 It's nice to see y'all. My name is Philip Portes. I'm the Texas State Representative for House District 117 and Thank you. I'm here to announce for re-election to no wait That was last night's speech. I'm sorry Gabe I know nonpartisan event. I am Very pleased and very honored to be given the opening remarks today for this wonderful event I know that also that I'm One of the few speakers between you and our San Antonio spurs this evening. We got a big game tonight. I think Everybody's excited as we're on it going Everybody's what's that? Thank You senator goes first go So on behalf of the leadership the emissarios and the proud members of the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce I would like to welcome you the El Propagano Hotel for the 13th annual state of the district banquet This is just one of the wonderful benchmark events of this proud organization that dates back to over 20 years Colonel Jimmy Cassiano Tino Durant a good friend of ours and other West Side leaders all the need To come together and create an organization to fight for the best interests of small businesses of the West Side and Almost 20 years later here. We are in this wonderful evening with all these wonderful people here Let's give a round of applause to the West Side West Chamber of Commerce We have two very honored guests this evening to very dear friends of mine One of them. She's been a mentor of mine for many years even back when I was an aide to then mayor Ed Garza and we also have one of our Dear friends strong advocate for the community My good friend what congressman Joaquin Castro? I believe the congressman is on his way or should be here any minute now, so we'll give him a round of applause And once again as I mentioned before one of my good friends in a mentor of mine We have our state senator and our next lieutenant governor of the great state of Texas senator. Lethisa van de Pute Thank You senator please Stand up So we have such such a great List of guests here, and I know there's many other business leaders here from San Antonio and West and Bear County and I believe that One day I'm going to also give a state of the district Gabe says that we'll be working that out soon So I'm not going to go into any details about how district 117 is doing tonight But I hope to do that in the near future But ultimately the south side and the west side of San Antonio and Bear County are continuing to grow The growth is just exploding if you drive out to those sides of town 1604 and Petranco 1604 in Culebra You'll see that there is so many new businesses So many new developments So many new rooftops from families moving to those sides of town where in the past that hadn't been happening We hadn't had the type of growth and opportunity That we had had and seen in other parts of the city and other parts of the county But that is changing and that is changing because of the leadership of Gabe buddy It's because of the leadership of congressman Castro because of the leadership of senator van de Pute and All of you here in the room that own small businesses that participate in the west San Antonio chamber You are the reason that those sides of towns are developing are being revitalized and are continuing to grow and Ultimately provide a greater quality of life for families and children's living on that side of town So I thank you for your dedication to both the south and the west side of San Antonio I thank you for willing to take that sacrifice and move your businesses and hire your employees from those areas in those neighborhoods We appreciate that and we will continue to do what we have to do We We will continue to do what we have to do as your elected leaders to provide a pro business Growth economy and a pro-business environment for you and your businesses there on the west and south sides of San Antonio so thank you again for allowing me to say the introductory remarks today We do have a wonderful program this evening, and I'm going to go ahead and introduce Everyone's good friend here and the emcee for tonight is tonight's event He's been the president of this wonderful organization for the last two years Leading some great changes for the group. I've known him for many years as a friend He and I worked together as assistants there at City Hall for a few years And he's been doing a lot of great things also in the private sector so once Let's go ahead and give a big round of applause Ladies and gentlemen for our friend the emcee for tonight's event the president of the west chamber mr. Gabe buddy us Well, he read that word for word folks Big round of applause for state representative Philip Cortez He's a part of a fantastic State delegation that we have that's led by our wonderful state senator who we're going to be hearing from a little later Folks like Carlos Uresti Folks like Joe Faria's folks like Roland Gutierrez. There's just some great leadership. That's working Justin Rodriguez Jose Menendez Great leaders that are doing great work there At the state for us in Austin now again on behalf of our emissario star board of directors and our very proud membership Thank you so very much for joining us this evening at the beautiful of Tropicano hotel for the 13th annual state of the district featuring congressman Joaquin Castro Again, my name is Gabe Farias. I'm the president of this wonderful organization I've been the president for the last two years my two-year anniversary is coming up here in just a couple of weeks And I am just so excited that we're able to carry the torch For folks that started this