March 25, 2018

"We're putting record amounts of money, nearly $500 million of new money, mostly ongoing, into public education and higher education." Governor Herbert

ANNOUNCER: KUED presents the Governor's Monthly News Conference, an exchange between Utah reporters and Governor Gary Herbert.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Good morning.

ALL: Good morning, Governor.

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Great to be with you as always, and thank you for your attendance.

As you all know, it's been two weeks since the legislative session ended, and I want to compliment the legislature for, I think, what was a productive session, passed a lot of great things and talked about some very important issues. Very collegial, I think, much more so than other sessions times past. I appreciate the fact that they took my counsel. As you know, from a year ago, they passed a record number of bills, 535 bills, and this year they only passed 533. So, some reduction in their workload.

We passed issues that had to do with education funding, record amounts of money going into education, starting the beginnings of tax reform, transportation funding and what we're doing with transit, some changes in the governance of the UTA, and I think that's going to be a positive thing overall. Things we've done to help with Medicaid, healthcare, the expansion there. So, again, some weighty issues, and I think we've come to a good place.

Let me just remind you and the viewers that the process we do in Utah is not like other states. We actually, in the executive branch, work very proactively with the legislature to make sure that we in fact have our input, and not just at the veto end of the process but to help shape policy and legislation as it goes through the process. A lot of bad bills are killed in committee. And it might be of interest to you to know that the majority of our bills passed, about 90%, are unanimous, probably somewhere in the 85%, nearly unanimous, with just a few dissenting votes, and very few votes just along party lines. It's really a very bipartisan effort and most of the legislature are pretty independent in their thinking.

So, right now, as you know, I'm in the last week of my responsibility. They left two weeks ago, I've continued to work and actually had an acceleration, as I have to go through all those 533 bills to make sure there's not any unintended consequences, that it passes constitutional muster and other issues to determine whether I'm going to sign them into law or veto them or let them go into law without my signature. So, we're in the process of doing that. We have seven days yet to go to finish that process on the executive branch, and we're kind of gearing up to make sure we're done by the first part of next week. So, with that, I'm honored to welcome your questions.

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: Well, Governor, I want to start with gun violence, actually. On Saturday, we're having the March for Our Lives here in Utah and all across the nation, and I kind of want to talk to you about this topic in terms of politics and finding compromise between the two sides. And so, where, for you, does the compromise start? Where can we actually go to get some sort of movement on gun violence?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, we certainly ought to have the discussion and not be afraid of having a dialogue, that's a two-way discussion, to make sure that we understand different points of view and then analyze those points of view, decide whether there's something better to be done. Utah's been a very strong supporter of the Second Amendment, but that does not mean that there's not parameters put on that Second Amendment. States, in fact, have different laws on when it comes to the right to bear arms and what those parameters are. That's been tested all the way to the Supreme Court.

So, certainly background checks is something most everybody agrees to some extent should take place. I hear a lot of talk about eliminating bump stock, which I think most people agree. It really has not been used until we had this one egregious incident in Las Vegas. What we should be doing as far as the age of purchase, those are discussions we ought to have. I appreciate the fact that our young people are saying, "Hey," they're getting involved, they're mobilizing. They're actually saying, "Let our voices be heard." Certainly, school safety and the parameters of what do we do to make sure that our students are safe at school and our teachers are safe at school. Those ought to be safe environments, and what do we need to do there?

I'm interested in doing something that actually creates a positive result, not just a feel-good thing, but something that actually makes a difference. So, let's have the discussion and see if we can't find some common ground.

BEN WINSLOW, FOX-13: Governor, you have, I'm sure, seen the reports of a woman making sexual abuse allegations against a former leader of the LDS Church's Missionary Training Center. Do you have concerns about the way that law enforcement back in the 1980s or prosecutors handled this case, or any concerns about the way the LDS Church has handled this alleged victim's report?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, I don't know all the details, and that's probably yet to come out in the investigative process. But I do know this,e ought to have zero, I'm talking about zero, tolerance for any kind of sexual harassment, any kind of making people feel uncomfortable in their work environment. And so, anybody that has a complaint ought to feel comfortable in bringing forth to the appropriate authorities that complaint and do it in a timely fashion, and then understand and know that it's going to be investigated. We'll find out what the truth or falsehood of the allegations are, what's taken place. And if there's a violation of law, then people ought to be punished and prosecuted.

