculture in north dakota, and let's do away with this archaic law as it applies to ownership of animal agriculture operations, including poultry. let's take the handcuffs off our ranchers and livestock producers. let's allow animal agriculture to flourish in north dakota once again. we need farm freedom legislation, and we need it now! [applause] just as we are leaders in ag and energy, north dakota can lead the nation in carbon capture, utilization and storage, and reshape energy policy for this country. today, we're on our way towards achieving carbon neutrality as a state by 2030, thanks to our extraordinary capacity to safely store over 252 billion tons of co2, or 50 years of the nation's co2 output. in the process, most importantly, we can help secure the future of our states two largest industries, energy, and that includes coal, and agriculture. we were the first state to establish the legal and regulatory framework for carbon capture, utilization and storage, or ccus,, way back in 2009. i say. now, where the spot to lead the nation in this emerging energy, because we could permits our own co