this is about 45 minutes. back back. [applause] [applause]

>> before i begin tonight's, i want to apologize to all of the basketball fans. i am fully aware that the game just started at 6:00 p.m. majority leader croft, i understand you are an alum of the losing team tonight. it. [laughter] a. [applause] okay, very good. mr. speaker, mr. president, madame chief justice of the entire kansas supreme court, members of my cabinet, leaders of the kansas tribes and all of the constitutional officers and legislatures several tonight's, it is an honor to speak with you. it is also my honor to welcome lieutenant governor david tolan along with his family his wife

beth and their children caroline and william. [applause] at this time last year i stood here and reviewed the tremendous turn around our state had made in just four years. four straight years of balanced budgets. four straight years of fully funding schools. landing the largest economic development project in the history of our states. i declared the state of our state to be very strong. [applause] while achieving excellence is hard, sustaining that excellence is even harder. yet that is exactly what we have done together. last year kansas attracted more

business investment per capita than any other state in the country. this year kansas is number one again. [applause] two years ago, thanks to the influx of new jobs we hit record low unemployment rates so we encouraged more kansas to join the labor force and give them the tools and training they needed. now there are more kansas working than ever before. [applause] and i believe he is in the gallery it's one of our newest kansas workers alan swan, if you are in the gallery could you please stand? [applause]

allen is the president of panasonic energy of north america. thank you so much for being here. [applause] so we also close the bank isn't assuring infrastructure dollars were actually used for roads, bridges, trains, broadband this year alone my administration worked on 450 infrastructure projects and reconnected another 9000 homes and businesses to high-speed internet. wheat made record investments to repair our foster care system. keep families together in and improve mental health access. that work has paid off. today there are fewer children entering our foster care system

then at any point in our state recorded history. >> we also passed a 1 billion-dollar tax cuts for families for our veterans, for homeowners, for farmers and ranchers. that is $1 billion in tax cuts. [cheering] chris just last week we saw it reduced to 10. putting an additional $150 million back into the pockets of kansans. before we know it it will not exist at all in 2025 a perhaps inherently total asked, gone, never to be living again.

[applause] i am proud to stand here and tell you without hesitation that again this state of our state is strong. but i am also here to tell you were not going to stop here were going to keep making it stronger. >> not that you get the wrong impression not like we have made any mistakes. when i could design the new state license plate for my home computer. now that was a mistake. when you make a mistake you own it and then you fix it. so we did the right thing.

put it to the vote of the people. because in kansas when the people strongly support something we listen to them and act accordingly, am i right? [applause] so please hold that thought because i'm going to come back to in a few minutes. [laughter] by listening to kansas, by prioritizing fiscal responsibility and state governance to build a solid foundation for our state. now we are positioned to look ahead to the future. to stop worrying about each monthly revenue report and instead to dream big about the next year, the next decade, the next century. [applause] as we move kansas forward it is critical that we not lose sight of what makes our state unique. that we preserve what it means

to be a kansan. what is fundamental to our identity and that would be rural kansas. [applause] kansas is at its heart a small town kind of state. 1 million people, one third of our population live in communities with fewer than 40 people per square mile. the people who work in our state's most important industry do not wear suits. they were boots and jeans. we pride ourselves on being salt of the earth the people who work hard but always take time to look after our neighbors. that is not to say are more urban centers aren't important, of course they are. but in so many ways they depend upon our rural areas.

they depend upon the crops grown in western kansas the energy produced in central kansas the tourism of hunting grounds in southeast kansas. wouldn't rural kansans are doing well, all kansans are doing well. [applause] that is why we have made empowering our rural communities a focal point for our administration. first we create the office of rural prosperity. then we revived the main street program to rebuild the downtowns of our small towns. and thanks to lieutenant governor tolan and the department of commerce more businesses are opening in smalll towns across our state should. cherryville recently secured a $400 million soybean crushing plants near kobe, the current family farms be cutting the ribbon on their dairy plants this spring.

and some will soon finish its facility expansion. what we know we still have many more issues to address. small towns struggled to attract the workers they need. safe, affordable housing is hard to come by while property taxes continue to climb. too many of our kids and our grandkids move away from home insearch of better opportunitie. and tragically we are losing too many of our farmers and ranchers to suicide. many of you know this, like me you are talking every day with kansans all over the state who are worried about the future. that future, the future of real kansas is what i want to address this evening. because a strong spr is a state over all, if we are going to reach new heights we cannot just support growth in overland park, in wichita, and in lawrence.

