February 13, 2003

The so-called Plan B, in my judgment, is based on a lack of information, a lack of understanding, and I think to move it forward would be hypocritical in the sense that we have very clearly stated our position with respect to the Goshute tribe and PFS.

Reporters (in order of appearance):

KEN VERDOIA, KUED
RICH PIATT, KSL-TV
ROD DECKER, KUTV
TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS
DAN BAMMES, KUER

Transcript:

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, thanks for joining us today. I'd like to begin with the consideration of what's become known as Plan B. This is an attempt to insert the state into the temporary storage of high level nuclear waste in our state, something you have forcefully resisted for quite some time, and now a handful of legislators are attempting to get some momentum to get the state re-involved, if you will, to profit from temporary storage. I know you have spoken on this issue but I'd like you to accept this forum as an opportunity to state your concerns.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, we don't want nuclear waste in this state. The so-called Plan B, in my judgment, is based on a lack of information, a lack of understanding, and I think to move it forward would be hypocritical in the sense that we have very clearly stated our position with respect to the Goshute tribe and PFS. I have confidence that when the Legislature and members of the Legislature understand the facts, that they will not proceed forward. If they do, they should know that they do so compromising the capacity of our state to resist this. And they should proceed with the weight of that on their shoulders.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: Governor, Representative Urquhart, who is sponsoring this legislation, is saying this is just a bill to take a look at the issue. It's nothing more than that. Do you think it's worth taking a look at in this sense?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, it's important to understand that there is no proposal. I mean, when I say no proposal, they don't have a piece of land, they don't have any idea whether it's scientifically reasonable. There's no thought that's been given. PFS has been at this for nearly, I have been fighting it for nearly 10 years now. They have spent tens of millions of dollars. There's no likelihood at all that there is going to be, in my mind, another storage site in this state. The hurtful part of this is that it makes us look like we are willing to have it, and we're not. PFS is a threat to us because they are a private company that is now looking at this as a proprietary, for-profit venture. If, from some stretch of the imagination, you were to say this is a reason for the state to pursue it, it's not going to stop PFS. They are going to continue forward. The country has made a decision as to where we are going to put nuclear waste. It is in Yucca Mountain. This discussion, just the discussion, is like painting a bullseye on the back of our collective backs and saying, "We're open for nuclear waste." And those aren't my words. These are other people observing this. There's just no reason for us to be talking about it. We don't want it. And there's no reason for us to be coming up with so-called contingency plans because the country has made that plan. Now, do I want to resist PFS? Yes. And are we doing everything that can be done? Absolutely. Is Representative Urquhart right about our efforts being failed? Absolutely not. And it represents a lack of information on his part.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: So this whole effort frustrates you. You've been --

