. [applause] [cheers and applause]

. >> i baker solemnly swear i'd have faith and allegiance to the commonwealth of massachusetts and will support the constitution thereof so help me god. >> i solemnly swear and affirm that i will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties a comment upon me as governor

according to the best of my abilities and understanding agreeably to the regulations of the constitution and the laws of the commonwealth so help me god. >> i solemnly swear i will support the constitution of the united states. >> congratulations. [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] . >> mister speaker, madam president and from the great state of vermont. [applause] members of the house and senate, fellow constitutional officers and members of the governing council, congratulations and members of the judiciary and members of the cabinet and administration, mister mayo mayor, thank you for letting us hang out in your city. district attorneys local officials, clergy and

distinguished guests, i will start by saying to the tenant governor that i want to extend our gratitude on behalf of all of us here as a commitment to this endeavor and the sacrifices made on your behalf. [applause] members of my family who are here today my brothers hanging out in the balcony. [applause] my dad the best and smartest guy i know, .

[applause] such an incredible role model to us all. and the children who have been giving me grief. [applause] and my wife lauren, the awesome first lady of the commonwealth. [applause] my fellow citizens, let me begin by thanking the people of the commonwealth to give us four more years to serve them. and in 2014 it was so close we

did not know until the next day we had a lot to prove to the people of massachusetts that the vision of the commonwealth and our approach to governing, work ethics and the capacity to get things done. we work to build a state government that was thrifty and hard-working and creative as the people of this great state and we are grateful for your continued faith in us and to the lawmakers returning to this chamber, welcome back. we look forward to building on the partnerships to establish the progress that we have made and a special welcome while embarking on a new journey on beacon hill not quite sure you've heard about all the good work in those areas that we fall short we all strive to build a community of hope and

opportunity and possibility. we seek to do so in a way that ensures people i heard. my advice spend time outside of the state house. listen to your constituents lead with your head and your heart and make the best decisions you can for those you serve. in this era of snapshot and tweets facebook and insta graham the putdowns and the smack down downs, remember good public policy is also about perseverance and collaboration. many times a story written by many players written over time to pursue an objective. think about the commonwealth leadership on national issue issues, the highest rate of health care coverage in the nation. that story was written across two decades and ten legislative sessions five governors into presidents.

and our toughest in the nation gun laws written over several governors and almost always done on a bipartisan basis. k-12 education system that despite its limitations is the envy of this country written by a large cast of leaders across decades of deliberation and action. as we approach the third decade of the 21st century we are engaged in a number of difficult policy issues. long after our time on beacon hill is done but it is incumbent on us to pursue these tasks with foresight and commitment to be rest assured when our time is done those who come after us will be able to build on the foundation we have established. as i look forward i'm grateful we are taking on difficult

policy issues from a position of strength. massachusetts no longer has a structural budget deficit. with your help we ended with a budget surplus depositing over $650 million into the stabilization fund to anticipate making another major deposit at the end of this year. [cheers and applause] and we did it without raising taxes. [cheers and applause]

when we took office the annual growth rate of medicaid spending was in double digits dramatically reducing what funds were available for other important programs. today it is growing at a rate more in line with the increase of spending adding 4000 seats to the medical schools investing $50 million of capital grants and expand programs and with your help primary children and families have made major progress serving some of the commonwealth families and eventually all of our social workers are licensed. [applause]

the registry implemented a new technology platform at the same time the federal real id program there were some bumps along the way but they served 90 percent of the customers and under 30 minutes and everybody else within an hour. [cheers and applause] [laughter] we enacted 200 million rebuild

in chelsea that no state is more committed to its veterans than the commonwealth of massachusetts. [cheers and applause] 450,000 low income families with a child tax credit and 300 million of new spending early education and use of hotels and motels to shelter homeless families. [applause]

we also work with the legislature on two procurements with 50 percent of electricity being generated and then with those prices anybody anticipated. think about this with low energy prices and now everybody in the country he wants to duplicate. that's a huge win for everybody. [applause] our regulatory reform project

reduces the complexity of state government across the board allowing small businesses to be more competitive to get stuff done approach we have taken on public-private partnerships and economic development , advanced manufacturing, robotics, smart materials to create an opportunity and as a result we have more people working then 200,000 new jobs have been created since we took office the labor force participation rate at an all-time high and people are moving to massachusetts because we offer good jobs and opportunities for them. [applause] and thanks to the hard work of so many in this room i can say

