Jim Justice in 2017 Governor's State of the State speeches

On Budget & Economy: Cut Rainy Day fund by $123M for WV's biggest depression ever

[When you keep digging a hole, you eventually get stuck in the bottom of the hole]. We are such in the hole that we got to quit digging. We got to quit working against one another.

Now, this year, you're going to have to cut the Rainy Day Fund $123 million more. No way around it. Right now.

We've got real problems. I don't mean this in any bad way, but we've got an 18-carat dog's mess, don't we? We do. I didn't create the dog's mess. I have inherited the dog's mess. And I am telling you, you have to have real direction and real ideas and real cooperation together to be able to get out of this.

On Corporations: Raise business B&O tax, sales tax, state fees, & gas tax

Here's what you gotta do. You gotta cut all that we can possibly cut. I've got to have everybody in this state pay a half of a penny in additional sales tax. There is no way around it. I've got to have you pay instead of $30 in DMV fees, I've got to have you pay 50.

The other thing is this, in trying to be fair, I've got to have our businesses pay two-tenths of one percent in a tax that would be equivalent to a B&O tax. It is a tax that Ohio charges 25 hundredths percent. We would charge 20. And the other last thing I will talk to you about is I've got to have ten cents a gallon on gasoline. Now, I am telling you: If you don't do this, you're dead.

I want to sunset them: three years, you can get rid of this.

On Crime: Stiffer laws for drug pushers; treatment for addicts

On Drugs: We have to have stiffer laws to fix the drug problem

I would propose today if we do this, and those dollars flow, I would propose immediately building a facility in Charleston, one in the Eastern Panhandle, and I know the veterans are waiting on the dollars to come from the fireworks tax and everything to build their facility in Beckley. And I would like to skim off some of this money to help them be able to get that facility built.

On Education: Return education back from bureaucracies to local level

I will submit a bill to eliminate any of the unnecessary bureaucracies that we have. We have got to return education back as much as we possibly can to a local level. I have put in my budget a 2 percent raise for all classroom teachers, and I am ashamed that we can't do more.

On Education: Replace Smarter Balance with ACT testing

On Education: We're dead last: 2% teacher raise; and dump state testing

Now, as far as testing, we are testing our kids totally to death. For what? If we were knocking it out of the park, you could argue with me we're doing the right thing. But for crying out loud, we're dead last. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this out. We got to be doing something wrong. That's all there is to it. As far as the testing goes, I am going to propose we throw Smarter Balance in the trash can and we go to ACT testing.

Think about [how we score] A through F for our schools. We do it on a bell curve. We say: "Come to West Virginia. Our schools are mostly all C's." I don't get it. That's got to go. A through F is gone.

On Energy & Oil: Lower the severance tax on coal and gas

On Energy & Oil: Lower, and then tier, the severance tax on coal and gas

But I am telling you, I am not a hog. If we have the bonanza that I think is in front of us with coal--especially metallurgical coals--what if? What if I were to tell you, just this: Think about this for a second. If coal is $35, whoever is mining that is losing money. Lowering the severance tax on that to 2%, or whatever you want to do, okay, I'm good. There's got to be a sweet spot to where we're back to five.

What if it goes to $200 a ton? What happens? There's no way that anybody's cost is going to be greater than $80. At this level right here, anybody's profit is $120 a ton. At this point in time right here, this severance tax needs to be 10%. All it would do is lower the profitability to $110 a ton.

On Environment: I love the outdoors, but regulatory agencies tell you no

Now, I underline--underline, underline, underline--nobody loves the outdoors as much as me. Nobody loves water as much as me. We're not going to break the law. We're got going to do anything to damage the environment to the very best of our abilities. Or our waters. But we are not going to just say no.

On Free Trade: Bring manufacturing back from Vietnam, China and Mexico

On Government Reform: Appoint a Waste Czar to root out agency excess

Now, let me just give you my philosophy of our regulatory agencies. My philosophy is just this: The right person for the right job and they're motivated.

On Tax Reform: Increase fees, gas tax, and business tax to close deficit

Now, there are two ways you can get there. The first way is to just cut more. Are you willing to eliminate all of our state parks? Are you willing to eliminate all of your colleges and universities other than Marshall and WVU? Shut them down? Are you really truly willing to gut your seniors?

You gotta cut all that we can possibly cut. But I've got to have everybody in this state pay a half of a penny in additional sales tax. There is no way around it. I've got to have you pay instead of $30 in DMV fees, I've got to have you pay $50. I've got to have our businesses pay 0.2% in a tax that would be equivalent to a B&O tax. And the last thing is I've got to have ten cents a gallon on gasoline. Now, I am telling you: If you don't do this, you're dead. You're dead beyond belief.

On Technology: Bid all road jobs, with 5% construction severance

Now, let me tell you what else I want to do. For all the successful bidders, I want to charge them a 5 percent construction severance, whatever tax that may be, whatever you want to call it, to the successful bidder only. And my bet is, people, like me in business, will sharpen your pencils like crazy and it won't cost us 5 percent. It may cost us one. And then you know what I want to do? I want to pool that money. That money right there is $2.4 billion. If I could let every job tomorrow, it would amount to $120 million of a 5 percent pool that I would have.