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, I just think it's not a productive process. People of this state don't want it here and I'm prepared to accept the fact that the logic they were using to make this proposal was over-simplified and uninformed and they reached a logical conclusion based on a lack of information. We simply now need to agree to that and move on and recognize that we don't want it here. And I accept his explanation that he was just talking about a contingency plan. And that being the case, we ought to just move on with the discussion. The Legislature doesn't need to speak on this matter right now unless it is to oppose nuclear waste specifically at that site or any site in this state.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Governor, with the high level of security alert nationally, have you looked at what might happen in Utah? What do you assess the threat in Utah to be and what, if anything, has the state government done about it?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I have no specific intelligence that would lead me to believe that Utah is at any greater risk specifically than we were a week ago or two weeks ago. But we are entering a period when the world will demand, I think world circumstances will demand that we all be vigilant. I think it is important that we not allow this to disrupt our lives or bring us a sense of unhappiness that is not rational. I think there's a greater threat that a person will be hit by a car or hurt in a car accident than there is that they will be in some way affected directly by terrorism. Does that mean it doesn't exist? No. But the risks are very low and I can assure the people of our state that as we go through the various levels of alert, that there are circumstances, there are contingency plans, we are acting on them. We are monitoring and doing all that is humanly reasonable to assure that our state is safe.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Have you or anybody in state government done anything to respond to this specific high level of alert?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: We have a set of protocols that we go through whenever the state of alert is raised. If it's raised further, we have other plans. I won't discuss them a great deal today publicly. But the public should know that we have a refined contingency plan in place. We have emergency management in place. Our plans are as well advanced as anyone's in the country because of the planning that we did for the Olympics, and it refined our process in a way that is often used as an example. I feel confident in telling the people of our state that all that is humanly possible to do, or at least humanly reasonable, let me put it in those terms, is being done. And we are continuing to refine that process.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Governor, ... Mitt Romney has asked the Department of Homeland Security for $3.5 billion for Massachusetts homeland security. Do you have any plans to go for large money to help cover any costs that we may incur?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Homeland security is hometown security. That's often used. I don't think we can expect that the Federal Government will pay for everything. And I don't suppose that Governor Romney does, either. Massachusetts is a big, complex state and I don't know the specifics of his proposal. I feel confident that we will get some assistance from the Federal Government. For the most part, we need to be coordinating our existing systems better as a country and as a state. And when we do that, our homeland security network will become stronger.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, that raises the issue, in the wake of 911 there were a number of concerns voiced by local law enforcement that intelligence that existed on the national and international level was very slow, sometimes nonexistence in filtering down to the states and the localities that would have a responsibility for first response. Have we substantially addressed these concerns in the interim time so we are better prepared to share intelligence?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I'm sure we are better at it. We are not good enough yet.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, everyone in state government is holding their breath right now waiting for a set of revenue estimates that are due out this weekend. What are your contingencies for a set of bad numbers and I suppose you have some contingencies for better than expected numbers, as well?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I have no specific information about the budget figures. We monitor on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis the receipts at the Tax Commission and the things that go into that estimate. I'm not feeling as though we are going to see big fluctuations in our previous estimates. It's possible, I suppose we could see minor changes but I don't think they will be big. I have put a budget forward that balances the state budget that I feel good about. It's possible we'd have to make some adjustments to that if the revenue estimates were up or down a substantial amount, but I don't expect they will be.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: Even so, the Legislature right now has pretty much rejected the proposals that you have put forth, at least so far, how concerned are you that the cuts that were avoided three months ago will, in fact, be instituted July 1?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: The Legislature is going through their budget process. They are sort of emotionally going through the same thing that I did several months ago, and these are hard things to come to grips with. But they will ultimately - and they will have to own the same reality I did - you have to make some decisions. I made the decision that given the choice of cutting education or delaying roads, that I would delay our construction of roads. So it's a decision I feel good about. The Legislature doesn't. They have made pretty clear they don't like my ideas. But they are coming to the point that they have to put some ideas of their own up now and they are getting there. And when they do, I will look at them and do my best to respond. I suspect over time that they will understand better the perspective I had when I made my budget. They still may not agree, and I'm very open to any of their ideas and we'll ultimately balance the budget. But I feel good about the proposal I made. I think it's just good judgment for us not to be cutting education at a time when we have a substantial influx of new students and when the world values education economically more than it ever has. Funding education as our first priority is not just a redeeming social decision, it is an economic strategy. And right now we need to be thinking long-term in our economy and I think the best way to do that is to assure this our children, our grandchildren, our workers are all well prepared to compete in the global economy.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: Still, as we sit here right now, we are talking about homeland security. The way things look right now, public safety, corrections will be cut to the point where there will be serious consequences right now. It's enough at least to make people sit up and take notice and prick their ears up, if not get downright worried.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Let me say that my objectives in the budget are very clear. I want to make certain that education is funded without cuts; I want to balance the budget without turning prisoners loose to do it; and then I want to assure that the balance of state government is funded at a level that can allow them to provide basic services to those who need them. Now, I vetoed a bill that would have turned 400 prisoners onto the street and would have reduced the number of sworn law enforcement officers by somewhere in the neighborhood of 130. I did that because I believed it was the wrong thing to do then, and I think it's the wrong thing to do now. And my position hasn't changed nor will my actions have changed.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Two tax increase proposals at least have been floated and I don't think either one of them has home sailing, but both of them would say we would increase money for education. Senator Hatch has a plan of maybe $90 million, maybe following the Frasier Bullock committee at least over time; and Representative Jones has a plan to I think take away the deduction or part of the deduction for children. Do you have a view on any of those tax increases? Would you support a tax increase that was channelled toward education?