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Municipal lobbyists tell Murray council 2025 session was less damaging but housing, fees remain flashpoints
Summary
Lobbyists Corey Holdaway and David Stewart told the Murray City Committee of the Whole that the 2025 Utah Legislature produced fewer municipal life-or-death fights than recent years, but housing mandates and transportation-utility fees remain active threats; they urged continued engagement with the League of Cities.
Corey Holdaway and David Stewart, the city's contracted lobbyists, briefed Murray's Committee of the Whole on the 2025 legislative session, telling council members the year was relatively positive for many municipal priorities but still featured contentious fights over housing policy, transportation utility fees and state-local authority.
"I just wanna compliment you," Corey Holdaway said, noting he had worked with Murray for years and that the city's representatives were generally receptive to municipal concerns. David Stewart described the broader session as "one of the harder, kind of meaner, more uglier sessions" at times, even while acknowledging the municipal agenda fared better than in previous years.
Both lobbyists highlighted several bills that shaped municipal work this year: House Bill 37, intended to incentivize affordable housing; House Bill 88, which would have required certain accessory dwelling units and was ultimately defeated; Senate Bill 181 (the "garage" bill) that limits mandatory developer-imposed garages but allows municipalities to require on-site parking in certain affordable, owner-occupied housing; and House Bill 262, which creates a state planning effort on housing affordability. They also flagged House Bill 355 (Mining and Critical Infrastructure Materials Amendments) as an example of the Legislature asserting statewide policy that can indirectly affect cities.
On transportation utility fees, the lobbyists noted a Utah Supreme Court ruling that validated city-imposed fees but recounted how a recent legislative compromise—pursued in part because large nonprofits objected to paying the charge—failed to clear both houses. "We didn't get a carve-out for nonprofits," Stewart said, and the issue is likely to return during the interim.
Both presenters urged continued reliance on the League of Cities and Towns as a vehicle to improve bills and stop harmful proposals. They recommended council members remain engaged during the interim, follow the Commission on Housing Affordability and maintain contact with legislators who have municipal backgrounds.
Because the session included a number of competing political forces, they said, Murray's strategy will be to keep communicating direct municipal impacts and to prepare for further interim work on housing and infrastructure policy.
What happens next: staff and the council were told to monitor the Housing Affordability Commission and continued interim negotiations on transportation-fee policy and any future coordination bills the governor's office may advance.
