brad little delivers his 2025 state of the state. he prepared it to the plan president trump promises and praised the record of government efficiency and efforts to cut taxes increase infrastructure investment and expand school choice. this is about 25 minutes. >> we look forward to your words of wisdom and advice today.

the floor is yours. gov. little: thank you, mr. speaker. i assume that the gavel means things will happen a lot faster here. i appreciate that. mr. speaker, mr. pro tem, mr. president honored legislators, my fellow constitutional officers, mr. chief justice, members of the judiciary, my we teresa and our family -- wave, you guys -- my friends and my fellow identify idahoans. just two months ago on the eve of a historic pressure election american teetered between two very different futures for the next four years and beyond. one future guaranteed the status quo out of control federal spending, a lawless open border,

sky high inflation, onerous regulations in a depressed economy. americans rejected that failed path and instead re-elected a man with a very different vision for america, donald trump. his vision for america actually looks a lot like idaho's. with their votes americans affirmed what we want for our country and what idaho has. safe communities, bustling economic activity. increased incomes, tax relief. fewer regulations, fiscal responsibility, and common sense values. i'm excited about president trump's return to the white house. we have a renewed opportunity to help him deliver results and show the rest of the country how

to do things right. that starts with keeping promises. idaho's elected leaders have promised to deliver real results over and over and over for the people we serve. i want to congratulate all of our legislators on their elections and recognize the new members of leadership of both parties. [applause] gov. little: as a former legislator and member of senate leadership i understand the challenges and rewards of bringing everybody together. i commit to all my legislative partners that we will work productively together this session. together, we promise idahoens historic tax reform and delivered back to back to back

tax cuts for idaho families and businesses. we delivered property tax cuts and a new lower flat income tax. we increased the grocery tax rebate and stand ready to implement president trump's promised tax cuts. and by keeping promises plans, it continues a trend. i'm proposing another round of tax relief for hard working idaho families, $100 million on top of the $4.6 billion we have already given back to idahoans the past five years. we also promise to deliver unprecedented investments in schools, the american worker, water, roads, fire, outdoor recreation and other infrastructure without raising taxes. [applause]

gov. little: my keeping promises machine builds on those investments by more support for schools. on top of the 80% increase in state funding we champion for education since i took office, idaho offers an abundance of schooling options for each student's unique feeds. we lead the nation in expanding and supporting public charter schools. i was proud it receive the national charter school champion award on behalf of our state after we cut red tape and added more support and flexibility just last year. public charter schools are popular in our state serving about 30,000 students, up 30% from five years ago. i support charter schools

because they offer families more options for their children's education while providing taxpayers the accountability and transparency they deserve. we are also one of the few states that enable parents to choose for tv children regardless of where at the live. our popular empowering parents program has grants to support education outside the classroom. we are a alert in education freedom. i recognize a growing desire to expand school choice especially for students with unique physical or developmental conditions. i'm recommending $50 million to further expand education options for idaho families. [applause] gov. little: just like we do

with every taxpayer dollar, we will ensure there is oversight in school choice. why? because accountability in government is an idaho value. it is what taxpayers demand and deserve. as when expect the following from our public schools, any school choice measure i would consider must be done the idaho way. that means it is fair, responsible, transparent and accountable. you must prioritize the families that need it most and it must not take away from funds of public schools. we will do so by prioritizing our public schools. adequately funding public schools is both our constitutional and moral obligation. we will not abandon that obligation. we have significantly increased teacher pay, health benefits,

increased funding for literacy, began to address long-standing facilities needs. however, even with the historic investments the past five years there are still known gaps. my promising plan includes over $150 million for public schools. i look forward to working with legislature to address gaps in rural school facilities, mental health, school safety and literacy. we also must embrace accountability in public schools to guarantee the best outcomes for our students. together we will ensure the best education in idaho is in a public school. [applause] gov. little: we have also kept our promises to idahoans by

standing up for common sense values. idaho was the first state it took action to defend women's sports. i'm incredibly proud of boise state women volleyball team for standing up for what is right. [applause] gov. little: thank you. i thought that would get response. generations have worked hard to guarantee our girls and women can play fair and square. to our female twhraoelgts continue to fight for you. while we are on the topic of fairness in women's sports, i'm

disappointed to acknowledge voter fraud does exist. an election was stolen. i'm asking the speaker, the pro tem to launch an investigation into flawed voting on the heisman trophy. [applause] gov. little: reflecting on the past year two natural elements consumed idaho's attention water and fire. the farmers confronted long-term decline in the aquifer that sustains idaho agriculture. they work hard to secure a new water deal to safeguard water. friends, let's thank our

farmers. [applause] gov. little: along with our-set legislators and the lieutenant governor crafted a new plan that maintains control of our tkwaerts any, not other state's, not the fed's, not men and women in robes, no offense to my esteemed judges. my keeping promises plan helps tackle the backlog of unfunded water projects because securing water for future generations and protecting idaho agriculture requires both the new plan and continued investments that improve to raise the water levels the life blood of idaho agriculture. [applause]

