this hearing follows an incident in january where i door plug flew out of the boeing plant during an alaskan airlines flight. you can watch this your life beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span three , our free mobile video app, or online at c-span.org. ohio republican governor mike dewine highlighted investment and education and

maternal care during his annual state of the state address in the capitol building in columbus. this is just over an hour. >> [ applause ] >> ladies and >> good to see you, governor. >> [ applause ]

>> ladies and gentlemen, the governor of the state of ohio, mike dewine. >> [ applause ] >> thank you very much. >> [ applause ] >> thank you very much, please be seated. speakers stevens, president hoffman, leader antonio russo, members of the general assembly, chief justice kennedy and justices of the ohio supreme court, elected state officials, lieutenant governor, members of our cabinet, my fellow citizens of ohio, i am going to talk today about ohio's future. i'm going to talk today about

ohio's children. it's been said that the future is not our own. that it belongs to our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren. and that day are the instruments by which our greatest hopes, our greatest up -- aspirations will be accomplished. all our dreams, all our goals, really our vision for the future ultimately depends on them. the single -- the single most important thing we can do for ohio's future is to ensure that all ohio children, all ohio children, no matter where they live, no matter who their parents are, have the opportunity to live up to their full god-given potential, and

if they have the chance to pursue their dreams and their passions in life, that is the most important thing we can do. >> [ applause ] kids have only one chance to grow up. so, we must have a great sense of urgency as every moment we waste is a moment that they lose. our children grow up so very, very quickly. if you don't believe that, as the parent of a child who is graduating from high school. they will tell you just how fast that childhood ended. president reagan talked about this in a graduation speech. listen to what president reagan said. "you who are graduating have taken virtually your entire lives to reach this moment.

to you, it seemed like a very long time. but there are others here today , parents and grandparents, who share this day with you. and as they look back, it seems as if the journey only started yesterday." you know, we may think we have a lot of time to help ohio's children, but the reality is, we really don't. so many things impact a child's future, but we know that reading and the ability to understand what you have read is the key to success in school and the key to success in life. when i was running for governor, fran told me that if i was elected, she wanted to make sure every ohio child under the age of five would be

eligible to receive a book in the mail each month, from dolly parton's imagination library. and so, when she became first a lady, she started on that task. at that time, only 13% of ohio's children were getting books. today, under the dolly parton library, all ohio children under five are now eligible and we are now at 60% enrollment, with -- >> [ applause ] >> 60% of children are enrolled with 402,000 ohio children receiving a free book in the mail each and every month. >> [ applause ] >> so, let me introduce my pride of 57 years, first lady

fran dewine. >> [ applause ] >> members of the general assembly, fran and i are so very, very grateful, grateful to you, as well as our county partners, for your support and your investment in imagination library. ohio now leads the nation in enrollment, and since fran became first lady, ohio children have received almost 16 million books in the mail. thank you. thank you for what you have done to help us achieve that. and i also want to thank you for your support of the science of reading. we know that the earlier a child is reading at grade level, the more success that child will have in later grades

, as well as after graduation. last year, i told you that 40% of ohio's third-graders were not on track as proficient readers. however, as more schools moved the science of reading, we are beginning to see improvements. during a recent visit to northridge elementary school in dayton, superintendent dave jackson shared with us how they have used data to measure the effectiveness of their reading instruction. northridge had been using the whole language approach to teach reading. during the 2018-2019 school year, only 46% of their kindergartners were on track. but the next school year, they began to switch to the science of reading, and by the spring, 60% of kindergartners were on track, and by the spring of 2023, 73% of their kindergarten

students were on track. we are seeing similar results all over the state of ohio, from schools who have switched completely to the science of reading. it makes a difference. ask our k-12 schools -- excuse me, as our k-12 schools move to the science of reading, our colleges and our universities that prepare our future teachers, also must make that switch. fran, i know from our many classroom visits across the state, and what teachers and superintendents all across ohio have told us, they have told us that most teachers while in college were not taught to use the science of reading to teach their future students how to read. this is a huge problem for these teachers, a huge problem for their schools. and now, many of our schools

