Welcome to the fourth day on the Hill.
Lawmakers have been ordered to slash state budgets by 5%, including public education. What programs will make the cut?
There’s only 41 days left!
Observations from the Hill
PUBLIC EDUCATION CUTS: The Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee began grappling with legislative directives to identify a 5% reduction in ongoing public education spending, with staff outlining a strategy that avoids across-the-board cuts by instead drawing down nonlapsing balances, restricting certain revenues, and shifting funds into future allocations to cushion FY27.
While staff emphasized these tools as temporary and structural, the Utah State Board of Education floated program-level reductions that raised alarms, particularly proposed 5% cuts to STEM, digital literacy, concurrent enrollment, and career and technical education programs. Board members acknowledged that cuts to digital literacy could have second- and third-order impacts on dual immersion and concurrent enrollment courses, but justified the reductions by citing concerns about student screen time and a desire to redirect funding toward paper-based literacy efforts. Here is the first budget reduction plan and second budget reduction plan from the State Board of Education.
In contrast, the Governor’s budget takes a different approach, recommending no cuts to public education and proposing a one-time $86 million investment in literacy, driven by data showing that roughly one in five Utah students is reading below benchmark, with funding targeted toward reading interventions, behavioral supports, and early literacy initiatives.
UTILITY SOLAR: HB 16 Solar Power Plant Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Colin Jack, passed the House of Representatives today. This bill reduces or eliminates state tax incentives for solar power facilities of over 1 MW if it is on certain prime farm or agricultural lands. The House passed the bill by a vote of 61-8, and it now heads to the Senate.
SAFE STORAGE: Rep. Andrew Stoddard presented his bill, HB 80 Firearm Storage Requirements, in the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee this afternoon. The bill would have made it a class C misdemeanor to fail to lawfully store a firearm and the firearm is then accessed by a minor in an unlawful manner, such as carrying or using the firearm in public place. Despite presentations and public testimony supporting the benefits that come from strong safe storage laws in gun violence prevention, the Committee voted 2-9 against recommending the bill.
