S.B. 151 Public Safety Funding Amendments: transcript

Senate Bill 1 51 Public Safety Funding Amendments. Thank you. I'd move to late and title and Body Senate bill 1 51 and replaced with first substitute Senate Bill 1 51. All it does speak up first. All it does is add an effective date. Okay. Um, I had entertain a motion then to, uh, okay. Got a, a motion, uh, to delete title and body on first sub or on Senate bill 1 51 and replace it with first substitute 1 51. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That is unanimous. So the first sub is in front of us. And now do you wanna speak to the whole Bill? Yes. To the, the whole substituted bill? So, um, we have been extremely good over the years of building capacity and new road projects within the state of Utah. Uh, we've got the, uh, west Davis corridor, Bangor Highway, mountain View Corridor, um, the, uh, Porter Rockwell, the Pioneer Parkway, Utah County, the Southern Corridor. And then adding, uh, lane capacity on I 15. And other, uh, roads we have not been as good on, uh, making sure that we have the troopers to patrol those. We've had several of those roads as they opened up that we kind of just said, okay, locals, you take care of our state roads. Uh, we've done a good job. We've got most of the Southern Parkway, um, the West Davis corridor and Bangalor Highway that are now patrolled by troopers. Uh, this bill is a mechanism to go through and add about 19 or 20 different troopers. Now if you ask if that's enough, based on the report that I asked that I got last fall from u um, from UHP, we actually need 35 troopers to go through and patrol roads that we've either expanded or we've, uh, we've added that are not fully, uh, fully, uh, staffed. Um, we have the ability, we've got most of them though, already taken care of with, uh, udot on the instant management teams. We're just short of troopers. So what this bill does is it addresses that problem by go through and taking some, uh, funds out of the insurance premium tax collection of $3 million in dedicating that to, uh, uh, UA to DPS for troopers and also, and, and just be aware that there's extra money in there. You see that there's certain, within the lines of it, there's dedicated guarantees to, uh, URS to make sure that we get up to the 110%, uh, of coverage for the firefighters and everybody else that this fund is entitled, intended to cover. Uh, we do have some extra revenues in that. And then right now we have within the transportation fund, 11.6 million that's dedicated in that for, uh, troopers Finance Tax Commission and other agencies to cover their cost. And we're going through and increasing by 2 million and getting some more troopers out of that. So the total appropriation within this bill is, is $5 million out of available funds that we can do and start addressing the trooper shortage in the State of Utah.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, just to be clear, and you're able to raise enough money with your sources to cover the cost of this

Yes. Ongoing.

Tell us who you are. Thank You, Mr. Chair Committee. Uh, bow Mason, commissioner for the Utah Department of Public Safety. Um, just really want to thank Senator for his work on this. We do try to be proactive in our planning. Um, it has been hard up to this point. Um, we're kind of been an afterthought in, in some ways, and no fault of U dots. There wasn't a mechanism there where we did this. That was changed a couple years ago where we now coordinate with them annually. But a lot of these roads that are being discussed, in fact, the whole list that I was gonna rattle off, um, Senator already did. Those were all planned and built without, um, any thought into how they would be patrolled, which we see as operational, just as important as the snowplows that go up and down those roads. And so we do appreciate his work on this, and we feel like that will help us move in a direction where we can, we can take some of those roads from, um, cities where they've been put in a kind of a hardship themselves to take some of these. And then other areas, we just need to expand those coverages to properly cover them. So we appreciate the work on this.

First, I have to correct the record. Um, my name is pronounced Leif Leif. Just want everybody to know that, uh, Lei Elder, and I know you already know that, uh, Le Elder with udot, um, legislative Affairs Director. Um, so this, this is something that wasn't in the governor's budget, so we're, we're neutral on the bill, but I want, I want you to know we appreciate, uh, the work of, of, uh, highway Patrol, uh, what they do, the safety aspect they bring, um, and, and just, just taking care of things out there on the road. And, uh, so we appreciate what they do. So thanks. Thank you.

Oh, no. Actually, I'm gonna make a comment and then it's 'cause he likes me better than you. I love this committee. I, I'm just gonna make a comment and I'll let Senator, uh, Rebe make the motion. Um, I just wanted to thank, um, Senator Harper for bringing this, uh, this bill. I mean, it's, it's been needed for a long time and I, I hope that we can, you know, quickly get to, uh, you know, the full amount of officers that we need to. And I just, I, I'm very much in support of this and I, I thank our, our officers for the work that you do every day.

Thank you. The Superior Senator will be making the motion. I would like to make a motion that SB 1 51 Public Safety Funding Amendments. Um, go to the full Senate with a positive recommendation. Okay. That's first substitute, right? First substitute.

Great discussion. Thank you.

Huh? Oh, Uhuh putting the fun back in funding. I like that.

