Slow and Steady 

• Derek Carlisle

The 2022 Utah legislative session opened and closed with a bang. On their first day together, Republican lawmakers tossed regular procedure aside in a rush to overturn COVID rules, just as they did on their last day together voting to ban transgender children from school sports. They reminded citizens—as if we could ever forget—where the real power of government lies.

But between those bookends, Capitol Hill was subdued. There were moments of high tension—particularly in committee hearings—but the juiciest cuts of red and blue meat tended to fall flat or fizzle out in the face of broadly popular initiatives like water conservation and in-the-weeds finessing of existing statute.

"We've had a less contentious session," said House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City. "The experience of coming out of COVID had something to do with our feelings about one another. We're grateful to be back together. We have a better sense of our common humanity as legislators this year than we've had at times in the past."

Speaking to reporters on the session's final day, House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, remarked on how attention had shifted between mid-January and early-March, both inside and outside the state Capitol.

"It's really amazing to me how 45 days can change what's going on and what we're talking about," he said.

Perhaps the majority's appetite for all-out war was satiated by its early shows of force—not just the pandemic micro-management but also a problematic redistricting process that concluded in November. Or perhaps the specter of an actual war in Europe—launched by Russia just as the session would typically kick into high gear—narrowed lawmakers' focus and put their typical partisan squabbles into perspective.

For Salt Lake City, the 2022 session saw a concerted effort to prioritize the Great Salt Lake, with $40 million and a new state program launched to rehabilitate the lake and its upstream habitats. And negotiations between state and city leaders resulted in what could be a breakthrough for the political quagmire that is the inland port, with a bill that aims to clear the way to activate the nascent shipping and manufacturing hub while pouring millions of dollars into west-side neighborhoods.

• Benjamin Wood
• House Speaker Brad Wilson, center, flips through a Deseret News issue at a press conference.

"I give credit to the legislators who have been willing to work with us and listen," Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said. "I'm very frank. I'm honest, and I know my city."

Through interviews with lawmakers, government officials, advocates and the occasional Capitol Hill gadfly, a recurring theme of restraint was expressed in describing the overall 2022 session. And when frustrations were raised, they tended to focus less on what was done—with a few glaring exceptions—and more on the hoped-for potential to go bigger in a year with roughly $2 billion to spend, a figure goosed by federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding.

"Broadly speaking, it was marginal improvement, it was steps in the direction that people want to go," said Libertas Institute spokeswoman Jen Maffessanti. "Change is hard and uncomfortable. And easing toward the final end goal is always going to be easier to accomplish than taking huge leaps toward it."

Great Lakes
More than anything, 2022 was the year Utah lawmakers got serious—or at least talked serious—about water. A bill requiring conservation at state-owned facilities and offering incentives for drought-resistant landscaping passed both chambers, as did marquee legislation requiring that secondary water systems be metered by 2030.

Proponents argued that the act of metering alone—absent any changes to the price or allocation of water—has been shown to cut usage by one-fourth or more. Extend those water savings statewide, said Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, and the combined effect of secondary metering could mean the equivalent of an extra Jordanelle or Deer Creek Reservoir.

"Knowledge is power," McKell said.

The metering bill, HB242, generated hand-wringing from rural lawmakers, whose constituent water districts face steep costs in applying meters to existing systems. But costs will also be offset by some $250 million in ARPA funding, which supporters pointed to as a unique—and fleeting—opportunity to fund critical water upgrades.

"We're not trying to do anything with the price [of water], all we're saying is you can't conserve what you can't measure," said Sen. Scott Sandall, R-Tremonton.

Wilson, the House speaker, personally sponsored the $40 million Great Salt Lake bill and was consistent in flagging the declining lake as a priority for the session. Lawmakers rode helicopters over the exposed lakebed, and the potential for bills to impact the Great Salt Lake was frequently raised in floor and committee arguments.

"You'll see close to half-a-billion dollars in investment and some major policy shifts around water conservation, water protection and water quality," Wilson said of the Legislature's work.