wonderful event from Colonel Jimmy Casiano to Mary Cruz to look at this Galvan Who's here to Crystal Vargas? This has been a benchmark for this organization For the last 13 years and we're just so very proud and I'm so very proud and so very humble to just Have an opportunity to continue with this wonderful tradition. I've been told by the one person Who can pretty much tell me anything she wants to do my wife? No jokes tonight. We ain't we got to get out of here by 8 o'clock So that's that's it no jokes for the evening, but we're excited my wife She just gave kind of an Arsenio Hall the fist bump there Katie. Good job. All right We're excited tonight's a great night not only for our organization, but man How many you guys are anxious to see the spurs when their fifth NBA title? Well this thing wraps up about 10 o'clock, so you should be able to catch at least the fourth quarter. No, I'm joking. It's not We've got a full agenda ahead So I'm gonna go ahead without further delay bring up an individual who is just a wonderful friend a Wonderful partner to the West San Antonio Chamber of Commerce to deliver the invocation Somebody who I hold in very high regards. Mr. Jane and Slater the president of our Lady the Lake University Thank you for Gabe Farias and his West San Antonio San Antonio Chamber team for gathering us here this evening We are so proud to be citizens of the very heart of San Antonio It's Westside We praise and thank you for gifting your son and our brother Joaquin with so many wonderful gifts and talents We are very grateful that he accepted the call to leadership in our Congress and Has used his many gifts in working for all of us We are blessed in his service Continue to grace him and all of us his constituents with the wisdom to make those decisions Which will bring about that peace among us that that is the essence of the gospel message Help him and all of us Continue to be people who work for justice and write relationships and Provident God Give all of our senators and congresswomen and men the courage and will to pass comprehensive Immigration reform We ask this with trust in your providence. Amen and Ghost burrs go Thank you so very much sister boy. You guys are in for a treat Will you please stand and I'm gonna call up miss Valeria? How digi from kidsville News she's gonna come up here. Come on up. How are you? She's gonna sing the national anthem What's so proud enjoying yourselves? Again, thank you so much for joining us tonight here for the 13th annual the 2014 state of the district featuring Congressman Joaquin Castro now walking around I've been ordered by two board members that I I have to tell a joke right now So who here what by show of hands who wants to hear a joke? Okay, well, that's that's the majority of the room. I'm gonna tell a joke that my daughter Naya Marie Actually, my father did not raise his hand out of all the people here He did not raise his hand. Wow. I'm gonna tell a joke that my daughter came home from school and Told me my wife just looked at me. She said is it a good one? Are you sure? My five-year-old daughter comes home one day and she tells me jokes from time to time And I think at a breakfast or two before I've told you a Naya Marie joke So this is a true Naya Marie joke and I and I may have to paraphrase Just a bit because there's quite a few cameras rolling. It's not that bad of a joke But this is the night crowd and I think I think I can get away with this night She comes up to me. She says dad. I got a joke for you. I said, okay She says how do Latinos cut pizza and I looked at her and I went, okay, how do Latinos cut pizza? She goes with little ceasars. How about that, huh? There you go That's your one joke for the night and you're gonna have to live with that You know, we've got plenty of folks that we wow my wife is nodding her head like no We got plenty of folks that we need to acknowledge tonight. This is a fantastic group And you know these types of events we can't put them on we can't hold these things without Outstanding support from our corporate our corporate partners and we're so very fortunate to have a good number of them and it starts with With the folks from Port San Antonio there are underwriting sponsor for tonight's event Bruce Miller Alex Nava, I know that Chris Alderette and Andrew on Guiano from the board are here tonight But a big round of applause for our title sponsor Port San Antonio Also wanted to mention a couple of our new corporate sponsors that we've had this has been a real good year for adding Corporate participation here at the chamber One of our new ones motorola solutions, man They're really absolutely stepping it up for the businesses of the west side of San Antonio Dale Chapman is here Dale a big round of applause for motorola solutions Also another one of our groups that you know every time we ask every time we we have any vent these guys continually step up for us The San Antonio Police Officers Association Jimmy Rodriguez Mike Haley and that outstanding group guys Thank you very much for supporting our organization Also, have you driven down Frio and seen that beautiful new apartment complex that's going up Right there near Guadalupe Street just a wonderful addition of the west side Catamount constructors are here one of our new corporate sponsors. I know Rebecca Mansfield is here Rebecca Where are you at? There you go round of applause for Catamount More market apartments on the west side, especially around UTSA. That is absolutely what we need And we're thankful that you guys are providing that