House approves bill to reward trail projects that hire youth; adds points for youth work components

The Utah House voted to approve House Bill 118, a measure that adds a scoring category to give additional points to Riverway Enhancements and Rails-to-Trails project applications that include a youth work component.

Representative Jason Jones, the bill sponsor, said the bill does not create a new bureaucracy or a new funding stream but instead ‘‘gives additional points’’ to projects that include employment opportunities for youth, including at-risk youth. Jones said the approach is intended as an incentive: ‘‘If you have two projects side by side that are equal in other respects, and one happens to have a program to use at-risk youth, then extra points would be given to that project and it could enhance their bid.’’

Jones described local pilot programs, including a Salt Lake youth-force project that helped at-risk youth build a mile of Jordan River Parkway trail and other neighborhood improvements, as evidence the approach can foster community ownership and reduce gang involvement.

The House adopted pink-sheet amendments, including language changing ‘‘preference’’ to an explicit point-based rating system. Representative Proxman placed the combined amendment on Jones’s behalf and members agreed the duplication across bill sections corrected an earlier drafting oversight.

Final action: Voting closed and the clerk reported the bill passed the House with 58 affirmative and 12 negative votes; the bill will be transmitted to the Senate for further consideration.

What happens next: The bill, as amended, moves to the Senate where a further committee review and a Senate floor vote are expected.