Gov. Cox enacts base budget appropriations for eight state activities

Sen. Chris Wilson (R-Dist. 2) confers with a colleague during a break in Senate deliberations early this week.

SALT LAKE CITY – Gov. Spencer Cox signed the first eight budget bills from the 2023 Legislature into law on Feb. 2.

That sounds important – and it is – but obtaining the governor’s signature on those budget bills is actually just a routine part of the annual legislative process.

“Eight appropriations subcommittees prepare base budgets for their assigned subject areas over the first couple weeks of the general session (of the Legislature),” according to Sen. Chris Wilson, (R-Dist. 2). “These subcommittee base budgets … allow the state to continue functioning at a basic level.”

Of the ten pieces of legislation that Cox has signed into law since the start of general session, eight have been base budget outlines.

Those include House Bill 1 (Higher Education base budget); House Bill 4 (Business, Economic Development and Labor base budget); House Bill 6 (Infrastructure and General Government base budget); House Bill 7 (Utah National Guard, Veterans Affairs and the Legislature base budgets); Senate Bill 1 (Public Education base budget); Senate Bill 5 (Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality base budget); Senate Bill 6 (Executive Offices and Criminal Justice base budget); and Senate Bill 7 (Social Services base budget).

Those bills basically keep the state government form shutting down, Wilson explains, having participated himself in deliberations over HB 6 as the chair of the Senate Infrastructure and General Government subcommittee.

But the Legislature’s ultimate responsibility is to pass a balanced budget before the close of general session in early March.

“That’s a responsibility we take very seriously,” Wilson adds.

“So, typically during the final week of the session, we pass what is known as the ‘Bill of Bills.’ That’s the comprehensive budget bill that includes additional appropriations not included in the base budgets.”

Early passage of those base budgets frees lawmakers to review and amend Cox’s unprecedented $28.4 billion budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year.

Cox unveiled that proposal in early December of 2022, calling it a plan that “… reflects fiscal conservatism and family values by investing in people and expanding opportunities for Utahns across the state.”

At the top of the governor’s list of priorities is more than $1 billion in tax cuts for state residents over three years. Coupled with tax cuts made by the Legislature in past years, Cox’s proposal would total more than $1.3 billion in tax relief for Utahns, the largest single tax cut in history.

Cox also recommended a $6,000 compensation increase for all Utah teachers, including a pay hike of approximately $4,600 plus appropriate benefits.

That proposal has already been enacted as House Bill 215, which tied that pay increase to a controversial $8,000 school-choice scholarship program.

Other proposals in the governor’s budget to benefit education total more than $1.5 billion.

Those include a 5 percent increase in the Weighted Pupil Unit; $476.9 million for educator support; funding for students at risk of academic failure; and about 95 percent of the funds needed to have optional all-day kindergarten for every family.

Cox also made specific recommendations to support families and young Utahns including additional mental health funding; assistance for first-time home-buyers; and resources for domestic violence prevention and victim support.

In addition to that aforementioned assistance, Cox also recommended $150 million for deeply affordable housing units and affordable housing tax credits and loans.

In response to the ongoing historic drought, the governor’s budget proposal includes more than more than $500 million for investments in water conservation, water quality, research, infrastructure and management.

Final versions of legislation addressing Cox’s priorities and other needs of Utahns have yet to emerge from ongoing House and Senate committee hearings.

The last piece of legislation that Cox has already signed into law is Senate Bill 16, placing limits on transgender health care provided to minors.

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