Utah budget of $6.5 billion wins approval

An appropriations bill that includes $70 million in new transportation funding passed both chambers Friday and now goes to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who will be forced to decide whether to veto a budget or parts of a budget that contains almost double what he proposed spending on transportation.

Approved with very little debate in either chamber and almost no opposition in the Senate, HB1 includes a $6.5 billion base budget for the state, as well as pay increases for state employees, funding for increased growth in Medicaid enrollment and the prison population, and the boost in transportation funding. A separate bill that passed the House Friday and will be debated in the Senate Monday, HB3, will cover another $2.2 billion in spending for public education.

Although there was some question about how Republican senators would respond to the $70 million for roads after the Executive Appropriations Committee approved it Wednesday night, Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said that the caucus position was unanimously in favor of the amount when they discussed it Thursday.

"It was a compromise position," he said. "There were some who wanted less, some who wanted more, but everyone was comfortable with that number."

The approved transportation funding is more than double the $33 million recommended by Huntsman and is also significantly different because legislators approved ongoing funding instead of the one-time funds the governor was seeking.

If Huntsman wanted to execute a line item veto on the $70 million, he would be forced to veto the entire $130 million that is going to the Centennial Highway Fund. Additionally, because he would have to execute any vetoes in 10 days, legislators would have more than a week to override that veto before the session ends March 2.

There will be a second appropriations bill this session to handle the remaining surplus revenues, which are approximately $65 million in ongoing and $237 million in new money. There will also be a second appropriations bill for any new education spending, which would also come from those new revenues.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said that he was pleased that they were passing a budget bill this early in the session. By doing so, they can avoid the danger of an entire budget being hijacked because of fighting over a few new spending proposals.

"We wanted to send a clear signal that we have our act together," Valentine said. The bill is comprised primarily of issues that "are not the issues which usually generate fights."

Opposition to the bill primarily came from Democrats in the House, who voted as a bloc against the bill because it only leaves $65 million of the $224 million in ongoing funds to spend on other programs. Essentially, they were wanting more money for public and higher education and feared that spending that much money on transportation would hurt schools.

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