Special session set May 24
Lawmakers to hear from Mexico chief; agenda is growing
The list got even longer Thursday with a request to spend $15 million to build a new, two-level underground parking structure at the state Capitol and make changes to another lot at the northeast corner of the complex.
Members of the Capitol Preservation Board voted unanimously to ask the governor to add the project to the agenda for the special session. Huntsman has not yet said what items he wants the Legislature to consider.
The board could have gone ahead and authorized the expenditure from the $50 million already allocated to the Capitol-renovation project, set for completion late next year. But House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, objected.
Curtis, who serves on the board, said he was "very uncomfortable" authorizing the project because lawmakers would be forced to supplement the budget next session without having had a say in whether the parking was needed.
"That shows a great lack of respect to my colleagues to say we just changed our minds" about what the renovation project should include, Curtis said, noting the parking project was being added at the end of a four year, $200 million-plus effort.
The project would add about 270 new underground parking spaces for state employees next to the east side of the Capitol building, at a cost of about $10 million. The rest of the funds would revamp an existing employee lot to create 300 parking stalls for public use.
David Hart, the board's executive director, said work needs to begin on the project by June 1 in order for the parking to be in place when the Capitol is scheduled to reopen in November 2007. Even then, the landscaping atop the underground lot won't be in place, he said.
Mike Mower, the governor's deputy chief of staff and spokesman, said the project will be considered for the special-session agenda, along with several dozen other items that have also been requested.
"We recognize the importance of this project and the timeliness of this request, and we'll review this along with the other requests," Mower said. "We're looking at this (special session) as mainly dealing with technical items from this previous general session."
That could include a request from officials at the Utah Department of Transportation to re-allocate some $291 million in road funds to the agency. Because of a technical problem with the budget, the governor had to veto the road funds from the state's budget.
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