So, again, I don't know about that specific instance. I know it's being investigated now. It happened back in the '80s. Maybe we've learned things over that period of time so that we don't have that to happen in the future. But again, zero tolerance for any kind of sexual harassment, period.

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:Governor, back to guns for a moment, representative Steve Handy had a bill that would have temporarily taken guns away from people that the courts deemed as dangerous. That is an idea that seems to be getting more traction nationally. Do you favor that proposal?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I think there's some wisdom that comes in having the ability, under proper process, not violating people's civil rights, to in fact be preemptive and say, "There needs to be a cooling-down period of time "and we need to in fact take away your weapons." We actually did pass a bill that allows law enforcement, when they see domestic violence taking place, that they actually can in fact confiscate guns and weapons.

Again, I think that's an appropriate activity. We need to be careful about the appropriate balance there, but giving law enforcement the ability to make those decisions to help prevent and intercede in a potential violent situation by taking away weapons, I think, is very appropriate.

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:So, you do favor it?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I do, the concept. Again, as always, the devil's in the details. How do we do this and not violate people's Second Amendment rights and their civil rights? But again, law enforcement's there to keep the peace. And if we see an opportunity, particularly with domestic violence, which is where most of the incidents take place, by the way, we ought to let our law enforcement intercede and say, "You know what, we're going to confiscate your guns. "There's a process for you to get them back, "but we're going to make sure "that there's not some kind of volatile situation "exacerbated because there are guns in the home."

GLEN MILLS, ABC4: In the House committee where that failed, there was a lot of resistance toward that being abused if law enforcement or prosecutors had that authority. Did it just come down to not enough time to deal with this particular bill in this session or do you potentially see those concerns resurfacing again if it were to come up in a special session?

GOVERNOR HERBER: You know, I don't think the issue's going to go away. I think we're going to have this discussion ongoing. I mean, we've had the discussion on Second Amendment for the last three or four sessions in a row. That's way before the shooting in Florida and other instances have taken place, so I don't think it's going to go away. Maybe there needs to be a better understanding. Again, how do you implement it and not violate people's Second Amendment rights?

Background checks has been a big issue, and I think they should be universal. And we want to make sure that those who should not have guns don't have them. Now, at the same time, we understand that it doesn't matter where the law is, the criminals are going to violate the law anyway. One of the issues that we see around the country is gun-free zones, and the only people that don't carry guns are the good legitimate people. Criminals will go there anyway. So again, we need to understand the reality of the marketplace and see what we can do to improve. And certainly, some of its’ awareness, some of its’ culture, some of it's just what's good policy, and I think that discussion will continue.

LEE DAVIDSON, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, the Republican Party lost a court case at the Appeals Court this week trying to overturn SB 54, the law that allows collecting signatures to get on the ballot. Some are still talking about continuing appeals. What do you think about that?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, I'm really disappointed that we have this divisiveness in the Republican Party. As a Republican, I think it's not healthy. I don't think it's good for the future of the Republican Party and I don't think it's good for policymaking in the state of Utah. And it seems to be more of a minority group of people that are very loud and strident in their voices. I think Senate Bill 54 ended up being a good compromise.

I reject the false narrative out there that somehow the legislature passed Senate Bill 54 for some kind of incumbent protection. That's not true. They passed Senate Bill 54 because they believed in the caucus convention system and wanted to protect it, realizing that based on the initiative was going forward and it had a 70% approval rating, that they were going to lose that and go to just a general election totally.

So, again, I think it turned out to be a good compromise, a dual pathway. And certainly, as we've seen with the decision made here just a day or two ago, that it's upheld to be constitutional. This is the third time that we've had it in courts, once in the Supreme Court.

So, I would say, let's take a hard look at this. Do we want to continue to fight amongst each other and spend money that's probably unnecessary? If there needs to be some things done, it ought to be done legislatively. I think that's a much better way to do it. But I think it's time for us to see what we can do to come together as a Republican Party, for sure, and work together. I'm kind of a Ronald Reagan Republican. I'm a big tent guy. If you agree with me 80% of the time, you're my friend. And we ought to be more inclusive and less exclusive.

