Budget The “historic” $29 billion budget, called the “bill of bills,” SB3 contains about $850 million in tax cuts, but also included measures like a $6,000 teacher raise, $250 million in housing funds, over $1 billion in transportation funding and over $350 million toward water-related funding — including $200 million in agriculture optimization. Education Vouchers & teacher raises: With HB215, lawmakers both gave public school teachers a $6,000 raise and established a “Utah Fits All” scholarship fund to help parents pay for their children’s private school tuition or homeschooling supplies. It sets aside $239 million out of a nearly $1 billion public education budget for the program. Around 5,000 students will be granted scholarship money to attend alternative schooling. Critics of the bill, including the Utah Board of Education and the largest teacher union in the state, argued a teacher pay increase shouldn’t be attached to a voucher program because they are two separate issues. Full-day kindergarten: The Legislature voted to fund full-day kindergarten with HB477, but it will be up to the school districts to decide when and if they would offer it. Regalia: High school seniors can now wear cultural and religious regalia at graduation ceremonies under SB103. On a similar trend, lawmakers approved a bill that allows students to wear cultural and religious clothing as part of a school sports uniform. Religion in school: HB427, Individual Freedom in Public Education, prohibits teachers from dismissing or talking discriminately about religion in school subjects. It also allows students to pray at school. Democrats were almost willing to vote in favor if they added “gender identity” to the protected groups listed in the bill. No more school letter grade ranking: Right now, public schools are assigned a letter grade — A through F — based on how the school is performing overall. That would cease under HB308. Critics of this system say it’s outdated, and a letter grade doesn’t show the full picture. The grades are largely based on standardized tests. The State Board of Education supported the bill as did the Utah Education Association. Higher Education Residency for tuition: HB102 lets non-American citizens be granted Utah residency, which allows them to pay in-state tuition at public universities if they’ve applied or been approved for a certain immigration status. Criminal Justice Lethality assessments: Law enforcement agencies are now required to take lethality assessments when responding to domestic violence calls to determine the danger to a victim. SB117 says those results will be put into a statewide database for other police agencies and the Utah courts to use. Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson helped create the legislation backed by Republican sponsor Sen. Todd Weiler. Other lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Brad Last who covers Enoch, said this bill could prevent the senseless killings of intimate partners because the database could identify if domestic violence is part of a larger pattern instead of believing it is a one-off incident. Domestic violence data collection: HB43 creates a task force to compile lethality assessment data collected by officers and disseminates the reports across the state so agencies, like the courts, know the history of the perpetrator. Prison suicide prevention: Lawmakers passed HB259 with the hopes it would prevent future suicides at state correctional facilities. The bill allows Utah prisons and jails to apply for $140,000 in grants to install barriers, like big nets, in an effort to protect incarcerated individuals from jumping off the top of buildings. In 2020, 19 inmates died by suicide, but it’s unclear how many of those deaths were from falling off buildings. Unified Police Department: The Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake (UPD) will dissolve in 2025 after HB374 gained enough votes. UPD was created in 2009 to help metro municipalities save money by sharing a police force. UPD covers Copperton, Brighton, Holladay, Kearns, Midvale, Magna, Millcreek, White City, Brighton and Emigration Canyon. But in the last several years, Herriman, Riverton and Taylorsville formed their own police departments. And because of that, and concerns about residents overpaying in taxes, Republican bill sponsor Rep. Jordan Teuscher proposed to do away with UPD altogether. 14 UPDATE
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