March 23,2016

"...I just signed a bill eliminating high stakes testing in our schools, specifically doing away with the requirement for SAGE test for high school juniors..." Governor Herbert

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

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Good morning, great to be with you. I know you all know that the legislative session is over, and I can tell you that I think we've done some really good work on behalf of the people, and I appreciate the good work of the legislature, and their service and their sacrifice in being responsible and developing policy, and most importantly balancing the budget and spending the taxpayers' dollars I think correctly.

I'll just mention a couple of things, then we'll open it up for questions.

The process we have in Utah works very well. Certainly under our administration, we've worked very closely with the legislature to make sure that bills are shaped correctly. And that there's different opinions, there's 104 legislators out there and 1 governor, and we try to work in harmony to make sure we get policy right, that we don't have to in fact correct or veto. And I think that serves the people well.

It might be of interest to note that about 90% of the bills that have been passed here, about 475 have passed virtually unanimously. So, there's not a lot of contention on most of the bills, and a few that are a little more high profile there are, but I think they've done a great job in coming together and finding the right policy to get support from everybody in the legislature, including the governor.

A few of the highlights that I've written down here that might be worth mentioning is that I just signed a bill eliminating high stakes testing in our schools, specifically doing away with the requirement for SAGE test for high school juniors that was being I think administered inappropriately. So, that's a good bill and a good fix for some of the testing problems and the measurement of our teachers.

In my state of the state address, you'll recall I asked for a streamlining effort to let's take a look at the code and see what we can do. And we call those repeater bills. And I've signed already ten so-called repeater bills, which includes a repeal of a licensing fee for airports in rural Utah. Two, streamlining and eliminating various committee reports. And three, a repeal of redundant financial accounts that were on the books. So, we've streamlined, and I appreciate the response of the legislature in these repeater bills.

Also, earlier this week, I signed a bill to help us correct some potential problems with our indigent defense system. Again, we have issues with some of our rural parts of Utah wanting to make sure that anybody that needs a public defender has a qualified, capable public defender. So, I think that was a good piece of legislation. Still much to do. The budget bills were still on my desk. We're reviewing them now. I'm pleased again note that my number one priority has been education funding, and the legislature's responded appropriately with about $450 million of new money into education, which brings our total over the last 5 years to almost $1.8 billion of new money.

So, again, I think the public can be grateful and appreciative of the good work for the legislature, and I look forward to the next--I've got about nine days more to sign or veto the rest of the bills. So, I think we've done a good job here on behalf of the public this year. 

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: Governor, we're two days past the presidential caucuses. And while there was a large voter turnout for this caucus, the Deseret News reported that in 2008, when we had a primary, the number of voters--that voter turnout had actually dropped. And I'm wondering if you think Utah was served by the caucuses. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, it is kind of a good news, disappointing news scenario. The good news is we had a great turnout to caucus night, which is good, and we need to have that continue. People need to be engaged in their neighborhoods, show up to caucus, elect the delegates that represent the views of the main streets of Utah, whether that be Democrat, or Republican, or any of the other parties out there that have been approved.

So, that's good. It is disappointing to find out that when we compare to 2008, even 2012, I think you'll find that we had more people that showed up to a presidential primary and voted, and by a significant amount. It's probably close 200,000 more people voted in 2008 than voted here just 2 nights ago.

I'd put in my budget, by the way, $3 million so we could have a presidential primary, a traditional presidential primary. The parties didn't want to do that, and so it didn't happen. But I think it's worthwhile to have a discussion going forward in the future. I think what we've learned is that people want to vote in the presidential primary, but they want to vote when it has meaning. And so, moving the timeline up early, like we had two days ago, where we actually had, you know, like five of our candidates had some kind of presence, four of them showed up, one sent their daughter.

But still, we had a voice in the outcome of the presidential politics, so I think people are excited about that. It would have been probably even better if we'd had just a regular day set aside for a presidential primary. 

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, with the caucuses, you said the parties didn't want it. It was actually the Republican party, your party that announced during the legislative discussion of your request for that appropriation that they wanted to have a caucus instead. And of course that was amid the whole ongoing controversy over SB54.

Are you disappointed in your party that they didn't want to go forward with that primary request that you had and, as you say, brought more people out on Tuesday? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, as you know, in the Republican party, there are different points of view as far as what we should be doing and how we should do it. And so, that's probably not surprising.