But Utah Lake was also the source of considerable debate on the Hill this year. A Utah Lake Authority was created to oversee rehabilitation and, potentially, development around that body of water. But it arrived against the backdrop of a controversial proposal to construct artificial islands for the purpose of luxury real estate.

"At least they're putting money toward preserving and working on Utah Lake's issues," said Chase Thomas, executive director of the Alliance for a Better Utah (ABU). "It's great that they're doing something and sending a lot of much-needed money toward our natural resources."

King, the House minority leader, was effusive in his praise for Wilson's leadership on the Great Salt Lake. But he added that the broader conversation around Utah's demand for water is ongoing, and it calls into question proposals like a new dam on the Bear River and the Lake Powell Pipeline.

"The idea of building a pipeline to Washington County clearly becomes not only an expensive boondoggle, but an environmentally unfeasible boondoggle," King said.

City Centered
Salt Lake City is poised to lose its voting seat on the Utah Inland Port Authority board, as are West Valley City, Magna and Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City's mayor and City Council participated in extensive negotiations on that bill, HB443, which increases the share of port tax revenue that will be controlled by the city government and establishes a long-term, contractual relationship with the port authority, directing spending on environmental mitigation and community enhancement.

"They worked me over pretty good," Rep. Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said of the mayor and council. "It's literally hundreds and hundreds—I want to say $300-to-$500 million—that comes back to Salt Lake City over a 25-year period. And then the large portion of that gets reinvested into the west side."

Schultz, who became the second-ranking House Republican this year, said he was tired of the protracted fighting over the inland port. He could have simply removed the cities' board seats and "jammed it down their throats and walked out" like previous sponsors, he said, but that approach has failed to be productive.

"There's a lot of frustration all the way around," Schultz said. "Everybody is pointing the finger at Salt Lake City holding things up or at the inland port holding things up. Let's be honest, any time everybody is in a fistfight, things are going to get slowed up."

The bill's concessions were enough to win the support of several House and Senate Democrats who represent Salt Lake City, including the west side's Sen. Luz Escamilla and Reps. Angela Romero and Sandra Hollins.

"I think people recognize that it's happening, one way or the other," Schultz said. "And with or without the port, it's happening. There's going to continue to be development out there."

• slc.gov
• Mayor Mendenhall and Salt Lake City Council members negotiated with lawmakers on new inland port legislation.

Mendenhall described the port bill as "transformational." And with the stability of a 25-year contract, she said the city will be better positioned to leverage matching funds and public pressure to shape the trajectory of the port project.

"Now, we have guaranteed that they're going to be investing in the environmentally green infrastructure that will set the course for the way the port develops," Mendenhall said. "We get to build from the beginning with these commitments."

But Deeda Seed, with the advocacy group Stop the Polluting Port, remains skeptical. She said the state's talk of building the world's greenest port ring hollow and that the dedication of funds for environmental mitigation show that the environment will likely be damaged.

"The whole thing has just been catastrophically bad public policy making," Seed said. "We will be looking for any opportunity that arises and if we see something that shouldn't be happening that is illegal, we will sue."

Schultz said the bill represents the state putting its money where its mouth is on a sustainable port. Beyond HB443, Schultz inserted language on purchasing low-emission commuter trains into a major piece of transit legislation and negotiated with Union Pacific to update its aging switcher engines with less-polluting models.

"I get a little frustrated with [port opponents] because if they can't get on board with this, then it just shows they're obstructionist—period. It doesn't matter—because this is a big deal," Schultz said. "We're growing. We don't have time to sit on our thumbs and continue to fight."

One fight that certainly continues for the city is homelessness, despite a bill—HB440—that was similarly pitched as the start of a new era on the issue. In his budget, Gov. Spencer Cox called for more than $200 million for homeless services and affordable housing, but the final amount appropriated by lawmakers was roughly $55 million.

