>> ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the great state of west virginia, the honorable jim justice. [applause] governor justice: okay, we've got a lot to talk about tonight. the first thing that i want to be sure that we're talking

about, right off the get go is just this. i was early getting here tonight. pretty good stuff. now, think about this. we're honoring a great man, bob kiss. i got to tell you this is, full confession. literally, i was at the mansion. the last time i'd seen my speech, cathy had it, and all of a sudden, i get over here and nobody's got it. and if we hadn't honored bob kiss, you would have been sitting waiting on me a long time. and so literally, it's an honor beyond belief to be with you. and there's so much, so much good going on in this state right now. it's hard. it's hard to get it all in. that's just all there is to it. now, with all that being said, i've got to do this. i've got to say one thing. you know, mr. speaker, and mr. president, babydog says she's really sorry she couldn't make it tonight. [laughter] but she's gonna get a tub of popcorn and watch it on tv. but thank you so much in every way.

and i absolutely, if i could just say this. it is an incredible day to be a west virginian. [applause] you know, i like to always honor our first lady, my daughter jill is with her. and my son and his and our daughter-in-law, jay and catherine. catherine had a little bit of a blood pressure issue today and, and so they kind of bowed out. but nevertheless, thank you all so much for all you do all the time. [applause] now, i'm telling y'all, if y'all do all this clapping don't blame it on me how long we'll be here.

really appreciate that. and also, i've got to tell you just this, jill just had us another grandbaby. a beautiful little granddaughter. yes, not very long ago at all. probably what, six weeks? okay. and her husband adam, who is a wonderful son-in-law is now at home with three kids. nevertheless, you know, a great family and, and just i'm so blessed. that's all there is to it. just blessed beyond belief. [applause] if i could go through my cabinet and i will go through quickly and hold your applause and then we'll get you to the end. but we have a new cabinet secretary for dhhr dr. jeff coben, a new secretary of commerce james bailey, our

secretary of administration is mark scott, our secretary of homeland security is jeff sandy, secretary of revenue, dave hardy, our secretary of transportation, jimmy wriston, our secretary of veterans assistance, ted diaz, our secretary of economic development, mitch carmichael, our secretary of the arts, the culture and history of this great state, randall reid smith. our secretary of tourism chelsea ruby is not with us tonight because there's a good chance she's having a baby right as we speak. if not, it will be here very, very soon. and the other thing, the other person is not here with the -- is our secretary of the d.e.p. harold ward is doing a phenomenal job. now you can give them a great

round of applause. we have our wonderful, wonderful supreme court of appeals. with us tonight is chief justice beth walker. justice john hutchinson, justice haley bunn, justice tim armstead, and justice bill wooten. thank you y'all so much. thank y'all so much. now our constitutional officers, attorney general patrick 'all s. now our constitutional officers, attorney general patrick morrisey, our state auditor j.b. mccuskey, our secretary of state mac warner, our commissioner of agriculture kent leonhardt, our state treasurer riley moore, and our state superintendent of schools david roach. [applause] we have -- we have a beautiful young lady from our congressional delegation and that is our great senator shelley moore.

[applause] okay, we now have our adjutant general of the west virginia national guard brigadier general bill crane, and i don't know where bill is but wherever he is, y'all got to cheer for him, that's all there is to it. [applause] and we have our command sergeant major james jones and he's, i think, with our general. [applause] we have the chancellor of our higher ed, you know, and sarah tucker is with us tonight. [applause] we have our commissioner of the bureau for senior services robert roswall. let me get through these and everything. we have our director of the herbert henderson office of minority affairs jill upson.

and we have our west virginia university president gordon gee, marshall president brad smith and members of their staff. so now clap for them. [applause] we have our covid team. you just think about these people. these people literally never really took a dime, hardly. didn't do anything but work, didn't have a playbook, didn't have anything to go by. and absolutely have guided us in every way imaginable. and a heck of a job they've done. dr. clay marsh, general hoyer, dr. amjad, now dr. christiansen, and our secretary crouch and dr. coben, please give them a round of applause. [applause] okay, this is the seventh time

i've been here in front of you. i can't -- i can't imagine that time can go that quickly. you know, the first year i jumped all around and put things on whiteboards and did everything and i sweated like a dog the entire time. absolutely. at that time, this state was in tough, tough shape, and you all knew it, and everything. we didn't really know where we're going or where to turn. and today is a bright day. you know, through that time, i would tell you just this -- i won't be your governor a whole lot longer. but i surely won't go away. you know, in fact, you're probably either be able to find me at home or you may find me in washington. but one of the two places i'll be and i'll be -- i'll try to

watch as best i can and help as best i can. no matter what i'm doing in every single way. i will try to help continue to perpetuate this goodness that we've got going on right this minute. so if i could just add just this, if i could give you my best wisdom today and before we get into the nitty gritty of everything else. my best wisdom of the day would be just this -- serve. serve. try as best you can to not want anything for yourself. literally. this is an honor, beyond all comprehension. for every last one of you, do what our forefathers did, and did so admirably. they served, first and foremost they served, please don't put self in front of that. always try to do what your voters and constituents are

asking you to do. at the end of the day, we're here to do their work. we're here to do the people's wishes. please remember that. and please try as best you can to not get in your own way. if there's ever a time in life right now, ever a time when we could get in our own way, it's right now. think about this. i tell people all the time you know we've been in the ag business forever. and i have honestly probably harvested a million acres of corn myself. i probably have planted hundreds of thousands of acres. when did you always, always lose grain? it's when the harvest was plentiful. that's when you lost grain. when there was almost nothing there and it was a bad year, of drought or whatever, you never lost anything. because you'd have to get every single grain.

when things are wonderful as they are right now, we've got to be careful. and we've got to be prudent. we'll throw a lot of grain on the ground, and we'll never touch it. you know, i want to tell you just this. you hear me say this all the time. i don't care if you're republican or democrat or independent. really what i'm really saying is just this, in my heart, i am dadgum proud that i'm a republican. but with all that, because i truly believe in very, very conservative values. i watch what's going on on this national scene right now with our president, and what's going on in dc, and for god's sakes, there can't be a rational human that thinks what's going on is right. there's no way. so for that, i couldn't be more proud to be a republican but i would just warn you and just tell you just this.

in this great state. there's enough people on the outside wanting to throw rocks at us and they have forever. they beat us down. they've made us feel like “you should know your place.” in the race with mississippi all the time. who's going to be dead last? and we're not -- we're not that now. now there's jealousy. because now, all of a sudden, we're the diamond in the rough they missed. really, be proud of who you are. be proud that you may be a republican or a democrat or an independent, for god's sake, live and work together and try to help one another for the betterment of all in this great state. [applause]

now, we got lots to talk about and i promise i will go as quickly as i possibly can go. there are so many exciting things. if we reflect back on the past just a second, and we were fair, we would say not many, many years ago we didn't have anywhere to turn. you can say what you want, but i'm a business guy and i got that. and with all of that, you know, i can even go back further and further and further. imagine this and i'm not casting rocks like i just said i wouldn't do but there was a time, believe it or not, that we cut a ribbon and celebrated a taco bell opening in downtown charleston. think about what we're doing today. think about the stuff that's going on today in this great state. you know, how did all this goodness happen? i believe with all my soul first and foremost it happened because of god above. i believe that with all in me. there's no way that any of us

could have been smart enough to have written all this down and figured all this out. he wants us to work hard, and he wants us to do our job. but i believe he is guiding this incredible state every single step of the way. we had to change our image. we had to make simple moves on the board in education. i mean, who in the world came up with the idea of grading our schools a through f? think about this marketing plan. we're going to put them on a bell curve and we'll have some “a's” and we're gonna have some “f's” and in the middle, we're gonna have a lot of c's. so here's what we can do. we can go out and tell the world “come to west virginia, most of our schools are c's.” how's that gonna work? we got rid of it. literally, at the end of the day, we got a lot still to do in education, but we made a commitment to move it to the front and let it be our centerpiece.

everybody that comes, that wants to come to west virginia says how are you schools and how are your roads? it's just that simple all the time. we did a roads to prosperity program that created instant jobs. we awarded and looked after and tried to appreciate our veterans. and then we let tourism explode right behind that. we diversified and we absolutely got on our way. and then along came covid and the cannon ball hit us right dead in the stomach. and we then could have done what has happened in the past and, really, what those on the outside would have expected us to do, become 50th again. you may had a blip on the screen but go to 50th again. we didn't do it, did we? we've dug in and shown exactly what our mettle is all about. and lo and behold, here we go. now, i would say with all in me

who would have thunk it. who would have ever thunk it. today in west virginia, you'd have some processes that are so large, it's unbelievable. you would have fortune 500, fortune 100, whatever, companies that are coming to west virginia, over and over and over. the roads are getting repaired everywhere. we're working on the water and sewer projects as fast as we possibly can. and we are that diamond. now, get this, in 2022 alone, just think about this. we had 29 companies invest $6.19 billion in west virginia. [applause]

now, absolutely get this. they brought us 3,300 new jobs and preserved 3,100 jobs. you know, they gave us the opportunity to compete on a world stage. it is unbelievable the value of what we did in putting money aside in this impact development projects to bring more and more folks here. i'm gonna read a list of folks and i want you to stand, please, and let's absolutely let this great body absolutely cheer and honor you. tonight, i am creating a different -- you know, we have a distinguished west virginian. but i don't know that we really have anything that is as honorable as a distinguished west virginian for our businesses.