cardinal city, independence need our attention too. tonight i want to talk about five of the challenges facing rural communities and what we do, i as governor and you as the legislature can do to address them. these are not only my priorities for this upcoming session but for the rest of my time in office. the vibration which we can create a better future for rural kansas and thus for our state as a whole. let's start with healthcare. simply put, our rural hospitals are not doing well. and just the past decade they have closed down.

forced increase cost for patients to lay off essential healthcare workers to stop offering important services and then often counties resort to raising property taxes in a last-ditch effort to keep their hospitals afloat. and when that fails, longer and longer distances for basic care. so much of the problem boils down to one thing, far too many kansans don't have insurance and make much money to qualify for medicaid program. these are kansans who work at the local hair salon or

barbershop who watch their kids so you can work. now, remember, i was talking about license plates and what i said about listening to kansans when they strongly support something, over 70% support something. if you listen, we are talking about the vast majority of kansans who want medicaid expansion. [applause] >> support for medicaid expansion has grown by leaps and bounds. we've seen leaders in communities like haze and russell, farmers and ranchers and a cross section of business

leaders jump on the band wagon. what i also heard the opposition's concerns about the cost and about the fairness. last month i proposed a bill that was crafted with their concerns in mind. the cutting health care costs for all kansans act. for those of you who worry that medicaid expansion would allow able-body adults to scam the system, the bill includes a work requirement with common sense exemptions for veterans, caregivers, students and people with medical conditions. for those concern that county jails have been shouldering the cost for medical care for inmates, this ensures they can instead put money towards public safety and for those concerned about cost it's revenue neutral and comes at no additional cost to taxpayers. healthcare workers for 150,000, cost savings for almost everyone

and taxpayers pay nothing extra. that's the deal just about anyone would take? this should not be a partisan issue. in fact, i believe that if the issue were put to a vote today the majority of you in this chamber would support it. yet, there are some who are adamantly opposed to expansion that they won't even give you the opportunity to debate and vote. they dismiss the vast majority of kansans who support medicaid expansion. they standby as states like california, new york and every single of the neighboring states take our federal tax dollars to support their hospitals and their economies. they look away as rural elderly

citizens have to drive further and further for care or just go without. they say that medicaid expansion is not a silver bullet for hospitals, you know what, i agree. of course, it's not going to solve every challenge facing rural health care but it's a critical part of the solution, we can't solve the problem without it. at this point not expanding medicaid is akin to rural hospitals, rural constituents. i refuse to the do that and you should too. [applause] >> cutting healthcare costs will be introduced in both chambers

next week. stop ignoring constituents and give this bill a hearing by kansas day. on the 163rd anniversary of our state, kansans deserve a debate and vote on medication expansion. [applause] okay, we've dealt with health care. let's talk about saving rural public schools. 90% of kansas kids go to public school and in rural areas where there are hardly any private schools that number is closer to 100%. when i first ran for office i pledged to be the education governor to make fixing our school system my number one focus. it's what our state needed and it's what our rural communities needed because several years back when our state faced severe

budget crisis it was rural schools that took the hardest hit. i'm proud now to report that this past year my fifthiar in office was also the fifth straight year we came together as republicans and democrats to fully fund our public schools. that consistent investment is paying off. right now our high school graduation rate is the highest it's ever been. more of the students are going off to college or getting work credentials than ever before and the number of students needing remedial introduction has dropped dramatically. i said our state is back on track economically, it's also back on track academically.

yet some of us want to turn back to reverse the progress that we've made by diverting public education dollars to private schools or flat-out stripping rural schools the funds they need to stay open. so tonight let me be crystal clear, i will not let that happen. [applause] >> i will continue to reject vouchers and any attempt to send public education dollars to private schools. vouchers will crush our rural schools plain and simple. our teachers don't support vouchers, our local officials don't support vouchers and

kansans don't support vouchers. [applause] >> believe me, if you represent a rural area and you're out there pushing for vouchers, you will be hearing from parents back home wondering why you've turn thed your back on their schools and why you've prioritized private schools hundreds of miles away. last session i brought out my veto pen to protect our rural schools that were facing massive and immediate funding cuts. the district facing the largest cut was usd225. on the drive between liberal and dodge city, it called itself a small town with a big heart. if i had not line itemed veto the school funding last year budget would have been cut by 25% and that district would have

closed. it's not just the school district that would have suffered, it's the entire town that would have suffered. in recent years schools have become more. valor has transformed a new space in high school into business incubator spewing entrepreneurship and also started day care center allowing parents to participate in the workforce. if usd225 were to close its doors completely, i wouldn't just shut down classrooms, it would shut down businesses. even more than that, the loss of local schools would mean the loss of a special way of life. going right to the heart of what it means to live in small town kansas. you lose that grocery store run-in with your kids teachers. you lose the big sales, you lose

the school plays, you lose the athletic rivalries and you lose so much of what makes kansas towns so special. but the town of fowler isn't letting that happen. fowler is fighting to protect its way of life. i would like to extend thank you to superintendent and president milfred. [applause] >> tj and jamie like so many other educators across kansas are fighting for our rural schools, fighting for the communities and we must join them in that fight. that's why for the sixth year in a row my budget will fully fund kansas schools.