need also as usual playing a big role in tonight's event As they do for all of our major events CPS energy AT&T Lopez printing an IBC Bank. Thank you guys so very much for supporting our organization And I'm gonna list our table sponsors for tonight And we've got a bunch of them and you guys again you came through for us Broadway Bank You guys are always there for us Brook City base the Center for Healthcare Services Central Electric Jefferson Bank Methodist Healthcare Ministries our Lady of the Lake The San Antonio River Authority via Metropolitan Transit and especially our good friends over at Yellow Cab guys Thank you very much a round of applause for all of our sponsors today a couple of other partners that we that you see here today You see him walking around taking pictures and it's such a valuable part of Our opportunity and the way that we're able to tell the story of what we're doing But Melendez entertainment where's Mario and I know Michelle is here But but Michelle Raina and Mario Melendez from Melendez entertainment taking the pictures you can catch the shots from this event on their website at Melendez entertainment Dot-com also tonight special thanks to now cast San Antonio If you're there sitting there and you know folks are I didn't get a chance to make it just text them Let them know that it's right now Erring our now cast s a dot-com so round of applause for Melendez entertainment and now cast s a Now the fun part I get to acknowledge all of the elected officials In the room and I think because of the game we have more elected officials than we have actual people here But we do have a great support I mean it's fantastic support and before we get to our elected officials I'd like to acknowledge two of our board members one that you're gonna hear from here in just a moment Our board chair a guy that it's just an absolute champion We kind of came in the same time here with the leadership at the West Chamber But our good friend your good friend our board chairman John Leal also You know Broadway Bank has been a wonderful supporter of our organization and we have our incoming chair for 2015 She's our vice chair now incoming chair for 2015 Grace Rodriguez Elliott grace That's the boss in 2015 right there. I'm excited And again, we have some wonderful hard-working elected officials That are here and we're gonna be hearing from this one a little bit later Man to say that I admire this person is an absolute understatement And you're gonna hear this several times you need to start drinking game every time you hear this phrase because you're gonna hear it a Lot until she is our next lieutenant governor for the state of Texas a round of applause for state senator Leticia Vandepie I know we heard from him a little earlier, but a round of applause for a state representative Phil Cortez who's joining us for Folks, he's the best-looking guy in the room your district 118 state representative Joe farias He is a handsome man, isn't he? And you know guys, we are so very fortunate here in San Antonio I spent some time at City Hall and boy. I was around some dynamic city council Some city council members in the past and this city council we have now rivals any from our mayor One through ten these guys are just wonderful and I think we may have made quorum tonight I'm not sure but we have a handful of them in the room tonight Diego Bernal from district one. Where's councilman Bernal that I know he's here All right and She represents the area where I grew up in a district three a part of town that I worked in Councilwoman Rebecca Villagran a round of applause for Rebecca Villagran also representing district four Councilman Ray Saldana another just dynamic young leader here in San Antonio Councilman, can you show off the shirt you got it? You got it? He's got the coolest shirt in town or two coolest shirt in the room. There you go. Look at that That's a youth medium folks right there. He's born a youth medium Man, I don't think I ever wore youth medium. That's the problem Let's see here. Where are we at? Oh my goodness She covers the west side of San Antonio. She has just been a wonderful breath of fresh air for the west side She's been a friend of mine for several years. I know she's here your district five council person Shirley Gonzales Shirley. All right And the guy who came in second for best-looking guy in the room Sorry councilman Ray Lopez man. Hey, where you at Ray? Councilman Lopez. There you go. All right. I don't know. It's close. It's dad stand up. Stand up I don't know. What am I doing talking about good-looking guys? And I know he was on the list I think he may have been here earlier, but a round of applause for another one of our west side leaders Chris Medina the district seven councilman, please He carried this event for 11 years and he did it with a ton of pride Now doing a great job at via former congressman and our friend a big round of applause. He's here Charlie Gonzalez. Where's Charlie? Hey, there you go Sir, you are the man trust me From the San Antonio River Authority. I know we've got a couple of board members here Jerry Gonzalez worst is Jerry here. I know Jerry's one of the recently. Hey Jerry. All right, one of the board members from the San Antonio River Authority Also former councilwoman for district five former executive director for the West San Antonio Chamber and someone Who has been on the front lines fighting the great fight got a ton of respect for this lady. Look at this Galvan Look at this. Thank you very much for coming today and also representing the Alamo