so tonight, i'm creating the business knights of west virginia. and what i want to do is let these great folks when i read their names be our first inductees. then i'll reveal the name of a couple more folks that are coming to west virginia. and then you know what i want to do? i want to go back and every single business in this state that contributes and helps us in every way, i want them to, every one be one of the business knights of this state and we will send them a certificate they put it up on their wall. and then i'm going to ask of them one ding thing -- it's as simple as this. i'm going to ask them to help all of us to absolutely perpetuate this great, great, great message of west virginia. absolutely our new business knights and tonight our first inductees -- and i'm going to go through, you know, from

berkshire hathaway, alicia knapp, and if she can stand, i'm going to read through all of them and then we're gonna clap for alicia and all y'all. from precision castparts, steve wright, from hope gas, morgan o'brien, from form energy, mateo and i am going to mess this one up -- jamarillo. ok. from mountaintop beverage, jeff sokal, from omnis, richard kingan, from veloxint, brian joseph, from pure watercraft, dennis frioni. from commercial metals, i don't have -- i don't have the name from commercial metals. from papier-mettler, and there's not a representative from them

and from klöckner, and there's not a representative from them. but if you could join me, just think, just think, when every single bit of this absolutely is done, think what you have done. think what you have created. forevermore you have created our grandchildren's jobs. that's what you have done. you have created the fact that over and over and over edith and toby wanted to have a picnic and they want their grandkids to be here. and they're in charlotte or denver or atlanta and now, now they're going to be in west virginia. so please, thank y'all so much. thank you so, so much. [applause]

now, just in the last little while, two more have come. t.l.c., based in india, is a chemical plant within the covestro plant that's in marshall county. they're going to spend $150 million and create 50 jobs, making ingredients that are found in food. the t.l.c. chairman, another new knight of west virginia, is with us right now. it's mr. parthasarsthy, if you can really give him a great round of applause. [applause] cmi2 is with us tonight.

you know i don't know if it's cm one two or cm12. but cmi2, tonight i'm proud to announce that the civil military innovation institute, cmi2, based in morgantown has stood up as a one-of-a-kind military capability that is coming and operating and going to operate in clay county. it is un-flat-believable what they're going to provide, 50 jobs. cmi2 has been awarded $100 million in a new contract from the defense people and literally they're promising more and more and more to come. and, and, boy, zenovy wowczuk is with us tonight. and if you could stand, please. [applause]

you know, there's been -- there's been an awful lot. people never would have believed that west virginia could have diversified. people never would have believed that you know, really a coal guy would welcome with open arms, you know, alternative sources or alternative energies. i'm a real believer. i'm a real believer that west virginia needs to welcome all. there's been many green and niche components to this admission initiative, but i want you to remember just one thing, and i know you will forevermore. our coal, oil and gas folks today are supplying to west virginia in this year or in years past, $891 million of severance income to this great

state. people get up every day and get their dinner bucket and go. people are in 7,000 feet underground in 32 inches of coal and can't sit up all day long. and they do it for their families. and they do it for this nation. they do it for this great state and they do it for all of us. never, never will i, and never should you ever forget the great work that the coal miners have done, the great work the gas workers do, or the oil workers in this great state. never turn your back on the greatness of our natural resources. thank you so much. [applause]

we will kind of keep moving here, okay? in regard to our budget, we again are going to have a budget presented by me that is relatively flat. you see, i don't believe in using the rainy-day fund to bail me out. i want to mind the store. absolutely. i want to do what's right, absolutely, from a business guy's standpoint. you know, we have funded projects out of surplus, one-time projects, we have not built base hardly at all. we have really looked after the store and we expect, and we should, return on investment. with all that being said, absolutely, before i go further,

