SALT LAKE CITY — The 2017 Legislature is underway and movement on education reforms and potential tax increases are anticipated to play key roles in this year’s 45-day session.

We've broken down the details on these and other issues that are likely to come up during this year's legislative session.

Education and taxes

Two items that are likely to play significant roles this session: education and taxes.

Among various ideas on the table: A group is hoping their citizen initiative will spur the Legislature into action on the education front.

The Our Schools Now initiative, which has the backing of several business and community leaders, would call for a seven-eighths of 1 percent increase to personal income tax.

Those behind the initiative told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards that they would prefer for the Legislature to take over with finding a solution to education funding, but are ready to move forward with their initiative if necessary.

"We'd love to have them trump us. But it's got to be real, and it's got to be significant," said Nolan Karras, a member of the initiative group's steering committee and a former chairman of the state board of regents.

The increase from the proposed initiative would generate an extra $750 million to go toward education. Local districts would propose specific academic benchmarks their schools would need to meet to receive the funding and local communities would determine how the funding would be spent.

The initiative, which has not yet been drafted, is set be filed with the state in the summer and the signature gathering process to begin in the fall. If enough Utahns sign on, it will hit the ballots in 2018.

State lawmakers had mixed reactions to the initiative.

State Democratic leadership seemed to be supportive of the initiative, but some offered alternatives for how any money received should be spent.

Specifically, state House Democrats said they would like to see potential increases in education funding go toward improving the teacher retention rate. House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, cited a University of Utah Education Policy Center study that said 42 percent of teachers who began in 2011 had left the profession at the end of five years. The study also noted that there was an increase in teacher retirement.

State Democratic leadership also pointed to the need to move forward on education with a targeted approach.

“We’ve worked hard on education for years,” King said. “We’ve talked about this for a long, long time. And it shouldn’t be 'Let’s just fund education and just hope for the best.'"

Republican lawmakers were clear that they did not want to raise income tax in the state to help fund education.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards that there are "elements (in the initiative) that I think we can espouse," including the outcome-based portion of the initiative. But what is a "nonstarter" is the income tax increase.

Niederhauser told the editorial boards that an income tax increase could put Utah at an even bigger disadvantage when compared to neighboring states with no income tax or lower income tax.

GOP lawmakers said they see some promise with the recent Amazon sales tax, which is expected to help as sales increasingly go digital.

“I think we’ll get some windfall off the Amazon contract as I think we eventually get to a point where we do have and promote sales tax and we’re getting the revenue (and) the benefit,” Niederhauser said.

There’s also the possibility of bringing back a state sales tax on food, raising the gas tax or even phasing out certain income tax exemptions, Niederhauser added.

“There are a lot of ways … we can raise revenue if we can show and convince the people there’s a need and there’s an expected outcome for that,” he said, adding that there is nothing for sure on the table.

Air quality

"Air quality will be one of the most important issues this session," Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, told the Deseret News, adding that feedback she's gotten from the public and from polls shows that air quality "is a serious concern."

Among upcoming bills that will address air quality is one from Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton. The bill language proposes to "replace all Utah dirty diesel school buses with one of the numerous clean fuel school bus alternatives," by taking $20 million from the about $32 million allocated to Utah from a lawsuit with Volkswagen.

In addition to this, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert asked in his proposed 2018 fiscal-year budget for money to be set apart for air quality issues.

Medical marijuana and "Zion Curtain"

Republican leadership showed little appetite for pursuing legislation on medical marijuana in the upcoming session.

"I don't think we're going to get very far (with marijuana) until it is addressed federally," Niederhauser said. “I know there are medical properties to marijuana … but we don’t know to the degree of other drugs because we haven’t had the opportunity to process (marijuana)."

State GOP lawmakers hinted that there may be movement on the so-called "Zion Curtain" issue, but said there is not consensus yet on the direction they would want to pursue.

Bears Ears

Lawmakers indicated there would be little action on the Bears Ears National Monument. Republican leadership told the KSL and Deseret News editorial boards that they would wait to see what action Congress and the new administration would take regarding Bears Ears before moving forward.

However, Senate Majority Leader Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, said putting money toward a lawsuit could be a possibility during the session.

"It's a very critical issue for us as a state, for the rural part of the state especially, which has been carved up and designated so completely, there's so much of that part of the state that's federally owned and controlled that it just about kills economic growth and the part of the state that's hurting worst."

Mental health, homeless and other reforms

House Democrats also indicated that they have bills slated to address improvements for mental health and substance abuse services, a living wage increase — that would raise the minimum wage to $10.75 per hour before gradually increasing it to $15 per hour by 2023 — and housing reform.

“I’m really excited about the conversation around homelessness and I’m even more excited about the conversation around affordable housing,” Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake City.

Another forthcoming bill would request funding to ensure all of the rape kits in Utah are tested. House Democrats said that bill has “significant” bipartisan support.

King said he’s also introducing a bill that would replicate, on a state level, federal laws prohibiting domestic violence convicts from owning, possessing or purchasing gun.

“It’s currently illegal at the federal level, but we don’t have any state laws replicating those prohibitions,” he said. “As a consequence, we don’t have resources at the state level.”