Colleges on the board of directors Another just a wonderful friend of the West Chamber. Mr. Joe Alderette Joe. All right. All right now I have the pleasure of introducing our next speaker our leader board chairman John Leal Chairman Leal has been at the forefront of the transition of this organization first assuming the post in June of 2012 Completing the term for the previous board chairman who resigned from that position Then being installed in January of 2013 for his full two-year term He is a tireless advocate for this organization and he has been instrumental throughout through and through his support and support of CPS energy and allowing this chamber to grow and Prosper ladies and gentlemen a big round of applause from CPS energy the chairman of the board of directors for the West Chamber Mr. John Leal So Gabe says keep it quick. He was up here for what 15 minutes Behind schedule I will keep it quick and I'll tell Gabe, you know a great event gave to you and your staff for putting this together Congressman, please. Thank you so much for spending your evening with us and addressing this group and For your leadership your tireless efforts on the west side of San Antonio. Thank you so much in between San Antonio and DC It really means a lot to all of us. I Want to say thank you to a few guests that are here. There are too many to name all at once But I just want to tell each member of council and our elected officials. Thank you so much for joining us today My friends and family at our CPS energy tables. Thank you for joining us. I don't have family there But Jesse Hernandez you're like a brother, so I'll call you out in particular. Thank you for joining us this evening with your lovely wife events like this give us an opportunity to to hear from those that are important to the west side for offering Meaningful engagement with those people that set policy that really affects whether you're a small business owner Your large corporation your university your college your student Again, we just really try to do what's right for the community What I have next is to offer an opportunity to introduce someone who's very similar in that nature someone that we look up to We've known her as a state representative. We know her now as a state senator We'll soon know her as someone who carries statewide office An inspirational leader Some of that I admire someone that Gabe and I have talked about quite a bit since I came to San Antonio 10 years ago a Leader who keeps the hearts and minds of the west side and in San Antonio Close to hers and that's what makes it important here. It's it's really Electing people who are advocates of the community who will watch out for us and take care of us when we need it It's a leader and she's a leader who's true to herself and true to us and it really makes a difference It's my pleasure and privilege to invite future lieutenant governor with this event of you to the stage Thank you very much John. That was a very kind introduction and I am So glad to be in San Antonio Tonight and it's a special night tonight. We start that game series to the drive for five Absolutely that goes first go And so I know that I could probably fulfill my task In a very few short minutes But it's really important for you to know how much Our keynote speaker is so well respected now I can tell you firsthand that It's that great public education that bedrock of What is going to be the template for representative democracy right a great education? But it's more than that You see our congressman Comes from a family that valued hard work and determination from his grandmother Who worked to and sometimes three jobs? living On the west side working on the west side all to give her daughter the opportunity to get an education To have it a little bit better to have better opportunities and She did and our Rosie Was the beneficiary of her mother's hard work and dreams and so it's no wonder that our congressman has that same DNA thread That it is that hard work determination, but the compassion and willingness To give voice to those who sometimes Don't have their voice Their voices don't echo in the power chambers in our state capital and in our US capital Joaquin Castro has been an absolute Wonderful public servant and I know that firsthand Because I had had the opportunity to work with him in 2003 after returning back to San Antonio and Really beginning to be involved in neighborhood politics He knew that when the opportunity came to run for the state legislature that he would be eminently qualified And I got to tell you when he first got there there are people because I mean let's face it you were really young And they thought you know, is this another bright star from San Antonio Very quickly Not only was he known as someone who paid attention to the details But someone who never left his district Someone who could see the big picture of what state government supposed to do and we do everything from agriculture to zoning always first in his mind How does this affect public policy for the next generation What does this do for our students? It's no wonder that he was tapped to be in leadership positions particularly in the higher ed arena And I can tell you how effective he is because as a legislator We have these these pieces of bills these laws and I know that there are Organizations in this room whether it's the river authority the port authority Certainly our first responders and our police officers association in that legislative session You've got a hundred and forty days and political capital