i want to say just this -- that our retirees, we've gotten a lot of them, we haven't really necessarily forgotten them, but today with inflation, with what it's at, imagine this. what i am proposing, two things, but for folks over 70 years of age that worked for us for 25 years, we have a minimum salary that would -- that they'll receive of $1,000. really and truly, it's surely not much of nothing. and at the end of the day, i want to do a one-time bonus payment to them for $1,500. and i want you to work as hard as you can knowing that whatever you come up with, i'll be right

there with you. but many, many times we get running really, really fast. and we forget. so please, honor and help that wisdom. now, from the standpoint, i promised along the way, i promised, you know, that i would send up in regard to the elimination of your car tax. you know, i sent the bill. i have done exactly what i promised. you know that i would just -- you gotta listen to me on this one. there's lots and lots and lots of things we can do. but if we want at this moment in time to grow the state of west virginia, we're going to have to aggressively look at our personal income tax. it is an opportunity right now. like none of us could ever imagine.

just think -- we had the opportunity to do something that's monumental right at this moment. now with all that being said, all you gotta do is look at the publications, no matter what they may be, and they will all tell you the states that are on a pathway to getting rid of their personal income tax or really aggressively doing something, those states are winning the day. you got to know that. you have to know that. a lot of people will say “well, we don't have an ocean, you know, but we don't fry eggs on the street in the summertime, either. literally, we have been blessed with the four greatest seasons on the planet. we have the very best people. we have the greatest location. we're within a rock's throw of 2/3 of the population of this country. we are bound in natural

resources like crazy and all i would say to you and i know i will get in trouble saying this, who in the world wants to move to south dakota? i mean, literally just a few days ago when it got as cold as it was here, if you'd had been in south dakota, you'd have been a south dakota-sickle. you would. so, at the end of the day, just think how we're positioned. you know, we're positioned in the absolute sweetest spot that we could possibly be. now way up in the back you've got our senate president, president blair, and you've got our speaker of the house, speaker hanshaw. and i've listened to them. i really have. they have said over and over and over that what we need to do in regard to the p.i.t. is they

wanted to think, either don't do it or make a big splash. that's all there is to it. either don't do it or make a big splash. so here comes me, cannonballing into the pool. by god, i'll make a big splash -- [laughter] i'll promise you that. but tonight, i'm proposing our west virginia tsunami that the world will hear in every single way. they'll hear from every rooftop in every way. a tsunami that does nothing but benefit all, everyone. tonight, i am proposing the biggest tax cut in the history of this state. i'm proposing a 50% reduction in our p.i.t. across the board now. [applause]

this thing, just saying if we do this, it will take us three years to pull it off. but absolutely it is that aggressive pathway that will absolutely put unbelievable monies right back into all of our pockets. with all that being said, just think of this, for god's sakes, just think -- just think of just this. right off the get-go, 30% the first year, 10% the next year, 10% the next year. and then -- and then we step back and just see, with all that being said, think of how much if i were to walk into you and say i'm going to put a billion dollars back into our

economy tomorrow and the people spend it, what will be the multiplier effect? will it be six times or 10 times? tomorrow you will have become your own stimulus package with zero growth. now, honest to pete, absolutely, the word will ring all across the world and people will come, people will really come. i have listened to the senate. i have listened to the house. and absolutely now, i hope and pray that we will move and move quickly to just show the people just how serious we are in west virginia. and the fact that they, they have pulled the rope with us forever and ever and ever. you just think of the decades when they were in that race with mississippi. and literally those folks absolutely today are hurting at the grocery store. or the gas pump or whatever it may be.

and we need to step up and help our folks and literally get on a pathway of doing something that's un-flat -- believable. -- unflat-believable. there's other business and there's other i budget items that i need to talk to you about. like i said, there's a bunch of this and i'm gonna go as quickly as i can but it is great stuff. you know, our hospitals are the lifeblood of all of our communities are they not? and literally like it or not like it but you know when they take a peia patient in and everything a lot of times it becomes a burden rather than a plus. we need to help them out. and so tonight, you know, i'm wanting us to put $40 million into an adjustment for our local hospitals and absolutely help them in every way. on top of all that, we have a school aid formula increase of $35 million that i want to put

in, and i can say this for the first time, forevermore, we are beginning, we're beginning to absolutely grow enrollment. the school aid situation is really designed for first grade aides to first grade teachers. and i think the exact amount is probably $37 million. and we'll start there. we need our kids to be better educated. there's no question whatsoever about that. i salute, you know, our speaker, because, you know, he campaigned this effort and he thought this effort was really good and so do i. the other thing i want to do is just this. i want all of us in here -- i mean, all of us can leave here and go to wendy's and hang out. we can. babydog would love that.

