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Utah House approves suite of base budgets for education, higher education and natural resources
Summary
The Utah House on Jan. 30 approved a set of base budget bills, including H.B. 1 (public education), H.B. 4 (higher education) and H.B. 5 (natural resources). Lawmakers described the measures as continuing prior-year funding levels and clearing the way for supplemental appropriations later in the session.
The Utah House passed several base budget bills on Jan. 30 that set funding baselines for the 2012 work of state agencies and education systems.
Representative Newbold told the chamber H.B. 1, the public education base budget, "appropriates the same amount of funds as we appropriated for the 2012 budget," while excluding prior one-time items such as per-pupil transportation and teacher supplies. After limited floor discussion, the House approved the measure 69–2.
Representative Morley described H.B. 4, the higher-education base budget, as roughly $1.3 billion composed of "about $600 million" in dedicated credits (primarily tuition), $474 million from the general fund and $252 million from the education fund. The bill passed 74–0.
Representative Mathis presented H.B. 5, the base for the Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environmental Quality appropriations, and said it appropriates about $329 million with approximately $56 million from the general fund; that bill also passed on the floor.
Lawmakers noted these bills establish the baseline (the "base budget") and that supplemental or one-time funding items removed from the base will be considered by appropriations committees later in the session. Several other house-sponsored base budgets (including retirement and independent-entity funding) were advanced with summations waived and unanimous or near-unanimous votes.
The House recessed its consideration of house-sponsored base budgets after these actions and signaled it would take up Senate base budget bills in a subsequent session.
The votes recorded on the floor mirror the House's procedural approach to start the appropriations process: pass base figures first, then handle changes in committee and the appropriations process.
