January 24, 2025

January 24, 2025 – UT State Legislature General Session Preview & more!

6 minutes

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another week of news here on Summit in Six! This week, we dive into a quick preview of this year’s General Session of the Utah State Legislature. Then, we share some important public health information regarding norovirus including tips on how to help stop the spread. Finally, we wrap things up with a last call for community planning lab applications and surplus vehicle bids! Alright, Derek, let’s get into the news.

TOPIC 1: LEGISLATIVE SESSION PREVIEW

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, January 21, 2025, the general session of Utah’s 69th legislature began and will run until Friday, March 7, 2025. Over the next 45 days, Summit County will track activity at the State Capitol and provide updates to the County Council and to the public at the regularly scheduled weekly Council meetings.

You can tune into those meetings every Wednesday on Zoom (https://summitcounty.info/councilzoom) or live on the Summit County, Utah Facebook Page.

In case you’re wondering what the County’s areas of focus are for this session, key policy concerns relate to:

Transportation. This includes securing support and funding for projects like the Kimball Junction/I-80 Interchange project, the SR-224 and Bus Rapid Transit or BRT project, and High Valley Transit’s Sego Lily Transit Campus and expansion plans.

Olympics Planning. The County is hoping to actively engage with the legislature and others to start planning for a 2034 Olympic Winter games, understanding the infrastructure needs, particularly around transportation, transit, solid waste, and sustainability measures, seeing this as an opportunity to use our community as a demonstration of innovation for the rest of the world.

Revenues for Counties. This includes looking for support from the legislature for counties to have access to revenue sources that cities do, particularly to fund infrastructure/capital projects. The county also hopes to stay engaged in the Transient Room Tax (TRT) conversations among legislative leadership to ensure the county’s revenues from this tax are preserved and the county has the flexibility to use its portion of the tax on tourism impacts.

Affordable Housing and Land Use. Summit County hopes the legislature will see the value of public-private partnerships between counties/municipalities and developers to negotiate affordable housing projects with significant public benefits. We will also continue to monitor land use bills that will likely be considered or move through the legislature this session and work to maintain the county’s authority to decide its land use locally. In addition, the county hopes to see a revision to the HTRZ statute to better fit with projects in Summit County and plans to request modifications to the Moderate Income Housing Plan statute so the county can receive credit for things it has done to encourage the development of affordable housing that do not count currently. Finally, we’ll follow and engage in the discussions about short-term rentals regulations.

Childcare. Summit County hopes the legislature will continue to fund start up partnership grants between employers and providers who want to expand childcare offerings in their communities. The county will also request state assistance to remove barriers to make it easier for employers to partner with providers and offer childcare benefit to employees, as well as request state funding for scholarships, grants, subsidies, or tax incentives to moderate- and low-income families to afford childcare. Finally, we’ll ask the legislature to continue to fund, and possibly expand, the Department of Workforce Services Childcare Assistance program.

We’ll continue to follow and report on the session’s progress, specifically as it relates to Summit County’s interests, each week right here on Summit in Six.

TOPIC 2: NOROVIRUS

The Summit County Health Department wanted to share some information about Norovirus, as it’s a commonly spread virus this time of year that is very contagious and causes vomiting and diarrhea. It is sometimes called the “stomach flu” or the “stomach bug.” However, norovirus illness is not related to the flu. The flu is caused by the influenza virus. Norovirus causes acute gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach or intestines. Most people with norovirus illness get better within 1 to 3 days; but they can still spread the virus for a few days after.

Here are some ways to stop the spread of norovirus: Wash hands well with soap and water; hand sanitizer alone does not work well against norovirus. Clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces. Do not prepare, handle food, or care for others when you are sick. Stay home when sick for 48 hours after symptoms stop.

If you are looking for more information on this topic, visit summitcountyhealth.org.

TOPIC 3: LAST CHANCE!

And, last but not least, we’ll wrap things up with a last call for community planning lab applications AND surplus vehicle bids!

The community planning lab is a 10-week course that can help YOU understand the processes that drive local planning and land use policy decisions. Learn more about the Community Planning Lab and apply today through this coming MONDAY, January 27 at summitcounty.info/planninglab.

The Summit County Auditor’s Office is accepting bids to purchase county surplus vehicles.

Check out the available stock at summitcounty.info/surplus. To place a bid, the online bidding form can be found in the description of each vehicle. Bidding concludes end-of-day also this coming MONDAY, January 27, 2025.

The winning bid will be the highest reasonable bid submitted. If a tie occurs, the Auditor’s Office will accept the bid that was placed first.

If you have any questions about how to bid or the process, contact the Summit County Auditor’s Office at (435) 336-3027 or [email protected].

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