are having to retrain the teachers. so, today, i am calling on every college and university president in ohio. every provost, every dean, the college of education, to immediately align their teacher training programs with what we know works. and that, that is the science of reading. >> [ applause ] >> i want to talk for a moment about early childhood education, which of course raised the foundation for a child's future success in kindergarten and throughout their primary education. sadly, we still have too many ohio children were not prepared

to enter kindergarten. and so, we must do more, we must do more to ensure that all ohio children get to the starting line. that is why we are revising ohio's chapter quality rating system, to simplify and reduce paperwork, focus on better child outcomes, and for the first time ever, provide our quality rated programs access to curriculum that is aligned with the science of reading. further, we are making child care more affordable and making it more accessible to ohio's working families. doing so, we will build today's workforce by getting people back to work, and we will ensure that tomorrow's workforce is prepared for the demands that lie ahead. with the help and support of the general assembly, we have expanded access to childcare in ohio's public preschool programs through greater eligibility and funding investments. as a result, we are now serving

16,000 more children today. and we are going to do even more. for i am pleased to announce the creation of ohio's new childcare choice voucher program. for ohio families that make up the 200% of the federal poverty level or $60,000 for a family of four. this new program will provide financial support for 8000 more ohio children. not only that, we will also be allocating federal funding, reallocating that federal funding to dedicate $85 million to create childcare access grants to improve and expand existing childcare facilities. >> [ applause ] >> and to help the many parents caring for their children with special needs.

who can't find childcare providers. we have created ohio promise, where every childhood professional for early childhood professional learns how to care for and teach children with disabilities. and there has also been good, in less than a year, many professionals have been trained, and we have seen a 20% increase in the number of children with disabilities who are now being served. >> [ applause ] >> by doing all of these things, we are helping more families. businesses will find more workers, and ohio's economy will thrive. you know, when i think about how we can shape education for the greatest benefit of our children, i am reminded of something that our high school principal, mr. john malone, once told fran and me.

mr. malone said when it comes to education can only two things really matter, a willing student and a good teacher. a good teacher who would think about this, a good teacher has the power to fundamentally change the course of the child's life. i am sure that each one of us can recall at least one great teacher who inspired us or motivated us, and really changed our lives. i want to take a moment to thank all teachers in ohio. in the gallery with us today our ohio's 2024 teachers of the year. will you please stand, so we can give you the applause? >> [ applause ] >> ohio's teachers of the year! >> [ applause ]

>> we also know that school building principles are vitally important to a school's success. they determined the culture in the school. a great principle is the leader in the school who creates the conditions for students and staff alike to thrive. that is why i have directed our new department of education workforce to create a principal apprenticeship program, so the aspiring principals can watch a veteran principles in action through hands-on, in school training that will better prepare them for the challenges of the job of a principal. this builds on ohio's successful teacher apprentice program and will ensure that schools across the state of the leadership that they need to

succeed. >> [ applause ] >> let's talk for a moment about education requirements. ohio law today dictates that every student must have a plan on how they will meet their graduation requirements. yet, the law fails to require maybe the most important thing, a plan for students to find a career they love and can excel at after graduation. every ohio student needs a graduation plan that includes not only how they meet their course requirements, but also, what they intend to do post- graduation and how they intend to pay for it. so today, i am asking the legislature to make a very simple fix in our statute, to insert career planning into existing graduation plan requirements, so that every ohio student leaves school on a

career pathway. >> [ applause ] >> fran and i want for all kids what we want for our own children and grandchildren, and now, our great-granddaughter, who by the way is right up there, betty jane. maddie, you got betty jane? our new great-granddaughter! >> [ applause ] >> for them -- we want all of our kids and grandkids and great gantries to find something they are deeply passionate about, that they can pursue as a career. for many ohio's, they find their pathway through career tax. fran and i visit career tech programs all across the state

and they're doing some absolutely amazing things. yet, a couple of years ago, we would repeatedly hear that kids were being turned away from career tech because there wasn't enough room in the classes or there weren't enough slots open in a student's area of interest, and sometimes, the school didn't have the right equipment or it was simply too old. with the strong support of you, of this legislature, we have been making historic investments to eliminate wait lists, and ensure that any ohio student who wants career tech education has access to it. >> [ applause ] >> because of your action, in november, we were able to announce a $200 million in grants to build a new career tech classrooms, and just last month, we awarded more than $67 million to programs for new equipment. as our high school students

plan for their future, they need to have all kinds of options. certainly including career tech. members of the general assembly, let's you and i commit together that in the future, we will do what we have to do so that no ohio child who wants career tech is ever shut out of that because there simply is not room for them. >> [ applause ] >> if ohio is to compete in the 21st century, we must have an all of the above attitude regarding education. just as we need welders, mechanics, those who understand advanced manufacturing. we also need chemists, we need engineers, we need researchers, we need those with career tech credentials, as well as those

with two year, four year, and advanced degrees. we need to play to our strengths. we have a lot of them. we are blessed with great colleges and universities, and to become a net importer of college students from other states. but we must keep more of our own students here in ohio. so, i want to thank the members of the general assembly for helping us to enable more ohio kids to go to college in ohio, and then to stay in ohio to fulfill their dreams. since 2019, we have successfully persuaded all 14 universities in ohio, public universities, to provide a four year tuition and room and board guarantees, so that no ohio family will experience an increase in college costs once their child starts college. >> [ applause ]

>> when i came into office, ohio's need-based aid for ohio students, the ohio opportunity grant, had been cut nearly and half at an all-time high in the year 2017 -- 2007. we have now restored with your help, for ohio's media students, and have more than double the award. and for students in stem fields, we have also increased funding. and finally, the top 5% of ohio high school seniors, who will be graduating in just a few weeks, will be the very first students to receive ohio's new merit scholarship, renewable for up to $5000 for each of four years. >> [ applause ] >> obvious scholarships will help keep ohio college students in ohio. and i look forward to working with you, the general assembly,

to keep even more students here in ohio. you know, when you used it to look at how many students started college, in 2013, we chanced to that and we started with in college is accountable for the number of those who actually graduate. it is now time to begin measuring how many of those who have graduated have a job in six months, and if that job is related to their college degree. so today, i'm asking the ohio department of higher education to collaborate with our colleges, universities, to begin collecting this data. when picking a college, our families deserve this information, and we must make sure that they get it. >> [ applause ] >> now, when a child is not healthy, that child will not thrive in school, so let me talk about children with vision

problems. if a child has difficulty seeing, they will certainly have difficulty reading and difficulty learning. tragically, that is the case for too many ohio children today. today, all ohio children are required to get a vision screening test in school. but of the children who fail that screening test, the vast majority of them never get a follow-up i examined to determine if they need eyeglasses. that is wrong. it is wrong that in the third decade of the 21st century, tens of thousands of children in ohio who need eyeglasses are simply not getting them. however, there is good news. there are leaders across ohio who are demonstrating and doing great work, so that children can get eyeglasses. for example, the wonderful people at site for all united

in the valley and athens eyecare mobile clinic in appalachia are bringing comprehensive follow- up eye exams directly to our schools. they are here with us today in the gallery, i would like for them to stand up, for these two organizations, thank you for what you do. >> [ applause ] >> their models work. and we must take these models statewide. today, i am announcing the creation of the children's vision strikeforce. this will not be a study committee. we know the problem and we know the solution. whether this group will work with vision care professionals in every corner of ohio to

scale the proven models, to scale these proven models statewide, and to provide schools with the technical assistance they need to implement these very important programs. ohio, sadly, has never had a statewide plan to ensure that every ohio child who needs glasses will get glasses. now, we do. >> [ applause ] >> another challenge that we face is that too many ohio children and adults live in communities where they do not have easy access to good, basic, primary health care. a number of ohio schools have partnered with hospitals or other providers to bring primary care inside the school building, for the benefit of the children and the adults who live in the community. less than three miles from here, for example, nationwide children's hospital is serving the youth at east high school inside the school building.