"We are always grateful for affordable-housing dollars from the state," Mendenhall said. "But this year is not going to stand out the way that we hoped it would."

The city—and much of the state—is experiencing a housing shortage at all income levels. But Mendenhall said the need for deeply affordable housing is particularly acute. By failing to invest in its most vulnerable residents, Mendenhall said, the state leaves itself exposed to higher costs around health care, education, public safety and criminal justice.

"When we don't have that housing, the expenses on almost every other category of the budget they're considering go up," Mendenhall said.

She also expressed mixed feelings about HB440, which makes it more likely the city will receive state support for its homeless resource centers, but which could force higher capacity "flexes" during winter months if Salt Lake County fails to designate an emergency shelter site.

"Everyone agrees we need more beds," Mendenhall said. "This is about support for those service providers and support for the communities, and there's a dramatic inequity there."

Housing advocates called on the Legislature to increase its investments. But Senate leaders were critical of previous attempts to "throw money at the problem," with budget chairman Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, pointing to ongoing issues around Pioneer Park after the state-led Operation Rio Grande effort.

"You show me what we accomplished," Stevenson said. "We spread the problem around."

Speaker Wilson argued that because there's a lag between when the budget is passed and when funding reaches its destination, there are still housing and homeless services dollars from the 2021 session being put to use. And he said the Legislature is likely only getting started on homelessness and other challenging topics.

"Housing and water are going to be the issues of the decade," Wilson said.

Mendenhall said the city will continue its own efforts and investments in addition to those from the state.

"I think we're leaving the session relatively intact," Mendenhall said. "There's a lot more work for us to do in the interim coming up, and we're not going to stop bringing compassion and creativity to the statewide issues that end up being shouldered by a single city."

Cutting Class
For the second year, lawmakers addressed the inflationary costs of public education at the start of the legislative session, a change in procedure that was made to appease educators after the passage of Amendment G in 2020. That amendment broadened the permissible uses of income tax revenue beyond education to include services for children and the disabled (more on this later).

Educators and lawmakers credit the change with easing tensions around the budgetary process. And lawmakers have, so far, followed up the inflationary bumps with robust increases to per-student spending—in this year's case, a 6% hike.

"That has really put public education funding on a glide path to record-breaking [funding] increases," said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan.

But a top priority of the Utah Board of Education—universal full-day kindergarten—was only partially funded, while an elementary literacy initiative was scaled back.

State Superintendent Sydnee Dickson said both the kindergarten and reading efforts will be able to move forward under the bills that passed. And she described the increase in per-student spending as "healthy" and credited lawmakers with being collaborative.

"It's been a very interesting session, a bit of a crazy session," Dickson said. "But education was cared for and well-thought-of. And, at the end of the day, we can move forward on priorities for kids."

• Benjamin Wood
• Senate President Stuart Adams leading the chamber on the opening day of session.

The first half of the session was peppered with restrictive curriculum transparency bills that were opposed by the education community. Heidi Matthews, president of the Utah Education Association, said the resounding defeat of a private school voucher proposal helped to soothe the tension that teachers felt, but not entirely.

"The closure on the voucher bill, at least for this session, was cause for celebration," Matthews said. "But there are residual impacts even though these [transparency] bills didn't really move forward."

Matthews praised lawmakers for their funding of public education this year. While the 6% increase in per-student spending was less than the 7.5% bump requested by the UEA, lawmakers went above the union's request in paying for teachers to have flexible, paid work hours.

"Our original ask was for $57 million for the equivalent of about 40 hours for educators to just try and catch up on the overwhelming workload that we have seen," Matthews said. "It was prioritized for a while at $30 [million dollars] and now it's at $64 million. When have you ever seen that?"

Toward the end of the legislative session, House leadership briefly considered amending the Utah Constitution again to fully remove the state's earmark on income tax spending. Senate leadership put the brakes on it this year—Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, said it needs to be "done right"—but the House doubled-down, all but decreeing that the education earmark is the price of ending the state's sales tax on groceries.