We have a lot of strong personalities. I would have preferred to have a presidential primary in a traditional sense. The party leadership itself said, "We want to drive caucus turnout." They think having people show up to elect good delegates to represent the people of Utah was the appropriate motivation and the right thing to do. And until you try it, you don't know.

Now, we at least know what happened. We had a great caucus turnout, but we didn't have as many people as had voted in a presidential primary before. So, maybe we now--what we've learned, let's take back, have a further discussion, and see if we can't improve the outcomes in the future. 

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: By improving outcomes in the future, you mean return to a traditional primary and do what it takes to get increased caucus turnout for caucus business? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Yes. And I think, you know, waiting until the fourth Tuesday in June, which we've done before too, is not as good as having it early on, when we actually have something to say, and we can have some impact on the outcome of the nominee. And that would be true for Republican, Democrat, and Independent, Constitution, whatever. So again, I think it warrants more discussion.

We've seen what happened, we drove turnout, but we ought to drive turnout and have a presidential primary where we can have more people engage, and have more impact on the outcome of the presidential nominee. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: If March is better than June, why isn't February better than March, or even January? People--I mean, we got some people to show up for the first time ever. But New Hampshire, Iowa really get people to show up. They not only show up, they pay attention. They can tell you what--we'd have every--we'd have every federal candidate for president knowing about Utah's federal land problem if we were New Hampshire instead of New Hampshire being New Hampshire. Can you take--could Utah take an aggressive approach and get its agenda front and center? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, Rod, your point is well taken that earlier is better than later. And some of that's controlled by the national party and how they want to conduct the elections. I've been a proponent of rotating regional primaries. I think the system needs fixing. I think the system is not delivering. And unfortunately, after four or five elections, you know, people drop out.

They haven't got the staying power. But if you had rotating regional primaries, where you could divide the country into quarters, you could have one section of the country in April, one section May, June, July, it'd be less expensive. Every state would be able to participate. You may not be strong in the east, but you might be strong in the west. You could stay in the race for 4 months and everybody would have a say, and I think we'd get a better outcome. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: Why would--explain why the parties get to tell Utah we can't have a primary, say, on the same day as Nevada, or on the same day as New Hampshire for that matter. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Because they run the convention, and they make the determination as far as how we'll have a national nominee and the process that takes place. We have a national committee man and a committee woman who are involved in those discussions to have the debate on what is the best system to do, and how to do it.

So, it is the national party which we are affiliates to. And so, they have say over how we can--when we can do it, and how many delegates we can have if we do it early. They have penalties in place if you do it too early. They don't want to have everybody's going to be on the same day.

They think that's not good for the campaigning aspect of it.

So, having it staggered in some way--I'm here to tell you my plan is the best plan, a rotating regional primary where every section has a chance to be first in the nation. And every state would have an opportunity to participate in a 4-month section, save time and money. Every area of the United States would have to be addressed by the candidates, those who want the nomination. And they would understand the issues of the West, and the Inter-Mountain West. And having to come here and campaign and debate would be healthy to get a better outcome for a nomination. 

BRIAN GRIMMETT, KUER 90.1: Governor, you ultimately supported Ted Cruz over fellow Republican governor John Kasich. In the past, you've said that you prefer governors as presidential candidate. So, how did you explain that to him in his campaign that you were going to support Cruz? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, again, Governor Kasich is a good friend, and has been a good governor, and has certainly got a great track record. I'm a practical Republican. I want to get the best person I can in the oval office that has the ability to get elected. The unfortunate truth is the numbers starting to show that Governor Kasich did not have as good of an opportunity. And I--in my order of preference, you know, I've decided that Senator Cruz really has the best opportunity. We're starting to coalesce around him, and I think he's a better candidate, and would be a better president than Donald Trump.

Some would disagree with me, but my belief is that Senator Cruz has the ability to win the election. And his values, and principles, and policies line up good with Utah. He's conservative, and Utah is a conservative state. So, I think, again, we only got him 69% of the vote, I was hoping to get 70, but we did a good job of getting him in a position to see if he can't use that momentum to continue on in his quest to get the nomination. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: What it sounds like you're saying when you say he can win is he can beat Donald Trump. Cruz--I'll just ask you. I don't know that Cruz is any better than Kasich as a national candidate. Usually, somebody a little towards the center is a little stronger. Is this stop Trump plainly, the endorsement of Cruz plainly spoken? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I think it is the fact that I believe, and most of Utah believes, that Senator Cruz would be a better president than Donald Trump. And again, I don't know that there's anybody out there that can get the 1237 number, so we probably do have in our future an open convention, and we'll see how that negotiation goes on.

It'll be kind of an exciting time, but I just believe that as far as who lines up with the principles and the values of Utah, Senator Cruz is much more in line than Donald Trump. 

MICHELLE PRICE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Price: Governor, it seems like in any other year, John Kasich would be a dream Republican candidate. Do you have any idea of why he might not be catching on and earning any endorsements? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: It is--this is a year that's really a puzzlement to many people. The fact that we're having the discussion, and what we've seen take place, I thought it was going to be the year of the governors. A lot of my friends were running and have kind of fallen by the wayside. And those who are bright star and kind of the tea party favorite, Marco Rubio, and he's fallen by the sides. And somebody who's been kind of a rabble rouser, you know, kind of the bull in the china shop approach, Donald Trump has caught on the fascination of the American public.

So, whatever the rules have been in the past seem to have been thrown out this year. I'm a little concerned about the lack of decorum. I think this is a significantly serious election. We have very important questions that need to be asked, and we ought to have significant, substantive answers give to the American public so we can pick who we want to have as the next president.

So again, this has been a kind of a strange election year, probably embodied because of the frustration of the American people saying, "Hey, we keep kicking cans down the road in Washington. We're dysfunctional, we don't get anything done," and people are pretty angry about it. 

MICHAEL ORTON, CAPITOLPRESSCORPS: Speaking of election year, governor, you're being dogged again, yet again, by critics who are claiming there's some graft going on with some of the things that have been occurring, especially with regard to--recently with regard to bill--senate bill 246, the one that's going to be able to create funding mechanism to get an investment, so-called investment in the Port of Oakland. The critics are coming even from California, saying, "Well wait a minute, Bowie Resource Partners has even been contributing $15,000 to Governor Herbert here," so this is looking like pay to play to them." Can you respond to that? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Yeah, I don't even know if Bowie has given me any money. I think they may have given me some, as a lot of energy developers and people involved in energy development have over the years, but that has nothing to do with the situation at hand.

What we have is a group of rural counties, Emery, Carbon, Sevier, Sanpete County, which have a significant economic concern about this war on coal. I mean, we see if from the Obama administration, we've had Hilary Clinton just say, "I'm going to put all the coal miners and coal mines out of business." And yet, it's a very viable, legal, needed product in the world, and we should have the right to export that product.

So, these counties have said, "Hey, we have money involved in our CIB money. Let's pool that money and see if we can't make sure and guarantee access to ship a legal product out of California. Now, we've set the money aside. There is no deal, by the way, but there's an opportunity to have a deal made that's going to be in the benefit of this rural counties.

It's no taxpayers money at risk. We're going to have independent analysis and oversight by the attorney general's office, so there should be absolutely open and transparency in every step of the way.

So, I can tell you that, again, that there's not going to be any taxpayers money at risk. We won't have to spend any money unless we have a deal that's been official to the people of Utah. And particularly, these rural counties that their livelihood depends upon it. 

MICHAEL ORTON, CAPITOLPRESSCORPS: But back to the allegations about, you know, corruption and pay to play, some of these are 6 years old when we were talking about Provo River Construction being awarded the I-15 expansion down in--down in American Fork to the tune of $1.2 billion. And they were saying then that you were getting five grand from Provo River Construction ahead of that award. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, that's false, it's wrong. And we had an audit of that very situation. I called for it. And the audit showed that there was no pay to play, there was no correlation, no corresponding quid pro quo.

People went through the duly process by UDOT, and all the players there participated. I have nothing to say about who gets awarded a bid on any of our construction projects. That's not in my purview. I have nothing to say with it. But this is silly season, and so we're going to have people try to make politics out of something that probably is not warranted.

But that's just, you know, what we do, I guess, in the political season. And again, we're open and transparent. I think you see the results of what we've done in this state. Great outcomes in virtually every measureable way. We're at the top of the list in this country economically, quality of life, education, infrastructure needs. Our vision for the future is one that I'm more than happy to share with anybody. I'll be doing it as we start ramping up our campaign for reelection 

BRIAN GRIMMETT, KUER 90.1: Governor Herbert, about the re-election campaign, you've been certified to already be on the primary ballot. So, does that change your plans at all on when and how you engage with Jonathan Johnson? Because he's been calling for you to engage with him already for several months. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, we've been engaged, you know. And it's interesting that we've had probably about 15 joint appearances already at our Lincoln Day dinners, and we'll have about 29 more as our--go into our county conventions, which are on the docket. We'll have discussion--I know we have one today with Utah Foundation. There's going to be plenty of opportunities for us to share our vision.

I'm more than happy to defend my track record, which I think has been stellar. And I think the people of Utah understand what we've done in coming out of the Great Recession, and where we're at now today leading this nation, again, as a great example of success.

Good policies, good principles. We are a beacon on the hill to the rest of this country. I'm happy to defend that, and not only talk about what we've done, but we are on the right road, going in the right direction, and our vision for the future. We have challenges out there that we need to embrace and understand, and we'll have plenty of time to contrast and compare me with any other candidate out there. I just hope people will in fact be honest and fair about what's being done, and not get too silly in the political season to distort and misrepresent what we've been doing. 

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, did I understand just now you're not planning debates with Jonathan Johnson, you're planning joint appearances? Or do you intend to schedule debates. And if so, when would those start?

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, that will be up to the campaigns working together, but I expect not only we'll have joint appearances, which in fact have the same feel as debates as you compare and contrast different points of view and et cetera, but we'll have these opportunities for having debates. And so, it's a myth to think that somehow the public is not going to be aware of our different positions so that they can make a decision on who they want to support. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: Will you debate him before the convention? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Yet to be determined, depending on what the format is going to be. We have other people out there that have filed and are running too. And right now, the concentration is we have 4,000 delegates. That's where we need to have the discussion is with the delegates.

So, the first area of concern, the first area that we need to work on is winning convention. And then, if we get 60%, that makes it a little easier for us. But if not, then we have the opportunity to have discussion and debate for the primary election.

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: Will you debate him--will you debate an opponent--if an opponent comes out of the convention, will you hold debates before the primary? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, I'm sure we will.

MICHELLE PRICE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Governor, on Tuesday, the Utah Republican party kind of had a grand experiment with online voting. It's kind of the first big example of that in the United States. I'm wondering, it sounds like there are a lot of people who are a little disenfranchised, they had trouble getting into the system, and there were broader security concerns about, you know, packing or the integrity of the system. I'm wondering, what are your thoughts on the online voting? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, you know, we as a state have embraced technology. One of the reasons we've been listed as the most effective government, the best managed government is because we've embraced technology.

And certainly technology's in our future, and more and more opportunities for us to streamline the process and make it more efficient. This is the first time. A few glitches I think occurred. Misunderstanding and communication. Some people thought they could vote, you know, on the day of caucus and then do it online, but you had to register a week before. Some of them lost their PIN numbers and their password. And so, things happened that made it a little more difficult.

I'm sure there's glitches that we'll learn about and can fix for the next time, and so I'm actually encouraged by the success that we had. But it's the first time, it's a change, it's different, and sometimes change is a little bit hard to embrace. And particularly if we don't communicate well with the user, and I think we can do a better job of communicating how the process works. 

MICHELLE PRICE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Do you see us adapting that for state-run elections in the future? And if so, how far away is that? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, it certainly ought to be considered. I don't see it happening anytime soon. I think we need to make sure that the security issues are in fact resolved. We've done with our electronic voting machines that we have under the Health America Vote Act has worked out very well. We've had a lot of naysayers in the beginning of that saying, "Oh, it could be hacked into and changed," and yet, after using it for all these many years, we found they've worked extremely well and very accurately. In fact, more accurately than the paper counting method. 

MICHAEL ORTON, CAPITOLPRESSCORPS: We talked about process just a minute ago, Governor, and you're going to be a superdelegate in Cleveland, I'm sure. Tell us a little bit about how that's going to work. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, we don't have superdelegates in the Republican party, that's the Democrat party that has the superdelegates that kind of tilt the playing field, which I don't support. If I run for a delegate, Iowa could be pretty exciting, you know? Or Ohio rather. And Cleveland will be a great place to go, and it'll be exciting to see what happens in particular with all the uproar that's going on now. So, who knows where it's going to be at, but I'm planning on going, and attending, and cheering on Senator Cruz.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET NEWS: Governor, if we could go back to your plan for those regional caucuses, is that something you're advancing through the National Governors Association as its leader, that you hope the NGA would back and push forward? Because it will be up to the parties, right? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Yes. And actually, I've been championing it since I was lieutenant governor, when it first came to me that this ought to be a better way to produce a better outcome. I've talked with a lot of people about it. Everybody seems to think it's common sense, "Gee, why can't we do this?" We do need to get the parties on board. I've even mentioned it to President Obama when I was with him here a month ago and said, "Hey, let me give you an idea. I know you're going to be unemployed in about 10 months, and you're going to look for something to do. How about this idea?" And we had a talk about it. He was intrigued, as most people are. And I think we all say to ourselves, "Is this the best system? Does it deliver us the best candidates? And if not, what can we do to improve it?" And I think it's time to have a good look at that, and see if maybe rotating regional primaries might be a better approach. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: Lawmakers passed a minimalist Medicaid expansion. Are you--are you already plotting to expand it? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: I'm not plotting. I think that we will have this continued discussion. Even the legislature said, "Let's see what happens with this minimalist approach, and see if there's not an opportunity to have better data, better statistics, maybe a change in the oval office with a more willing state rights president that says we'll give you more flexibility to the states." So, I think there's opportunity for us to look at it and review, and see if we can't improve in the future. 

ROD DECKER, KUTV-2: Are you developing a plan, or are you just now in a wait and see mode? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, there's no plot, it's just an ongoing discussion. Let's see what happens with the implementation of this bill that we just signed on Medicaid expansion, and let's see if we can build upon that. I think the desire would be for all of us to maximize utilization of our taxpayers money because we're spending the money. As we all know, under the Supreme Court decision, the expansion is voluntary, but the taxes are mandatory. So, we're going to see, I think, what's the best way to spend those dollars and get the best outcome on behalf of the people of Utah, respecting the taxpayers who are funding it and paying the bill. 

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: If you do get to Cleveland and there is a brokered convention, are you still going to be supporting Ted Cruz at that point, or is it--are all bets off? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Well, I'll be going in to the convention supporting Ted Cruz. The delegates will--the 40 of us, again, if I happen to be one, will in fact be bound to cast our votes for Senator Cruz. If 1237 is not reached by any candidate, then it becomes on open convention, which is more the right term, not a brokered convention. And we'll see what discussions take place and what will happen. I expect there could be many different options that could be proposed to us, and we'll have to wait and see at that time. It's all speculation before--  

ROBERT GEHRKE, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Right now, there's a rule in the--GOP rules that say you have to have eight states, you have to have won eight states to be a candidate on the second ballot of the convention. Does that rule need to change so you can consider other options if you get to an open convention? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: That could be. I know that our chairman of Republican party, James Evans, has tried to get eight states with the belief he could bring in Governor Romney as the person to come in and rescue us. I think he only had seven states onboard, but again, who knows what's going to happen? It's just pure speculation at this point. 

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: Governor, we have just about a minute left. How's your bracket doing? 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: How's my bracket doing? My bracket was busted badly when the University--when the University of Utah lost in the big upset to Gonzaga. And not only lost, but lost really badly. So, that was--that took a little wind out of my sails. I was hoping we were going to be in at least the Elite Eight. But you know, I see BYUs doing well in the NIT, and we wish them well. It's March Madness, and I guess March Madness reflects not only basketball, but politics. And so, it's a fun time, and a great time to be an American, and a great time to be from Utah.

We're doing so well, and we thank the people out there, and all the policymakers, our legislators, our local government officials, those running for school board. I mean, all those things are making Utah a great state. 

ERIK NEILSEN, KUED: Governor, thank you for joining us here today. 

GOVERNOR HERBERT: Thank you. 

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. ...  

 

View video of the March 2016 News Conference in UEN's eMedia.

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