thanks to a clinic right on the school grounds, students are able to schedule appointments with healthcare professionals or walk right in if they are sick. these clinics work. these clinics work because our schools are the heart and soul of our communities. it is where people are used to gathering and where people are comfortable going. they also have a significant impact, not just on students' health, but also on their academic performance, including improved attendance, higher gpas, grade promotions, better college prep, and reduced rates of suspension. as part of the general assembly's historic investment in appalachia, we have enabled local communities to determine their native island station priorities. we have recently announced the

new children's health initiative, which will be helping 20 ohio counties to create or expand community and school-based health clinics, to serve at least 61,000 students and 375,000 residents in appalachia. i think it is important to note that these communities decided this was their top priority. today, i am asking every school in ohio to look at the school- based clinic model. it works. take a look at it. talk to your communities about partnering with your local hospital or your primary care clinics, community health centers, or children's hospitals. we want to help you get the technical expertise you need to build your own school-based health center, like how you can use our student wellness and success funds to build a clinic. that money that you have provided over the years can be used for a clinic. it can be used to provide that

kind of care. and so today, i am asking several of our state agencies to work together with school district leaders to provide needed technical assistance on how to utilize existing resources, develop more high- quality, sustainable, school- based clinics. i want to talk now about the health of our youngest ohioans. we know the two biggest causes of death for infants are being born too early and not sleeping in a safe environment. i want to thank the general assembly for working with us on so many different initiatives over the past five years to help vulnerable moms. with a focus on reducing premature births, encouraging safe sleep, we have helped thousands of pregnant women and new months get medical care and other resources, taxes healthy food, breast-feeding support, baby cribs, and guidance on stress management. working together, we have greatly expanded our home visiting program where trained professionals come directly to a home, of moms and parents, to

answer the many questions on new parents house. to serve also as a support when they are exhausted and worried. and to help them understand the importance of healthy living. and we will be helping nearly 36,000 expecting mothers this year to have healthy babies through our partnership with over 100 ob/gyn medical practices to offer comprehensive care. that means not just providing prenatal clinical care, but also directing women to needed resources, needed services, including funding for housing, food, and transportation. >> [ applause ] >> i am also pleased today to announce that we will be launching a new pilot program and 11 ohio counties, what we are calling family connects. family connects. every new mom will be eligible

indians 11 counties, to receive a visit from a nurse about three weeks after delivering her baby. these visiting nurses can guide families to clinical or community supports, recognize when a mom and a baby may need additional help as a result of exhaustion or trouble with breast-feeding, and remind or teach new moms about how a baby can sleep safely. similar programs that we have looked at have shown a track record of reducing infant mortality. in places where these programs have been implemented, rates of trial [ inaudible ] and mothers have shown a 30% drop in postpartum depression, and a 60% drop in emergency room visits. in our next budget will we will be presenting to you next year, i will be asking you for additional support to take that family connects program statewide.

when i took office, we started to reimagine healthcare in ohio. started by transforming medicaid managed care to be focused more on positive health outcomes and less on the business of healthcare. historically, our system has paid for healthcare providers to provide care when you need that care. we don't generally reward doctors for actually keeping you healthy. well, we are changing that in a very, very big way. so today, i am very pleased to announce the creation of a first of its kind partnership between the ohio department of medicaid, the ohio children's hospitals, and medicaid managed care plans to change how we deliver and coordinate care for our children. we are calling this historic undertaking the outcomes acceleration for kids learning network. we will no longer focus on sick care, but rather on well care. to do this, we will prioritize. better management of childhood

asthma," well care visits for infants and adolescents, follow- up care for families after leaving the emergency room when their child is in a mental health crisis, and access to the latest life-saving treatments for children living with sickle cell disease. let's take asthma as an example. asthma affects one in every 12 children in ohio. when asthma is not managed well, kids miss school, they can't participate in sports, their parents miss work, and trips to the emergency room are all too frequent. to manage asthma well, it requires taking the time to understand the needs and the circumstances of the family. making sure they have access to care and to medications. ensuring the school nurse knows the child's asthma action plan. these holistic actions, altogether, are what kids and families need to manage asthma effectively.

our new learning network will reward and incentivize our healthcare system in a new way to focus on asthma prevention. further, we have the ability to change the game for those children with sickle cell disease. it is a condition that can cause organ damage and stroke, reduce the quality of life, shorten the lives of those who have it. more than 4500 ohio children had sickle cell disease, and roughly 95% of them are african american. that is use impacts their lives in deep and profound ways. youth with sickle cell disease miss an average of 20 to 40 days of school each year. our network will help patients with the effective management of this disease, and will connect them to the resources and the newly approved life altering treatments that are now available. by doing so, we believe that

within three years, ohio can lead the nation in the treatment of sickle cell disease and actually cure the disease for ohio's sickest children. >> [ applause ] >> as i have in my last two state of the state speeches, i have focused my attention on mental health. because we all know we are in a crisis. a crisis in this country. our children today are more isolated, more anxious, more depressed, and more suicidal. there are a lot of factors impacting the behavioral health of our children. but likely, number one on the list is the use of smart phones and access to social media. and i want to talk about that right now.