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I put forward a budget earlier this year that covered the growth in our student enrollment and was able to essentially cover the basic costs of education and did not propose a tax increase. It did require that we slow the pace of our highway construction and did propose that we change the nature of how we fund water. The Legislature so far hasn't taken to those ideas. That is still my proposal and I still feel good about it. I'm willing to listen to all of their options and weigh them in the context of the total budget, and those are among them. My support still lies with my own budget proposals.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Supposing they were to do, which evidently they aren't, what Senator Hatch had first proposed and that was an increase in the income tax, that would not only balance the budget for 24 year and next year, as your water and road proposals would, it would be an ongoing and increasing revenue stream evidently headed towards education as the Frasier Bullock committee suggests. Will you support that if there are the votes to do that, to create some kind of stream that will give us greater future revenues?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Right now my support lies with my own proposal, which is to assure that budget and education aren't cut and to do it by deferring some of the road construction that we've done and changing the way we fund water. Now, as I said, I am fully aware that they don't like my ideas and that they are having to come up with their own, and I'm willing to consider their ideas. It's possible, I suppose we would see a number of new ideas come out. But right now, my budget support lies with my own proposal which I think is a sound and thoughtful way to approach this budget.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, back in the world of ideas, we are seeing proposals in our Legislature to take the United States out of the United Nations, to support free trade with Taiwan, real reluctance to enforce any kind of seat belt law. When you look at the Legislature totally, do you see a group that may be out of step with mainstream politics in the state of Utah?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Legislators see some one-thousand pieces of legislation, some one-thousand ideas during the course of their 45 days. There are always some ideas that I think are stunning in their thoughtfulness and there are always a few that are sort of stunning in their lack of thoughtfulness. But when you have a thousand ideas, I suppose there are a few like that. And I suppose that people could say the same thing about me.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Senator Hatch and Senator Buttars, between them, have a plan for tax credits for public education and they might tie it together with Senator Hatch's plan for new revenues. You have said you would consider tax credits if education, if public education, were well funded. By that do you mean simply if they adopted the financial equivalent of your plan, of financing the growth, et cetera this year, or do you mean that in order to accept tax credits you'd want some additional revenue or a plan for additional revenue into education?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I spoke with some clarity on this matter in my State of the State address. I indicated that I understand the ideology behind tuition tax credits, but I see some significant risks. I said that I was willing to consider the consideration so long as public education was adequately funded, and I believe we are a long ways from adequately funding our schools. I laid out what I thought was a target which would be closing half the gap between ourselves and the neighboring states. One thing I will say about this subject is that as I see proposals floated around, I simply cannot feel good about raising taxes for the purpose of essentially sending public money to private schools. And if that's the outcome of the proposal, I won't support it.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: I've got sort of, I guess, a philosophical question. It deals with a lot of what we have been hearing this morning. Obviously we have a legislature which is looking at such issues as taking money out of rape victims' counseling, out of firefighting, out of Medicaid, raising tuition, and hitting one of your favorite programs, children's health insurance, children's dental insurance; at the same time giving what appears to be, at least, tax breaks to private schools, protecting water subsidies, protecting highway building funds, establishing a state nuclear waste dump. Ideas of this kind. All of this seems to be aimed sort of at programs that you would approve of, or positions that you have taken that seem to be opposite from what the Legislature is up to at the moment. Given the fact that this is all sort of Republican legislation, are you out of sync with what it means to be a Republican, or is the Legislature?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Where I try to "position" myself is in harmony with my own conscience. And what I have found over the period of my some ten years of service is that if I have had a success in this service it's because people generally seem to resonate with the same things I do. And I feel good about that. People have been accepting of my service and my leadership and I continue to call them as I see them. There are times when I think I line up very, very well with the mainstream and there are times, I suppose, when I'm out there a little myself. But this is a tough time for the Legislature. This is a very tough time. I have talked to people who have been watching the Legislature for 50, 60 years and they will tell you that they have never seen anything quite this difficult or this challenging. Last night I did a call-in show with radio stations that people call, and the last four callers were interesting to me. One was a man from Springville who said that roads in Utah County are just getting so crowded; what are we going to do about this? A legitimate concern. The next one was a family who has a child with autism and they are worried about reducing the autism funds. And then there was a person whose family member was being reduced off of Medicaid. And the fourth one I don't even recall what it was, but it was a similar kind of a setting that just framed up the difficulty of this moment. We don't have as much money as we have had in the past and we are just having to, as I said before, we have toughed out these rough patches before and that's what we are doing. And I feel some great sympathy for the fact that the Legislature is having to make hard decisions. Now, you put 104 people in a room and they are going to have a lot of different ideas on how to do it. And it is miraculous, really, that it ever comes together at the end, but it does. And I will do my best to be a productive force in helping them come to those conclusions.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Do you agree that a little bit of tight budget is constructive in the sense that perhaps it squeezes and forces departments to eliminate waste in state government?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I think all of that is true. We are at a point where who knows if we have crossed that barrier. I think in a lot of places we probably have, and we are getting down to some pretty hard things. But I think one thing we can look at is that we are talking about very significant improvements in the way our education system works because we are now talking about the whole area of competency. That's being driven a lot, I think, by our financial times. We've got to find better ways of doing it. I'm delighted about the chance to have that conversation. We are talking about the ability to expand with some robustness the number of our charter schools who could use competency measurement. We are talking about being able to help them with their construction. Those were discussions we have sort of nibbled around the edges on for a while but we are now getting to them because, well, you know, we have pressures enough that it may be enough pressure to get us to do very smart things. And these are smart things we are talking about.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: There's a competency initiative at the Legislature, which I assume you like, but it is likely to be tied to tax credits for private schools which you have said you were skeptical of. Have you thought through if they present you with a package of some good things and some bad things, have you thought through yet what you might do?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: I have.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Will you tell us?

