Here’s what Utah lawmakers did to deal with flooding from winter’s record snowfall
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Utah lawmakers made it clear during Wednesday’s special legislative session they intend to keep Gov. Spencer Cox’s emergency powers in check even as they extended his flooding emergency order through mid-August.
HJR101, a resolution passed to extend the order Cox issued in April to deal with the aftermath of last winter’s record snowfall, was changed shortly before the start of the brief session to require Cox to regularly update legislative leaders on his actions.
Lawmakers also voted to authorize up to $40 million to cover everything from the added cost of snow removal on state roads to potential flood repairs, shifting funds in the Utah Department of Transportation budget and releasing money set aside for emergencies.
All of the legislation on the special session agenda was approved unanimously and largely without debate in the House and Senate. The exception was the resolution on the governor’s emergency powers, which generated controversy in the House.
House Majority Leader Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, said imposing the additional requirement on Cox is “a good thing,” sought in the hopes of “making sure we have good communication between the governor’s office and the legislative branch.”
Every 30 days, Cox will have to report to House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, about the status of the emergency as well as any actions taken and money spent.
Related
In presenting the resolution on the House floor, Schultz noted the drastic change in drought conditions in Utah compared to last year.
“It’s pretty amazing to think that this time of year a year ago, we were talking about certain parts of the state and wondering whether or not there would be enough water for drinking water ... but now here we are, talking about flooding,” he said. “If there’s anything that this has taught us, it’s that the climate in Utah is truly unpredictable.”
“There’s still a lot of water that needs to come down,” Schultz warned, noting that the National Weather Service has projected that around two-thirds of the state’s snowpack still has to melt off.
But some lawmakers from the party’s right wing still pushed back on extending the order for 90 days. The order is set to expire in August because flooding is expected to continue at least through June and there are no legislative interim meetings set for July.
Rep. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, proposed a floor amendment to extend the state of emergency for only 30 days, which would have required an additional special session to extend it again.
Lyman was joined by several conservative members of the caucus in asking for a shorter extension, but their effort failed resoundingly on a voice vote.
House Majority Assistant Whip Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, said the bill requires the governor to check in regularly, and that if another special session had to be called, that would cost more money.
“This is a narrow declaration, we are not granting powers outside what the governor needs to address the issues of flooding,” she said.
Earlier, Schultz explained the need for the change to the Legislature’s Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee during a hearing on the resolution, saying there were issues with the length of the extension.
But the majority leader pointed out, “if there’s concerns that the Legislature has with the actions the governor is taking, the Legislature could always convene and terminate the executive order.”
He later told the Deseret News the change was the result of “members of leadership working with our colleagues to address some of the concerns. This idea came up and everyone felt it was a good idea.”
Related
The governor, who called the special session and set the agenda, downplayed the new requirement, saying he was already planning to keep the Legislature abreast of the situation.
“We’re committed to keeping the Legislature informed on the status of flooding in our state and this provision doesn’t change that,” Cox told Deseret News in a statement.
Lawmakers limited the governor’s power to declare a state emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, an emergency order from the governor ends after 30 days unless lawmakers agree to extend it.
“We had an executive branch at the time that was not working very well with the Legislature,” Schultz said, an apparent reference to former Gov. Gary Herbert. “Quite frankly, we were finding out executive orders were being issued through the media.”
The Senate president told the Deseret News the House wanted the resolution changed.
The Senate’s Republican majority “assumed there would be reporting. We have a fiscally responsible caucus,” Adams said. He said he believes the Legislature’s authority over emergency orders is working well.
“It not only maintains legislative oversight, it creates unity,” he said. “That’s not a bad thing, to have unity in a disaster.”
Also during the special session, which lasted just over an hour, lawmakers:
Approved the use of $40 million as part of the emergency. HB1001 reallocates $20 million from the Utah Department of Transportation’s highway construction budget to maintenance, largely to cover the extra costs incurred by snow removal during the winter.
Lawmakers also shifted $10 million in wildfire suppression funds over the next two years to emergency management for infrastructure improvements related to flooding.
According to notes from Executive Appropriations Chair Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, the Legislature has deposited more than $100 million over the past two sessions to the wildfire suppression fund — meaning there is more than enough still left to fight fires, which cost the state about $25 million in a “high fire year.”
Finally, HB1001 appropriates $3 million from a restricted account to be used by the Division of Emergency Management for costs related to the flood emergency, on top of $7 million existing in that account.
Stevenson said some additional approvals may be needed from legislative leaders before all the funds can be used and noted that last session, lawmakers “weren’t thinking about flooding. We were thinking about drought.”
Altered a bill from last session in an effort to ensure that people in Utah on a non-immigrant work visa can own a firearm. HB1002 sponsor Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, said the initial bill “inadvertently” restricted some temporary workers from owning guns.
Wilcox said the original bill was meant to close a loophole between state and federal law that has allowed some people “with nefarious intent” to access firearms. But in doing so, it also prevented some legal workers from accessing firearms for hunting and recreational use.
“Our intent today is just to repeal those few lines to make sure that we have some time over the interim to better identify the folks who are here with proper background checks,” he told the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee Wednesday.
Fixed an “accidental omission” that reduced the benefits paid to firefighters who die while not in the line of duty, Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, the sponsor of HB1003, said.
The oversight that occurred when lawmakers made changes to the benefits in 2018 came to light after the April death of Unified Fire Authority Capt. Matthew Hambleton, who joined the Salt Lake County Fire Department in 1996.
The firefighter’s widow, Monica Hambleton, thanked members of the Legislature’s Retirement and Independent Entities Interim Committee for the bill during a hearing Tuesday.
“I’m grateful that you were able to listen to this and honor my husband’s years of service and help our family move forward,” she said. Her family had stood to lose half of his death benefit, 37.5% of his final average salary rather than the 75% intended.