in his new book, the anxious generation, author and social psychologist jonathan might examines, among other things, the impact that smart phones have had on this generation. the first generation to go through puberty with instant and constant access to the internet. giving a generation of children smart phones, and these are the authors words, "the largest uncontrolled experiment humanity has ever performed on its own children." and that experiment has failed. and failed miserably. >> [ applause ] >> i want to take a moment to recognize my lieutenant governor, john houston, his wife tina, who is up in the balcony. >> [ applause ]

>> tina and john have really started a crusade against smart phone use in schools. and for parental notification for children to use social media. i'm grateful for what they are doing, let's give them a round of applause again. >> [ applause ] >> recently, i joined the lieutenant governor and tina for a roundtable discussion with educators about schools and their cell phone policies. what is happening today is bad, and if you don't believe me, talk to a teacher, talk to a

principal, talk to the superintendent, they will all tell you how distracting phones are in the classroom and telnet negatively they can impact a child's mental health. when you talk to teachers and schools, schools that have actually removed phones during the lunch period, they will tell you the change is miraculous. guess what? without phones, the lunch room is noisy again. instead of having their heads down, buried in their phones, kids are talking and interacting and laughing and enjoying themselves. a number of ohio schools have made the decision to eliminate smart phone use during the school day, and i believe, clearly, that is the right decision. >> [ applause ] >> views phones are clearly detrimental to learning. there detrimental to our

children's' mental health. and they truly do need to be removed from our classrooms in ohio. i want to thank the members of the general assembly who have taken on this issue. that includes stephanie, bill, representative steve, as well as tom young. senator andy brenner is currently working on an amendment, requiring all ohio schools to adopt a smart phone policy that will minimize phone usage by students in the classroom, and make those policies available for parents and communities to know about. i fully support this measure and i encourage the general assembly to take up this legislation and to pass it quickly. >> [ applause ] >> further, further, we need to

go after the social media companies that are targeting our kids, addicting them, and then monetizing that addiction. what they are doing is shameful. last year, as part of our budget, i signed a law requiring parental consent for children under 16 to use social media. got to get the parents' permission first. however, as you know, [ inaudible ] but let's not be deterred. while it would be best if the federal government set a national standard, they have not acted, and we cannot and should not wait. let's take the lessons we are learning from court rulings across the country, and that's develop a plan for ohio that can be a blueprint for putting parents, not social media companies, back in charge of the digital lives of their children. >> [ applause ]

>> i truly believe that we can craft a new law that is informed by the concerns expressed by judge of marlborough, is constitutional, and will accomplish all the things we want to do in the law that you previously passed. we can do this. so, i am asking you to start working with us to get this done. we simply have no time to waste. some children in ohio have extremely complex behavioral healthcare needs. if this is not your own child, it is hard for us to really imagine what his parents are really going through, so i want to share part of a letter a mother sent to me about her son. "i am an adopting mother with three kids, including my son, tom. he has been physically and sexually abused starting at the age of five.

in recent years, tom started acting out and became physically aggressive, hitting walls and smashing furniture, threatening to hurt us with knives. i was scared every day and feared for the safety of our other kids. on one occasion, we had to lock ourselves and other kids in the basement while we called the police to restrain our son. as a result of what he has been through, he ran away. started using drugs to cope and was physically aggressive towards a convenience store owner. he was arrested and locked up in detention, and all he really needed was treatment." these are not isolated cases. this is a reality of life for a lot of ohio parents, and too often, they just don't know where to turn. and really, they have been pretty much ignored. we are now giving them a lifeline, through our ohio rises program, created two

years ago, the program connects families and children who have the most complicated needs to appropriate care, and doing all this in ohio. obvious children need more than a doctor, they need therapists, any prescribers, they need teachers, other caring people to help them. families who participate in ohio rises are assigned a hands- on care coordinator to bring these professionals and supportive people together to plan and manage care with a goal even children in their homes and their families together. since i delivered my state of the state address last year, we have added 14,000 more ohio children to ohio rise. today, we are serving 32,000 children and their families, 11,000 of whom are getting very intensive care, including tone. his mother went on to say in the letter, "with nowhere else

