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House approves changes to school trust distribution and votes to put constitutional amendment on ballot
Summary
The House approved first-substitute SB 109 to distribute a 4% annual payout from school and institutional trust revenues to community councils, and passed a companion constitutional resolution (SJR 12) to permit the distribution mechanism; supporters said it directs more funds to local schools while preserving the trust corpus.
The Utah House passed first-substitute Senate Bill 109, a measure that changes how money from the school and institutional trust lands is distributed, and approved a companion constitutional resolution to permit the distribution approach.
Representative Brown explained the bill at length, distributing a handout and reviewing trust land acreages and revenue sources across multiple beneficiary trusts. He described SB 109’s mechanism as taking a 12-quarter rolling average of trust revenue and distributing 4% annually to community councils and other beneficiaries so local schools receive more direct funding. “What we're doing with this bill 109 is creating a process where there's a better and more sizable distribution made annually... It will increase the revenue, nearly double that goes to the community councils,” Brown said. He cautioned the change could slightly slow corpus growth but framed that as manageable and reviewable by the Legislature.
Supporters including Representative Cunningham and Representative Noel said the funds would flow to classroom needs—paraeducators, technology and other direct supports—and that protections exist to prevent inappropriate legislative incursions into trust management. Representative Cunningham noted the independent management of the fund and the creation of a chief investment officer position to safeguard assets.
The House first uncircled and then passed the first substitute for SB 109 (67–0). Representative Brown also moved the companion Senate Joint Resolution 12 to amend the Utah Constitution so the statutory distribution aligns with constitutional guarantees; the House passed the resolution (72–0), sending the amendment forward for further consideration in the constitutional amendment process.
Representative Brown said the constitutional adjustment would allow limited diversion to ensure the 4% distribution is realized without materially impairing the fund in adverse long-term markets; he described the change as a way to balance the needs of present students with the fund’s future beneficiaries.
Next steps: The statute and constitutional resolution will proceed in the legislative process; if the constitutional amendment passes both chambers by the required supermajority, it would be placed on the ballot for voter consideration.