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, I've made public statements and I will repeat it. I hope they will keep them separate. I think it would be the right thing to do and I think it would be the smart thing to do.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: They are aware of that hope but it's one of the reasons they may combine them, they are saying; to try to get through what you don't like by combining it with what you do like.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: Well, there are a lot of legislative and political strategems that will play out over the next little while. And I have made clear how I feel. I will make clear again that I do not intend to support a tax increase that is directed entirely in essence at being able to take public money and direct it to private schools. My first obligation, and I believe the Legislature's, is to assure that public schools where 97 percent of our students attend are adequately funded and properly incented. And that's the end to which I will be working. I do have strong feelings about the improvement of our system with a competency based system and I would hope that the Legislature would not jeopardize what I think are a lot of very important steps forward by linking them to things that simply wouldn't be in the state's interest.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, we are now less than two minutes in the program and time for one final question or at least to introduce a different topic. We have passed one year since the staging of the Olympic games. In fact, we are right in the middle of the one-year anniversary. And you have given us a litany of challenges the state is facing in these tough economic times. Some people might feel that the Olympic lift has fizzled, that we failed to realize the promises or the hopes, the expectations of what might come post-Olympics. So give us a one-year report card, a one-year assessment now that the Olympics are in our past, as we look at the future.

GOVERNOR LEAVITT: The Olympics was never about 17 days or one year. It was about the next decade or two or three or five. Utah is now a global brand. We are known around the world. Our brand is one of competence, natural beauty, and great people. We are more confident in ourselves. We found we could compete at the world level and win. It has also put us in a position to improve. We have improved in almost every way. Our roads are better. The service in our restaurants is better. The law enforcement people work together. We are a safer community because of what we learned during the Olympics. Tens of thousands of people learned new skills. We made friends all over the world. The benefit of the Olympics was that it was not a landing, as I have said so many times. It was a launch. And we are now feeling the impact of that as we see Utah businesses connecting with businesses around the world. The benefits of the Olympics will be felt for generations. They are very real. And we would do it again in a heart beat.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: And a reminder that this and every Governor's News Conference is available on line in transcript form at www.uen.org. Good evening.

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