with complete confidence that the state of our commonwealth is strong. [cheers and applause] thank you. [applause] by putting the public interest in the head of politics he made the commonwealth a better place but there is always more 25 years ago massachusetts was not a national leader of public education since then we have achieved remarkable success with education reforms and as a result massachusetts students scored number one on the national assessment exams english and math over the past

decade last year finish first for the advanced placement exams as well. coming to performance between urban and suburban school districts we can and must do better the foundation formula needs to be updated when we file the budget later this month. [applause] the progress is the education commissioner talks about significant progress that could be made with school and student performance to change the way our schools operate and before that the middle

school in boston the lowest performing middle school in the city is now one of the best with that success in mind our budget will also include opportunities for underperforming school districts to work jointly with the department of education to improve best practices with professional development programs after school enrichment initiatives and leadership development programs. [applause] we all have an opportunity to give our kids the best chance to succeed in the 21st century economy. it's up to us to come together to seize the opportunity to lay the groundwork for their future success. [applause] surprisingly, there is also much to do in transportation.

[laughter] i will begin with a quick shout out to the transportation futures commission predicting a future with so much possibility is difficult and they do great work and i want to highlight the recommendations. first continue to invest in public transportation. [applause] in which that commonwealth for far too many years over the course of the next five years planning to spend over $8 billion on infrastructure this is more than twice than

any five year period of time that has been spent. [applause] this is no small task. one of the reasons of previous administrations did not invest in the core system is the complexity to modernize a system that operates 20 hours a day and seven days a week. that constant tug between getting people to where they want to go to disrupt that system to make it better is a big challenge. but it must be identified and overcome to succeed to deliver on this objective. it also needs to leverage the system once it's in place in 2020 when that system is up for the first time it will have real-time data on how the rate writers actually use the system to create huge opportunities to improve service to think differently

about fares and routes and pricing to modernize operations to better serve customers and create a truly customer focused transportation infrastructure. second, to make the investment of public infrastructure over the next generation zero emission vehicles and autonomous vehicles. setting this right would have unprecedented collaboration with local governments and her neighbors as well as innovative partnerships with the private sector. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the transportation system with the mid-atlantic partners should have a capital investment system to mirror our successful model of energy that is a largest program of its kind in us history. [applause]

and finally to more fully appreciate the relationship of where people live in where they work and those policies how they affect their ability to get from one area to the other i have spoken more than anyone can remember about the housing crisis producing less than half of the units of housing like clockwork from the previous 40 years as a result we have limited inventory and the inventory we have is priced out the second it comes on the market forcing people to live farther away from where they work. i believe our housing goal is a strong step in the right direction it respects the need for communities to plan, and creates incentives to overarching strategies concerning transportation but

it failed in the end too much for some not enough for others we should not let the perfect become the enemy of the good. [applause] building a stronger more equitable and successful commonwealth with several pillars, one of the most important is a big increase of housing production we must get this done. [applause]

and with criminal justice , three years ago we enacted legislation that prohibited sending women due to an addiction to prison. [applause] two years ago we brought the curtain down on 30 years of shame and reform at the state hospital. [applause] last year we work together on a comprehensive justice reform package among other things that gives us more tools to help the men and women who

will return to our communities get the training and life skills they need to succeed. but our work here is not done. [applause] whether or not it makes sense to have a hearing current law requires any previous criminal history to focus only on the crime and in addition the list of facts that the prosecutor can make that request is very narro narrow. too often career criminals are arrested only to be released this revolving door serves to undermine people's faith in law enforcement and the courts

and from public safety and nobody was to see somebody's life over a small term lapse of judgment we work together last year but we still need a common sense approach to provide the system with the ability to schedule hearings when individuals of violent histories come before the court. dartmouth police sergeant and state trooper all gave their lives with his sworn duty to protect. we are joined here today by their police chiefs.

