SALT LAKE CITY — By the time the 2023 Utah State Legislature ends next week, lawmakers will have adopted a roughly $28 billion budget.
The powerful Executive Appropriations Committee, which is made up of legislative leadership, approved spending requests and tax cuts late Friday totaling $5.1 billion. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on water conservation measures, education, housing and a modest tax cut.
"It'll reflect what the people of Utah are looking for out of their state budget," said Rep. Val Peterson, R-Orem, the House of Representatives' budget chief.
READ: Latest updates on 2023 Utah State Legislature
Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, the Senate's budget chief, said "there’s a lot of winners through this whole process."
Lawmakers have prioritized $400 million for an income tax cut, which amounts to roughly $200 a year back to the average Utah family making an average income.
Water conservation was one of the biggest winners in the legislative session with $200 million for agriculture optimization, which is new technology to help farmers grow crops with less water.
"We, as an industry, work really hard to take every drop of water seriously that we use. We appreciate the legislature helping us to make sure we’re doing the right thing," said Ron Gibson, a dairy farmer who is also the president of the Utah Farm Bureau.
Other water spending includes:
- $50 million on water reuse and desalinization across the state
- $30 million for infrastructure projects
- $25 million for agriculture water optimization loans
- $25 million for dam safety upgrades
- $15 million to expand secondary water metering, which tracks outdoor water use
- $12.5 million for the Great Salt Lake water trust and a new "lake czar" to oversee a strategic plan to help the lake
- $12 million to expand cloud seeding across Utah
- $5 million for Utah Lake improvements
- $3 million for a public education campaign called "Utah Water Ways" focused on water conservation
- $15 million for a new visitors center at Antelope Island
"A lot in conservation," House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, told FOX 13 News. "We will match or exceed the amount of money we put in water last year. So water will be a big winner in the budget this year."
The Speaker insisted that the money will ensure water gets into the Great Salt Lake, which is at a historic low and presents an environmental crisis for the state.
"We will ensure that there’s water that’s going to the lake this year for sure," he said.
The legislature also increased spending for public education, with $239 million budgeted for teacher raises that is also part of a controversial "school choice" scholarship program. In addition to that, the legislature offered a 6% increase in the weighted pupil unit, which is another funding formula tied to educator salaries to the tune of $236 million there.
The legislature also allocated:
- $92 million for the Permanent State School Fund
- $64 million for educator prop and collaboration time
- $50 million for smaller schools with capital project needs
- $30 million for flexible WPU for smaller schools in rural areas
- $25.5 million for at-risk student programs
- $34 million for other educator salaries
- $75 million for school safety and capital projects
- $25 million for an optional full-day kindergarten expansion
- $15 million for teen centers for students experiencing homelessness
- $7.1 million for teacher and counselor recruitment
But negotiations will continue into the weekend on a proposed constitutional amendment that would now preserve the earmark for public education on the income tax. But the new language being deliberated would allow the state to dip into it for other budget needs, so long as education is funded.
"We continue to get input from our members on what a strong constitutional amendment would look like," Jay Blain, the policy director for the Utah Education Association, told FOX 13 News.
Senate Republican and Democratic leaders were hopeful for an agreement.
"The number one priority in our legislature is education, I don’t think anyone disagrees with that," said Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City. "That puts us in a good place."
The legislature approved $97 million for a low income housing tax credit and $50 million for a first-time homebuyer program pushed by Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton. They also spent:
- $50 million on "deeply affordable" housing
- $12 million for dedicated funding for homeless services
- $10 million for the Utah Housing Preservation Fund
- $7 million for a crisis shelter and transitional housing in Box Elder County
- $5 million for "attainable housing" grants
- $2.75 million on a loan program for single family homes in rural Utah
On transportation, legislative leadership approved $800 million for UDOT road projects. There was an additional $200 million for commuter rail improvements; $150 million for Cottonwood canyons transportation improvements; $108 million for the Point of the Mountain development and transportation; $88.5 million to improve safety on Highway 191 in eastern Utah; $40 million for rural roads and $10 million for transportation infrastructure near Zion National Park.
The legislature spent $40 million on upgrading Olympic facilities; $14 million for more construction on the new Utahraptor State Park near Moab and $45 million to expand trails statewide.
On social services, the Wasatch Canyons Behavioral Health Hospital received $25 million, while domestic violence victim services received $24 million (a combination of one-time and ongoing funding) plus $3 million for shelters; roughly $5 million for postpartum Medicaid coverage; another $5 million for services for people with disabilities; $1.4 million for caregiver compensation; $6 million for the Huntsman Mental Health Crisis Receiving Center; $5 million for mental health resources for first responders; and $2 million for mental health services specifically earmarked for LGBTQ youth.
Not everything received a lot of funding. Jenna Williams with Voices for Utah Children was upset that child care services didn't get a lot. They worry about significant impacts with federal funding drying up.
"It’s falling on deaf ears a little bit because we’re not feeling the impacts yet," she told FOX 13 News. "But I guarantee you by next year and the year after we’re going to start seeing it with parents having even less options for child care."
Legislative leaders characterized all the spending requests as people getting "some of what they wanted, but not all of what they wanted."
"There’s a lot of important investments we’re making, there’s just so many requests they outscale the amount of resources we have," Speaker Wilson said Friday. "But I don’t think they’ll be disappointed."
Read spending requests here:
