By the time the 2023 Utah State Legislature ends next week, lawmakers will have adopted a roughly $28 billion budget.
"It'll reflect what the people of Utah are looking for out of their state budget," said Rep. Val Peterson, R-Orem, the House of Representatives' budget chief.
Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, the Senate's budget chief, said "there’s a lot of winners through this whole process."
Lawmakers have prioritized $400 million for an income tax cut, which amounts to roughly $200 a year back to the average Utah family making an average income.
Water conservation was one of the biggest winners in the legislative session with $200 million for agriculture optimization, which is new technology to help farmers grow crops with less water.
"We, as an industry, work really hard to take every drop of water seriously that we use. We appreciate the legislature helping us to make sure we’re doing the right thing," said Ron Gibson, a dairy farmer who is also the president of the Utah Farm Bureau.
Other water spending includes:
- $50 million on water reuse and desalinization across the state
- $30 million for infrastructure projects
- $25 million for agriculture water optimization loans
- $25 million for dam safety upgrades
- $15 million to expand secondary water metering, which tracks outdoor water use
- $12.5 million for the Great Salt Lake water trust and a new "lake czar" to oversee a strategic plan to help the lake
- $12 million to expand cloud seeding across Utah
- $5 million for Utah Lake improvements
- $3 million for a public education campaign called "Utah Water Ways" focused on water conservation
- $15 million for a new visitors center at Antelope Island
"A lot in conservation," House Speaker Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, told FOX 13 News. "We will match or exceed the amount of money we put in water last year. So water will be a big winner in the budget this year."
The Speaker insisted that the money will ensure water gets into the Great Salt Lake, which is at a historic low and presents an environmental crisis for the state.
"We will ensure that there’s water that’s going to the lake this year for sure," he said.
To read about what else is in the budget, read FOX 13 News' coverage here.