King said the minority caucus was frustrated to see food tax repeal blocked on the Hill, and that pursuing the income tax amendment would have dampened the session's broadly convivial spirit.

"That would have contributed to a last 10 days of the session that would have been more rancorous," King said. "We did not do that, so that makes it easier to avoid negative feelings."

King said he doesn't buy the argument for ending the education earmark, especially after Amendment G. Many areas of state spending could be described as supporting children or individuals with disabilities, he said, and despite the claims of revenue pressures, his Republican counterparts had no trouble passing a tax cut.

"It's hard for me to understand how we are complaining or concerned about structural budget issues in the same year that we're passing a couple hundred million dollars in income tax reduction," King said.

Grab Bag
Beyond-capacity crowds filled hallways and overflow rooms during hearings on banning vaccine passports at private businesses, prohibiting the teaching of "divisive concepts" in public schools and reversing the state's pivot to universal mail-in voting. In all three cases, public comment was rife with falsehoods, from the Big Lie about widespread voting irregularities in 2020, to claims of tyranny against the unvaccinated, to the mischaracterization of Critical Race Theory and classroom planning.

But those proposals were ultimately unsuccessful, as were most of the stringent bills promoted by far-right groups that mobilized on Capitol Hill.

"It seemed like a lot of their priorities were brought up in bills, but it's sort of a mixed bag when it comes to lawmakers appeasing these groups," Thomas, with Alliance for a Better Utah, said. "It's been interesting to see the moderate wing of our majority party pushing back against that and actually doing a lot for diversity and ethnic inclusion."

Asked generally about this year's controversial proposals, Speaker Wilson noted that there are 104 individual lawmakers with unique constituencies. And while many of the buzziest bills failed to advance, Wilson said, they generated interesting and worthwhile conversations.

• Benjamin Wood
• Members of the Utah House holding debate on Feb. 23.

"Some of those have been elevated during the session, most of those have not made it to the finish line," Wilson said. "Sometimes the best way to solve a problem isn't always passing a bill."

Lawmakers also showed increasing comfort with the decriminalization of drugs for medical uses. A bill bolstering employment protections for medical cannabis patients sailed through the Legislature, as did a bill creating a task force to explore the use of psychoactive drugs—i.e., magic mushrooms—for the treatment of mental health.

"From an extremely high-level perspective, there's no compelling reason for these substances to be criminalized, especially to the extent that they are," Maffessanti, of Libertas, said. "We're in the process of digging out of that hole, and it is a process, but it is very encouraging for us."

Maffessanti also credited the Legislature with passing legislation on business innovation, criminal justice and occupational licensing, including a bill that will trigger recurring reviews of the state's myriad professional rules.

"Once a regulation gets put in place, it tends to have magnificent staying power," Maffessanti said. "It's very hard to get laws and regulations repealed just because of the overwhelming legislative inertia that they have."

But one particularly inflamatory proposal did manage to sqeak through the Legislature before time ran out. Last year, a bill seeking to ban transgender students from participating in school sports failed to advance, prompting the sponsor—Morgan Republican Rep. Kera Birkeland—to spend months working with conservatives and LGBTQ advocates on potential compromise legislation.

Legislative leaders and Gov. Spencer Cox lauded the effort, teeing it up as an example of the apocryphal "Utah Way." But in the waning hours of the session, Republican lawmakers jettisoned the compromise language in favor of a suprise substitute reverting back to an outright ban. Cox promised a veto before it had even cleared the chambers.

Thomas, of Alliance for a Better Utah, said it was initially encouraging to see lawmakers meeting in the middle on the polarizing issue (a bill banning transgender health care never had a hearing). But even before lawmakers approved the sports ban, Thomas said the entire conversation was unnecessary and damaging to transgender youth.

"These are kids. It's hard for them to follow these really in-depth compromises and all these negotiations," Thomas said. "They're just trying to get through the school day and through trying to figure out this identity."