is present. I mean it is present and it is precious You only have that many days and if you don't accomplish your job you won't have another chance for another two years and So it's with this sense of urgency and those of us that have these You know these these bills they're like our children and People here you know how important they are got to get this done or not it is not going to happen for jobs at the port It's not going to happen to protect our first responders and their families It's not going to happen with the authorities that you need to plan for drought control for our river authorities It's not going to happen for our college students or are those in public schools, right? So it's precious And I treat all my bills like my babies Okay, I had six babies, but sometimes you know you have more than a hundred bills So I feel like they're my children and I work so hard to get them through the Senate But they have to get through the house We've got a wonderful legislative delegation Those Bear County members they work very hard. They're up early and they're staying late when they need to do the work But as a daughter of an army veteran Who also started his teaching career at Edgewood? I knew that for me the protection for our veterans and our education system Were the two of the things that were the most precious for me And although I lost my dad almost a year ago It still reminds me every day that his service to our country much like The men and women in this room who have had service to our country So when I have bills that deal with veterans and education I needed a strong champion someone who was very well positioned and respected within the legislature to carry them through and I turned to Joaquin Castro One very special bill college credit for heroes We all know how difficult it is for transitioning veterans into the workforce But we know that they've received these wonderful skills in the military, but they don't translate to college credit So think about someone who's trying to come here to St. Phillips and Get a nursing degree and They start teaching that biology and anatomy try to put in IVs They're an army medic and they've been doing it in combat theater with bullets flying Y'all ought to be able to get credit for that and So the vision that Joaquin and I had was to give our veterans and our active-duty military Credit appropriately For those skill sets that they received and were very well trained in the military Translate them so you don't waste taxpayer money. You don't waste the veterans time and they get a foot ahead It was difficult to get that one through That's how you higher ed folks at some point or oh, no, we don't want you know I want to give them credit when I want to give credit Thank goodness our community colleges right away stepped up to the plate But in tough times just like our veterans protected us I trusted Joaquin to carry that over and you got it passed and thank goodness We've had a wonderful success for our veterans in programs like nursing and logistics and so many others That you made possible The other bill that I handed you Was something of a recognition of the Hazelwood Act. Those of you know that we have military members that serve in Texas have 150 hours of college credit and a lot of our veterans Because of their injuries or because time has passed They don't use it But we know it's the whole family that serves and So how do we translate that? difficult to get through Third session I tried to get it through Joaquin took it over in the house and today We have thousands and thousands of children a Veterans who passed on their legacy to attend college Thank you Joaquin for making that happen in the house Amazing amazing so many people will tell you that he's a rising star. I disagree Folks our congressman is Already a shining star. Please welcome up my dear friend our colleague our congressman Joaquin Castro Good evening Y'all ready for the game All right, I shortened my remarks so that everybody could get home and First of all, I want to say thank you to the West Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to be here today This is the second annual event. I know that Charlie did 11 of them Charlie I don't know that I'll make your mark, but I'm glad to do the second one and it's great to see you here Thank you, let these you for that wonderful introduction. I'll tell you something first of all Let these is going to be our next lieutenant governor with everybody's help But if she wasn't running for lieutenant governor, I would tell the president You should make this woman the head of the VA because she has done so much for veterans She would straighten that place out she was so passionate about veterans issues and education issues and and I think the best person working behind the scenes with both Republicans and Democrats to do something that you don't see often done in politics today Which is to get something done for the people that she represents Thank you for all of your work and all the work that you're gonna do on behalf of the people of Texas You know since we last visited I have had a whirlwind of a year Just about every life change you can imagine I have I have gone through since I took office in January of 2013. I of course I got a new job and going to Congress. I got engaged. I got married. I had a child I bought a condo my brother's leaving me and going to Washington I guess he's joining me in Washington. It has been such an incredible year and you know amidst all of the Wonderful personal things my daughter is now almost six months. I got married at 39 years old guys I think I waited long enough, right? You know I used to tell people that there were two ways to tell we on and I apart the quick way Which is that he had a wedding ring and I didn't and the easy way, which is that I'm a lot better looking than he is Now there's only one way to tell us apart, which is I'm still a lot better looking than he is But amidst all of that the wonderful personal things for me I got to be honest with you last year the last year in Congress had been a tough one You know where to start? 