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House approves county option sales tax to support remote Kanab hospital
Summary
The House approved HB 404 to allow a county option sales tax to support the remote Kanab hospital after adopting an amendment requiring a local vote. Sponsors stressed the hospital’s remoteness and tourism traffic as reasons for the measure.
The Utah House approved House Bill 404, a county option sales tax measure intended to help sustain a rural hospital in Kanab. Representative Yarlene, the sponsor recorded on the floor, said the hospital is 90 miles from the nearest other facility, serves visitors to nearby tourist attractions and covers a service area extending into Arizona; she told colleagues that without the tax option the hospital could go under.
Several representatives spoke in support, including Representative Bowman and a member who disclosed a conflict of interest as a hospital board chair but nevertheless backed the measure as vital for rural health care. Representative Yardley offered an amendment requiring that any county option be placed to a vote of the people and that the county governing body adopt implementation consistent with the public vote. The House accepted Yardley’s pink‑sheet amendment and then voted on the bill as amended.
The clerk opened the vote on the amended HB 404; the transcript records the bill as receiving 68 affirmative votes and being passed and referred to the Senate for further consideration. Sponsors said the measure provides a county tool to sustain essential rural hospital services; opponents were not recorded in depth on the floor.
