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Utah House rejects first substitute to divert severance tax revenue to trust fund
Summary
After hours of debate highlighting tensions between immediate budget needs and long-term savings, the Utah House voted 36-39 against the first substitute of House Bill 210 on Feb. 3, 2012, returning the measure to staff for filing. Supporters called it prudent stewardship; opponents warned of cuts to current priorities.
The Utah House of Representatives voted against the first substitute to House Bill 210 on Feb. 3, 2012, by a margin of 36-39, returning the measure to staff for filing. The substituted bill would have phased a portion of severance-tax receipts into a permanent trust fund rather than depositing them in the general fund.
Proponents, led on the floor by the bill sponsor identified in the reading as Representative Nielsen, framed the measure as a long-term fiscal discipline. Nielsen said the severance-tax stream is volatile and that saving principal would let the state ‘‘live off the interest’’ for future generations. He told colleagues that if the state had saved every dollar of severance taxes since 1938, the principal would have been substantially larger…
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