[applause] >> it's also why my budget will put kansas on track to fully fund special education. >> right now, right now because we are not funding special education at the statutorily required amount schools end up diverting funds from other areas impacting students across the board. the idea that any kansas school wouldn't have the resources to educate students with special needs, that should be deeply upsetting to all of us. so let's do something about it. our schools must be able to educate all of our children.

that also means our very youngest children. we can be the wait until kindergarten to help setting our kids up for future. children experiences from birth to 5 determine trajectory of entire lives from social development to academic achievement to career success and that is why i am so focused on early childhood. in my budget tomorrow i will be proposing the largest single-year investment ever made in our early childhood system.

we also provided tax credits to make it possible for businesses to provide child care for their employees but we still have a lot more to do we need to eliminate red tape right now if a day care center wants to set up shop it must work with a state agency to get license and another for workforce support and third to get funding. there are too many barriers, too

many portals, too much hassle, we need to fix it. [applause] >> last year i created a task force charged with streamlining our early childhood services into a single entity. task force met throughout the year and presented the recommendations last month. tonight i'm building on their plan and calling for all early childhood services to be put under one roof, the office of early childhood. soon i will be putting a bill for childhood providers and for our businesses. now i know that many of you are also passionate about improving our early childhood system. we have an opportunity this year to the work together to make

government more efficient and more effective and to address a major problem facing kansas families. now, we are able to make such important investments in our schools and early childhood systems because we have grown our economy and managed the state in a physically responsible manner. here in kansas instead of having to cut funding for essential services like other states are experiencing we are not only able to increase investments, we can also address my next priority, the far too the high cost of living. as i said earlier, we've cut taxes for kansans by over $1 billion in total but with so many working families still struggling all of us can agree that we need to cut taxes again.

[applause] >> we must get that money back into kansans pockets and we will in a fiscally and responsibly way in a way that doesn't threaten, our schools, roads, foster care and public safety. unfortunately that's exactly what one proposal, the flat tax would do. the flat tax came up last year, i expect it to come up this year despite the fact that it only benefit it is super wealthy while it doing little to nothing for middle-class kansans. arizona legislators passed a flat tax in 2021 and now they've facing a significant budget short fall, guess where the cuts are coming from, their public schools, their law enforcement and their infrastructure. we have been down that road before and we don't want to go back. not back to brown bag, not day

to crumbling roads, falling down bridges all because some politicians want to push through another reckless tax experiment. [applause] >> on monday, i joined republican and democrat legislators to propose a responsible comprehensive and affordable plan that benefits every kansan. it start by doing what we should have done in the first place, completely eliminate the grocery tax on food, no waiting until 2025. we owe it to kansas to do it now. [applause] >> next we need to provide relief for our retirees, something i know is upmost importance to many of us here.

our seniors have worked hard their entire lives paying into it's so they can enjoy a reasonable retirement. their next chapter in life shouldn't be spent worrying about how they'll afford essential medications or whether they can put food on the table. so tonight, we are proposing to completely eliminate state taxes on social security, all the other. [applause] >> but even more than social security tax, the tax hurting our seniors most is property tax. [applause] >> the reality is as we see property values skyrocket in both rural and urban areas, elderly kansans worry that

they'll be priced out of their homes, their homes where they raised their kids, built their lives and made precious memories. that's exactly what's happening in iowa and raising their three kids. they retired in 2009 but they remained committee members of the community supporting small business fors and their local hospital. in part because their neighbors and friends are being overwhelmed. we can't drive away the very families who sustain our communities. that's why i'm calling on the legislature to raise the residential statewide property tax exemption from $42,000 a year to one hundred thousand

dollars. it would provide relief every year and 270,000 kansans families it would wipe out all or almost all of their state and property tax bill. that's a property tax cut for 370,000 kansas families. [applause] >> so mary kay and david are here with us tonight. would you both please stand and be recognized representing the thousands. [applause] >> you represent thousands of

