Salt Lake:Official development news thread

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Chamber lays out wish list for 2007

The Salt Lake group wants the Legislature to put road projects high on its agenda

By Mike Gorrell
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 01/10/2007


To perpetuate Utah's robust economy, the Salt Lake Chamber will encourage the Legislature to invest state revenue surpluses into transportation, education and measures that help businesses control rising health care costs.
"There is nothing more important at this time for our future economic growth," Chamber President Lane Beattie said Wednesday at a news conference outlining the chamber's legislative agenda.
Investing in road-improvement projects is vital to sustaining an economy generating job growth exceeding 5 percent annually, said Beattie and Keith Rattie, the Questar Corp. president now serving as chairman of the chamber's board of governors.
Emphasizing that Utah faces an estimated $5.8 billion worth of needed transportation upgrades by 2015, the chamber officials want lawmakers to go along with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s budget request for $450 million in new money for highway construction and to supplement that purse with revenue from the state's projected budget surplus.
The chamber also advocates dedicating all tax revenue generated from sales of motor vehicles, parts, and repairs to the transportation budget, along with money from a slow-but-steady increase in motor fuel taxes over the next decade.
Chamber official Lisa Verhenkamp, a vice president with American Express, said the Legislature will be pushed to increase its spending on education. The state's funding support for education has slipped in recent years, she said, and the number of Utahns pursuing college degrees also is declining.
"That's not where we want to be," she said. "New jobs that are being created require post-secondary educations. We're interested in over-investing in education rather than under-investing."
The chamber will lobby for lawmakers to support the governor's call for a 7 percent increase in the weighted pupil unit that determines how much money goes to local school districts. It also backs larger investments in teacher pay, language education, high-tech high schools and engineering and computer-science programs.
In terms of health care, chamber member Clark Ivory said a half dozen bills are being prepared that will help control prices. "As health care becomes more expensive, more businesses drop out of [insurance] programs," said Ivory, a home builder. "If it cuts costs, we're for it. Quality health care goes up if we keep costs down."
Ivory also said the chamber espouses comprehensive immigration reform and supports the continuation of in-state tuition benefits for children of foreigners working in Utah. "It's important to send a positive message to those who came here that they're welcome here," he said.

Mass transit:

The Salt Lake Chamber would like to see an additional $5.8 million spent in the next decade on the following road projects (in order of priority):
* Interstate 15 in Utah County: $2.5 billion
* Mountain View Corridor: $2 billion
* Interstate 80 (State State to 1300 East: $58 million
* Interstate 15 in Davis County: $500 million
* I-15 mitigation projects in Utah County: $285 million
* Washington County road projects: $250 million
* State Road 6 and other statewide upgrades: $282 million
Total: $5.85 billion