The Utah Legislature passed several bills during a special session this week, including new voting district maps, bail reform and a bill allowing Dixie State University to change its name. Gov. Spencer Cox has signaled he will not veto the redistricting maps that cut Salt Lake City into four parts.
State lawmakers also passed a toothless resolution condemning a Biden administration proposal that seeks to curtail tax scofflaws.
The Legislature will meet at the Utah Capitol next week during a fall interim session.
Democrats quartered by Legislature’s redistricting maps
The Utah Legislature has all but assured that Republicans will continue to hold a larger influence than the GOP’s actual electorate for at least the next 10 years to the dismay of hundreds of protesters and Utahns who urged them to reconsider.
The warp speed passage of the boundaries on Wednesday, a decision that will determine Utah’s four members of the U.S. House of Representatives, received just two hours of committee debate and public comment and fewer than 90 minutes of floor debate in the Utah House and Senate.
The state lawmakers’ map breaks up Salt Lake County into four parts, diluting the capital city’s Democratic majority.
Addressing a protest outside the Capitol on Wednesday night, Evan McMullin, an Independent running to unseat Sen. Mike Lee, didn’t hold back. “[Those in power are] dividing their opposition until its voice is too faint to be heard and unrepresented in any meaningful way,” McMullin told the crowd of protesters from Capitol’s steps. “Today our legislature did that very thing.”
“Gerrymandering,” he said, “is a modern-day form of taxation without representation.”
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Evan McMullin speaks on the Capitol steps as hundreds of protesters gather for a Gerrymandering protest, on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.
New maps for the Utah Senate, House and State School Board were also approved by the Legislature on Wednesday.
The maps did not use any of the proposals put forth by the voter-approved Utah Independent Redistricting Commission.
Lawmakers approve name change for Dixie State
A bill allowing Dixie State University to move past its controversial name and forge ahead with a new tech mission has gained final passage in the Utah Legislature. The bill is likely to be signed, and the school will begin calling itself Utah Tech University next summer.
The votes Wednesday wrap up a wild path for the measure that over the past year, which has been marked by fierce protests, cries of “cancel culture,” continued revisions and uncertainty over whether the bill had enough votes to pass, even in the final minutes.
“This gives them the power to be something much, much greater moving forward,” said Republican Sen. Mike McKell, R-Spanish Fork, the bill’s floor sponsor. “We are empowering the institution.”
Utah to reform cash-bail system
Months of intense negotiation and a heated debate over Utah’s pretrial release system culminated in two breezy votes Wednesday in favor of a bill that would move the state away from a cash-bail model.
The proposal approved by the House and Senate would direct magistrates and judges to consider a person’s risk as they’re setting conditions for release from jail before trial. Those conditions could range from ankle monitoring to random drug or alcohol testing.
Each of the restrictions should be aimed at safeguarding victims, witnesses and the public; discouraging the defendant from skipping future court appearances and preventing him or her from tampering with the criminal case.
It’s a long-awaited reform for those who say Utah’s previous cash-bail model unfairly impacted lower-income defendants who couldn’t afford to pay their way out of jail. Critics of the system also contend it fails to keep dangerous offenders off the street since it links a person’s freedom to his or her wealth rather than to public safety risk.
The proposal would also establish a three-year pilot program to audit the financial information of defendants who say they can’t afford to pay for their own legal counsel and need a free, court-appointed attorney.
Legislature passes resolution condemning White House IRS proposal
Utah lawmakers in the House and Senate have denounced a bank reporting requirement proposed by President Joe Biden’s administration as it seeks to nab tax scofflaws.
A resolution that sailed through the state Legislature declared that the White House plan would “jeopardize the privacy and security of accounts and personal information” and create a significant amount of extra work for financial institutions.
Initially, the Biden administration measure would have called on banks to furnish the Internal Revenue Service with information about accounts with yearly deposits or withdrawals totaling more than $600. It later adjusted that amount to $10,000 in response to critics — but even that watered-down proposal seems unlikely to succeed.
Still, Utah legislators wanted to make sure they made their opinion on the matter clear with a nonbinding position statement.
Intermountain Power punished by the Legislature
Millard County’s long-simmering beef with its largest employer and taxpayer, Intermountain Power Agency, spilled out into the open during the Legislature’s special session, where lawmakers passed a surprise bill that would strip IPA of its exemptions to state transparency laws.
With only two days advance notice, Sen. Derrin Owens, R-Fountain Green, unveiled SB2002, what he characterized as an urgent step needed to curb a California-controlled entity whose interests have diverged sharply from those of Utah.
IPA is not California-controlled, as Owens claimed, but is a political subdivision of the state of Utah. The 23 Utah municipalities that receive power from the IPA also govern it, although 98% of its power is sent to Southern California.
“What was intended to create Utah jobs and energy has evolved into a large public entity without oversight,” Owens said during the session Wednesday.
The bill would roll back some of the “special treatment” IPA has received from the Legislature since 2002, which amounts to 71 amendments to state law governing interlocal entities like IPA.
IPA officials and other stakeholders were dismayed that they were informed of the legislation only two days before the special session. Attorney Eric Bawden suggested these provisions could derail IPA’s conversion from coal to natural gas, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs.
“The impact of this bill would have to be figured out,” said IPA spokesman John Ward in an interview. “We remain opposed both on the policy and the process. It is fundamentally not fair to pass a bill that affects the basic structure of an entity without even consulting that entity.”
Cox: ‘I’m not a bomb-thrower’
The Legislature’s proposed redistricting maps, along with the other bills passed during the special session, are now headed to Cox’s desk for signature.
Despite public outcry over the maps and the process of passing them, Cox told constituents in a 35-minute social media Q&A Tuesday evening that he would not veto state lawmakers’ decision, saying the Utah constitution gives the Legislature — and the Legislature alone — redistricting powers.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Protesters shout "Veto" as they gather for a Gerrymandering protest at the State Capitol on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.
“I’m a very practical person. I’m not a bomb-thrower, and I believe in good governance,” he said. “I’ve been told that just a veto just for the sake of a veto is something that I should do. I just think that that’s a mistake.”
Bethany Rodgers, Brian Maffly, Bryan Schott, Courtney Tanner and Jordan Miller of The Salt Lake Tribune reported and wrote this story.