2013 was the least productive year in congressional history And I say that obviously without any pride But with a lot of concern as an American citizen and as somebody who represents you in the United States Congress the Congress in 2013 Pass the least number of bills that any Congress has passed since we've been keeping record Somewhere between 67 and 72 bills to give you a sense of scale in the 1940s Harry Truman campaigned against the do-nothing Congress that Congress passed in its term somewhere around 900 bills Last year we passed 600 we passed between 67 and 72. So at last we passed another 900 this year We're gonna be well below that mark And what that means is that we have a lot of work to do for the American people We have a lot of work to do here in San Antonio Y'all have often heard me say that all of us in public service and those of us in the community and in business All of us working together as Americans our highest calling is to build out what I call the infrastructure of opportunity To create a society in America where we continue to build great public schools and universities a strong health care system and An economy that's built around well-paying jobs So that when people put in a hard day's work They can support themselves and their family members and since I've been elected to office I have I have been working every single day to live up to that standard to do everything that I can Working with people other elected officials people in the community people in business to make sure that the people of San Antonio Have every opportunity in front of them and it's very special to be able to do that You know, this is the main the 20th district is the main San Antonio district as Charlie will tell you it has an incredible lineage Maury Maverick was once the congressman for the 20th district He was also the mayor of San Antonio Of course the district was represented for over 30 years by the legendary iconic Henry B. Gonzalez champion of the West Side of San Antonio and Also represented very wonderfully by his son Charlie Gonzalez who continued that legacy And so I came into office I Came into office very cognizant of the fact that I had big shoes to fill and an incredible role to play And it's very special for me because this district runs all the way from the south side of San Antonio Including much of the West Side, you know the majority of the West Side and all the way into Northwest San Antonio It covers everything from Harlandale all the way to Holodas and much of the West Side where I grew up And you know, I was visiting earlier with Frank Bernie as we were saying hello I was saying hello to some folks here and he reminded me that the last one of the last times We were in this room together. I think the last time actually was when my brother We rented this place out for a week so that my brother could practice his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2012 and How special it was two weeks ago today to hear my brother accept the nomination Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and mentioned in his press conference that he and I grew up on the West Side of San Antonio That was a very proud moment for me There is such incredible potential in our neighborhoods And I know that Gabe Farias and John and everybody else at the Chamber is doing everything that they can to build out that infrastructure of opportunity for the West Side and so as we all work together to do that There are a few things that we have to do in my office The first priority is service Making sure that we are properly serving the people that we represent each congressional district represents more or less 700,000 people so you can imagine it in the last year and a half or so I feel that over 20,000 letters and responded over 20,000 letters Tens of thousands of phone calls some of them very nice and saying good things and a few thousand saying very mean and ugly things You get across the board response as Charlie knows on a wide range of issues But we've also handled a thousand constituent cases and in those cases for example my staff has done a wonderful work We have recovered over one point six million dollars in veterans benefits For example for all of the hard-working men and women who've honorably served our country and deserve their benefits We've gotten about a million and a half dollars for them Hundreds of thousands of dollars in social security benefits for people in our in our district who've also been seeking to claim those and Done, you know just tons of other kinds of cases So I always tell folks that first and foremost our job is to serve the people that we represent So our lines are always open our door is always open both in San Antonio and in Washington So that we can help and however we can and I think it's a testament to my staff that they have been Successful in doing that and I hope that the ones that are here will stand up for a second And I hope that we can recognize all of their wonderful work. I know Kerry and