Here's how lawmakers are looking to spend part of Utah's nearly $30B budget

SALT LAKE CITY — With one week left in the legislative session, top Utah lawmakers voted to finalize their funding proposals as part of a nearly $30 billion state budget.

During a meeting of the Executive Appropriations Committee late Friday, leaders in the House and Senate approved nearly $150 million in ongoing funding and more than $500 million in one-time funding for various programs, organizations and initiatives.

The vote was nearly unanimous. Just one lawmaker on the panel, Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, voted against the funding priorities.

Some of the highlights include:

• $20 million for the state's first-time homebuyer program.
• $65 million for House Speaker Mike Schultz's proposed catalyst campus programs.
• $27 million for careers in technical education credential programs.
• $2.5 million for free school lunch for low-income children.
• $50 million for a one-time bonus for K-12 teachers, in addition to a previously announced increase to educator pay.
• $40 million in ongoing funding for the state's school voucher program, officially called the "Utah Fits All Scholarship."
• Tens of millions for infrastructure upgrades at Camp Williams and throughout the system of higher education.
• $13 million in ongoing funding for a bill to study changes to busy roads in Salt Lake City.

"We are investing in teachers, cutting taxes and funding essential programs while being fiscally responsible," Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said in a statement. "This budget reflects Utah's values — responsibility, innovation and forward-thinking investments. By making strategic decisions today, we are safeguarding our economy for future generations and ensuring the Utah Dream remains achievable for all who call our great state home."

"By maintaining fiscal discipline while making critical investments, we are ensuring Utah's long-term prosperity," added Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, the Senate's budget chief. "This budget keeps our state on a path of sustainable growth, economic opportunity and a high quality of life for all Utahns."

Stevenson and other lawmakers have repeatedly described this session as a "socks and underwear" budget year with not as much surplus to spend compared to previous years — when federal COVID-19 stimulus bolstered the state budget. Although the state's economy grew year over year, that growth fell short of estimates made in October, leaving the lawmakers without some $112 million they had hoped to use to fund various programs and social services.

The state's budget committee set aside $231 million last year, about half of which is now on track to be used for a decrease in the state's income tax rate. That would save the typical Utah family around $45 a year.

The House approved that tax cut package on Thursday, after wrapping in an expansion of the child tax credit to cover children aged 0 to 5 and a tax credit to businesses that build or expand child care facilities.

"What we're essentially trying to do with this tax credit is to increase the supply in the state for center-based child care," Rep. Jason Thompson, R-River Heights, said. "While this particular tax credit is not a silver bullet solution to our child care crisis in the state, it is a private sector contribution in the right direction."

Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, criticized the method of combining those tax credits with the broader tax cuts, which Democrats have been largely opposed to.

"I really dislike that way of doing; this is very Washington, D.C., to my take," she told reporters. "I don't think this is how we do it here in Utah."

House Democrats released a statement condemning the tax cut package, saying it "disproportionately favors out-of-state corporations and the state's wealthiest residents."

One significant increase was announced by the governor and top Republicans in the Legislature Friday: Utah's K-12 school teachers will receive a $1,446 "direct salary increase" along with a $1,000 one-time bonus. That $50 million expense is coupled with another 4% increase in pay for all school district employees.

Asked where lawmakers found the money for the increases, the Senate budget chairman said they were made possible by several other spending cuts.

"We made a lot of cuts in a lot of different places," Stevenson said earlier Friday. "This is a meager budget, but we have really worked hard to make sure that we fund the necessities across the state, and I think we'll find as we get there, we'll be OK and do a good budget. It'll be balanced."

"Any increases for teachers we support," Escamilla said, but noted Democrats were not part of those conversations, nor were they invited to attend the governor's announcement Friday.

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