Representative Kay Christofferson, state representative for District 53 (Lehi and American Fork), gave a brief update on the first week of the Utah legislative session and the work she expects in the coming weeks. She said she is pursuing legislation “to eliminate the income tax on Social Security” and “a bill on reducing the income tax from 4.55% to 4.45%.”

Christofferson said the Legislature is entering the appropriations phase and that some budget cuts are possible. “Right now we are going through the appropriations processes,” she said, noting she had just finished a Transportation Infrastructure Appropriations Subcommittee meeting and expected two to three weeks of subcommittee work to compile budget requests.

Christofferson described committee responsibilities she holds that relate to that work: she said she serves as chair of the House Transportation Committee and on the Revenue and Taxation Committee. She also said many bills before the House were vetted in the interim and are therefore moving through the session more quickly: “they’ve been through a lot of vetting already so they’re fairly good and easy to go through.”

She also recounted a personal trip to Washington, D.C., saying she had “a chance to go back to Washington DC to participate in the inauguration of Donald Trump.”

On timing and outlook, Christofferson said the fate of the tax proposals will depend on overall budget decisions made during appropriations. “We’ll see how those two goes and depends on our budget,” she said, and added, by way of summation, that the legislative session is gaining momentum: “the train is loaded and moving and gaining speed.”

No formal motions, votes, or committee directives were recorded in this remark; the update was informational.