The Carbon County Chamber of Commerce hosted their chamber lunch on Thursday at the Carbon Country Club. The featured speakers were Brad King from the Utah Legislature and Sen. David Hinkins. Each speaker gave an update on the recently concluded legislative session.
The business spotlight for the month was Dawn’s Hometown Insurance.
Dawn Manzanares thanked the chamber for spotlighting her business. She thanked her outstanding staff including Venessa Manzanares, Torie Snyder, Alycia Sandovol and Peggy Jarvis. She credited Kurt Gunther her financial advisor for helping her business to be a success. She thanked all of her clients for their support. She along with her staff is very dedicated to seeing their clients receive the best service possible.
Dawn received her start in insurance as an employee for Shirley Fry and later when Shirley sold the business to Van Mays, he inherited Dawn along with the business. On June 11, 2011, the business became Dawn’s as she purchased the business from Van. Dawn said, “With your support, we will be here for a long time to come. I want to thank Shirley Fry who took a chance on me. I had two small children and I struggled to get my associate’s degree. She looked at the possibility of what I could become.”
Rep. King said he was out of the legislature for six years and this is his first year back. He represents Duchesne, Grand, part of Emery County and Carbon County. He presented a report to Duchesne County last week and will visit all the counties he represents.
His assignments this past session included: federal funds commission, house business and labor committee, house rules committee, house transportation committee infrastructure and general government appropriations subcommittee.
He said being a member of the appropriations subcommittee for buildings was interesting, since he works for USU Eastern he was usually the one approaching the legislature begging for buildings, but this year, people were begging him for buildings.
King reported, one major topic at the legislature was prison reform and the way the state deals with corrections. Eighty percent of those in prison are addicted to drugs. They don’t receive the treatment they need. More emphasis will be placed on treatment and on helping those with mental illness in the system.
The gas tax was raised this year for the first time since 1996. The legislature increased the WPU by 4 percent and educators received a raise. The non-discrimination bill was a big issue. The legislature didn’t resolve how to elect state school board members, prison relocation or healthy Utah. The legislature put $80 million away for the future prison move, $18 million went to market the state of Utah, $11 million went to dam safety which will be partnered with federal money to really get some work done on aging dams including Millsite. Five million went to a revolving loan fund for water projects. This will be helpful to smaller counties.
Sen. Hinkins serves on several committees and commissions including; Native American legislative liaison, public lands, rural development, water development, public utilities, transportation, natural resources, infrastructure, appropriations and natural resources.
Sen. Hinkins said in working with the Native Americans they have been able to help them gain use of their money, this money is being used for scholarships for students and funding of water projects. Residents in Monument Valley have to haul water to their homes and livestock, water projects will bring water to homes in Monument Valley, not all residents will have water, but the issue is being addressed. Money is also being used for homes and other needed projects.
Sen. Hinkins is excited about the money for the rebuilding of dams. He met in American Fork Canyon to look at the dams there. The federal government is contributing $31 million and with the $11 million the state contributed, a lot of improvements will be made to Utah dams.
“We are fortunate here because we have the CIB funds to help out. Other counties without access to CIB money will be helped by these funds,” said Sen. Hinkins. In education, the legislature funded the projected growth with $57 million. Seventy-five million is going to school district equalization which will increase property taxes. The road tax will increase gas by five cents a gallon for now. This will help raise money for road maintenance. Hinkins said these monies are especially needed with the increased coal traffic on the roads in Carbon and Emery counties. This money will also go towards replacing old bridges. Most bridges across the state are 50-60 years old and in need of repair and/or replacement. Every dollar spent in road maintenance saves money in the long run by prolonging the life of a road.
With the fires in Huntington Canyon and the aftermath of flooding, money was allocated for work along Gordon Creek and to finish the work in Huntington Canyon. Logs that are cleaned from the debris basin are being stored at the Huntington power plant property. Down the road they will be used to cover the ash pile in reclamation.
An incentive to draw doctors to rural Utah was approved. Utah has to compete with other states that offer more incentives for doctors than Utah does. With the new legislation, the state can match money the hospital puts up to help the doctor with their student loans.
Sen. Hinkins said there are so many stipulations and requirements for the prison to be relocated. One of which was a hospital that is capable of doing heart transplants. “We don’t qualify,” said Sen. Hinkins.
He said he works in the Senate to make sure rural Utah isn’t forgotten and that we get our fair share. Of the 29 senators there are only three-four from rural Utah.
Sen. Hinkins said it saddened him to see the Carbon Power Plant close. As more coal fired power plants close the costs of utilities will go up and maybe then those who are so opposed to fossil fuels will take notice, but by then it will be too late.
The audience asked a question about the gas tax. The first phase of five cents per gallon will go into effect on June 1. There will be a 9 percent increase over a five year period.
The audience wondered what the impacts of the closing of the Carbon Power Plant would be. It’s a very big deal and there will be a loss of megawatts and power generation will decrease. Nationwide coal fired power plants are closing. There will be a lot of brown outs. Seventy-five employees are being displaced. Some have retired and others have taken employment at other power plants in Huntington and Castle Dale.
Rep. King said they spend time trying to educate people. “There is no global answer (for power) that doesn’t include clean coal. We need to educate people and spend money on developing clean coal technologies, not alternative energy. If all the coal fired power plants ceased to operate in the United States there would only be a reduction of 5 percent in pollution. There’s social pressure to do away with carbon based fuels. The United States burns a billion tons of coal. China burns 3.2 billion tons. The use of coal is increasing worldwide. We are only a small part,” said Rep. King.
Chamber President Ann Anderson thanked everyone for coming to the luncheon. She said, “You can never promote your business enough. We had a business after hours at Peterson Chemical and it was very informative. If you’d like to have a business after hours, let us know.”
Legislative update from Sen. Hinkins at chamber luncheon
"Rep. Brad King."