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- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox plans to attend Donald Trump's second inauguration on Monday.
- Cox anticipates Trump will sign executive orders affecting Utah on his first day as president.
- Cox expressed concerns about recent Biden administration actions impacting the state.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he plans to travel to Washington for President-elect Donald Trump's second inauguration on Monday, and he expects the new president to sign executive orders that could impact Utah on his first day in office.
The governor, who was sworn into his second term last week, confirmed during his monthly PBS news conference Thursday that he will attend the inauguration. He also spoke of his top priorities — housing affordability and energy production — for lawmakers to address during the quickly approaching legislative session.
Cox met with Trump and 24 other Republican governors at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club last week and told reporters the group discussed efforts to undo "last-minute" executive action taken by President Joe Biden in the waning days of his presidency. He said he is also concerned about decisions made by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Bureau of Land Management to amend the permit for a Northern Corridor highway in Washington County — a ruling decried by several members of the state's congressional delegation.
"I'm expecting it on day one," Cox said of efforts by Trump to overturn the latest Biden actions. "The message from President Trump was literally, on day one, that his plan is to leave the dais after being sworn in and go into the Capitol and start signing orders to undo some of those things. I don't know what that will look like, but we'll be prepared from day one to start working together on whatever that is."
The governor said the state has been "blindsided" by some of Biden's recent orders and he expects "we'll probably see some more" before the outgoing president's term ends.
Legislative priorities
With state lawmakers scheduled to begin the 45-day legislative session on Tuesday, Cox also outlined his top priorities, starting with addressing the high cost of housing in the state, something he has put at the top of his list since late 2023.
"The two largest priorities, one was our No. 1 priority last year — continues to be this year — it's the price of housing and our ability to build more and lower the price of housing so our kids and grandkids can live here and can own real property and achieve the American dream," he said.
Building more housing is one of the governor's top goals for his next four years in office. He announced the goal of building 150,000 new homes in the state after taking the oath of office last week.
Cox is also focused on boosting energy production and again touted his proposal to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits for Utahns. Lawmakers have set aside money for a potential tax cut this session, though it remains unclear if they will approve Cox's ask to focus on Social Security or opt for another cut to the state income tax rate.
The Legislature is also likely to make several reforms to how elections are run in the state, and some lawmakers have proposed creating a separate office to oversee elections, which is currently handled by the lieutenant governor. Cox said he supports reforms to allow for ballots to be counted faster, but said he doesn't think the lieutenant governor's role in overseeing elections needs to change. He noted that clerks in all 29 counties do the actual counting of votes.
"There will be some changes made, but we'll work closely with the Legislature to decide on what those changes should be," he said, adding: "I don't think we need to remove oversight there."
