Leavitt Update
November 21 - December 4, 1998

- Launched his Year 2000 budget proposals by outlining $21.1 million in proposals to create 21st century jobs and to help Utah businesses prosper. "My plan provides job training and better paying jobs for Utah citizens, and helps Utah businesses prosper and expand," the Governor said. "Our success in the next millennium will be shaped largely around whether we create high quality jobs for our children." The governor's budget calls for $11.6 million in tax cuts, including a $5.6 million sales tax exemption on manufacturing equipment and a $6 million exemption on pollution control equipment. The budget creates $8.0 million in new funding for job training and business development, including $5.2 million to the revolving Industrial Assistance Fund, $2.8 million in Custom Fit Training; and $1.5 million in child care funding to assist low-income parents who need to work or get job training. The total of tax cuts plus new funding is $21.1 million. "Custom-fit training is the best economic development tool that the state offers, because it trains Utahns to adjust to the changing workforce," the governor said. "The partnership between employers, community colleges and applied technology centers trains Utahns for specific jobs that employers need to fill. It is important in today's fast-changing world that adults can get the retraining they need to reinvent their careers several times over." The manufacturer's tax exemption exempts manufacturers from paying sales tax on replacement equipment. The governor's proposal makes Utah competitive with other states by making new equipment 100 percent exempt from sales tax. The existing exemption is $22.8 million. The governor's announcement was made at Iomega, an Ogden-based high tech business that participates in Custom Fit Training and the Industrial Assistance Fund. Through the Industrial Assistance Fund, Iomega has created more than 150 new jobs that pay 25 percent above the county average. Iomega employs more than 1,000 Utahns.

- Announced a proposal to widen I-15 through Davis County. Addressing a joint meeting of the Ogden area Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Exchange clubs, Governor Leavitt said he was including $52 million in his proposed budgets over the next two years to add one lane in each direction from the I-215 interchange in North Salt Lake to the U.S. 89 interchange in Farmington. His plan includes shifting money to the project already designated for the Legacy Parkway construction. The governor recognizes a need to ease traffic congestion in Weber and Davis counties sooner than Legacy Parkway can be built. Work could begin as early as this spring. "By putting these two lanes in place, we will be able to handle the additional traffic up until around 2004," he said. "This is a short-term solution. Gratefully, it dovetails very nicely into our longer-term investment." Governor Leavitt still believes Legacy Parkway must be built, but the federal approval process is taking longer than expected. "It may be that the Legacy Parkway won't be built until 2004 or 2006. If it isn't built, traffic will ultimately back up from Murray to Kaysville and people will find that unacceptable." This latest proposal calls for re-striping and adding a fifth lane in each direction to the recently completed portion on I-15 between I-215 and 2600 South in Bountiful. From 2600 South to the U.S. 89 interchange in Farmington, a fourth lane in each direction would be created by adding additional pavement in the median.

- Discussed moving uranium tailings away from the Colorado River. Governor Leavitt and U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt toured the Atlas Mineral Corp. site along with Congressman Chris Cannon, State Representative Keele Johnson and representatives from the offices of Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. Babbitt agreed with state and local officials who have been lobbying to have the tailings moved from the site, just 750 feet from the river. Current plans by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and company are to cap the 10.5 million tons of tailings in place rather than moving them to save money. Babbitt said that the best solution to deal with the site is to transfer regulatory powers from the NRC to the U.S. Department of Energy. Governor Leavitt wants Congress and the administration to know they have an obligation to help resolve the controversy. "We want the pile moved. It's a quirk of history, and it needs to be dealt with now. The DOE spends billions doing exactly this kind of thing. This is a classic example of the task they were created to perform," the governor said. "It's wrong to cap the pile if our only motivation is to do what is cheapest." Babbitt encouraged the state and the congressional delegation to take initiative on the matter.

- Learned about the complex issues surrounding Israel. Governor Leavitt joined with fellow Republican governors George W. Bush of Texas, Marc Racicot of Montana and Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts on a three-day tour of the country sponsored by the National Jewish Coalition. While there, the governors met with several prominent government officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Affairs Minister General Ariel Sharon and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and many others. Discussions centered on everything from water policy to national defense. "You cannot sit at the knee of five or six great statesmen and not come away with a sense of principle that is deepened and broaden," Governor Leavitt said. The group also visited such sites as the Wailing Wall, Golan Heights, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, Brigham Young University's Jerusalem Center and took a helicopter tour of the West Bank. Governor Leavitt said the trip made him appreciate the relative safety and security we enjoy in the United States. He told of watching students board a school bus on a field trip, much like they would here in Utah, with one exception: the students were escorted by soldiers with machine guns. "We are blessed to have secure boarders," Leavitt said. "Security has to be an obsession in Israel."

- Joined with other western governors to convene a two-day Environmental Summit on the West. The summit focused on environmental management strategies coauthored by Governor Leavitt and Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon, and endorsed by all western governors. The principles are known as Enlibra: A New Shared Doctrine for Environmental Management. They stand for balance and stewardship, and were conceived as a way to accelerate the resolution of difficult environmental challenges. Governor Leavitt said the West has made a great deal of environmental progress over the past 25 years, but it has often been too slow and too expensive. "We cannot eliminate conflict, but we can accelerate the pace at which problems get resolved with less cost," Leavitt said. "The goal is to have a set of principles that can be used by those willing to adopt them whether they are individuals, organizations, corporations or governments." At the conference, governors received recommendations on how the principles could be refined. Governors will continue to seek feedback from a broad range of interest groups, and use the principles to accelerate the velocity of environmental problem solving.