Lauda Adam Roseanne Tony Thank you for all of the work that y'all do You know as we think about San Antonio going forward I have to say how blessed we are that we live in a city where the unemployment rate is significantly below the national average It's at 4.8 percent now That's incredible We also live in a city that had the wisdom many years ago to build out our economy beyond our true traditional anchors Those of you that are my age and more senior to me will remember there was a time in San Antonio Where our economy was anchored mostly in two things in the military Once upon a time we had five military bases and in tourism San Antonio for many years now has been the most visited city in all of Texas The Riverwalk and the Alamo are the two most visited sites in the state of Texas And those were things that we could be proud of but in the 1990s. We received a jolt the BRAC Commission Announced that they would close Kelly Air Force base Y'all remember the shockwave that that sent through our city right on the west side of San Antonio That base had ushered tens of thousands of families over the years San Antonio families into the middle class and so we face what I would consider an identity crisis Not only did we have to figure out how we were how we were going to replace those jobs But how we were going to move our economy so that we wouldn't be reliant just on these two economic bases Economic anchors and over the years and even before that with Mayor C. Snetto's we did incredible things to diversify our economy And today all of the success that you see a lot of that success The the seeds to that were planted years ago So now we have a high-tech sector that's growing with incredible corporate citizens like rack space a biotech industry That's growing a manufacturing industry. That's growing. I had a chance yesterday to visit Toyota Manufacturing Company over on the south side Toyota of course just announced that they're relocating their North American manufacturing headquarters Unfortunately, not to San Antonio, but at least they're coming to Texas to North Texas in Plano And I told the folks at Toyota that I want to do every single thing that I can to make sure that the next time They decide to move a line whether it's the Prius or the Tacoma or some other Vehicle that they decide to build that right here in San Antonio instead of somewhere else That's the kind of work that we have to continue to go after so Building up our economy and continuing it continuing to diversify it The reason that that matters so much is because the better our economy does the more we can attract well-paying jobs The better all of our families will do and it also means that for our young people You won't hear a story that we've heard over and over again throughout the ages in San Antonio What happens is that somebody graduates from UTSA or st. Mary's or lay the lake They graduate with an engineering degree or some other degree and they have this talk with their family Just before they graduate and they tell their parents I really want to stay in San Antonio But I can't find the kind of job that I'm looking for here at home So I'm gonna move off to Houston or Austin or Los Angeles or somewhere else and what happens too often They never come back Their family sees them at Thanksgiving and Christmas Maybe on their birthday and maybe they move back 30 or 40 years later when they're getting ready to retire We need to do a better job of recruiting recruiting employers here so that that story is not told in San Antonio It also means that not only do you have to be able to attract the jobs but to attract the jobs You have to improve your education system and Texas has a long way to go in making that true We have an education system that ranks in the bottom half among American states And that's a challenge because when you're going out and recruiting companies You have to be able to tell them that you have the workforce that they need to succeed So for San Antonio, you know, we said we decided a few years ago now that we would take things into our own hands That we wouldn't wait either for Austin or for Washington to do the right thing and the mayor and the city council passed pre-k for SA and San Antonians made sure that San Antonio now has the most comprehensive pre-k program in all of Texas And that's something that we can all be proud of It's also something that I've built my legislation around You know two of the pieces of legislation that I filed one is to expand pre-k in the United States To offer incentives and grants to replicate the success that we've had in San Antonio So that pre-k is offered to more people throughout the country Also tried to make it easier for students to take on student debt. That was the first bill that I filed You know, there is a lot of student student debt out there And there has been this fear that just as we had a home mortgage crisis that we could also face a student loan crisis Where people are unable to to continue to repay their student loans So we need to make sure that the repayment terms and the loans that they are taking out are as favorable as possible To students so that they can afford to go to college and then also come into their careers Without being saddled with debt that they simply are overwhelmed by so those are a few issues that I'm working on and Also, you know when we think about our city and we think about the challenges we face We have to talk about the issue of health care Texas has is a is home to the highest percentage of people that have absolutely no health