Brice Wallace
A state commission tackling Utah’s big economic issues has named the leaders and players for its teams.
The Unified Economic Opportunity Commission recently approved working groups and subcommittees, their leadership, their membership and their priorities for 2022, with the goal to produce budget items and legislation for 2023.
Gov. Spencer Cox, the commission’s co-chair, said the commission was productive in its inaugural year in 2021. “I felt like it was an incredibly successful legislative session [this year], in large part because of the work that’s happening here,” Cox told the commission.
The commission’s working groups were disbanded earlier this year, with a new set of issues and stakeholders looking at those issues established for 2022.
“I just want to remind everyone, as of last year, our goal is to keep the working groups nimble and decisive,” Cox said. “These are not talking groups; these are working groups. We expect accomplishments, not talk and pejoratives.”
The groups include:
• The Working Group on Growth and Transportation, co-chaired by Carlos Braceras, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation; state Rep. Mike Schultz and Sen. Kirk Cullimore.
Among its priorities are evaluating transportation funding, changes to land-use authority around transportation hubs, opening up regions of Utah as economic hubs through transportation systems, and whether to create a statewide plan for transit.
“We are in a great place today, but I can tell you with the way we are growing as a state, there are concerns whether or not we are funding transportation appropriately,” Braceras said.
• The Working Group on Government Efficiency and Cooperation, chaired by Rep. Jefferson Moss, with vice chairs Sen. Evan Vickers and Miles Hansen, president and CEO of World Trade Center Utah.
Moss said many people might consider “government” and “efficiency” to be contradictory terms, but the group will focus on how Utahns interact with state government.
“This is one of the areas that excites me the most,” Cox said. “It is something that we’ve been trying to work on in our administration. And it also frustrates me the most that this is the area that gets the least amount of attention. Obviously, the press and the public love the big, divisive issues that affect almost no one … and making government work the way it’s supposed to, in an efficient manner, I think is what we should be working on.”
• The Working Group on Water Infrastructure and Environment, chaired by Sen. Scott Sandall, with vice chairs Rep. Joel Ferry and Brian Steed, executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources.
“What I think we’ve all begun to realize in a very bright spotlight is that water and water infrastructure are the key to our prosperity and continued growth in this state,” Sandall said. “The drought that we’re in has probably accelerated our need to focus on this. We’ve always known that it was coming, but through some good conservation efforts in the past, we’ve been able to extend that deadline, and now I think that deadline has just really come close to us.”
• The Working Group on Innovation. The chair is Rep. Adam Robertson, with vice chairs Sen. Mike McKell and Dave Woolstenhulme, state commissioner of higher education.
• The Subcommittee on Housing Affordability, part of state government. The co-chairs are Rep. Steve Waldrip and Sen. Lincoln Fillmore.
Waldrip said it will have three subgroups focused on rural housing, low-income housing and attainable (market-rate) housing.
• The Subcommittee on Women in the Economy, co-chaired by Sen Luz Escamilla and Melissa Freigang, founding director of the Weber Prosperity Center of Excellence. The subcommittee is part of state government.
• The Subcommittee on Talent, Education and Industry Alignment, part of state government. It is chaired by Sen. Ann Millner.
The subcommittee’s priorities include elevating the visibility of women in the economy; looking at issues related to quality child care; and creating opportunities across the socioeconomic spectrum, including vulnerable populations.
The working groups and subcommittees will present policy ideas for consideration and discussion in July. In September, they will present finalized items for commission consideration, and the commission will decide on forwarding them to legislative interim committees or for the governor’s budget.
Cox said he appreciates the legislative branch, executive branch and the private and nonprofit sectors working on Utah’s big issues.
“I know it doesn’t get much attention, I know it’s kind of boring, I know the press doesn’t write about it, I know the public probably doesn’t care, but this is where it’s happening,” the governor told the commission. “Big things are happening, and I really love working with you guys.”