and absolutely -- but if you'll just step back and just think about it, the one thing that we should absolutely do, especially with us doing how well we're doing right now is put a stake in the sand to some way say we're going to stop hunger in west virginia. now, we need to do it. [applause] we need to do it. i gotta tell you this, and i want i want to offer up for us to do the million dollars again to our big food banks. but i want to do one step more. absolutely right behind that. there was a fellow that was my uncle. and i never would have thought of this in a million years, but i just did the other day. he was 94 years old and died about six months ago, maybe eight months ago now. i did the eulogy at the funeral.

he was one of 10 kids on my mom's side. at one time. of course, they never had indoor plumbing at my grandparents' house that i went to every time. his name was posey perry. and literally he was such an unassuming guy, a christian beyond belief. that's all there is to it. so many people looked up to posy perry -- well, he did. you know what he did, he worked in the coal mines his whole life. and then when he retired from the coal mines, he went to the food bank nearly every single solitary day. i want us to set aside $10 million in the posey perry emergency food bank fund for all of our pantries or whomever it may be, can draw on that. and if at the end of the year we ended up with $4 million, next year we'll put $4 million. if we drain it, the next year i would propose we put back $10

million. absolutely that's what we need to do. we need to try with all in us to say, by god we're not going to have hungry people in west virginia today. [applause] i'm proposing with our arpa dollars that have been sitting there a long time, i'm proposing with those dollars that are a total of $677 million that we do with those dollars two things. we put $500 million of those dollars aside for the economic enhancement or impact fund. we have now, and you see fruits, you see them. i mean we've now gotten to the

place in time in west virginia where we're competing. we're competing with others. you see we could never do it before, could we? we couldn't ever, ever do it. but now we can compete. and now they want to come. and now we've got it going and those arpa dollars to me, $500 million goes there. $177 million goes into a fund that ann urling has done marvelous work with all the water and sewer projects and we keep them going on and on and on. that's my proposal in regard to that. in regard to education, you know, like i said, we surely got rid of unnecessary testing and grades a through a through f stuff and all that. we now have programs that are out there like you know, grow your own pathway and we're making some inroads here and there.

there's a lot of good stuff going on in the classrooms. but absolutely, without any question we need to do one thing for absolute certain. we must ensure that schools have the responsibility to the students and the parents and not to a bunch of special interest groups. i believe that with all my soul. all of our parents deserve to know exactly what's going on in a classroom. without any question, our parents have always known what the best is for their kids. tonight i am proposing a bill to direct school systems to make all curriculum taught be available online where we can see every single thing that's being put into our little kids' heads. [applause]

we have to make our schools safer, don't we? we've got school safety officer programs and everything and we're trying. we got to absolutely step up in any and every way we possibly can to try to absolutely be vigilant in every way. a tragedy like we've seen many, many times across this country could happen tomorrow in west virginia. but absolutely with all in us, we have done everything that i know we can do. but we still need to do much more. to ensure that, absolutely, our kids when they come to school, they feel safe and they feel happy. absolutely to keep competing and to keep working on all of this.

i am absolutely proposing also for the fourth time. now many of you may think, well gosh, why do we need to keep doing this and everything. but really when it really boils down it to it, -- down to it, we've got to be able to compete. i am proposing for the fourth time, a 5% pay raise to every one of our state workers. we can afford to do this. and, absolutely i think it gives us the opportunity to attract better and better and better. at the same time our peia fund is going to get upside down and get upside down real quick. i want to put $100 million back into our peia fund and give every state worker a 5% pay raise. [applause]

[indiscernible] let me tell you about hope scholarship, just one second. hope scholarship -- and thank you, guys, thank you, guys, for standing up for hope scholarship. hope scholarship gives choice. we should have choice. there's no question we should have choice. and as it continues to grow, why in the world do we need to hit these brick walls? you know, what i want to do is bucket $15 million for the thousands of families that can absolutely select choice and take advantage of the hope scholarship. [applause]

i want to put $75 million in higher ed to work on deferred maintenance. we've let it go too long. our buildings are about to fall down. many, many, many situations, we got to do something to help there. a bunch of you, the majority undoubtedly here, a bunch of you as i we're so thankful by the reversal of how roe v. wade was overturned. [applause]

i promised you and you did your job. you did your job. you absolutely vetted and took your time. you absolutely finally brought me a bill i promised you. i promised you the very second you brought me a bill i'd sign it. i did exactly that. and i did that very proudly. and i would tell you and i don't tell you this to grandstand, because i don't believe in that in any way. as long as i'm your governor, i will stand with life, period. [applause] additionally, i'm proposing that we take care of the moms. this could very well expand.

