Welcome to the 22nd day on the Hill.
There’s only 23 days left!
Observations from the Hill
REDUCTIONS AND FUNDING: Appropriations subcommittees are officially wrapping up their work today and tomorrow. That means lawmakers assigned to each of the eight budget committees are recommending 5% in funding reductions, as well as prioritizing new funding needs for their respective spheres of state government.
Here’s a quick overview of some of the reductions and appropriations priorities that stood out to me today:
General Government Appropriations Subcommittee (Full Voting Document)
- Reductions
- State Archives “Open Data Portal” cut: $250K
- Governor’s Office “Voter Outreach Campaign” cut: $211.6K.
- Office of Data Privacy cut: $116.4K
- Funding Priorities
- #4 Local Administrator Advisor Program at $500,000 ongoing
- #5 and #6 State Endorsed Digital Identity (SEDI) at $3.2 million one-time
- #11 Enhanced Campaign Disclosure and Lobbyist Reporting at $1.5 million one-time and $300,000 ongoing
Transportation and Infrastructure Appropriations Subcommittee (Full Voting Document)
- Reductions
- Reductions to Higher Education Capital Projects Fund (SB102-related) ($7.8 million ongoing) and DFCM Capital Improvements ($9.4 million ongoing)
- Transportation Planning Grants cut: $1.5M reduction
- UETN reductions and cost shifts: multiple items reduce software and equipment and personnel at the Utah Education and Telehealth Network while also proposing fee increases/cost recovery.
- Funding Priorities
- #3 Fourth Street Clinic Capital Project at $18 million one-time
- #8 Salt Lake Veterans Home Replacement at $48.8 million one-time
- #17 Union Station Intermodal Entry Improvements at $500,000 one-time
Economic and Community Development Appropriations Subcommittee
- Reductions (Reduction List)
- Cut to Summer Meals: a proposed $550K one-time reduction.
- STEM Action Committee reduction: proposed cut to STEM capacity at CCE.
- Cultural infrastructure cuts: reductions across Arts and Museums, Utah Historical Society, State Library, and SHPO.
- Funding Priorities (Prioritized and Unprioritized List)
- #1 $13.3 million ongoing to implement administrative changes related to SNAP under HR1, the big beautiful bill
- #2 $5 million for The Other Side Village
- #7 and #8 another $5.2 million one time and $3 million ongoing toward homelessness, helping high utilizers in the criminal justice system and mental and behavioral health
Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee
- Reductions (Reduction List)
- Eliminating early literacy software licenses: $10.63M ongoing (plus $121.6K one-time)
- Reducing professional hours for teachers to the bare statutory floor: $34.236M reduction
- Educator compensation pressure: $4.8M reduction by using “current year inflation” and 3% instead of 4% for the educator salary adjustment.
- Funding Priorities (Prioritized List)
- #1 $16 million ongoing to support a grant program toward hiring of paraprofessional staff supporting instruction in K-3 classrooms, supporting early literacy
- #2 $25 million ongoing toward increasing WPU weightings for at-risk students as required by statute
- #3 $3.6 million ongoing and $2.6 million one time toward increasing charter school base funding and other charter school changes
We’ll try to monitor these decisions from today and tomorrow as they disappear into the great black budgetary box known as the Executive Appropriations Committee.
IN THE HOUSE: Representatives passed HB 222 Limitation of Actions Amendments, a bill from Rep. Carl Albrecht that narrows who can bring certain environmental and climate-related lawsuits and raises the evidentiary bar for such lawsuits. Supporters framed it as protecting energy stability and keeping courts out of policymaking. Opponents would probably describe it as preemptively insulating major emitters from accountability. The bill passed by a vote of 63-8.
The House also passed HB 141 International Money Transmission Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Stephanie Gricius, which imposes a tax on international money transfers unless the sender presents specific state-issued ID, specifically not including driving privilege cards that are used by undocumented immigrants. Supporters pitched it as a public safety and anti-fraud measure. Opponents correctly noted that it functions as a regressive tax on immigrant and working-class families sending money for rent, food, or medicine. The bill passed anyway by a vote of 58-15.
Later in the day, the House passed HB 404 Sex-Designated Housing Amendments, sponsored by Rep. David Shallenberger, expanding restrictions on housing for transgender students into off-campus settings. The bill was framed as a continuation of last year’s legislation, but its real effect is to further limit where trans students can safely live, even when housing is privately owned. The bill passed by a vote of 50-20.
Not everything in the House was grim. The House unanimously passed HB 309, a bill from outgoing Rep. Sandra Hollins aligning Utah’s observance of Juneteenth with the federal holiday. The bill doesn’t create a new holiday, it just fixes an odd discrepancy from 2022. Sometimes the Legislature does manage to do a straightforward, decent thing.
IN THE SENATE: Senators passed SB 60 Income Tax Rate Amendments, sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay, which lowers the state income tax rate yet. This year’s income tax rate reduction comes at a cost of $101 million ongoing in state funding for public education and social services, in a year that legislative leadership have described as a “tight” budget year.
Sen. Nate Blouin attempted substituting the bill with a version that would impose a higher income tax rate on those making over $1,000,000 each year, to no avail. The bill passed by a vote of 22-7.
