Governor Greg Gianforte marked the first anniversary of his inauguration as the state’s chief executive with a speech and press conference from his office in Helena.

He looked back on the day he was sworn in and described some of his accomplishments in his first 365 days as governor.

“Some of you were here with us 365 days ago,” began Gianforte. “One year ago today I stood in this room and swore a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and Montana. With an outstanding team assembled, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work. Our focus was and still remains, getting our economy going, changing the way Helena does business and protecting our Montana way of life, and we've made great progress.”

Gianforte looked back at the recent legislative session and recalled some of the bills he helped to push through.

“Working with the legislature, we enacted one of the largest tax cuts in history, along with repealing unnecessary and burdensome regulations,” he said. “We invested in our teachers, making it easier for starting teachers to stay in Montana or come back home. We provided seniors and low income Montanans with property tax relief. We strengthened Montana's freedoms from our First and Second amendment protected rights, which do not stop at the doorstep of a college, to our most fundamental right, and that is our right to life.”

Gianforte also looked at the policies enacted during the COVID 19 pandemic in Montana.

“COVID-19 remains a concern, but we're not in the same place we were a year ago,” he said. “We now have additional tools at our disposal, including expanded vaccines and new treatments to prevent severe health outcomes and help to treat Montanans who become infected. And because of the tools available to Montanans and our success with putting them to use, I firmly believe the state does not need to have to exercise emergency powers.”

Coming out of the depths of the pandemic, Gianforte said Montana led the way in getting people back to work.

“We were also the first state in the country to end federal supplemental unemployment benefits and launch a return to work bonus program,” he said. “We incentivized work instead of unemployment, and its working. We've recovered all the jobs lost since the start of the pandemic. Since last January, our unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest rate ever recorded in the state of Montana.”

At the close of his prepared remarks, Gianforte simply stated, “my message today is the same as it was that I shared with the state over this last year; we're just getting started.”

Gianforte then answered questions about affordable housing, distribution of COVID tests, and availability of new COVID treatments throughout the state.

 

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