Keeping House

by Representative Kraig Powell

February 3, 2009

The second week of the Utah Legislature’s 2009 General Session is now underway. Last week, the full House and Senate listened to Governor Jon Huntsman deliver his annual State of the State address. Governor Huntsman minced no words in recognizing the serious financial crisis facing our state due to the recent economic downturn.

It was heartening, however, to hear the Governor remind us that Utah has been named the “best-managed state in the nation” and that Utah’s economy and budget problems are not nearly as severe as those in other states around the country.

Utah continues to have the tools to cope with the national recession. For the 2009 fiscal year, which ends in June, legislative leaders and the Governor have announced that through a combination of delaying state building construction and bonding for other construction projects, the 7.5 percent budget cuts that were anticipated have now been reduced to 4 percent.

The money freed up from these funds will allow us to largely preserve crucial local services such as Meals on Wheels, mental health treatment, and alternatives to nursing home care. On Friday, January 30, our House Caucus announced that an additional $15 million had been preserved for education, making the cuts to public schools this year even less than the 4 percent.

A second important area of focus for the Governor and Legislature is making Utah a leader in worldwide production of natural gas. Governor Huntsman hailed natural gas as the best immediate and clean resource available in our country to create energy independence. The Governor set a goal to have Interstate 15 recognized as a “natural gas corridor.”

I am reminding the Governor and his staff that the epicenter of natural gas production in Utah is the Uintah Basin and that his goal of energy independence will require continuing investment in the Basin’s infrastructure. I also voted in favor of a concurrent resolution urging the Environmental Protection Agency to revamp requirements to allow speedy approval of compressed natural gas vehicles.

Third, I was very pleased to hear the Governor ask the Legislature to enact meaningful ethics reform without delay. With the difficult budget-cutting tasks facing the Legislature, the citizens of Utah must have faith and confidence in the ethics of their lawmakers.

As has been my policy since the beginning of my campaign, I do not accept any money or gifts from special interest groups or lobbyists. To prod other legislators toward this position, I introduced legislation last week to place strict limits on campaign contributions and prohibit the spending of campaign funds for personal use. To show solidarity with the citizens of Utah facing economic distress this year, I also voted with the majority to cut our legislative salaries by ten percent.

Committee hearings have begun in earnest. In one of the committees on which I serve, I voted to approve the realignment of the Utah Colleges of Applied Technology (UCAT). This bill, which was negotiated and supported by the presidents of Utah Valley University and the Uintah Basin Applied Technology College, among others, will streamline the UCAT system and clearly define the role of four-year colleges such as UVU, thereby allowing us to better train our citizens for Utah’s rapidly changing economy.

Thank you to all those who have submitted the surveys inserted in last week’s newspaper. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns you have. My email is kraigpowell [at] utah.gov and my phone number is 435-657-0185. You may also find it interesting to watch the proceedings of the House or listen to its committees at www.le.utah.gov through live video and audio streams.