Thank you. Appreciate the opportunity to present this bill. Um, as you know, we've got many, many dedicated, uh, troopers within the state of Utah. You, you wanna pull that up just a little bit? Yeah, we have many troopers within the state of Utah. They're doing a, you know, phenomenal job of, uh, uh, patrolling and keeping our, uh, roadways safe. However, we also have had a wonderful heritage of building more and more roads and widening existing freeways. Um, we've been able to over the years to, uh, um, create additional troopers for, uh, the, uh, west Davis corridor for Bangore Highway. Um, part of I 15. But if you take a look at what's going on, we're open. We've opened up new sections, mountain View Corridor, uh, Southern Parkway, uh, I highway 89 up in, uh, Davis and Weber counties. And we've added a lot of new lane miles unlike us, 40 I 15, um, IADI 70. Uh, right now the, uh, UHP is short about 35 to 36 troopers from what they need for these roads. This bill is a funding mechanism to go through and, uh, take care of about, cover about three quarters of that shortage. Uh, the difference between the original bill and substitute bill is that as representative Tisher and I were working, he's working on, uh, house Bill four 16, which is the, uh, firefighters cancer trust fund. And I'm working, um, um, we're also, we're both tapping into the excess money that is available in the, uh, fire insurance premium tax. Um, he came to me last week and said, Hey, wait a minute. I put some general fund money into the, uh, firefighter's cancer. You're using some of the insurance premium tax. If we do a swap on that, then it'll be be, be a lot cleaner and we can keep the, uh, the fire insurance tax we in, into the, uh, retirement for, uh, the firefighters and everything like that. And then we'd pick up the general fund that he had put in. So that's really the difference between sub three and sub four is clarifying and switching, which way we're doing it. But overall, this bill is, is an attempt to go through and respond to what we're hearing from our constituencies. We need more people, more eyes on the road. We need to get, uh, we need help with wrong way drivers. We need help with unsecured loads and we need to start covering roads that are owned by the state, but are being patrolled by cities and counties.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I just wanna make sure that I'm clear on this. So this does not increase any taxes or fees. This allocates existing revenue sources to this special fund. Is that correct?

That's correct. Okay.

And then, um, yeah, that was my question. Thank you.

Thank you. Just a, just a single question. You said this would fund three quarters of the need. I'm wondering why we're not funding a hundred percent of the need

Because this is all the money I could find without raising taxes or fees.

I thought you might say that. Alright, thanks.

Thank you. Chair committee. Uh, Greg Holly has served as the Colonel Highway Patrol. Uh, I just wanna thank, uh, Senator Harper for his hard work on this. Um, as he mentioned, you know, we've got a lot of needs within, uh, the highway patrol as lane miles have grown, registered vehicles have grown. Uh, we haven't kept up. The department's grown quickly, uh, in a lot of specialty areas, but the field operations hasn't, uh, grown at the same pace. And as our, our local agencies have come to us and asked to take on the banger highway, you know, mountain View Corridor will be coming online very quickly. Uh, we obviously want to be able to do that, you know, their limited access to highways, they should be in our purview and it's, uh, this is a great way for us to get the bodies we need to be able to take on, uh, that new responsibility.

You, Mr. Chair. Uh, Jack Tid, row President of the Professional Firefighters Utah. I speak in support of Senator Harper's, bill 1 51 third Sub, and appreciate his, uh, willingness to work with Representative Teuscher, myself and other players on it. And I like Representative Peterson, my representative's question on why can't we give all the troopers all the, that they need. So thank you.

Uh, good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. My name is Clint Smith. I'm the fire chief in Draper City Fire Department, and, uh, also representing the Utah State Fire Chiefs Association. Just wanna speak in support of this bill, um, again, and really express our, our thanks to, uh, Senator Harper for his work in working with Representative Teuscher. Uh, understanding the needs, you know, from the funding aspects. Uh, I'm grateful that we've been able to find a, a solution to be able to fund both of these important priorities moving forward. And again, uh, urge support for this bill. Thank you for your time.

Thank you Mr. Chair. I may we adopt substitute four. That's correct. Right? Yes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. The sponsor. Um, I was, when I came in here, I was, I had a real concern about taking money outta the firefighters fund to fund highway patrol. As you mentioned, it's just not clean. Maybe it's a good idea, but it's just not clean. And so I really do appreciate the fact that you were able to work out this fourth sub so that we are funding highway patrol from the general fund, which where we should be firefighter, cancer from the firefighter fund, which where we should be. And I very appreciative of this fourth sub for doing that. Thank you.

You must, you must gimme an A for creativity representative. But yeah, this is the right way to do it with the fourth sub.

I'll waive as waived.

Yeah, I, I would love to. I move that we pass out SB 1 51, um, substitute for public safety funding amendments.

Oh, thank you for the questions and for the support.

I'll waive that's waived

Yes, there's uh, there's some excess money in the, uh, in the fire premium, uh, in fire insurance, premium tax. Uh, this coordinates with the bill that, uh, the Senate or the House Majority Leader is doing, where he goes through and establishes the fund trust. This bill goes through and funds UHP troopers with the excess money that's in there and we're making sure that the language is the same, so there's no confusion on what is happening with that excess insurance. Premium tax. Okay.

