This is your daily news rundown for Friday, March 28. In this edition:
- Two controversial bills became law hours before a deadline to pass or veto bills
- A lawsuit accusing Utah of not doing enough for Great Salt Lake can move forward
- New LED lights could make intersections safer at night at a lower cost
Cox pushes through controversial bill, vetoes others
In the last hours before his deadline to make decisions on recently-passed bills, Gov. Cox pushed through two controversial bills and vetoed others.
Late Thursday night, Cox announced he had signed a bill banning fluoride from being added to public water.
He also allowed a bill that would ban pride flags from being displayed in classrooms or on government buildings to go into law without his signature. In a letter to legislative leaders, he said he had serious concerns with the bill but felt the veto would be overridden.
“I have decided to allow the bill to go into law without my signature, and urge lawmakers to consider commonsense solutions that address the bill’s numerous flaws,” Cox wrote.
Both these bills are the first of their kind to be passed into state law in the nation.
Cox vetoed three bills in the last hours of decision-making as well, including one that would have wound down the “circuit breaker” property tax program, which he said would risk “cutting off the most vulnerable of Utah’s expanding senior population from a critical tax relief lifeline.”
Any bill that wasn’t signed or vetoed by the Thursday midnight deadline will go into effect without Cox’s signature.
Lawsuit accusing Utah of not doing enough for Great Salt Lake can move forward
A lawsuit accusing Utah leaders of not doing enough to save Great Salt Lake can move forward after a court ruling.
The state of Utah requested the case, brought by a coalition of environmental groups in September 2023, be dismissed, but Third District Court Judge Laura Scott ruled it can proceed.
In her ruling, Scott — who is specially appointed by the Utah State Courts to resolve cases about complex water litigation — referenced the “public trust doctrine,” a legal principle that says natural resources are held for the benefit of the public. She also appeared to criticize the state for previously arguing it had the power to divert all water from the lake.
The ruling rejected the environmentalists’ request to block upstream water diversions.
The case will now go to trial.
New LED lights could make dark intersections safer at a lower cost
The Utah Department of Transportation is working to add more lighting to intersections across the state.
In areas where typical lighting can’t be installed, the department will now install under-mast LED lights, which can be attached to a pre-existing signal pole’s arm.
This allows more light without the cost or complications of installing an entirely new light post, hopefully making it safer for both crosswalk users and motorists to be safer at night.
So far, about 150 of these LED spotlights have been installed at state-owned intersections throughout Utah. The department said it will prioritize areas with little to no lighting or a higher rate of pedestrian crashes, with a goal to improve lighting at every state-owned intersection crosswalk within the next five years.