gov. little: on the heels of a destructive fire season or keeping promises plan deploys additional bonuses to hire and maintain firefighters. they battle dangerous conditions to protect lives, property and natural resources. please recognize a few of these tough idahoans we have with us today. right out there. [applause] gov. little: i'm also asking the legislature to fund the fire suppression account so these firefighters know that we have their back. last certainly i called out the feds for not putting out fires more aggressively. idaho leads on fire and force management where the feds have

failed. idahoens are tired of choking on smoke for weeks on end. i look forward to working with the trump administration to boldly transform how wildfire in our western lands are managed. [applause] gov. little: how else are we keeping our promises? with more people traveling idaho's highways than ever before we have championed hick transportation efforts to keep up with record growth without raising taxes. our keeping promises machine keeps or foot on the gas with additional transportation funding. we will continue to improve our existing roads, bridges and give people and products across our state safely and efficiently. speaking of growth, i have

identified the source of idaho's population boom. cows. former residents of california, oregon and washington. last year i told you we would build a wall around idaho and make california pay for it. this year i think a cattle guard would be more. that is rancher stuff i will explain later. it is true we are victims of our own success. growth does indeed come with many opportunities. but it also comes with challenges. the cost of owning a home is too expensive for a team idaho families. you have hard me state my goal from day one to make idaho a place where children and grandchildren choose to stay for the ones that left to choose to return. it is difficult to achieve that goal, but home ownership is so

far out of reach. we are feeling the pinch in the housing supply. i work it remove barriers to keep up with housing demands. [applause] gov. little: in 2022 this body put a record amount in that workforce housing creating thousands of homes for idaho families. our keeping promises plans will help build more homes so more working families can achieve the american dream. we also need skilled labor it keep up with the pace of development. our efforts to get more idaho kids in the trades is helping. across the country the number of students on track it a career is declining but not in idaho. idaho is bucking the trend.

we have the longest largest cohort ever of students enrolling in education and training programs after high school. 2/3 of students who went on to an idaho school last year used the launch plan. commune college attendance is surging 15%. those are real results. launch convinced kids who never would have considered training after high school to go on. many of these students support the industries that help us keep up and tkroe jobs in contraction, auto technicians, plumbers, welders, electricians and a host of or professions. my keeping promises plan increases capacity for working class idahoens to get fast track to a career. there is one major take away from the historic presidential

election two months ago. the working people of america want somebody fight being for them. president trump himself said quote we must embrace new and effective job training approaches." mr. president, we will work with you to structure effective programs like idaho's launch all across the nation. [applause] gov. little: there's no doubt idaho is on a roll. even elon musk posted on social media three times in one day about idaho's red tape reduction. we have caught the attention of the rez of the country. president trump's new department of government efficiency is looking to idaho on how to cut transcend. stimulate growth and streamline

government. we are ready to join the trump administration. as the least regulated state it has an incredible story to shore. one worth replicating including washington, d.c. in the coming weeks i will highlight all the way he's idaho has cut waste in government and enthusiastic ideas on reducing government footprints on people's lives. i assure you this speech will be one of the shortest state of state addresses in a long time. you are welcome. as a new administration takes place the next few weeks, we will know more and we will see a more secure border is imminent. as president trump and congress

deliver on their promises to look down the border idaho stand ready to help deport dangerous criminals. the idaho state police just wrapped up their four mission to the border and intercepted deadly drugs and caught more people. as we have done before our troopers returned with new knowledge and will train other law enforcement agencies on the drug cartel's latest tactics. we have some of those troopers here with us today. thank you for your dedicated service. please stand.

gov. little: meanwhile, idaho is taking more steps to keep our communities safe. working with local law enforcement partners, we have reduced crime in idaho by 17% since i took office despite record population growth. violent crime is at a five-year low. we are among the top 10 safest states. but there's more we can do. my keeping promises plan includes the addition of a new property in north idaho who will solely focus on putting away drug traffickers. [applause] gov. little: unlike drug

friendly states including our neighboring oregon, we are sending a clear message to criminals that the only place they are welcome in idaho is behind bars. [applause] we will also see the benefits of our meaningful investments in corrections. we are demonstrating we can be tough on crime while ensuring those that want to be productive members of society they have appear off ramp to a better life. when it comes to the safety of americans china and russia are working arson the clock to inflict harm through cyber threats. we routinely keep back fortune hackers to protect idahoans data and leading experts of the idaho national lab continue to fight

such bad actors. but we will do more to protects citizens online. my keeping promises machine reinforces our state's defenses against china an russia by adding more resources to cybersecurity. [applause] my friends, i'm excited to get -- hit the ground running with where we left off with president trump. we stand ready to hold up idaho as a shining example of how to properly and minimally govern. it starts and ends with keeping promises to the people we serve. as we prepare to celebrate the 250th birthday of our great country, we reflect on what it means to be american. our past, our future is rooted in freedom, self-reliance, while

taking care of each other, and the cause of faith in god. to the people of idaho, as your elected leaders, we promise to continue governing responsibly and to freedom and common sense in our decisions. like we've done time and time again, we will deliver on that promise. thank you and god bless. [applause] >> you can't go very far. we are going to talk about that. >> thank you, thank you.