The last nine months have been trying for Utahns and our state. At the start of 2020, our economy was thriving, and Utah’s unemployment rate was 2.5 percent – the lowest in the nation and the lowest in the state’s history. Then everything came to an abrupt halt as COVID-19 reached our state’s borders.
This year has been challenging, but Utahns have found more strength and determination to overcome our current difficulties and prepare for future disruptions. I want to express my gratitude and acknowledge the healthcare workers, teachers, law enforcement, business owners, Utahns and state and local elected officials for stepping up to address this pandemic head-on. Nothing good just happens, and while we can and will continue to make improvements, it is wise to take a moment to recognize how far we have come as a state.
Healthcare workers have tirelessly labored to help Utahns in need, all while dealing with an unknown virus and finding new treatments to battle COVID-19. Our teachers adjusted to online learning during the early months of the pandemic and then seamlessly transitioned back to in-person classes. Business owners found ways to stay open and keep their employees and customers safe by implementing new procedures. Families adjusted to working from home while helping their children learn remotely. Utahns found new ways to care for their elderly family members. Law enforcement overcame unforeseen and unprecedented challenges and found ways to continue protecting our communities.
Though lawmakers are only a part-time citizen Legislature, they have worked tirelessly along with all the state and local elected officials to help Utahns during this health crisis. In the last nine months, the Utah Legislature created the Public Health and Economic Emergency Commission to provide legislative input and recommendations to the governor regarding COVID-19, received and deployed more than $1.5 billion CARES Act funding in a responsible and timely manner and pushed for more personal responsibility and less restrictions on businesses, resulting in our state’s new transmission index.
Additionally, the Legislature increased overall public education funding by more than $110 million and social services by 5.4 percent, despite facing an $850 million deficit. As legislators, these efforts were only possible because of decades of judicious planning and distribution of rainy-day funds and pro-business tax policies. We stand on the shoulders of the legislators who came before us and hope Utah’s future policymakers can stand on the foundation we are building today.
A balanced, blended and holistic approach is the correct way to manage COVID-19. New York, a state that took a drastically different approach to managing COVID-19, is now projected to have a $59 billion shortfall. The World Health Organization and Dr. Fauci recently agreed with Utah’s balanced approach of protecting people’s health and livelihoods. Shutting down the economy, isolating ourselves and not leaving our homes is not mentally or physically healthy.
Our state has made it possible for Utahns to protect their health and provide for their families by setting realistic objectives. However, our work is not done. Our state continues to face current and unknown challenges. Utah has one of the lowest case fatality rates, though COVID-19 cases are high. Our unemployment rate is low, but we are still having record levels of unemployment insurance claims.
The full impact this world-wide pandemic will have on individuals, families, small businesses and our economy as a whole are still unknown. Other states and countries’ responses may have a negative trickle-down impact on Utah’s economy. Additionally, we do not know what the 2022 state budget will look like or the future threats facing Utah.
However, there is hope. A COVID-19 vaccine is on the horizon, and the state is working on finding sustainable solutions in the meantime. Weber State University<https://senate.utah
Our fight with the virus is not over, but we know how it will end. As a state and nation we will persevere and overcome. Our experience with the pandemic has caused me to reflect on how President Abraham Lincoln faced some of the most significant challenges this country has ever encountered. While what we are experiencing is only a mere glimpse of what he went through, it is easier to imagine the anxiety he felt trying to navigate an unprecedented time in American history.
I’m inspired by how, during Lincoln’s most stressful moments, instead of striking at his enemies, he gave inspiration, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan-to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”
As we prepare for the upcoming general session, I have full confidence that our state will continue to step up and unite to find sustainable solutions for all issues and challenges we face. Together, we will make Utah more robust than it was at the beginning of 2020.
