Utah representative says session is past midpoint as members weigh drug, election, immigration and budget bills

Representative Kay Christofferson, a member of the Utah House of Representatives, said the Legislature is more than halfway through its session and that lawmakers are considering bills on drugs, elections, immigration and the state budget.

Christofferson said lawmakers “have had a few bills regarding drugs and protecting the state against drug traffickers clarifying which drugs, you know, there's new drugs on the market all the time, which ones are, not allowed in Utah, and how to control that.” She said election-related bills remain under consideration and that immigration discussion has referenced federal action: “we have some issues in the state that we're wanting to clarify and help to, make sure that those who are in The United States are here legally. Those who want to be here, we'd like to have them here, but we want them to come legally.”

On the budget, Christofferson described the process as the state moves from subcommittee work to a final package. “And, we are at the end of our appropriations, sub committee meetings, now the executive appropriations, takes all the information that we sent to them, they look it over and balance everything between all of the appropriations sub committees and then put together a budget for the year,” she said. She added: “That's 1 of our main duties is to establish a budget, there's not a lot of extra money this year, but I think as a state we're doing well.”

Christofferson also described her preference on tax policy, saying she supports cutting general taxes while removing targeted incentives: “I want to cut general taxes, keep the rate low and broad, but I want to cut out the tax incentives that just target certain groups because I don't think that's fair.”

Christofferson closed by noting that session activity is increasing as members spend more time debating bills on the House floor and thanked listeners for their input.