2024. [applause] [applause] >> will they hurt the state of the state address delivered by our governor spencer cox. >> mr. speaker, mr. president, by the way this is thought in the script, two of the best people on the planet. [applause] madam lieutenant governor, my best friend abby. enter utah's public servants and my fellow utah gathered here tonight, welcome. i want to especially recognize

senator representative mcpherson representative. congratulations join the best legislative body in the country. [applause] all right, i'm glad because the clapping out of the way. we have so much to govern a short amount of time i'll ask again like i did in previous years to please hold any applause until the end of the speech. no matter how difficult that may be especially for mike mauer and the gallery, right left back in 1847 a group of peculiar people arrive in utah. what they found us a place native americans already knew was quite different than anywhere else. our mountains are taller, our snow is deeper, and our red rocks are worldly. natural what is impossible to

describe, dead horse points, the sanders and the largest living organism in the world, am i right representative stratton? [laughter] the famed explorer, the people have no idea what were talking about right now but that is okay the famed explorer john wesley powell i described his travels in utah thusly. pass these towering monuments, pass these mounted billows of orange sandstone, pass these oak set glands, pasties find duct alcoves pasties curves a week glide hour after hour stopping now and then as the attention is arrested by some new wonder. the only thing weirder than the landscape leaves the people who would inhabit it. we have strangely spelled names like to will and amanda white

and strangers spelled names for our people. many of us have a grandfather each of us has a niece with names like sadie with extra ease and ends and wise strewn about willy-nilly. and utah we dine on fried sauce, when dirty diet soda sturmer neighborhood switch. we play the lottery in idaho and by our fireworks in wyoming. [laughter] we built rockets in box elder county's to send astronauts into space. once they arrive can you actually look back to see the utah mine which produce the copper needed to send them there. and to work in that mine immigrants came it's the american friends who developed the incomparable pastrami burger. i utah original. we have hawaiian ghost town and two will account to a gas station in hanksville built inside a mountain.

i challenge you divided of the store on the planet more eclectic than smith at edwards and ogden. we believe in the bear lake monster. some of you here tonight our adult rabbit. this is the right place. there's another way in which utah is different and even a little weird. this might a spot oddly shapedd state out west endless list of national rankings. it's racially name the best way to start a business the most charitable state with the most independent people. we were even named the number one state for trick-or-treating. now this is true. i know that were not stop the center's efforts to reach even higher heights. now probably my favorite ranking comes u.s. news & world report they evaluated all 50 states

using thousands of data points to determine definitively which is the best state and for the first time in 2023 utah was in the best state and the nation. while it is surely fun to top that ranking and i certainly have, i'm much more interested and why we are objectively the best state. i am most interested in how we keep it that way. now, i think there are two more rankings than to help us answer those questions. the first comes a research study on the american dream. simplified into an analysis of social mobility in simple terms means if you work hard you can get ahead. after look at measures of social mobility and entrepreneurship come institutions and the rule of law, education and social sol the study concluded utah was the best state in the country for social mobility.

the american dream lives here. and utah we still care about our communities. we care about our neighbors we believe we can solve problems and help those who are struggling. we know that we have a duty to give back and lift others for the second study this even more fascinating to me. in september of last of the national bureau of economic research released a robust study on zero-sum thinking. they define zero-sum thinking is the belief that gains for one individual or group tended to come at the cost of the others. so in other words if you win then i lose. now this type of thinking is deeply associated with the scarcity mentality. only as every person out for themselves but so is every group or identity. identities become paramount race, religion, political party

my team can only win by turning your team down. the scarcity mentality leads to false choices. you either care about the great salt lake or you drive a dodger tractor. if you want to lower taxes you must really hate public schools. if you have concerns with federal regulation you've you definitely want to start drilling for oil. now i promise you it feels so good to fall into these traps. there is no or no feeling more enjoyable in the short term than righteous indignation. sadly a majority of people and the majority of states are not acting that way is the study proved zero-sum thinkers with endless pity parties and complaints of victimhood. they are vying with the conflict entrepreneurs and our public and media are selling. but not so much in utah. it turns out utah out far more n

people in any other state rejected zero-sum thinking. utah still believes in win/win. we reject false choices and help others succeed. we see abundance in place of scarcity. utah it turns out is profoundly weird. now our prosperity and abundance mindset was a display in lester's legislative session. told that we had to choose between reducing taxes on supporting our teachers we rejected that false choice. i said we, you, all of us together the largest tax cut ever by a huge margin. and the largest increase in teacher salaries and our state's history for it even better over the past three years we have reduced taxes by over $1 billion with a b and for the first time the average utah teacher is now

paid more at the neighboring states like colorado, arizona, idaho, nevada, and mexico. but we would even for that we enhance career pathways and apprenticeships froze college tuition meet school choice madee available to all utah roads. and by the weight utah is now the best state in the nation for providing more funding to higher poverty districts versus low poverty ones. we were also faced with drought and water insecurity and rejected the scarcity mindset that tells us we have to choose between prosperity or water security. over the past two years we have provided water conservation infrastructure funding. but even more importantly the people of utah have responded by using less water while it's easy to convince people to conserve during the driest years, your uo