to turn, relinquishing custody of tom seems like my only option, until i was connected to the ohio rise program. since being enrolled in ohio rise, we now have a team of professionals to support tom and our family. we have found a residential treatment facility where we live and received the intense treatment that he desperately needs. his behavior is improving and we are able to visit them often. additionally, ohio rise helped connect my entire family with therapy following the incidents, and we are feeling." >> [ applause ] >> this is what complete wraparound care looks like, because no child, no parent, no family should ever walk alone. you know, one of the biggest complaints i hear as i travel

around ohio, is from families who don't know where to turn for help when their child is in mental health crisis, they don't know where to go. so, we are increasing the availability of immediate mental health care at the right place, at the right time, through the expansion of what we call mobile response stabilization services. these services are similar to what first responders do when they show up for a physical health emergency in the community. our mobile crisis response units were deployed within 60 minutes directly to the youth experiencing distress. a team of trained professionals will conduct safety assessments, de-escalate situations, and offer peer support among other services. when i took office, 13 ohio counties and mobile response stabilization services. today, with your help, we are now in 38 ohio counties, and i intend to take this model to

all 88 ohio counties, so no matter where you live, if your child is in mental health crisis, that child will be able to get immediate care. >> [ applause ] >> when we talk about expanding mental health treatment, we all know that one of our state's greatest challenges is having enough professionals in the mental health field. the demand for behavioral health services increased twice as fast as the increase in the workforce. so, it is critical that more people go into the community- based behavioral healthcare to serve our most vulnerable ohioans. we must dramatically increase the pool of people, and all of us, our career tech centers, our colleges, universities, all of us must work aggressively as the demand for these jobs is astounding.

by the end of this decade, ohio will need 4500 new chemical dependency professionals. 4700 new counselors. 4300 new social workers, and hundreds of new psychiatrists. with generous support from you, we have created the great minds fellowship with the goal of attracting 4000 new behavioral health professionals into the field. if you are pursuing a degree in certain areas of behavioral health, you can get $10,000 towards your education before you graduate. it is not a loan, it is a grant that you do not have to pay back. and ohio's colleges and universities have the funds available right now. they have those funds available right now to spend on these students, so therefore, i am calling on ohio college presidents, with four year and two year, to make this your accounts, find these students, recruit them, the money is there, so get it into their

hands and get them started in school. it will make a huge difference. >> [ applause ] >> i want to turn to foster care. throughout my career, i have focused on the needs of children who have no fault of their own, are placed in foster care. and we have made historic investments, with your help, to help these kids. and as a result, 1000 fewer ohio children are in foster care to date then when i took office. now, while that is certainly province, we can and we must do better. currently, there are more than 1800 foster children who live in group settings. they live in group settings because they are not foster families willing or comfortable to take on the significant behavioral health challenges and the complex needs these foster children present. and though some of them do need to be in care, the best place

for most of them it is ultimately in a foster home with adults who love them. there is great work going on right now in northwest ohio, sandusky, seneca, ottawa, the counties have partnered together to recruit foster parents pacifically help children with the most complex needs. not only have they saved money, but they also created the opportunity for children to mean in a home with a family. representatives from these communities, these counties, with us today in the gallery, and i want them to stand and i want you to get them applause, if you would, for the work they are doing. thank you. right up there. >> [ applause ] >> we are now replicating --

replicating what they are doing, through a new pilot program that will help more counties to recruit and support local treatment foster homes, by providing one on one support for families, 24/7 on-call casework and crisis counseling, and specialized training, so that children with complex behavioral needs and stay in a home with a loving family that can remain actively involved in the child's treatment process. that is the goal, we are expanding that, and we're going to continue to expand it. >> [ applause ] >> i am also very excited to announce, on fran's behalf, a new effort to get all eligible children who are in foster care signed up to receive a monthly book from the dolly parton imagination library. >> [ applause ] x and we are doing this by our department of

children and youth becoming a new affiliate organization. they developed a system to keep mailing address is updated, so that when a child moves around as tragically they sometimes do, the monthly book delivery will always follow them. and so, starting this summer, 5000 children in ohio's foster care system will begin receiving a monthly, age- appropriate book from the dolly parton imagination library of ohio. >> [ applause ] >> my friends, we have accomplished big things together, so, it is really no wonder -- it is really no wonder that pennsylvania, as governor shapiro put it, and i quote the governor, "is sick and tired of losing to freaking ohio." >> [ applause ] >> [ laughter ] think about it.