care coverage at all 25% of Texans including over 25% of kids have no health care coverage at all And so I was proud to be somebody who was pushing for the expansion of Medicaid You know the hospital association in Texas and some of the chambers of commerce have been good about asking the governor and the legislature To expand Medicaid coverage which would cover over a million Texans and tens of thousands of San Antonians But also somebody who didn't shy away from pushing the Affordable Care Act I know that it's been something that's been contentious There have been folks on both sides of the argument some people who believe that it was misplaced policy some people who simply wish it away, but I'm not one of those people We are an estate that has the highest percentage the highest percentage of people that have no health care coverage Their health care providers are in the emergency room They are the reason that in Texas in our counties Particularly in big counties like Bear County, Travis County, Harris County and others Our taxpayers are saddled with huge bills because we have so many folks who show up at the emergency room Get treated and then when the bill comes they simply can't pay So who pays for that that money doesn't just go away the taxpayers pay that bill the Affordable Care Act last year helped 26,000 new San Antonians get health care coverage so that they're able to pay for their own health care coverage Instead of the taxpayers in San Antonio and in Texas and they're also able to get coverage for themselves and their families And I think that's something that we can all be proud of and I will Close with this because I know that we want to go on to the game There's also a big issue that many of us in Texas and other places have been working on and something that would be very important for our city San Antonio is a city that was built by immigrants Everyone from Mexicans to Germans to Italians to Irish Europeans people from all over the world The fact is there are four or five or six major American and Texas industries That would not exist and would not succeed the way they do But for immigrant labor we know in Silicon Valley for example and in burgeoning tech centers like Austin That 40% of the new high-tech jobs and businesses are created by immigrants who are entrepreneurs So everything from high-tech to low-tech the agriculture industry self reports that 50% of their workers are undocumented immigrants Which probably means that 75% of their workers are undocumented immigrants This is an issue that's important to Texans and I want to say how proud I am of people from all over the political spectrum From Republicans in the Chamber of Commerce Evangelical churches and other Christian churches who have joined with advocates on the left Concerned about the welfare of immigrants who've stepped forward to ask Congress to finally pass Comprehensive immigration reform we should have done it in 2013. I'm hopeful that we will do it in 2014 It's time that as a nation we acknowledge the role that immigrants play in our society We acknowledge the hard work that they do Listen, there are not too many people who are competing to work a construction job when it's a 102 degrees in July in San Antonio There aren't a lot of people who are competing to work in the fields of California picking grapes when it's a hundred degrees out in the sun Those are the facts. I think we all acknowledge that That doesn't mean that people who are against comprehensive reform don't have some strong arguments You know oftentimes in Washington people act like they're a hundred percent right and everybody else is a hundred percent wrong Leticia knows and others who have served on city councils and an elective position know that that's just not true Just because we believe we have the stronger argument doesn't mean that the other side is a hundred percent wrong They have some strong arguments But when all is said and done and we add up the pluses and minuses This is something that we have to do for the country going forward And so I hope that we'll pass it in 2014 But I suspect that if we don't that we'll pass it by 2016 and I want to say that I'll keep working for that I'll keep working for the people of San Antonio for the west side of San Antonio where I was born and raised and Where I'm proud to be. Thank you very much. We'll see all next year and go Spurs go Your congressman ladies and gentlemen Joaquin Castro Congressman on behalf of our organization, there's some beautiful things in the west side. We've got beautiful businesses and Beautiful schools beautiful universities. We thought we've also got some wonderful art and one of our artists Blas Fernandez has prepared this for you on behalf of our organization read is On our board of directors. We'd like to present that that's how you do it when you got game one of the NBA finals that's how you Listen to all the people in the room saying stick to the time Gabe Guys, thank you so very much. You're more than welcome to stick around. We're gonna have a Spurs viewing party We're gonna get that screen lit up. We're gonna dim the lights and we're gonna play game one here Right there on the big screen. So if you want to stick around, we're gonna run the game until half time So you don't have to like have a mad dash to your car Enjoy the evening. We're gonna continue with the spirits Serving over there. But again on behalf of the chamber on behalf of our board of directors, thank you Thank you. Thank you for the support. Enjoy the rest of your Thursday and go Spurs go