During the June 2020 special session, the Legislature passed 27 pieces of legislation on a range of issues, including racial equality and public safety, the budget and COVID-19 pandemic response.
Racial Equality and Public Safety
The Utah Legislature took the first of many anticipated steps to unify Utahns over racial inequalities. It passed H.B. 5007 Peace Officer Amendments, which prohibit a peace officer from kneeling on a neck and ensure peace officer training standards do not include training on chokeholds. While Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), and many law enforcement departments in Utah already exclude chokeholds from training, this brings uniformity in state statute. Legislators, stakeholders and community leaders are identifying other needed policy changes on this important issue.
Budget
The Legislature passed six pieces of legislation that relate directly to the budget.
Education Increase
Despite facing an $850 million deficit due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the Legislature passed H.B. 5012 Public Education Budget Amendments, and actually increased funding for public education by more than $110 million, or 2.2 percent. On top of that, S.B. 5001 Budget Balancing and Coronavirus Relief Appropriations, gave public education an additional $125 million of federal funds to improve connectivity and technology in schools. The Legislature also demonstrated its ongoing commitment to fund public education through H.B. 5011, Weighted Pupil Unit Value Increase Guarantee, which ensures the Legislature can make good on its commitment to provide a 6 percent increase in the WPU.
Social Services Increase
The Legislature also increased its commitment to social services with a 5.4 percent increase in funding in S.B. 5001.
Budget Cuts
In addition, S.B. 5001 avoided substantial reductions in vital, state-provided services by utilizing an estimated $680 million in rainy day and reserve funds. These moves made it so the budget only needed a 1.7 percent cut to balance. Legislators cut their own pay by an even larger 2.5 percent through H.J.R. 502 Joint Resolution on Legislative Compensation.
Because these bills affected virtually every item in the budget in some way, S.B. 5012 made required changes to the law in order to eliminate defunded programs and conform with other budget changes.
Finally, the Legislature passed S.C.R. 502, which refunded excess Public Employee Health Insurance Program funds back to employees and to the state’s general fund.
Coronavirus
The Legislature passed 14 pieces of legislation to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Emergency Powers
H.J.R. 504 again extended the governor’s declared state of emergency until August 20, when the Legislature will reconsider the extension. Notwithstanding that extension, the Legislature is concerned about transparency in the expenditure of taxpayer dollars during this emergency. It therefore passed H.B. 5009 Emergency Management Act Procurement Process Amendments, to increase transparency by requiring the governor to report to the Legislature at least 24 hours before expending more than $2 million of federal funds under emergency powers.
Economic Stabilization and Growth
As the economy reopens and stabilizes, the Legislature passed legislation to speed recovery. H.B. 5010 COVID-19 Economic Recovery Program, distributed $62 million through several different programs to help unemployed individuals, businesses and all Utahns:
COVID-19 Impacted Business Grant Program – This program provides $25 million in grants to businesses devastated by COVID-19 to provide discounts to consumers. For example, a restaurant might use the grant to offer a buy-one-get-one special to attract customers. Businesses must use at least 50 percent of the grant funds directly on the discounts. Businesses may receive grants up to the amount of revenue the business lost between March and June this year. 75 percent of funds will be distributed to small businesses. Minority-owned and women-owned businesses are encouraged to apply for grant funds.
COVID-19 Cultural Assistance Grant Program – This program is similar to the COVID-19 Impacted Business Grant Program, but applies to botanical, cultural, recreational and zoological organizations. The program provides $9 million in grants to these organizations to provide programs and services to attract consumers. At least half of the granted funds must be used directly to provide activities for others. To qualify, an organization must have an annual operating budget of at least $5 million.
COVID-19 PPE Support Grant Program – This program provides $5 million for grants to businesses to provide personal protective equipment, cleaning and sanitizing supplies, signage or other equipment or processes needed to comply with COVID-19 public health guidelines related to employees. Businesses may qualify for up to $100 per full-time-equivalent employee. 75 percent of grant funds are distributed to small businesses.
Workplace Training Program – This program provides $9 million to state colleges and universities to provide training to furloughed and laid off workers. The program aims to help workers earn certificates or other credentials needed to increase their mobility and find jobs in other areas in the economy.