think about it. ohio's unemployment is at historic lows, the job market is booming, and unlike the federal government, ohio now has the highest possible credit rating possible. >> [ applause ] >> we are a national leader in aerospace, we are making great progress protecting our precious lake erie and our other ohio waterways through h2 ohio. we have an outstanding state fair that we are making even better things to your investments. in just a few short weeks, we will be opening ohio's 76 state park in greene county, and yes, they all remain free. in ohio's ceremony at earthworks now officially a unesco world heritage site.

>> [ applause ] >> i am so grateful, i am so grateful for all we have been able to accomplish together, but we have even more to do. additional, urgent issues that we must address. let me talk for a moment about them. first, let's talk about intoxicating known as delta 8. widely unregulated, found easily accessible to kids in gas stations and convenience stores in ohio. it is disguised as candy, dummies, even breakfast cereals. cause hallucinations, vomiting, tremors, anxiety, dizziness, confusion, and even loss of consciousness. just in the cases that were reported to the ohio poison control center, there were 100 delta 8 poisonings last year, and of those, 48 were involving children age 5 or younger,

that's just what was reported. further, a recent -- it can be sold as that 11% had used delta-8 in the past year. because of a loophole in the law transiting can be sold without the warning labels and age restrictions associated with marijuana we know the companies that produce and sell these products intentionally market these harmful products to our children. members of the general assembly, today i am asking you, asking you to pass legislation to ban the sale of these dangerous products to our children. >> [ applause ] >> then there is marijuana. we must respect the will of ohio voters. absolutely. absolutely.

however, i doubt that very many people who voted on issue 2 want their kids breathing in marijuana smoke while walking s in a public park or -- >> [ applause ] >> or on a sidewalk to ball practice or smelling the stench of it walking from the parking lot to a guardian game or a reds game. that is not what people voted for. but make no mistake about it, that is what the current law allows and will continue to allow until we do something about it. we owe it to our families to change that. you have the power to do that. i ask you to exercise that power. it is not what people want to >> [ applause ]

>> let us not forget about the tobacco companies. they continue to target our kids eager to addict the next generation through cigarettes, vaping and flavor products. here is a statistic. nearly 81% of youth ages 12 to 17 have used a tobacco product in the first product they ever tried was flavored. then biden administration has the authority to stop the sale of tobacco products including menthol cigarettes and flavored vaping products. they have not done so. i urge them to do that. i think we have all learned that we cannot depend on washington. we have an obligation to protect ohio children we have the ability to do that. i understand the desire for uniformity statewide. i understand that.

i get it i am asking you to pass a uniformed state law banning flavored vaping and flavored cigarettes. it will save lives. we need to protect our kids. >> [ applause ] >> november agreement of the juvenile justice working group and asked them to conduct a review of the juvenile justice system in ohio but i was intentional and evolving juvenile judges in this review. because of their knowledge and because it really is one system and because of their commitment to building programs that serve youth in these communities so they can remain with their family spread the judges do a good job. the working group will review the whole juvenile justice system and will develop recommendations on behavioral health, safety and operations, staffingne and the youth population served.

these recommendations, we already know, include placing one recommendations will be re placing offenders in smaller state facilities. i will be asking you in the future work of the resources to implement that very specific recommendation. we cannot talk about the health of children without talking about gun violence. we have dedicated hundreds and millions of dollars, again with your help, to help ohio cities and local law enforcement protect ohio children citizens to investments with new state of the art crime prevention technology and higher staffing levels for the local police departments.o we have also's set in our highway patrol, our adult authority and ohio investigating unit to work side- by-side with local police officers to search into high primaries and to prevent violence and get guns out of the hands with those who are illegally armored in cleveland

