Subcommittee reviews TANF uses, $450K independent living request and HB 68 housing reorganization

SALT LAKE CITY — The subcommittee reviewed a five‑year TANF spending brief, heard a $450,000 ongoing funding request from the network of Independent Living Centers and received an overview of HB 68, a bill to centralize state housing programs under the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (GOEO).

Staff summarized that roughly $75.3 million in annual TANF funds are used for a range of purposes, with about $10.4 million available this year for eligible requests; transfers to child care and other accounts alter fund attributes and maintenance-of-effort calculations. “To qualify for TANF funds, expenditures must meet one of the four TANF purposes,” staff said, and explained transfer rules and temporary-use constraints under state statute.

Justin Anfinson and Andy Curry, representing Utah’s Independent Living Centers, asked for $450,000 ongoing to sustain staff and essential services that keep people with disabilities out of nursing homes and help them access employment, housing and assistive technology. Curry cited 12,000 individuals served last year and said centers achieved cost savings by transitioning people out of nursing homes and preventing hospitalizations. “This money is just going to shift, and it’ll be more expensive if we lose these services,” Curry told the committee.

Steve Waldrop and staff presented HB 68, which would consolidate more than 40 housing programs across state entities into a single division within GOEO. Waldrop said the reorganization is intended to improve accountability and transparency; testimony said the bill’s fiscal note will be net‑neutral because it shifts existing funds rather than asking for new money.

On a procedural item, a motion to add a one‑time $3.5 million reduction of previously appropriated Sundance Film Festival funds to the cut list was made and later tabled by a substitute motion; the chair ruled the tabling motion passed after a voice vote.