but i am proposing a $1 million that's going to go into the child pregnancy centers to make things better, and make things safer, and will help us in many ways there as well. [applause] ok. you know we came up with the nursing program, the governor's nursing workforce expansion initiative. we put $48 million in it. at one point in time during the covid situation we had 2,000 beds in this state that we couldn't staff. think about it, 2,000 beds we couldn't staff. probably we lost a bunch of

people because of it. we had to do something. we started this initiative and it absolutely knocked it out of the park. it is absolutely amazing what's going on. and we're absolutely on the threshold of being able to pump out nurses and bring so much more goodness to west virginia it's unbelievable. i'll be asking you that we take an additional $20 million to keep this super program really going. and a special, special thanks to all the schools that are making all that happen. thank you so much. [applause] the ems situation is the same thing. we put $10 million, actually $11 million dollars in it. we were -- we were struggling like crazy to find an e.m.s. we couldn't find anybody to go to work. think about this story.

and i'll read this very quickly. this is a story from a fella and his name is darrin crosier. he works in the kanawha county e.m.t. now, think about it. he says, i'm so thankful to be a part of something like this, to see tax dollars for the betterment of west virginians. we do this because we love west virginia and we love our communities. this training has helped me in so many ways. it gave me a career and great health benefits for myself, my wife and my three children. this has been very rewarding and it taught me that i could learn again. unbelievable. really and truly, i am proposing that we put $10 million into this fund and keep this thing going. [applause] we have two wonderful people

with us. we have our teacher of the year and our service personnel of the year amber nichols and jessica -- i guess this is jessica grose. they're here with us and where are they? way to go! they are from eastwood elementary in morgantown and hodgesville elementary in upshur county. [applause] i gotta say something about this little lady sitting over here. our first lady started communities in schools. we started really in three counties: berkeley, mcdowell, wyoming counties. it started out in nine schools and had 4,000 kids. think about it. today, they're in 38 counties, 208 schools and they are

touching 91,000 kids. now, i'm telling you this and then you could believe it or not believe it. i don't blow smoke at anybody. not at my daughter, not at my wife, not at you, not at anybody. i don't have time to do it. all i know to do is tell the truth as best i can possibly do it. i'm in the schools a lot. and i'm in the schools a lot. i coach and i'm proud of it. i've been in the schools forevermore, and i'm telling you, and you can say what you want. i've never seen a program that works any better. it is unbelievable. you know, i want to read this just very quickly but a 17-year-old from wheeling park. this is her first year, you know. this is the first year of the program in ohio county. the site coordinator noticed some irregular type things going on with this kid. found out this kid was taking care of her granddad, a veteran. literally, they got involved

from the -- from the community side. this is exactly what communities in schools does. they got involved and they were able to get the veteran benefits and they were able to help the kid and the kid is doing really, really, really, really well. one other thing they have done is they absolutely started this initiative with therapy dogs. i gotta tell you this. tonight there's a lady with us, her name is sarah linger. she is the site coordinator for lewis county high school. she has with her one of the therapy dogs and babydog is majorly jealous right now. but sarah, if you would stand. and absolutely -- i got to -- please. [applause]

let me just read this to you for just one second. jasper does an outstanding job with students and with their emotions. it goes on to say, once a student was very worked up and struggling. and after spending a few minutes with jasper -- and we all know that dogs will do this. absolutely, the student calmed down. the student is doing better every day in school. now, get this. at pineville elementary school, there's a dog there, one of the therapy dogs, its name is river. there is a student there that is severely handicapped and for all practical purposes non-verbal. now, think about it. and this one, i am going to have to gonna go real slow, because

i'll get big tears in my eyes about this because, honest to pete, i love kids. when asked, “how did you like river?” the student that was partially, or for all practical purposes nonverbal, the student exclaimed, "best day ever." kathy, thanks and all i can say is just keep it up. [applause] we got lots and lots and lots more dogs that are growing. and, you know these dogs are expensive and everything. but there's lots of good stuff. we want all 55 counties. and i think kathy is on a pathway that that's gonna happen and happen really soon, probably