shock the experts last year by using even less but it one of the wettest water years in our state's history. that does not happen. in fact in the driest part of our state despite historic water year and a 5% increase in service connections our friends in washington county decreased total water use one point to billion gallons. this is proof of a paradigm shift. we are doing the right thing without the heavy-handed state government. the best news about the reservoir said 82%, 24% above average. this provides us with a springboard for the ongoing implementation of conservation projects. that means as we have promised, we will save the great salt lake. utah's ability to solve these problems have received more national attention. including when representatives

decided to take on the plague social media has unleashed on the mental health of our youth. in a rare display of national bipartisanship i received messages from republicans and democrats in other states. members of congress and the president himself thanking us for leading our nation to save our kids. will we still have work to do on this issue i am grateful for the courage of republicans and democrats in this room who are willing to put these companies on notice our kids mental health is more important than their profits. sometimes politics is pioneering. it's not always possible to find a win/win. but even then i knelt last session there difficult and controversial bills.

including a pause on transgender surgeries and puberty walkers which i supported i know there are people impacted who are angry and upset with me and many of you gathered in this room. i want to thank senator kennedy for help navigate this debate with compassion. every other state that has passed this law did along partisan lines end of story. we did the same in utah. that is not where the story ends and that is what makes us different. at the same time we also unanimously passed a ban on conversion therapy and approved a $1 million in funding to provide additional talk therapy for transgender youth with one primary goal, to help those kids and let them know we want to keep you here. we must still love it.

and speaking of weird, at the bill signing banning conversion therapy you called utah and the eagle form stood side-by-side. sadly while almost every media outlet in the country road but the controversy will build this got very little attention. and yet it shows we still have the ability to solve hard problems and work together in the utah way. that is something the chair of the national governors association have been working out my fellow governors. there is a real desire across the nation to disagree better the utah way to remember how to stand up for our own beliefs.demonizing and turned on our opponents. okay friends we find ourselves into the 45 day legislative session. 438 now to be exact i know we are all counting. which we could report we solved every issue but we have more to do.

i was recently asked a few is os utah growing too fast? this question is zero something you think the reporter was surprised by my response. the only way to not grow as to suck at being a states, sorry mom i am not interested in that. i want utah to be the best place to live in the nation. i want utah to be the best place to start a business. i want utah to be the best place to have a family pride that attracts people. i would love to build a wall around our state and get california to pay for it. [laughter] i know that's not going to happen. so it is up to you and me and

all of us to make sure we grow in the right way to that end i believe the single greatest threat to our future prosperity is the price of housing. housing attainability is a crisis in utah and every state in the country. but remember we are not like the rest of the country. no one has figured this out yet i truly believe we can. for more than a century home ownership is been the cornerstone of the american dream it is the key to financial independence the ability to break away from support it's also the key to family and community. people who own homes care more about their mayor and school board. they care more about their neighbors. homeowners have more financial capitol and social capitol. most importantly homeowners have

kids. again going back to the weird thing it turns out the late-night comedians made fun of us for having so many kids, guess what that is the number one reason our state is number one. that is why propose the program with the audacious goal to about 35000 starter homes in the next five years. while we need more of everything my focus is on affordable attainable single-family owner occupied detached housing. but most of us grew up or started our own families in the 1300 square-foot home. our kids and grandkids are desperate for that same opportunity the greatest generation did this after world war ii we can do it again at the american dream is alive in utah but it will be dead soon if we

don't get this right. utah musts lead the nation whenn bold and innovative solutions. it's another trend happening across our country the growing crisis of homelessness. all across america and our most iconic cities people are suffering and dying on the streets assaults shoplifting vandalism skyrocketing. citizens scared to walk down their streets or play with their kids in public parks. but there is nothing that requires us to be like the rest of the nation. i refused to believe our capitol city must suffer the same fate. not on our watch. zero-sum thinking says we must choose between compassion and accountability we declined that offer. there is nothing compassionate about allowing people to suffer and die on our streets there is

nothing compassionate about allowing to beef frequently ignored and broken. and demand accountability. it must end. we will provide help and services for those in need. and real consequences in jail for those who willingly break the law civil commitment when absolutely necessary. now, when i talk about accountability i am also referring to us as public servants. on the way these dollars are spent. the people of utah deserve to know every dollars being spent where they will spend it at all. there are many other issues that utah solutions this session we have the opportunity to continue

supporting teachers and support education. we can significantly increase the number of licensed professionals help those struggling with mental health. but can strengthen families and clean the struggles of boys and men providing more opportunities for women and girls. we can continue to close the divide between rural and urban community making sure opportunity is in every corner of our state. from the eye ask you to support the initiatives i propose the session especially new paths for high school and college students to get back. i confess i still be met with pride probably more than i should when i see the flagpole hype it up to the cemetery for my eagle scout project. from rolling up your sleeves to make the place you live better is a defining feature of our state's culture.

