SALT LAKE CITY — Like piranha on a bloody, bureaucratic cow, lobbyists and advocates descended on a small table in the Executive Appropriations Committee, snapping up the supplemental spending list.
Some got good news, and others heartbreak when they saw what was funded by the Utah State Legislature and what wasn't. The powerful committee on Utah's Capitol Hill voted late Friday to approve the list, which folds into the $28.1 billion budget known as the "Bill of Bills."
The budget this year is less, which means some cuts in state government.
"Revenue estimates are down $112 million," said Rep. Val Peterson, R-Orem, the House of Representative's budget chief. "We ended up with some increased Medicaid, Medicare costs, an additional $30 million one-time and $30 million ongoing. That put pressure on the budget. Our economy continues to do well at 3.5% growth, which is a great sign for the state. We live in the best managed state and what we’re going to deliver to the people of Utah is a balanced budget."
But Senate Minority Whip Karen Kwan, D-Taylorsville, said there was a lot that was cut.
"I think there were many valuable programs that are not getting any money," she told FOX 13 News. "But the reason they aren’t is just because there’s not any money to go around."
There were things that did get funded like:
- $7 million for homelessness services (in addition to other appropriations in the state's base budget)
- Roughly $2 million to expand nuclear power in Utah
- $1.7 million to expand geothermal energy
- $2 million for election security measures
- $1.5 million was given to expand agriculture water optimization, a program to get farmers to switch to water-saving tech (in contrast, expanded Great Salt Lake toxic dust monitoring got no funding)
- Career and Technical Education saw a massive $65 million boost, a personal project of House Speaker Mike Schultz
- The "Utah Fits All" scholarship program, which critics say is school vouchers, received $40 million
On Friday, the House Speaker, Senate President and Governor Spencer Cox announced $1,400 raises for teachers and $1,000 bonuses for school staff. That will take $50 million out of the budget and led to cuts elsewhere, Senate budget leaders said.
Lawmakers are still pushing a small income tax cut. On Thursday night, they folded a child tax credit and a business tax credit for companies to build child care facilities into the same bill. One advocacy group disagrees with that approach, even if they want to see more child care options.
"Year after year they tell us that there’s no money. You can only say that so many times then it’s becoming self-inflicted from your own tax cuts year after year," said Jenna Williams with the group Voices for Utah Children.
Read the supplemental spending items here:
