Archive

Briefing Local – October 18, 2017

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  • Legislators are looking at suing Attorney General Sean Reyes to force him to release a legal opinion about the special election process set by Gov. Gary Herbert. The Legislature originally asked Reyes to give them an opinion on the election, but Herbert blocked it claiming attorney-client privilege [Utah Policy].
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch raised nearly $1 million during the last fundraising quarter, which gives him more than $4.5 million of campaign cash in the bank. His primary Democratic challenger, Jenny Wilson, raised about 1/9th of what Hatch pulled in [Utah Policy].
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch‘s office says his eyesight is declining following a medical procedure 18 months ago. However, they say the Senator is otherwise in excellent health [Utah Policy].
  • Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski details a new policy on releasing police body cam footage to the public [Utah Policy, Deseret News, Tribune].
  • Sen. Orrin Hatch says he’s “disappointed” that Rep. Tom Marino withdrew as President Trump’s nominee to become the administration’s drug czar following a Washington Post article that said Marino and Hatch were responsible for passing a bill that weakened the DEA’s ability to combat the opioid crisis. Hatch has been very vocal about what he claims are flaws in that report [Deseret News].
  • Utah finished the previous fiscal year with a $26 million budget surplus [Tribune].
  • Advocates for ending the death penalty say they’ll make another effort to get lawmakers to ditch capital punishment in 2018 [Tribune].
  • The state will need to spend $40 million upgrading existing Olympic facilities if Utah wants to host the Winter Games again [Tribune].
  • Utah spent $80 million combatting homelessness in 2016 according to a legislative audit. That number is $10 million more than last year and $20 million more than 2014 [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • A Legislative audit says the University of Utah did not follow state law when it awarded a $10 million contract to an outside group working on the Utah Population Database [Deseret News, Tribune].
  • The Salt Lake City Council has canceled the Twilight Concert Series for 2018 [Deseret News, Tribune].