last year, we supported authorities and arrested more than 100 suspects and seizing more than 450 illegally possess firearms. so, to ohio's mayors and chiefs of police, to ohio's local safety directors, our team is ready and willing to search in and help. just call us. we will be there. we also have an obligation to keep our children safe on ohio roads and highways. thank you for passing the distracted driving law. if your action -- with your action the lives of children and adults are being saved. a study released last week estimate the ohio distracted driving law has already prevented 3600 crashes, 2000 injuries and saved 17 lives. we also know that a primary

seatbelt law would protect people traveling on ohio's highways. here are the statistics and they are not good. ohio is 10th from the bottom, 10th from the bottom of all states in seatbelt use. while the national average for seatbelt use is 91%, ohio's number is only 81% 91/81. sally, our youngest drivers have the lowest rate of all. that is why i will be coming to you with a proposal to save the young people's lives and adults . a primary seatbelt law. we know it works. it is a vote that will save lives. we will be bringing that to you.

before we conclude, i want to take a moment to remember the five respected former leaders from this body who have died since the start of this year. former senate president stan aronoff. former speaker of the house chuck curtis. former senate majority leader ted gray. former senate minority leader cj apprentice and former house minority bridget kelly. each of them embodied what is truly great about ohio. always looking to the pricing sun and focusing on what is important to ohio families and fighting for the betterment of the whole state. they will be missed but they will always be remembered. >> [ applause ] fran

and i had the great privilege to host at the governor's residence and honor some >> in january,mo fran and i hav the great privilege to host at the governor's residence, and honor both heroic figures you define our nations aerospace history. they came to ohio for the unveiling of ohioans in space. it is this grand painting of space legends, john glenn, neil armstrong, jim lovell and jean krantz. these american heroes not take their rightful place in our beautiful historic statehouse rotunda across from the wright brothers. it is truly a thrill to meet and listen to toledo native

jean krantz who directed america's missions to the moon from the mercury, gemini and apollo programs. mr. krantz spoke of a space pioneer who willingly accepted great personal risk in the name of national progress and how they eagerly accepted president kennedy's challenge to place america's flag on the moon. they push the envelope doing things that i had never been done before. they were children of the depression and first-generation college graduates who grew up on farms in the midwest. they were leaders, they were team builders. they stood for something greater than themselves. they love their country and vowed to serve. always grounded in the strong work ethic and deeply held values that they learned from their own parents and they all had big dreams. tomorrow will be the 54th anniversary of the lift off of apollo 13.

ohio's jean krantz was the mission flight director and ohio's jim lovell was the mission commander. as we know on the third day of the mission, an oxygen tank exploded damaging the spacecraft and forcing the three-person crew into a lunar module designed to support only two people for two days. that became bear lifeboat for nearly four days. this was their time in history. failure as we know it was never going to be an option for them. this in jesus, courageous and resourceful team of risktakers managed to return the spacecraft safely to earth splashing down six days after the mission began. when asked during the harrowing mission if they believe this was going to be nasa's darkest moment, director krantz said this is going to be our finest hour. for all of us in ohio, this is now our time in history.

we must act with great urgency to not squander this precious finite window of opportunity when our children are growing up. this is our time to meet the challenges i have laid out today and do the hard things that matter and it will make a lasting difference for our children and the future of ohio. this is our time. our time to chart ohio's path forward as we protect our most precious resource, our children. we must protect our children so our newborn babies can grow and thrive so our kids can be healthier and more resilient. so that they learn to read, to go to school, find a career that they are passionate about and ultimately grow into driving and protecting hard- working ohio adults. this is our time to band together to work together to be resourceful and to be innovating

, to be optimistic, to inspire and to lead. when we do this, this will be ohio's finest hour. thank you. may god bless ohio. >> [ applause ] c-span is your unfiltered view of government and funded by these television companies

and more, including wow! the world has changed today. the fast reliable internet connection is someone no one can live without. wow is there for our customers with speed, reliability, value and joys. now more than ever it all starts with great internet. wow! >> wow! supports c-span along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy . thursday the head of the federal aviation administration of michael whitaker testifies of his department's oversight of boeing manufacturing and aviation safety. it follows an incident in january were door plug blew out of the boeing plane during alaska airlines flight you can watch the senate transportation committee hearing live beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span3 or online at c-span.org . up