Just basically what this does is it, there's, uh, an appropriation, uh, out of the transportation investment fund, $2 million for troopers and then 3 million out of the excess revenues out of the insurance premium tax. We're short about 36 troopers. This bill will go through and fund 25 of those and it does not affect the, uh, the general fund from what I've been told.

Thank you Mr. President. Will the sponsor yield Senator Harper? Yes, go ahead. Senator Kwan. Thank You. Uh, Mr. President, I'm wondering, I know that there was some, uh, I don't know of concern, but questions about using one, uh, fund, uh, from firefighters to pay for, uh, um, police and I'm wondering if the sponsor has, um, taking care of that issue.

Yeah, I've checked with the URS and various stakeholders have not heard any opposition to the bill and that the 110%, uh, funding of the firefighters, uh, retirement fund will still be maintained and this will still leave a balance of $5 million in that fund ongoing annually. So I think it's taken care of.

Thank you. I'll waive summation and move it. Second substitute Senate bill 1 51.

Senator Spry Lein Brammer. Thus Cullimore Escamilla Aye. Fillmore Aye. Grover Harper Aye. Hankins Aye. Gibson Johnson Aye. Wan McKay Aye. Mikel Aye. Milner Musman Owens pitcher Aye. Plum Rebe Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Bier Aye. Wilson Aye. Winterton Juab President Adams Aye.

Thank you. This bill goes through and

Yes, because we just adopted it.

Therefore, yeah, there's no fiscal note on it's, it should be the same, but, uh, do you want me to present it and circle or just circle it till we get the fight? Fiscal note,

Thank you. This bill, uh, does three things. Uh, we've missed a certain small group of airplanes. When we updated the registration fees last year,

Thank you. Move a third substitute Senate bill 1 51 pass.

Senator Escamilla President. I, I know there's, um, uh, still conversations happening as a sponsor. Just, um, express, um, that they're working with the firefighters and I, you know, we, as a co-chair with Senator Vickers of, of the, um, the caucus, the Firefighters caucus, we, you know, we just, I think they're gonna get to that place. So I'll be voting. Aye, knowing that there'll be that mechanism to protect their funding so it doesn't interrupt with what he's trying to do. I think this is, is a good policy. We were just concerned about where the funding is coming, but I, I know, um, the good senator will work it out to make sure that we're not impacting, um, that other piece. So with that, I'll, I'll be voting. Aye. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker Prote. Motion to circle.

Yes. Just waiting on the fiscal note. A on this

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Motion to adopt fifth sub, which would take care of the fiscal note.

It? I just did.

Thank you Mr. Speaker colleagues. As our state continues to grow and we have more growth along the southwest northwest side of our state, we are seeing Bangerter and Mountain View Corridor become increasingly more like highways. And that's our goal. We wanna keep people off five 15 and near to their home when they're commuting. Uh, but part of that has introduced new challenges. And one, one thing we've been working on for the past couple sessions is getting Utah Highway Patrol the resources they need to actually be able to patrol those roles and lift the burden off of cities who are unable to go and patrol those roads. I already Worked out Withher.

Sorry, hold on just a second. And so what this bill does, Mr. Speaker is, uh, right now the Highway patrol is short 35 troops. And so what it will do is add an additional 19 troopers to cover I 15 Southern Parkway and Mountain View Corridor State Highways. This substitute streamlines funding to support hiring additional Utah Highway Patrol troopers and consolidates appropriations and removes prior transfer and coordination provisions to get them the resources they need. And that is the bill.

to adopt fifth sub I'll waive submission is waive.

Thank you Mr. Speaker colleagues. As our state continues to grow and we have more growth along the southwest northwest side of our state, we are seeing Bangerter and Mountain View Corridor become increasingly more like highways. And that's our goal. We wanna keep people off five 15 and near to their home when they're commuting. Uh, but part of that has introduced new challenges. And one, one thing we've been working on for the past couple sessions is getting Utah Highway Patrol the resources they need to actually be able to patrol those roles and lift the burden off of cities who are unable to go and patrol those roads. I already Worked out Withher.

Sorry, hold on just a second. And so what this bill does, Mr. Speaker is, uh, right now the Highway patrol is short 35 troops. And so what it will do is add an additional 19 troopers to cover I 15 Southern Parkway and Mountain View Corridor State Highways. This substitute streamlines funding to support hiring additional Utah Highway Patrol troopers and consolidates appropriations and removes prior transfer and coordination provisions to get them the resources they need. And that is the bill.

I'll waive Summation has been waived.

uh, there was a, it was the fiscal note that was changed. So the appropriation is correct and that Bill deals with the funding. Funding Troopers.

Vote. Senator Vickers Baldy Lewin Bramer Bus Colmore Escamia Fillmore Grove Grover Harper Aye. Kinins Ipson Johnson. Juab McKay. Mikel Milner Musselman Owens Pitcher Plum Rebi Sandal Stevenson Stratton Vickers Weiler Wilson Aye. Winterton Aye. President Adams Aye. Fifth substitute Senate Bill 1 51.