kansans who would benefit from a property tax. i said the plan was comprehensive and it is. in addition to taking on property taxes, to making life more affordable to our seniors it creates a back to school sales holiday and kansans would pay less when they file their taxes and it helps every parent pay for child care. so let's take the flat tax off the table once and for the all. instead, let's come together around this plan. it benefits all kansans not just those at the top and it includes ideas from both republicans and democrats. [applause] >> and most importantly it

doesn't threaten the progress on all of the other issues kansans care about so let's get this done. [applause] >> on so many issues i've outlined tonight we need to act now to improve the lives of rural kansans but the final challenge i want to the address tonight is longer term and it's one that threatens the viability of our agriculture industry and our entire economy and that's our water crisis. right now we are seeing this crisis in small towns across the state, recently in southeast kansas jamie had to close schools on friday and shut down public restrooms. parts of kansas have seen wells

dry up and estimates show that others have less than 25 years to go. think about that. our next generation of kansans could be left with no usable water. for too long our state leaders have not been good stewards of our natural resources. that must end now. the challenge of preserving our water quality and quantity illustrates what i said earlier that an existential issue for rural kansas is an existential issue for our entire state. my goal is to put kansas on the path to resolving this crisis. thankfully by working together we have made progress. last year the legislature passed a bipartisan bill that created a framework to ensure every community in kansas is planning for the future. in addition to fully funding the state water plan for the second year in a row we invested in

historic $35 million for each of the next five years to deal with our water issues and we are paying off water infrastructure debt early giving us additional dollars to resolve the crisis. it's crucial that we build on that progress and empower even more stakeholders to take action. the good news is that we're in a better position than ever before to do that. my budget proposal tomorrow will fully fund the state water plan for the third year in a row. [applause] >> it will also provide resources for the new kansas water institute at can k state to lever expertise and innovative solutions to water challenges. those practices are gaining

momentum throughout the state, more and more kansans are recognizing that we don't have to choose between conserving water and growing our economy that one is essential to the other. that includes kansans like mitch, fourth generation farmer. his father started ground water management district in the 1970's recognizing even back then the need to safeguard our water. start local enhanced management area or as we know it alima to encourage other producers to do more with less water. it wasn't easy, took five years over those years they held numerous public hearings, worked with customers and partnered

with the legislature to change statutes. what they've shown that despite what people believer water is not intractable issue. sustainability is possible. nearly 30% reduction in water use all while producers save money and met their production goals. they are a model for other communities across the state showing that coordinated collective action on water conservation is good for our pocketbooks and for our long-term economy. they would stand to be recognized. [applause] mitch and lola and others like him help preserve kansas we all

know and love and we owe it to ourselves and every future generation in kansas to follow their lead and act now before it's too late. we spent a lot of time talking about rural kansas asking big questions about its future. we need to take those challenges head on, not just because it's a good thing to do for individual rural communities but because those rural communities weless who we are as a state. thankfully, there's a good reason to be optimistic about the future. last month the u.s. department of agriculture released a study showing that the population of rural areas is increasing for the first time in a decade. in fact, parts of rural kansas are now growing 8 times master than the national average.

>> you too often seems as people, especially here in the state house believe our rural communities are doomed to shrink. their hospitals are doomed to close. their schools are doom today decline, that we should be throwing up our arms as if there's nothing we can do about it. i happened to think that's nonsense. so here is my message tonight, step up for rural kansas, step up. this must be a priority. when rural kansas is strong, kansas is strong. [applause] now maybe that's something folks aren't use today hearing from the a democrat, but i didn't get here yesterday. i know from years and years of

traveling this the great state from the one small town to another that rural kansas is not only the economic engine of our state, it's our heart, it's our core, it's who we are and it's why we love being kansans. [applause] right now we are in a position of strength. we are debating how to responsibly spend the surplus that we have, not how to fill in the gaps. think of how far we have come in the last five years and we've got here by working together and we will only succeed in building a brighter future not just for rural kansas but for every corner of our state by continuing to work together. now, many of you have been fighting this fight for years and you've got the battle scars to show for it. i encourage you to remember the words that great kansan had who

said you know what the happiest animal on earth is, it's a goldfish. you know why, it's got a ten second memory. so let's be a goldfish. let's all of us be goldfish and not let the divisions of the past prevent us from doing right by kansans for the future. we have a -- [applause] >> we have a unique opportunity to build on the progress we've made and to truly make a lasting impact on the state we love and the people we serve. thank you and good night.

[applause]