The Budget

Robert Gehrke wrote a good article on the current status of budget talks. Senator Bramble sums up the situation: "'I think as we go into this session, it sounds like the House, Senate and governor are much closer than we've been at the same point in previous years,' said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble. While Senate Republicans did not settle on the size of a tax cut, he said a reduction in the $100 million range is 'reasonable and possible.'"

The Governor's initial task in the budgeting process is to provide recommendations to the Legislature. Governor Huntsman did a great job.

For starters, he didn't use fake money. We have a spending cap. Some things count toward that cap, some don't, and some are grey. The Gov didn't fudge those numbers. Thus, the two branches agree on the amount of available revenue that exists.

Also, there are some (unglamorous) things that absolutely have to be funded (like enrollment growth in Medicaid). By not accounting for those things in a recommendation, a Gov leaves lots of fake money on the table to fund wish lists (leaving the Legislature to play Scrooge, by appropriating the money where it actually has to go).

And, most importantly, his recommendations are good. The biggest expenditure is public education. The 7% increase the Gov recommended is appropriate. We differ a bit on how that should be appropriated, but it is a point we will work out.

Many in the Legislature want a good chunk of the education money to go directly to teacher bonuses, rather than to the districts in a lump sum. In negotiating salaries with the districts, the education unions demand that most of the money go to teachers nearing retirement (since retirement is based on a percentage of their highest paid years); this hurts teachers at the start of their careers. By paying the money as an across-the-board bonus, it works to lift salaries of the younger teachers we need to retain more than if we were to send the money directly to the districts.

As for a tax cut, stay tuned. As I have stated many times before, I believe that cuts to the personal income tax stimulate the economy. Businesses are very mobile, and they look at the income tax rate as a key indicator. Thus, I will work to further reduce the income tax rate.

Mitt's Mormon Speech

I liked Mitt’s Mormon speech. America does well when it openly discusses its prejudices and divisions. Regardless of parties and positions, it is exciting that our leading candidates include a Mormon, a woman, and a black man with a humdinger of a name. We’ve come a long way, baby.

How to Cripple Utah's Economy

For decades, Utah has worked hard to bring in better paying jobs. St. George provides a good example of this work – and a good example of how to bring economic progress to a halt.

Realistically, the economies of states largely follow the national economy. However, there are a few things state governments can do to boost or undermine their own fate. One specific thing Utah could do to hurt its economy would be to increase energy prices.

In south St. George, some enterprising individuals teamed with the City of St. George, the State Trust Lands Administration, and the Dixie-Escalante Rural Electric Association, to create the Fort Pierce Industrial Park. Without manufacturing, touristy places like St. George can develop very unhealthy economies. Through Fort Pierce, largely because of fantastic energy rates, St. George has placed itself on the map for clean manufacturing. The jobs that are being imported and created in the industrial park are fantastic, and, through the multiplier effect, those jobs are inuring to the broader benefit of the community and the State.

And, by the way, the affordable power for Fort Pierce is generated in the Uintah Basin, at the coal-fired Bonanza Power plant. Utah is a coal state.

One of the employers in Fort Pierce is Blue Bunny ice cream. Because of the affordable power rates, Wells Dairy decided it would make sense to produce lots of ice cream in St. George. Raise its power rates, and Blue Bunny loses its reason for being here -- as do other manufacturing businesses and prospective businesses sensitive to the costs of inputs (meaning, all manufacturing businesses).

Utah has some unique aspects that can help attract or repel business development. One of the best things Utah has going for it is affordable power. The Legislature knows this and is extremely concerned that Utah might lose this advantage.

By contrast, no matter what it does, California is looking at much higher energy costs in the future. Because businesses are extremely sensitive to higher energy costs, what can California do to keep from losing businesses to neighboring states in the future? Get them to take steps that will lead to higher energy rates. Let’s not take that bait.

I Heart St. George (Part 4)

Sara and I are throwing our annual Christmas party tonight. (For any newbies, we are serious about you performing a number; no exceptions). Things are beautiful, ready, and calm. Nine years ago, that was not the case.

Sara was in the hospital, in Salt Lake City, with a pregnancy that had gone awry. I was in St. George with our three young kids (our oldest was 4 ½), traveling up twice a week to visit her and trying (unsuccessfully) to keep all the balls in the air down here. At a church Christmas party, JoLynne Miller asked how I was managing. “Fine.” Her suspicions having been raised by the way my girls were dressed and “styled,” she stopped by the next day. Looking at the chaos, she said, “You lie. This is not ‘fine.’”

So, JoLynne arranged things, and, for the next few weeks, she and a brigade of other saints would show up to clean, cook, tend, and help us manage. People would show up with cleaning stuff, and I’d just say “thanks,” and they’d do their thing. Up in Salt Lake, Sara was extremely grateful to get these reports that her babies (and clueless husband) were being taken care of. But, she was mortified/stoked to learn that notorious clean freaks Kamie Truman and Valarie Snow had cleaned our house. Anyone we tell the story to who knows them asks, “Did they clean under the beds?” Yes.

One Saturday, a teenage neighbor boy, Mark Blake, knocked on the door with a Christmas tree from the nursery where he worked, saying he figured I hadn’t had time to get one. He left, and I cried (and I’m tearing up as I write this) at the generosity of my fine community. I’ve never seen angels from on high, but I’ve seen plenty of angels just off Red Hills golf course.