i want to preserve that for your kids and grandkids and mine. so on that note, i started the speech by talking about how weird we are. i am hoping you will permit me a little personal privilege to share a story about a remarkably weird person. his name was ivan roy at cox he was my grandpa's brother. ivan grew up in my small view of fairview. i just like a quirky old guy had a prosthetic arm and only three fingers on his other hand. at christmas he would come to our house and sing christmas carols. with a tape recorder of his own voice so he could harmonize with himself. it. [laughter] when i was 15 he passed away. it was at his funeral when i realize how truly unique he

really was. you see, it turns out that ivan was the closest thing to a real life georgia bailey from it's a wonderful life from anyone i've ever met. i know that now. my great grandfather had purchased the fairview telephone company in 1919. ivan age 25 bundled up went out to help restore phone service unbeknownst to him, way down the line i high-voltage power line had fallen onto the telephone line. so when he cut through the wire with a pair of old uninsulated players 6000 volts of electricity shot through his body. as he lay smoldering in the snow everyone assumed he was dead. miraculously he survived his

people always doing fairview they rallied to help and support him. lady would marry and celebrate the birth of its first child a baby boy. tragically his wife died a few months later. again the people of fairview rallied to help and support the young widower and his baby. sorry. several women in town volunteered to take turns watching in caring for this little boy. feeding to him, reading to him, helping him to find some sense of family and normalcy. ellie's two tragic events and traumatic events would have shattered most people but somehow ivan became even stronger and more determined he figured out how to climb telephone poles with one arm and string wire with three fingers he married an amazing woman that helped to raise her daughters. took over the phone company and ran it for 40 years. but more than anything else heat

spent the rest of his life and giving back to the community that saved him. have volunteered to be the town scoutmaster at learning how to swim with one arm and tying knots with his three fingered hand. they bought a station wagon and learn to drive this disability so they could take the young men on campouts. here's spearheaded the local chapter of the lions club volunteering gathering donations for humanitarian projects all over the world donating more than $1000 even though he could never afford it. ivan what and to help local families by their first home or car but there is no bank to lend them money so he set out to recruit one. might every bank turned him down he decided to start the first credit union. eventually he convinced the bank to take a chance on a sleepy town the company he ran was always on the verge of bankruptcy. not because it did not have potential because ivan was generous to a fault. heat donated to every because in town with the company is

profitable or not he refused to send delinquent accounts to collections. he knew what hard times felt like. he was sure he did not want to make them any harder. ivan was also a man of deep faith he believed there was a higher power that had saved his life and carried into the darkest times. he believe in you are in the service of your fellow beings are only in the service of god. he served three missions for his church on the back of his business card remember he ran a telephone company read the words pray, call home often it is free. if a homeless stranger was passing through town they stated ivan's home if someone was hitchhiking he picked them up. when he noticed the elderly in town struggling with loneliness, he started the first senior citizen program. in his later years, i would often see him sweeping the

sidewalks on main street just to make the town a little nicer. talk about a weird guy. now ladies and gentlemen, i think we need more of this kind of weird today. we need to amplify and preserve this type of weirdness as if our state's future depends on it. i am convinced it does. there's a little park and fairview were kids and families come to play it's a properly called the ivan r cox lions park i hope you get a chance to visit it sometime i want to recognize ivan's a son and his family whoe here with us tonight for their incredible legacy. the truth is, the truth is ivan didn't change the world. but he changed fairview. and i have come to believe that

is far more important. i was inspired and or one utah summit by author charles cook who said this, often think we give young people bad advice when it comes to politics. we teach them about the most in pivotal moments in american history and encourage them to go and change the world. for most people that is not an especially useful goal. we would be in a better place as a country if people resolved to go and change their town or their community or the local food bank. you see, while the world around us is staggering a bit from war, from loneliness, from contempt there are ivan cox is in every community in the state. at least there used to be and we need them now more than ever. fortunately we are in a room

full of them tonight. people like greg buxton, dan johnson, mark wheatley, robert spend though, susan, jake cobb, marcia and steve lund. all of you are following in the footsteps of ivan. for 45 days you and your families are sacrificing to better your communities in our state. i love you all for doing this. i really do. even you, felt. [laughter] and youtube bryant. [laughter] love you guys. i only got to serve one year as

a member of the legislature. and abby will tell you that in my 20 years of public service as a city councilman, eight meier, a lieutenant governor and governor that one year in the house was my absolute favorite. my friends, the state of the state has never ever been stronger. and i am convinced that with every passing day the source of our state's strength is for the longest time people told us was our weakness we are different. we are weird. the good kind of weird the kind of weird the rest of the nation is desperate for right now. i am praying, i am praying we can keep it that way. so estate weird, your child may god bless each of you and may

god bless the great state of utah, thank you. [applause]