[applause] . . . . [applause] massachusetts is also a national leader in healthcare. we are one of the healthiest states in the nation with the highest rate of health care coverage. economically and clinically. it's constantly delivering solutions to some of the most

challenging and complicated problems facing patients and their family. the flipside is the price we pay. small businesses in massachusetts have among the highest healthcare costs in the country. the price of the same service can vary by as much as 300%, depending on where it's provided. community hospitals continue to struggle, and ironically, some e of those rules make it tough to practice modern medicine. later this year we will file legislation to address these and other issues by expanding the use to medicine, rethinking the scope of practice guidelines and dealing with those that negatively affects individuals and families dealing with mental health issues. [applause]

as the lieutenant governor said we have made great progress, but we didn't get into this crisis overnight and we won't get over it overnight either. the members of the legislature or the true pleasures of this issuissue and acting two major s that build on the four pillars of performed a. prevention, education, treatment and recovery. it wasn't that long ago when the responders had virtually no hope. today we are one of a handful of states that candidate overdose deaths have dropped since 2017. interventions and policy changes have worked and others show progress but we've also added an initiative by the credential recovery coache coaches that wie coming online throughout 2019 and beyond. [applause]

dealing with opioid addiction is enormously difficult. relapse is an inevitable part of the story helping people to avoid becoming addicted in the first place remains a challenge and diffusing the presence of the sentinel is an enormous challenge, but on behalf of the people of the commonwealth and especially the families and family members that deal with the addiction issue every single day, i want to thank you for all that you've done and we look forward to working with you going forward as we continue to battle this deadly disease. thank you. [applause]

the afternoon of september 13, the series of explosions resulted in with the biggest disasterthe biggestdisasters ine valley. dozens of house fires broke out across the region with one young man tragically lost his life. fire and police teams from across massachusetts and new hampshire race two and a spread out across and over putting out fires that directed and redirected traffic. to get them safely out of their homes if they have no place to go into shelter. for the next 90 days there was an army of operators, first responders, inspectors and state and local officials working throughout the affected communities to lay down 50 miles of pipe to replace thousands of

service lines in the houses, businesses and apartment buildings and three. replace thousands of hot water heaters, stoves, dryers and boilers. it was an enormous and complex undertaking. it showed a tremendous amount of patience, resilience, flexibility and fortitude. there were hundreds of local officials and elected officials who went above and beyond the call on this one, but i want to get a special thanks to those officials that are with us today. the mayor, his fire chief and the police chief, the town manager andrew flanagan, the fire chief michael mansfield, police chief patrick keefe and the town manager andrew mailer, fire chief william mccarthy, police chief charles craddock. these people delivered and we

are honored to have them here. [applause] it's moments like that everyone remembers why h committed in public service matters. but at the same time the day-to-day work often goes on without much notice. the fact that 361 cities and towns in the commonwealth work with state government on over 800 best practices and use the program to spread the word on other smarter or better ways to deliver services doesn't make much news here in the wor the we fought together to invest billions of dollars in housing, downtown and regional economic

development for public-private partnerships in communities across the commonwealth are stories that come and go. the 16,000 trees we planted and thousands of lights we installed with our colleagues and local governments is just doing our job. each day the wheels turn. when they turn while they build strong communities and support greek schools, grow the economy, clean up the environment, promote justice and give people a chance. those create hope, opportunity and possibility from one end of massachusetts to the other. [applause] most of the time to back and forth is positive. it's people offering a point of view with heightened intelligence in a democracy that

is designed to encourage it. but these days, too much of what pretends to be the debates which is rhetoric or character assassination and every time someone joins the course, the steel time, attention and focus away from finding common ground creating solutions and doing the work that matters. but it is a crisis we all need to work together because that is what great public service is all about. [applause] during the winter of 2015, he saw firsthand during those snowstorms how amazing donations

programs between states can be. other states bailed us out at the snow kept falling with no end in sight. during the first chaotic and terrifying 24 hours in the valley, the number of first responders who dropped whatever they were doing and headed there was amazing. that's public service, and people appreciate it. over the past four year years, e lieutenant governor and i have heard time and time again the way we work together is a model for the nation. people like our collaborative approach to governing and they say they are proud to be from massachusetts. [applause]

so am i.. [applause] the state is bursting with talent, humor and decency, boldness and common sense and an abiding sense of patriotism belonging in the community made us strong and carried us forward for almost 400 years. but others engage in the cheap shots and logos and instead of cruel and dark. [applause]

they make our work about how we can make the state better for the people we call this glorious place home. god bless the commonwealth and god bless america. [applause] [cheering]

recruiting challenges we hear from steven thompson who had the retention for his branch of the military posted by the association of the u.s. army's institute of warfare, this is an hour