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SALT LAKE CITY — House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, came out of the gate firing away on several tough issues he wants lawmakers to address during the 45-day session of the 2017 Legislature that began Monday.
“This state — and I use the word 'state' on purpose — this state has a homelessness crisis amongst us,” Hughes said in his opening remarks.
The culture and the values of Utah don't align with the "carnage" going on in the streets, he said.
Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County can’t solve it alone, nor can the state, Hughes said. They need to work together, but the Legislature won’t write blank checks, he said.
Both the speaker and Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, spoke about the need to confront the power Washington, D.C., has over the states. They said the Legislature's commission on federalism will meet during the session.
The speaker said he would push the Trump administration to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument that President Barack Obama created just before leaving office, which Hughes called a “great overstep.”
Local people can manage the land better than someone thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., Hughes said.
Utah has a relationship with the federal government on public lands, education, Medicaid and other issues, and “I don’t know that it’s a healthy relationship,” the speaker said.
GOP House members applauded lightly after Hughes talked about homelessness but stood and applauded his remarks on Bears Ears.
House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said he liked the speaker's comments about homeless issues and crime but found talk of rolling back Bears Ears "irritating."
"I think it's grandstanding in the sense that it's out of our hands as a state," King said. "There's nothing we can do about that here in the Legislature. It's a nonissue for the purposes of our session."
Niederhauser devoted most of his opening day speech about the need for “rebalancing the power of the states and the federal government,” his definition of President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
The mention of the new U.S. president’s name drew a brief smattering of applause. Niederhauser said he was encouraged by Trump referring in his inauguration speech to transferring power from Washington to the people.
“Most issues should be dealt with in our state houses and in our city halls, not Washington, D.C.,” the Senate president said, urging Utahns to share their concerns about federal government overreach.
He asked that Democrats and others worried about the new administration in Washington “join together to bring the power back to the states.” Niederhauser said despite Trump’s words, he doesn't believe that will be easy.
The new Bears Ears designation raises concerns about the “unbridled power” of the president, the Senate leader said, labeling such decisions “dictatorial and tyrannical” and suggesting that even if that authority is legal, it is not right.
Hughes brought up education funding, saying raising the state’s income tax is the wrong way to go. Tax reform 10 years ago brought new companies and jobs and lowered unemployment as lawmakers expected it would do, he said.
School funding needs more people making more money, and that happens through business expansion, Hughes said. A proposed citizens initiative would raise the state's 5 percent income tax rate by seven-eighths of 1 percent — a 17.5 percent increase.
Hughes also favors expanding the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration to provide a sustainable, growing sources of dollars for schools. The administration is charged with generating revenue on state lands held in trust for public education.
On the same day women marched on the state Capitol, Niederhauser reminded Utahns that the first woman in the United States to serve as a state senator was elected here in 1896.
That woman, Martha Hughes Cannon, appears on the state Senate's commemorative coin this year, he said. Niederhauser said the state should be proud of her accomplishments, as well as women voting here nearly 150 years ago.
For the first time in state history, the two longest-serving House members are Democrats and women. Rep. Patrice Arent of Millcreek and Rep. Carol Spackman Moss of Holladay are both beginning their 16th legislative session.
