Last day of the 2017 Utah Legislature – lawmakers adjourn at midnight – and what are the high and low points as seen by House Speaker Greg Hughes and Senate President Wayne Niederhauser?
First the best:
Hughes, R-Draper, says for him the major achievement over the last 45 days are the various appropriations, new laws, and compromises reached in aiding the homeless in Utah.
It’s a multifaceted advance, says Hughes, who has personally invested himself in the issue over several legislative sessions.
UtahPolicy figures around $35 million have been budgeted for homeless work for fiscal 2017-2018, which starts July 1.
“This is a strong plan, a big lift, put together by Rep. (Francis) Gibson and others, including Senate leadership,” says Hughes.
“We have moved the needle in a significant way,” added Hughes, even though some of the advances – like building three new homeless centers in Salt Lake County – won’t actually be seen for several years. “There has really been good work here.”
Niederhauser, R-Sandy, also points to the progress lawmakers made on the homeless issue this year as his top achievement.
“Hats off to the Speaker on this issue. He put energy into it and brought the parties together to find a really good solution,” he said. “We still need to find more money for substance abuse and mental illness treatment. Until we do that, we’re not going to solve homelessness.”
Niederhauser says that may involve lawmakers revisiting the Justice Reinvestment Initiative next year.
“We may have to force people into treatment. If they take it, they’ll get a lower penalty. If they refuse, they will get a harsher penalty.”
It’s clear that, while lawmakers did some significant work this year, they still have more ahead.
Second for Hughes is readjusting the current gasoline tax formula, which will allow the state’s fuel tax to adjust upwards slowly as the cost of gas at the refinery, rises.
Two years ago lawmakers reformed the old per-gallon gas tax, turning it more into a sales tax that with growing as inflation increases fuel prices.
But, says Niederhauser, no one expected back then the price of gas drop through the floor – the result is that state fuel revenues have stayed low, and clearly are not keeping up with road construction inflation.
Hughes adds that over time a higher fuel tax take will allow less General Fund sales tax revenues to flow into the Transportation Fund – and through a cascading effect more money will be freed up for public colleges and K-12 education.
Niederhauser listed the liquor reform bill second on his list.
“That’s never easy,” he said. “Everyone did a yeoman’s job getting the stakeholders to buy into the changes. That’s a huge lift.”
Hughes and Niederhauser also list this session’s public education funding as a top achievement.
Lawmakers finally met GOP Gov. Gary Herbert’s 4 percent increase in the WPU – the state’s public school funding formula.
Hughes also likes freshman Rep. Mike Winder’s HB212, which will start a new program where teacher’s who volunteer in poor schools, and see student success, may get up to $5,000 bonuses.
Niederhauser pointed to the money lawmakers freed up to pay for teacher supplies and eliminate license fees.
“It’s not a huge amount of money, but it helps,” he said.
The school grading bill was another big win for lawmakers according to Niederhauser.
“The stakeholders got together, and we came up with a much more fair and transparent system,” he noted. “The grades will still be there, but they won’t be a moving target anymore. Schools will know where they need to get their students.”
Niederhauser also said lawmakers addressed some pressing needs for higher education, targeting allocations where they will help the most.
Finally, Hughes takes pride in the Legislature passing several resolutions asking President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument, or shrink its size – even shrink the size of the 20-year-old Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
“We can (redraw) boundaries to better protect the areas that really need protecting,” said Hughes.
The whole public lands battles this session “are all on the upside,” even though Utah lost the Outdoor Retailers twice-a-year conventions and the estimated $45 million they bring in economic development.
“Important messages were sent and received” in Washington, D.C., said Hughes.
On the downside, Hughes didn’t find much to complain about.
The biggest loss was real tax reform failure – where GOP leaders initially wanted to place part of the sales tax on unprepared food and lower the rate, and lower the income levels where exemptions phased out, and lower that tax rate as well.
“We had the political will to do it, “ said Hughes. But the income tax reform faltered under time pressures, and the food tax died Monday evening when re-scrubbed numbers didn’t show the sales tax gains originally believed.
Next year tax reform will come, pledge Hughes, Niederhauser, and Herbert.
Also, a disappointment in the last few days says Hughes, is Rep. Steve Eliason’s HB452, which died in a tie vote in committee. It’s a bill that would financially aid cities who took in homeless centers.
Hughes said that was “a very important part” of the overall homeless effort. “But we will re-introduce it next year, and it will pass,” said Hughes.
