Happy Friday from #OneUtah, a weekly update from the office of Gov. Spencer J. Cox. Here’s your recap of what we did this week, what's on the horizon, and more. Reply to this email with any questions or suggestions regarding the newsletter. And thank you for subscribing!

We did it!

The bill signing period of the 2024 General Legislative Session is officially over! We signed 555 bills into law, vetoed seven bills and line-item vetoed two bills.

While we would have preferred fewer bills, this session was a resounding success. We're especially excited about strategic investments made in our teachers, water resources, homelessness and behavior health, housing, infrastructure and many other priorities.

Members of the Legislature deserve credit for making Utah a better place and we’re grateful for them, the citizens and Team Utah for their role in this process. To view all the bills we signed, click here.

Keeping campuses safe

This week we attended the second annual Utah Campus Safety Summit at the University of Utah. Safety on our campuses continues to be a concern for students, faculty, staff and the general public, and we appreciate the efforts by the University of Utah and campuses around the state who are implementing  solutions including: 

• Increasing law enforcement at events and on campuses to build trust and relationships. The presence helps people feel safer and more comfortable to report a crime or seek resources.

• Regular training for both campus staff and security to improve response times and effectiveness.

• Public education and outreach to help raise awareness about ways to help prevent harm and risk.

• Better lighting and technology including cameras and apps. 

• Audits to help find weaknesses and improve service.

• Collecting and sharing data to help pinpoint areas that are vulnerable.

Sharing information, ideas and best practices across institutions will create safer environments and strengthen our campus communities. 

Monthly News Conference

This week we held our Monthly News Conference at PBS Utah. Here are some highlights: 

Q:  There was another wrong way crash just this morning in downtown Salt Lake on I-15. What do you say to people who say, OK, the state has done this new signage and all these other measures, but it doesn't seem to be working?

A: Yeah, I would tell people to stop drinking and driving. And again, I don't know what happened this morning, but I can tell you it's every single fatality we've had so far, there has been impairment, either drugs, alcohol or both. And that's deeply problematic. Now, we do have some new technologies that have been employed on a couple places that seem to be working better. Give us instant notification, allow us to notify drivers that there is a wrong way driver potentially as well. And it's very expensive technology. And so we're working with UDOT to get that deployed in as many places as we can as quickly as possible.

Q: On the final night of the session, the Legislature passed SB 273, the bill to require the Salt Lake County District Attorney to track time spent on criminal cases. Do you plan to sign or veto that bill?

A: Yeah. So I'll be signing that bill. We've had conversations with the county about the bill and you'll also notice in that bill, it does not go into effect until July of next year. So there's a very delayed implementation date. The concerns that have been brought up are around some of the policies hat have been employed at the DA's office. And again, what's happening with criminals being released very quickly and charged is not being followed through. That's the concern that we were hearing from the Legislature. So we've had communication with the county council and some of the concerns that they have as well to try to see if there's a better path forward. We don't want to put an unnecessary burden that doesn't actually help or solve the problem.

Q: Governor, with a record number of bills passed, did you have adequate time to review everything?

A: Yeah, I did, but it chewed into time to do anything else over the course of the last 20 days. So we again, my dedication is to the people of Utah and to make sure that we review every single bill ... And so it obviously is a challenge. There are so many great bills that were passed this session, and I don't want to sound too critical, but I think there is some self-selection that could be helpful. We could be a little more discerning about what really needs to be done ... I was told yesterday that Congress last year passed 27 bills. And now, let me be clear, Congress is completely dysfunctional. And I think we needed more than 27 bills. But I don't know that our state needed 591 (bills) to remain functional after what I thought was a pretty good year before. 
 

Public policy lessons with former Gov. Leavitt

We were honored to attend a discussion with former Gov. Mike Leavitt this week about policy lessons learned during his time in office. Gov. Leavitt shared a metaphor about “BIG GEARS” – the idea that if you want all of the little gears in public service to turn you need to focus on the big ones. Some “BIG GEARS” of our administration include housing, homeless solutions, and service. 

In Utah, we have 3.4 million people, and our state is continuing to grow. This week’s discussion with Gov. Leavitt gave us some good perspectives on what he learned while in office, and how we can apply that to Utah today. See photos here.

Iftar at the Mansion

We were honored to break fhe fast with the Utah Muslim Civic League this week. First Lady Abby and I enjoyed giving a tour of the Kearns Mansion and learning more about Ramadan. 

Ramadan Kareem to all who celebrate! 

State and Local Government Conference

Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson attended the 42nd annual State and Local Government Conference hosted by BYU Law. She spoke about her political journey, starting in the Senate and later partnering with Gov. Cox to run together for executive office.

Lt. Gov. Henderson accepted the Distinguished Service Award on behalf of Gov. Cox. The award was in recognition of the governor's hard work in improving civility in politics. See pictures of the event here.

Governor’s Award for Excellence Highlight

Each week, we’re highlighting a state employee who was awarded the Governor’s Award for Excellence. This week we’re recognizing Sergeant First Class Matthew Smith with the Utah National Guard.

Sergeant First Class Matthew Smith, a talented developer who listens to organizational needs, effectively leads leadership to innovative and creative solutions which save countless hours of workforce expenditure through automated solutions. Just one of the 192 software solutions developed by his team sees more than 76,000 page views a week. SFC Smith was instrumental in assisting Utah’s response to the COVID pandemic. As a result of one of his software solutions, Utah tracked the vaccination status of more than 7,000 Soldiers, Airmen, Federal/State employees, and their families, reaching more than an 84% vaccination completion rate by February of 2022, putting Utah well ahead of the rest of the nation. His ability to assess the emerging situation, predict the necessary changes required to address the increased scale and complexity, and implement a solution for an emerging requirement sets him apart from most programmers in his field.

Thank you, SFC Smith, for your dedication to the state of Utah. Keep up the great work! To read about the Governor’s Awards for Excellence, click here.

ICYMI

• We appreciate the public discussion and policy work the Utah Priorities Project has done in our state for the past 20 years. This week we were talking housing, homeless solutions, education and water. Thanks, Utah Foundation, for your good work!
• Last week we announced nominations for our third annual Governor’s Spirit of Service Award! Nominate an individual or group here. 
• Such an honor to speak at the famed Gridiron Club last weekend. 

Coming up

Get involved!

Looking for a new job opportunity? From great employee benefits to versatile work schedules, the career opportunities with the state are truly endless. Join Team Utah today! 

Those looking to volunteer can also consider more than 300 boards and commissions. Find out which openings are available and how you can get involved here!

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