SALT LAKE CITY — Governor Spencer Cox has called the legislature into a special session next Wednesday to clean up some issues, including the enforcement of a new law allowing the state to ignore rules to protect transgender students, but also attempt to resolve a dispute over a massive power plant in central Utah.
Lawmakers will be brought into special session when they meet for interim hearings June 18-20.
"We're still reviewing what’s on that special session, mostly it’s just clean up of things that need to be taken care of," the governor said in brief comments to FOX 13 News on Thursday.
Gov. Cox also said the special session would seek to resolve a dispute over the Intermountain Power Project in central Utah. The plant, near Delta, supplies 23 cities in Utah with electricity — but 98% of its customer base is California, which also has controlling stakes on its board. IPP has been shifting away from fossil fuels to alternative sources of energy in multi-billion dollar investments.
That apparently hasn't sat well with some on Utah's Capitol Hill. Some lawmakers have argued the state needs more reliable sources of energy and coal is among them. The bill the legislature passed (and the governor signed) could potentially clear the way for a state takeover of IPP, which would then trigger litigation and even federal scrutiny over air quality concerns.
Gov. Cox told FOX 13 News he believes they are close to reaching an agreement.
The legislature will also be considering as the Constitutional Sovereignty Act, which allows the state to ignore certain federal directives, could be used. What’s proposed is allowing the state to ignore new Title IX rules the Biden administration wants to protect transgender children in schools.
The special session will also look at ways to “counter federal overreach on public lands” in Utah, and it will tweak a bill that set some rules on how to form a new school district.