Public Outreach and Education Program – Public health has been negatively impacted not only because of coronavirus, but because people are deferring needed medical care. This program provides $1 million for a public information campaign to educate the public on public health guidelines and measures health care providers are taking to protect against COVID-19. The program also encourages Utahns to not defer urgent medical care, preventative care or vaccinations.
The Legislature amended economic aid programs it created in its last legislative special session. S.B. 5005 Rent and Mortgage Assistance Amendments, which allows the state to begin distributing residential rental assistance more quickly and increases the number and types of businesses that qualify for existing state rental assistance programs.
Public Safety
S.B. 5006 Public Safety Worker Protection Amendments, allows a public safety worker to seek a warrant to compel an individual to be tested for COVID-19 if that individual exposes the public safety worker to potential infection from that virus.
H.B. 5006 COVID-19 Workers’ Compensation Modifications, makes technical changes to a law passed by the Legislature in its last special session that extended workers compensation to first responders.
Private Industry
S.B. 5007 Unemployment Insurance Rates Amendments, places a ceiling on the amount an employer is required to pay into the state’s unemployment insurance fund.
S.B. 5003 COVID-19 Immunity Provisions, makes minor adjustments to certain legal immunity the state extended to business during the previous special session.
Government Operation under COVID-19
H.B. 5002 Open and Public Meetings Act Amendments, extends previously granted exceptions to the Open and Public Meetings Act to accommodate electronic meetings.
As school districts face substantial budget uncertainties, they need additional flexibility. H.B. 5003 School District Use of Property Tax Revenue, allows school districts to use certain capital expense funds on operations.
S.B. 5009 Martha Hughes Cannon Statue Amendments, extends the Martha Hughes Cannon Statue Oversight Committee for another year to give the committee time to complete its work, which has been delayed because of the pandemic and removes a timing requirement for the unveiling of the statue.
Other Legislation
The Legislature also made several other adjustments to existing state laws to respond to COVID-19:
S.C.R. 501 Concurrent Resolution Honoring the Graduating Class of 2020, honors all 2020 high school or college graduates who had to forgo regular celebrations and ceremonies because of the pandemic.
Forty-three percent of COVID-19 deaths in the state are long-term-care facility residents. Yet many long-term-care-facilities are refusing to allow COVID-19 testing in their facilities. S.B. 5011, High Risk Population Protection Amendments, provides a balanced process by which the state can compel COVID-19 testing in these facilities.
Legal Issues
Pending lawsuits or other legal matters prompted three pieces of legislation:
H.J.R. 501 Joint Resolution Approving Utah Department of Corrections Settlement Agreement, approves a legal settlement in a suit in which inmates sued the state over not providing newly available Hepatitis C treatments.
H.J.R. 503 Joint Resolution Approving Purchase of Properties, approves the purchase of two properties adjacent to Salt Lake Community College onto which gasoline from a state fuel network site leaked. Attempts to coordinate cleanup with the owners have failed, so the state intends to purchase the properties, remediate the damage and resell the properties.
S.B. 5008 Private Investigator License Qualifications, changes a likely unconstitutional state statute that requires a private investigator to be a resident of the state in order to obtain a license.
Technical
H.B. 5005 Revisor’s Technical Corrections to Utah Code, makes grammatical and conforming changes to the state code.
S.B. 5002 Changes to Procurement Code, corrects a technical issue resulting from an inadvertent one-word omission from a 2020 General Session bill.
Other Issues
S.B. 5004 Municipal Annexation Amendments, addresses disputes over properties that cities were in the process of annexing when the Legislature made changes to local annexation laws in 2017 and 2020.
H.B. 5004 Airport-related Alcohol Modifications, makes two changes related to the distribution of alcohol at the Salt Lake City International Airport:
1. It treats the airport like a bar or a restaurant for delivery purposes; and
2. Since the number of travelers at the airport has declined precipitously, the bill makes it so the number of airport alcohol licenses is no longer dependent upon the number of travelers.
In 2016, the Legislature unanimously passed a bill establishing the third Saturday in June as Juneteenth Freedom Day in Utah as a commemorative period to recognize the significance of the events of June 19, 1865. Yesterday, the Senate and House read a citation recognizing Juneteenth.