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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox sat in the governor’s mansion Tuesday evening and hosted an almost 40-minute virtual town hall, answering eight questions from the public.
The evening’s topics ranged from Utah’s air quality to the state’s voting system and “controversial” education bills that are currently moving through the Legislature.
Throughout the Q&A, the governor repeatedly referred back to sentiments he’d expressed during his 2022 State of the State address, delivered in January, reaffirming his stance on several high-profile issues.
Cox, answering a question about Utah’s poor air quality, said he has plans to add infrastructure for electric vehicles in rural areas, double track the FrontRunner so it runs every 15 minutes and incentives for businesses to replace their fleets with cleaner-burning or electric vehicles. He also highlighted some of the strides the state has tried to make in the past decade, saying that Utah’s air is 40% cleaner today than it was 10-15 years ago.
“Our air is cleaner now than at any time in any of your lifetimes,” he told those watching from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
Addressing a question about Utah’s voting system and absentee ballots, the governor said that he believes the state will maintain its vote-by-mail option. He referred back to his time as lieutenant governor and recalled small improvements he made to the security of elections every year.
The result is that Utah has “some of the most secure elections anywhere in the country,” he said, which he believes will allow for the state to continue offering multiple avenues to the ballot box during election season.
The question may have arisen due to HB371, an elections bill sponsored by Blanding Republican Rep. Phil Lyman. That legislation, which is currently in the House Rules Committee, would limit where Utahns can vote and remove vote-by-mail as a “primary voting method,” as well other restrictions.
In the final question of the eight fielded during the evening, Cox was asked his opinion on “controversial” education bills currently being proposed by the Legislature. Instead of addressing specific pieces of legislation, Cox chose to answer the question broadly.
He reiterated the importance of keeping schools open and again hailed Utah’s swift return to in-person learning following the onset of the pandemic.
“We were at the very front edge of that,” he said. “We kept students out of school the least of any state in the nation. And that return came with a price, and that price was borne and carried by our teachers.”
Recently, Cox signed off on the Legislature’s decision to suspend Utah’s Test to Stay program and passed measures that require schools to receive permission from the governor, state superintendent and legislative leaders before they can transition online due to the pandemic. The new law has sparked controversy among some school districts, who worry the new system will not allow them to properly respond to the dynamic nature of COVID-19 surges.
The Legislature also moved quickly and early in the session to overturn Salt Lake and Summit counties’ mask mandates.
“I’m very concerned about our teachers, and I don’t just mean that in kind of a condescending way; I mean it sincerely,” he said. “As I’ve talked to teachers – and I have family members that are teachers – there is incredible fatigue out there, more than I’ve ever seen before.”
To that end, Cox said he was planning to work with the Legislature to “change” certain bills, “get rid of” others and overall to “make them better.”
“We don’t have to run legislation every time something happens that we disagree with or every time something happens that we’re worried about,” the governor said. “We can work through these things at the local level ... I’m hoping that the Legislature will understand this moment that we’re in and even something that may not be that problematic or may not be that controversial, [it] may not be the time to do it right now.”
Among the education bills currently being considered are SB114, which would require school districts to post all instructional materials online 30 days in advance, and SB157, which would allow parents to sue schools and education officials for infringing on their rights as a parent.
Cox added that he believes parents “must have a say in their child’s education,” calling it “foundational” to Utah’s educational system.
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