within this year. so lots of good stuff there. let me jump to something that you know i've talked about before and it's drugs. we all know. it can cannibalize us. we have made a lot of inroads. but we absolutely know we still have lots to do. i can't say this anymore bluntly, because i don't know how to say it. if you look at what's going on at our southern border of this country, and you just think, you just think, why are we tolerating this? why in the world are we continuing to allow drugs to flow all across this great country? and thousands and thousands and thousands die. why are we doing that? i just plain don't get it. but in west virginia, just the

other day, we had, you know, through homeland security or some agency, i don't know exactly what it was, they seized some fentanyl and that, just that small amount, it was like six ounces. it would have been enough for a lethal dose for 90,000 people in west virginia. i don't know why in the world we continue on. it's a big problem. we continue -- we absolutely should continue to support and to try to help in every way our programs like jobs and hope or whatever it may be. but we should absolutely know we've got to all be in this. every last one of us has been touched by a terrible situation with drugs. it hurts our state. it hurts our employment. it hurts us in every way. and i wish to god above we had some real live help, you know, from d.c., in regard to this. in regard to corrections, you

know, we have many, many vacancies. you know, the last go round you came really close on locality pay. some of our bordering counties we have a 70% vacancy. you got to address that. please address the locality pay. because we have absolutely, we have an obligation to take care of our prisoners. and we're going to awaken to something not very good there if we don't watch out. dhhr, a hot button right now. that's all there is to it. you know, you asked me to make it better, and absolutely i have brought in an a-team like you can't imagine. i could go into all kinds of specifics with you tonight. but i can tell you between if you believe in what we did in covid with dr. marsh and general

hoyer and literally now dr. coben. if you believe that, there's lots that we got to do. i want to listen to every one of your ideas. i want them to listen to your ideas. we all can do one thing. if we will do it. we can make it better. it didn't get in this mess over the last couple of years. this is a culmination of a problem that's been there many, many, many, many decades. we can make it better. we need to listen to your ideas. you need to listen to ours. you need to absolutely bounce ideas off of dr. marsh and general hoyer and jeff coben. absolutely, i am as open minded as one and many of you never been to that hospital and i have been there many times.

it is in an area that is rural, but left way, way, way behind. one time the county had 110 people in it and now they have less than 10. their hospital and everything has truly been tough going for everybody. that's all there is to it. it has been a drain on the state, been a drain on the county and drain in many, many directions. great work of jeff coben, general hoyer, the county commission took over the hospital and going to take over the hospital and bring to the coal fields down there absolutely and shining light. and this is an absolute accomplishment by those guys

that could not have happened without those guys. please give them a big round of applause because they have worked really hard. [applause] let me tell you this. one of our c.p.s. workers, her name is amy stevens. amy been with dhhr for eight years. she walked in and walked into dhhr probably to sign up for benefits and found out that she liked the people and everything was all good and she got off in

trying to branch out into a new career, a social worker. one of our c.p.s. workers and been at it for eight years. and jeff reports that she is outstanding beyond belief. where is amy? please give her a big round of applause. [applause] ok. we still got lots to do. no question whatsoever, these are just isolated things and so much to do. remember what i said about the wisdom and the respect.

literally, lit's work together with all of our ideas and we'll solve it, solve it and make it a heck of a lot better. i would say this, in this state -- indiscernible] >> and a bunch of them don't have a home. we got those that are off the chart. i am challenging you right now find a way, find a way to incentivize families to give these children a chance, a chance. they need it. literally. i tell people all the time, if you just -- if you're not doing this, you should.

take time to get involved some way in trying to help a kid. the giver is always the winner. you will not believe what it will do in transforming your life. these people need us, especially these wonderful kids. if i could switch to quickly to just this, our national guard, think about this. 250 in 2022 overseas, 550 work in the covid response. 350 work at 30 different hospitals. 300 worked in corrections and even fighting fires. and then of all things they took helicopters and andy besh ear said will you help? we helped the best of the best.

and they went. please give our great national guard an incredible round of applause. [applause] and we'll get you up again right now. i'm sorry. our veterans and just think what they have given us. they are absolute american heroes not long ago. didn't have the opportunity to be with him, you missed something. he was unbelievable. that's all there is to it.

