Utah House of Representatives Report
Representative Carl Albrecht
September 5, 2024
Talking Policy at August Interim Meetings
This past month, I joined my colleagues and Utahns from every corner of the state for August Interim Meetings. In Committee, we talked about issues impacting Utah communities and discussed legislation for the 2025 General Session. Interim meetings are a valuable time to collaborate and discuss the impacts of Utah policy. If you would like to join our next interim meetings, I’ll be back at the Capitol on Sept. 17-18. Can’t make it to the Capitol? As always, you can watch live at le.utah.gov. Hope to see you there or on line.
Stand for Our Lands
After decades of policy work and legal analysis, the State of Utah filed a landmark public lands lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can simply hold unappropriated lands within a state indefinitely. Right now, the federal government controls nearly 70% of land in Utah. As a comparison, the federal government owns less than 1% of the land in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island.
In Utah, the Bureau of Land Management controls 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” lands, meaning the United States simply holds the land without any designated purpose. Importantly, this lawsuit does not impact the millions acres of “appropriated” lands – or those designated as national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, national forests, Tribal lands, or military properties.
If the state succeeds, Utah intends to keep these public lands in public hands – actively managed by locals – and open for sustainable use and recreation.
Have Questions About Voter Initiatives?
This July, a Utah Supreme Court ruling upended the state’s voter initiative process and created a new restricted class of “Forever Laws.” Effectively, the ruling prohibits the Legislature from updating or amending an initiative to work within our government, sustain balanced budgets, or change to meet our state’s needs. The court’s ruling gave outside interests a powerful tool to create restricted, unbending Utah laws that would fundamentally change what makes our communities special.
At our recent Special Legislative Session, I voted with my colleagues in the House and Senate to put a question on your November ballot. You will have a choice in November to restore Utah’s initiative process and keep big-money special interests from drowning out our values while expanding the amount of time Utahns have to gather signatures for initiatives.
To be clear, this ballot proposal means Utah’s standard initiative process remains unchanged. Utahns will continue to have the ability to propose and run ballot initiatives. If Utahns approve the constitutional amendment, these would be the only constitutional and statutory changes:
- Prohibiting foreign entities from contributing dollars to ballot initiatives and referendums.
- Clarifying the voters and legislative bodies’ ability to amend laws.
- Adding 20 more days to collect signatures to the referendum process – extending the process from 40 to 60 days.
Year after year, Utah ranks as the best-managed state in the nation. If we maintain Utah’s standard initiative and referendum process while protecting it from outside influence – we will remain one of the best-managed state for generations to come. This year, California will have 10 initiatives on the ballot, and Arizona will have 13. I don’t think this is the way we want Utah to be governed.
Utah is the Best in the West for Education
In government, budgets are a reflection of values and priorities. If you look at Utah’s budget, it is clear our historic investments in education are paying off.
U.S. News & World Report ranks Utah’s Public Education System as the second best in the nation – only behind Florida – and far ahead of our peers in the West.
Over the past two years alone, the House and Senate invested nearly $2 billion in our students, schools and school choice. We worked together to strengthen school safety, eliminate unnecessary school fees, and increase funding for classroom supplies.
American Founders and Constitution Month
The Legislature last year designated September as American Founders and Constitution Month, giving us the chance to honor the many freedoms we enjoy because of those who came before us. I am deeply grateful for our country’s great constitution and the many freedoms we enjoy because of it. I hope you will join me during September in reflecting on the wisdom of our Founding Fathers and the values that have shaped our nation.
Upcoming Events and Important Dates
September 17th and 18th – September Interim Meetings
October 15th and 16th – October Interim Meetings
October 25th – Last day to register to vote
Tuesday, November 5th – Election Day
Thank You
As always, thank-you again for allowing me to represent you in the Utah House of Representatives. I’ll do my very best to insure I represent your Rural Utah values with a conservative approach. Contact me with questions or concerns.
Best Regards
Representative Carl Albrecht
carlalbrecht@le.utah.gov
435-979-6578