BEN WINSLOW, FOX-13: So, do you agree with the ruling that the 10th Circuit Court made?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I've read parts of the ruling. I'm not an attorney, but I've had our own legal staff take a look at it. They believe the ruling is based on very solid legal footing. And so, the belief is that an appeal, whether you go to an end bonk with the district court, circuit court, the 10th, or go to the Supreme Court, that they would be upheld.

People have opinions. You never know what the opinion is good or bad or indifferent until you have a court make a decision, so I understand that argument. We've tried and tried and tried and, again, Senate Bill 54 has been upheld as constitutional. I think we see the writing on the wall.

BEN WINSLOW, FOX-13: Any concerns that the party then now, as a result to maybe tee up another legal challenge, will start kicking out signature-gathering candidates in certain districts like the bylaw that passed recently?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, I don't know. It hasn't happened. There's been bluster and talk about it, but it has not happened yet. And of course, I think the deadline may be passed to challenge people, I don't know. That's a question probably you need to ask the elections office and the attorney general. But I know that the concern, the risk is there, based on past rulings by the court. And the Democrat Party's lawsuit is sitting there, waiting to be activated as soon as somebody is kicked off by the Republican Party because they gathered signatures.

If that happens, they'll activate another lawsuit, and the courts have been pretty clear that if that's the case that those who go through convention, you eliminate your qualified party status and those who go through convention would be kicked off and only those that get a signature-gathering process will be allowed to stay on the ballot as Republicans. Isn't that an ironic thing?

GLEN MILLS, ABC4: Governor, of your remaining 100 or so bills left, there's one you may have noticed is getting a lot of attention within media circles. What is the status of the non-compete bill and what is it that's giving you pause, if anything, from signing it at this point?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, it is one of those issues that I understand both sides very well. And I can argue both sides as far as why we should have a non-compete and why we should not have a non-compete. It's really not black and white, it's a little bit complex. The black and white issue is should we have non-competes or not?

We as a state have come down on the side that we should have them, they should be allowed, but there should be in fact some parameters put around them. We've decided that one year is kind of a length of time that a non-compete should be in place, but no longer. There's been now a singling out of the broadcast industry particularly in saying because of the uniqueness of the broadcast industry, which is a little more narrow marketplace out there, people don't want to have to leave the state to go somewhere else to ply their trade, makes it a little bit unique. And so, I can tell you, I have not decided what to do on the non-compete. I've talked with the sponsor. I'll meet with him again. I've met with the business community. I've met the broadcast journalists and those folks on a couple of occasions. We're leaving no stone unturned to understand the pros and the cons of this bill. That's going to be a tough one for me, but I'll make a decision on that before the first of next week.

LEE DAVIDSON, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: What other bills are you getting a lot of comment on or that you're maybe waiting--

GOVERNOR HERBER: Oh, we get comments. It's been kind of calm. There's a few issues out there that people have a unique interest in, and so we get comments at our constituent services. The education compromise we came up with, Our Schools Now, had a lot of comments on, certainly during the process of getting it done.

The fact that we've come together in a compromise, I think most people cheer and applaud and say, "Great, that's the way things ought to work." And now we're putting record amounts of money, nearly $500 million of new money, mostly ongoing, into public education and higher education. That's something we all ought to applaud. I think that bodes well for economic growth and expansion for our state and our society. So, we've had a lot of comments on that. But it just kind of goes and it ebbs and flows. We're not getting many comments right now at all. They just are expecting me to do my job. 

MICHAEL ORTON, CAPITAL PRESS CORPS: A large amount going to the weighted pupil unit for sure. Your comments though on amounts going to school safety?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Yeah, again, the money goes to the local school boards. As you all know, we have 41 school boards. They are elected by the people. They know their backyards better than anybody.

MICHAEL ORTON, CAPITAL PRESS CORPS: What would you like to see?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I'd like to see, and we've actually called upon, when we had the Florida incident for the shooting, we immediately contacted all of our superintendents, our school boards, and our principals to say, "Tell us what's going on in your world." We want to make sure that they are following processes and procedures. I'm getting back a partial report that has not arrived to me yet in its entirety, probably by the end of this month.

The good news is they are doing the drills. So, the fire drills you know about, we have active shooter drills. We passed legislation this past time, past session which allows them to have special locks on the door so if you have some untoward incident take place, you can in fact shut down and lock down the classrooms.

We are focusing single entrance points and we're trying to make sure that, in fact, there's not only a single entrance point but there is some kind of interview process where people come and go. We may end up putting metal detectors in there. Some school districts may say we need to have, in fact, law enforcement patrolling the halls. We don't know what recommendations will come in, but those monies will go to the school board and they'll decide how to spend it. That is the local control issue of school districts, so--

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2: Do you anticipate a special session on school safety?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I don't know about school safety, it could be. I do anticipate a special session when it comes to the inland port. And we've negotiated an agreement there with Salt Lake City and the mayor and their folks, along with the sponsors of the bills in the Senate and the House. We recognize there's some areas of concern there. So, that's one that I'm anticipating will have a special session. Whether we'll add anything to that remains to be seen.

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:Why not school safety? Why not a special session on that?

GOVERNOR HERBER: What would expect to happen in a special session on school safety, just a discussion?

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:Well, there is the safety commission, which, my understanding is, is drafting some proposals. If that safety commission comes back with specific proposals, would you call a special session? 

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, the operative word you said there was "if". So, again, my crystal ball's probably foggy as yours. I don't know what we're going to be doing. It certainly would be on the table as an option. And if we get some recommendations that need to be acted upon before the next general session, if there's a timeliness to it, certainly we'd be open to having a special session. But we don't want to just get in a group and say, "Well, school safety, anybody got some ideas?" That's not what special sessions are for.

BEN WINSLOW, FOX-13: Governor, what deal have you struck with Salt Lake City now on the inland port authority that you say appeases them or makes them happy?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Happy may not be the right word, but I think they understand the benefit of having a shared effort between Salt Lake City and the state and other communities, not only West Valley and Magna, but particularly Salt Lake County. And as I've talked with the mayor, she understands, one, this should be probably, it's big enough that we ought to be a partner with the state. That's a recognition.

The second recognition that I think they've come to, is we need to have an inland port. And so, I've proposed this four years ago. This has not been something new. And the timing is that we've got to get it done now. We'd take advantage of the opportunity with the movement of the prison, and that's allowed us now to open up an area that's been lying dormant for a long time and probably would've continued to lie dormant, because now what that's doing is we're putting $100 million, that's the state putting in utilities, sewer lines, water lines, roads, opening this up for development.

We already have Amazon coming out there. We have two or three other companies now looking to that area. It's all of a sudden become kind of a hot area. Well, the inland port may be the most significant economic opportunity this state's had maybe in my lifetime. Again, we find that with the growth of commerce and international trade, the ports on the coast are getting crowded. You have to wait and wait and wait. Having an inland port, like they've done in Kentucky, is something that we can really take advantage of.

We're geographically located, we are the crossroads of the West. So, we want to make sure that Salt Lake City feels like, and particularly the mayor has an appointment on there, that the increment, the tax increment, goes back into the jurisdictional lands; that's been a confusing thing.

The makeup of the board, again, we're making some modifications there to make sure that Salt Lake City and the mayor have appointments to that process appropriately. The boundaries are a little bit fuzzy on what should be inside the boundaries. We have some real estate areas that probably ought to be excluded, some housing for example.

Some opportunities, we have what we call the Boeing property out there that maybe needs to be in or out. That's a discussion we need to have. So, those issues that have been raised by the Salt Lake City and their concerns are issues that I think we can resolve and will be resolved in a special session.

REPORTER: How do you expect Salt Lake City, how do you expect to address Salt Lake City's concerns with land use specifically, land use authority?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, we call it LUDMA, that's an acronym for land-use management plans that we have in statute. They will be given the ability to manage that land as they see fit as a local entity, local city, but there is also the ability to appeal that to the port authority board. But they'll follow the laws of the land. And what's being said is this needs to be something that happens in a timely fashion. So, if you have six months and you haven't got it figured out, then it will be appealed to the board. So, that's just a matter of having a trigger mechanism there so it gets done. But the city will continue to have their authority of land use like they have in the past. Any what?

BEN WINSLOW, FOX-13: Any bills cruising for a veto right now?

GOVERNOR HERBERT:  Well, I'm looking at those that are maybe not constitutional. Again, we've talked about separation of powers; this is not a new issue for us. But there's always the concern of encroachment, I think, in both ways. I mean, the legislature's concerned about encroachment by the executive branch in their legislative responsibilities and we're concerned about their encroachment into what is traditional executive branch responsibilities under the constitution.

So, I'm going to take a really hard look at those issues that maybe cross over the line. That certainly would be in my sights. There's a few others out there, but I don't want anybody to get alarmed, but I'm looking at a number of things. We have some line items that maybe need to be taken a look at. We know there's some that have made some mistakes and that need technical correction. We had one bill that the sponsor of the bill is asking us to take a look at vetoing his own bill because they've made some mistakes in it that makes it so what they intended to have happen is not going to happen. But we're kind of the last bastion to stop and we're the break to make sure that bad things don't happen. And sometimes that's an easy call, sometimes it's a little more difficult.

GLEN MILLS, ABC4: On that note, should the legislature have the authority to hire its own attorneys to defend itself in court?

GOVERNOR HERBER: You know, I think they have their own attorneys right now to give them advice and counsel on what policy should be. I'm a little disappointed that they're trying to propose that any constitutional notes should be not put on anymore. Don't you think that would kind of help you as you develop policy, is this constitutional or not? We've put fiscal notes on to help us understand what's the impact of this policy and this legislation. I think that's helpful. We ought to make decisions at least informed. And so, I'm concerned about the fact that if they intercede, the legislature takes upon themselves the right to intercede in any kind of litigation out there involving the state, that they are crossing over the line into the executive branch.

The legislature creates the legislation. We all know that, that's their job. They create the budget. Then we have to execute on that legislation and spend the money as they have instructed us to do so. When we execute, people sometimes are upset and we get sued. Guess who gets named? Yours truly, as the defendant. They don't name the legislature, they name the executive branch. And that's why the attorney general in conjunction with us are the ones that defend the state.

You can imagine the confusion if you had two different attorneys in there, both claiming to represent the state. Doesn't mean that the attorney general should not get information and find out what the intent of the legislation is and have good understanding of the motivation to help give the best defense. But that's the responsibility of the executive branch, not the legislative branch.

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:Governor, at the beginning of the session, you sounded what seemed to be support for the federal tax cuts. And yet, in the legislative session, it appeared that the legislature raised taxes in the state of Utah. Are we headed in the wrong direction on taxes?

GOVERNOR HERBER: Well, actually, there was an $80-million tax cut because of what's happened with the federal tax reform. We want to have tax reform. We want to make sure that our slogan, which I think is good policy, is we want to broaden the base and lower the rate. If we go the other way, it's probably not good tax policy, in my view, with maybe rare exceptions.

So, overall, the net result of this session, based on what was proposed and out there, is going to be a reduction overall. The Our Schools Now, a great compromise where we were going to raise income tax and sales tax significantly now has been taken off the table. That saves the taxpayers’ dollars.

We do have, in fact, the ability now to have the people weigh in on a gasoline tax, which is really not going to be a purchasing power increase because that's just going to recapture what we've lost to inflation over the last 18 or 20 years. And the people are going to have a chance to weigh in on that. What that allows us to do is now start paying roads and building roads and capacity, as we should do, rather than robbing money out of the general fund. And if we quit taking money out of the general fund, that's more money that can go into education, particularly that's where higher education gets a lot of their money.

BRIAN MULLAHY, KUTV2:So, you support the gas tax hike?

GOVERNOR HERBER: I think this gas tax hike is very appropriate because over time, you lose to inflation. And again, it's all proportionality. And so, having us to be able to recapture what we've lost to inflation is good on many levels, for building roads and also quit robbing money that's going into education. It's win-win-win all the way around.

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: Governor, thank you very much for joining us again this month.

GOVERNOR HERBER: Great to be with you, as always, thank you.

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: We'll see you next month.

ANNOUNCER: This has been the Governor's Monthly News Conference. An archive of transcripts, video, and audio is available online. Please visit KUED.org. Thanks for joining us.

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