sat right here tonight and delivered this 10 times better than i could. absolutely, he believes in his heart knows the man of honor recipient believed that he continued to do more and more and more for gold star families and it continues on right now. and tonight, tracy walsh with his daughter and casey and his grandson are with us. please, american heroes, a hero beyond belief. [applause] ok. we're starting a program with

not too much money. i think $500,000 and start with 100 and see where it takes us. we are starting a program called welcome home and $5,000 incentive to any veteran that wants to move back into west virginia. with everything that is going on right now and get this thing done, we are going to get every veteran who wants to come and get veterans beyond belief and take their expertise and knowledge and make us all better. this program is appropriate that we do this program one time and see what the results are. and i hope and pray we will be able to expand it. when you stand the time, stretch just a little bit because this is the seventh inning and i'm

winding down. stand and stretch a little bit on. hornbuckle, i want to do something at the university and again the size of the magnitude of this compared to all that's going on. surely we have got to step up in the african-american community and try to help. what is wrong with us to not step up. they want million dollars to go to marshall university to start the center for economic and development community in the african-american community of appalachia. i know sean is with us, sean, get a big round of applause.

[applause] i mean literally, whatever money you have, i don't care what it is, put it into real. doesn't matter what is, whatever money you got. you will get a return on that money like you can't imagine. that's all there is to it. imagine these numbers. imagine, last year travelers in west virginia spent $5 billion, $5 billion. and guides saying come to west virginia. there is so much goodness going on in our parks. i could go on forever and ever

in a day. we spent $150 million upgrading our parks and you can't get a place in our parks because they are sold out. they make the world just see how good we really are. remember back in the beginning i told you about image. it is so, so important, literally we know how good we are, but the world didn't know but they absolutely know now. they are getting. talk a second about roads. imagine this in 2022, we did 15, 470 miles of work. think about that. in the last four years, we did 364, 500 miles of work in west virginia.

our roads have been in real bad shape. you can say what you want but not many years back, i said, we can't even go to the convenience store because we tear our car go to pieces. memorial bridge is on its way. the travel plazas are on their way and the streets in wheeling are getting down. the coalfield expressway is making inroads. quarter h is absolutely on the path to be done. and many, many, many more. there are lots and lots and lots of goodness in many places. i would say a commend, i commend harold and jerry for tapping

into this. did first in the nation to deploy the funding for oil and gas 25 million in abandoned landmines. harold is not with us tonight, but you can give him a big round of applause, too. [applause] jamie is watching after this and taking full advantage of the infrastructure investment and jobs act and there will be billions, billions of dollars flowing into west virginia. we are on the home stretch. you won't have to listen to me much longer. the pandemic was really tough, wasn't it? no playbook. our labs and i'm hoping and

praying we do this because no governor, no governor should face this again. our lives have been on a burner but sheffield to the back burner and sheffield to the back burner, sheffield to the back burner. big ticket items. if there is ever a time we can build a new consolidated lab and bring them under one roof and move into the 21 century we should be in, instead of the dark ages, we need to do it. [applause]

>> i'll never forget vernon. he said our labs reminded of him have two dixie cups with a string. absolutely our labs can get us in a lot, lot of trouble. and we need state labs to be able to respond. the price tag to put them all together and that's the state police and crime units, department ofagriculture, dhhr, the chief of medical examiner and price tag from what i know is $250 million. i'm proposing that we quick kicking this down the road and put in $125 million this year

and $125 million next year and get it done. on broadband, we announced a billion dollar program with the senate, the house and with all of youal. 200,000 new homes and businesses. i am proud to announce now we spent $548 million of that so far and halfway home. i know many, many of those dollars are not done. but absolutely i do believe by the time i leave, we will have passed a billion dollars, and that's good stuff. now i'm going to end with you on

just this note. i'm going to end with you that your responsibilities and my responsibility is a daunting task, no question. i mean it when i tell you i love you with all my heart. i'll argue with you and i will be respectful to you in any way i possibly can be. you have not only a daunting task but daunting opportunity right now like nobody's business. you have to listen to me and trust me on this, one thing i have done, i have run many, many businesses. created thousands and thousands of jobs. i can tell you opportunity flashes in your face and if you don't grab it, the door will close. it is just as simple as that. i will always remember without any doubts that you here and totally needed.

you are. all of you are. i will in every way, you are here for our children, here for our seniors, you're here for new and old residents and new and old businesses as well. you are here for all the generations to come. i mean this and i couldn't possibly say it any better than just this. i thank each and every one of you for what you do. you give and you are here 60 days and what you are compensated is next to nothing for what you give. and you should be loved and appreciated for it. i will say in ending, for all of us, god bless this incredible state of west virginia. it is so wonderful, it is off

the chart. and god bless this incredible country. thank you so much for having me. and god bless all of you. thank you. [applause]seat to

democracy.