Special Session Information for Local Leaders

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Utah League of Cities and Towns

Special Session Day 1 Summary

Legislative Advocacy

Greetings everyone,

Just when you started missing late night emails about legislative activity, here is tonight’s edition from today’s historic remote special session. Here’s what you need to know:

The House met in the morning session and the Senate met in the afternoon session. Your correspondent, Victoria Ashby, and the rest of Team ULCT lobbied from afar with countless calls and meetings about various bills. The House and Senate will meet briefly tomorrow and again next week.

HB 3007

The House passed HB 3007 1st Substitute COVID-19 Workers’ Compensation Amendments for First Responders. ULCT heard from our cities that you were supportive of our first responders though we were concerned about the potential fiscal impacts. Rep. Francis Gibson narrowed the dates for claims in today’s substitute. We are also cautiously optimistic that cities could utilize federal CARES Act dollars to reimburse the cost of workers comp claims that arise between March 1 and December 30, 2020. Keep in mind that we are still anxiously awaiting the guidance from the Treasury Department about “necessary expenditures” and that guidance must arrive by next Friday.

 

HB 3009 and SB 3004

The House did NOT consider HB 3009 Local Government Emergency Response. There has been a lot of misinformation swirling today about this bill. The ULCT Board of Directors discussed the concepts of the bill this week and were supportive of preserving local decision-making, the role of local public health departments, and ensuring cooperation between levels of government when the Governor has declared a state of emergency statewide. The Legislature was clear that, during a time of a declared citywide or countywide emergency, they wanted to see a city or county executive issue a public health order instead of the public health officer. They also wanted enhanced consistency between the state direction and the local orders if the Governor also declared an emergency. We wanted to ensure local decision making and preserve the value of the local health departments.

 

As the bill language surfaced on Wednesday, the ULCT officers offered their support for ensuring that local elected officials could still take local public health action that was not inconsistent with state action but they also suggested additional modifications. The bill also included emergency provisions around the Open and Public Meetings Act, the town and cities uniform fiscal procedures acts, and deadline extensions for public funds deposits (among other things). Many of these provisions came from you as we collectively navigate compliance with state law and state directives around public health.

 

On Wednesday evening, SB 3004 emerged, which included language that was inconsistent with what we were negotiating in HB 3009. The original version of SB 3004 created a Public Health and Economic Emergency Commission that would make recommendations to the Governor by April 22 about the state’s response to COVID-19. The original version also would have precluded a local government from enacting any ordinance or issuing any order that is more restrictive than or contrary to a recommendation made by the commission and adopted by the governor. That provision conflicted with the balance we were trying to find in HB 3009. We spent all day alongside our colleagues at the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah Association of Local Health Departments working on both bills and we continue to negotiate on HB 3009.

 

Long story short: Rep. Hawkes determined there was more work to do on HB 3009 and held the bill for consideration next week. Sen. Hemmert proceeded with SB 3004 so that the state commission could begin working on recommendations for presentation to the Governor by April 22. Sen. Hemmert agreed to include language to ensure that the commission consults with local government officials and modified the problematic preemption language. The new language now states that the governor’s order “supersedes any portion of a local ordinance or order that is more restrictive than or in direct conflict … unless the governor allows an exception.” ULCT is now neutral on SB 3004.

 

SB 3006

The Senate also considered COVID-19 Financial Relief Funding, which seeks to use state dollars to relieve individuals and businesses suffering economic injury from COVID-19. The bill is seeking to provide financial assistance to agricultural operations, residents with housing needs, commercial tenants, and other types of businesses. The Senate circled the bill and will likely reconsider it soon.

 

SJR 301

ULCT supported SJR 301 Joint Resolution Approving Acceptance of Federal Funds in Response to COVID-19, which allows the State of Utah to legally accept federal CARES Act dollars and other stimulus funds. ULCT and UAC sent a letter to legislative leadership urging them to include local government in all deliberations about allocation formulas, qualification criteria, and timing of distributions. Thus far, legislators have been very responsive to ULCT’s and UAC’s request. ULCT and UAC also sent a letter to the Treasury Department urging them to broadly interpret the CARES Act so that local governments have flexibility in how we ultimately use the funds.