Governor Signs Bill to Bring Natural Gas to Rural Utah

By Representative Christine Watkins, District 69

I am pleased to report that my bill, which will allow natural gas to be delivered to remote rural areas in Utah, has been signed by the governor. H.B. 129 will allow Dominion Energy to acquire other gas lines and build necessary structures. We are having a ceremonial signing at the Capitol with Governor Herbert to commemorate the end of this multi-year process.

As of this writing, we have passed 210 bills. We are beginning our last four days and many more bills will be debated and passed. The time for requesting appropriations has passed.

It was such an odd session knowing that funding was scarce for General Fund programs with an overabundance of money in the Education Fund. The General Fund is where we get money for transportation, Medicaid, all Social Service programs and cultural programs, just to name a few.  Next week, I will write about the final programs that were funded and will impact my legislative district.

The following are bills that have passed and are on their way to the governor for signing or have already been signed by him. A bill of interest is S.B. 142, Delivery Age Requirements. The original law states that in order to be a transportation network driver, a person has to be 19 years old. There are other requirements, but being 19 was a bit outdated. We passed the bill to change the minimum age requirement to 18.

Another bill is H.B. 125 by Representative Carl Albrecht. This bill directs the director of the Division of Wildlife Resources to take immediate action under certain circumstances when a big game population is under the established herd size objective for a management unit. Basically, this allows the director to reduce predators (cougars, bears and coyotes) by increasing the number of tags for these predators. The bill requires the division director to report annually to the Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Interim Committee so that they can monitor this new program.

I had a friend text me about the lack of funding. If a bill is passed and there is no money for it, it just doesn’t happen. Many good bills were voted down because of the high fiscal note associated with it. The Utah Raptor Park project that passed in the House was killed in the Senate because of the $10 million fiscal note that was attached to the project.

Our job is to balance our state budget; we don’t print money so we have to make hard decisions about what is actually funded. We save for a rainy day and fund the essentials when money is not available. None of my bills had a fiscal note attached to them; in fact, a couple actually saved the state a little bit of money.

Monday is the last day for committee hearings. The House hears only Senate bills and the Senate hears only House bills. I have one bill left so I will see how it goes. Tuesday through Thursday we will hear bills on our respective floors and adjourn before midnight on Thursday.

It has been a hard and different session, but I am confident all will be done by Thursday night. Thank you for allowing me to serve you. I am excited to come home and look forward to the Carbon County Home and Garden Expo.