June 29, 2006

"...we're going to have the first of its kind education summit in September. And I'm inviting all 40 school districts to participate in this, and it is going to be an attempt to define our vision for public education in the state..." -Governor Huntsman

Reporters: (in order of appearance):

DAN BAMMES, KUER
TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS
REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS
CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO
BROCK VERGAKIS, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Transcript:

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, thanks for joining us. You've just recently been on a trip through the southern part of Utah, and that included a look at some fire fighting that's going on there right now. What's your assessment of that effort, and what's your concern about this summer as a fire fighting season?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: We, this year, are a veritable tinder box as a state. The conditions are extreme, and our local officials need to take extreme measures in response to that. And I'm heartened to hear that local officials have already put restrictions in place with respect to fireworks, which is what we need to do. They are prescribing certain areas in which fireworks can take place, carefully administered, I might add, and we applaud them for taking action.

You've got to remember that different parts of the state carry different hazards as it relates to fires. We've already had 300 fires this year, I think that would surprise people. Twenty of which have been rather sizeable. If you look at those that have taken place in the southern part of the state, we've had twelve. Ten of them have been due to human error, which is very unfortunate. What we have is a lot of fuel in this state right now, in the way of dried cheat grass and trees, and now we're having dry lightning strikes, and over this weekend we'll likely have more. And when you combine those sources of ignition with fuel you've got an incendiary combination.

So the Kolob fire continues to burn, it's gone through about 17,000 acres, the Utah Mountain fire, the Jarvis fire has gone through about 41,000 acres. They're both about 20 to 25 percent contained. I really applaud the interagency fire group, which is made up of interior, agriculture departments, our state. You've got to remember that these fires basically are blazing on a combination of forest lands, BLM lands, state lands, and private lands. So by necessity there needs to be interagency and interoperability here. They're doing their best, and from what I could see during my visit down to the Kolob fire, tough as it is to reach some of these areas, they're fighting it by air, they're fighting it by ground, and I think they're doing their best. And at last report there are no communities that are immediately in threat of danger.

But this should speak to the entire state in terms of responsibility that needs to be deployed during the 4th of July and the 24th of July in terms of fireworks. Let's use only those that are Utah legal fireworks, and let's follow whatever our local officials have set forth in terms of the regulations with respect to how we use fireworks.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: The state has money built into the budget, of course, for wildfires, but everybody who is working on the fires thinks this may be an exceptionally large year. Is this something which could impact the budget somewhat, where you're going to have to get involved?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: It could, and I've said for some time this year that this could be the year that mother nature balances things. You have to remember that we've had two very high precipitation years, so the undergrowth is quite significant. And at some point that undergrowth, which is fuel, in other words, is going to be cleared out by fire. And the situation will be balanced by nature. We could see some of that happen this year. We didn't see a lot of it last year.

We had about 800 fires last year, nothing truly significant like the Jarvis fire, which is 41,000 acres. Last I looked that's probably as large as any fire we've seen in southern Utah in recent memory. We spent about $6 million last year fighting fires, and that's not even counting the federal support. I don't know what this year's tally is going to be, but we need to be prepared to do what needs to be done to contain and fight these fires. Whether it's going to impact the budget, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see.

But it should be, again, a note of caution to people throughout this state when you consider that these two large fires that we're trying to fight in southern Utah were a result of human error. We need to be ever vigilant in terms of when we're outdoors, how we use fire.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, recently a Spanish version of the state website was taken down. Did you approve the decision to take that down?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I did.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: You did? What was your concern?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: My concern was that it was not in keeping with state law. We had some of our experts review state law to make sure that whatever we did was in keeping with state law.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Did you have it reviewed before it went up?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I didn't review it before it went up. It went up, and there were some concerns expressed about two hours after it went up. We decided it was something we needed to look into, it went down. We looked at the content, and up it went again.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Do you think that the English only law is outdated or impractical, given the number of immigrants that we have, legal and illegal, in this state? Do you think it's a law whose time may pass at some point?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well it's a law that's on the books, and I do believe that any time you bring a community together, you've got to do so under certain unifying symbols. I think one of those is language. I think you have to have a primary lingua franca for any community to succeed.

That said, we are a nation of immigrants, and we have people coming in, legal immigrants, who are learning English, and do need some assistance from time to time in making that transition. And that's why it's important that areas dealing with health and safety, primarily, are provided over the state system. And that's what we have made available.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: What do you feel about the voting brochures? Those, there are some citizens who don't speak English primarily, and could be helped by another language on those brochures. The lieutenant governor said he won't print any more in another language.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well the voting brochures were pretty much recommended by the federal HAVA mandate, and I'm not exactly certain with what the HAVA requirements are, but I'm confident that anything the lieutenant governor did was absolutely consistent with the HAVA requirements.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Governor, I'm not quite clear, though. Are you suggesting that maybe the law needs to be broadened so more information can be available in other languages, or are you satisfied what's available now is all that anyone who doesn't speak English, or speak English well, needs?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I'm satisfied that we have what is needed to help people. I try to look at things in terms of how we help people who otherwise might not be able to help themselves, and I'm confident, having looked at it, that we're making available enough in terms of Spanish language to assist those who are going through a transitional period.

Having looked at surrounding states, you have some that do nothing, you have some that are trying to do more, and then you've got some that, like Utah and Idaho, are fairly comfortable with where they are in terms of what it is they're now making available.

So again, I think it's something that will be reviewed from time to time. And again, any time you have a state that is moving and changing as fast as ours demographically, these are things that you have to review from time to time. The last time it was reviewed I think was in the late 1990s. Now look at our demographic shift from the late 1990s to where we are today, and imagine what it might be over the next 15 and 20 years. And I suspect that public polly will make an attempt to keep pace with chose changes.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, we have a question now from Craig Hislop of Utah Public Radio at our microwave site in Logan.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Hi, Craig.

CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO: Thanks, Dan. Governor, all the reports we've heard about the performance of the electronic voting machines in the primary have been good. Is there something else that has to be done to tweak them? Are you confident as we go into November's election we're going to be ready to go with those machines?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I think we're where we need to be. And again, I'm going to let the lieutenant governor, who is primarily the responsible party for elections in this state, speak out about this issue in particular. I'm sure he's doing a little bit of the postmortem after the primary vote, to see if there were any problems, any glitches at all, and if there were I'm sure that he'll bring them to light. But from what I can see and what I've read and conversations I've had would lead me to believe that the system worked.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Governor, about the same time that we're having our event here, a group of legislators and the Department of Workforce Services are meeting to try to solve a problem of general assistance, the program is sort of a safety net program for people at the very bottom end economically. There was a budgetary shortfall that Workforce Services had requested that didn't come through. And some of these people, it would appear by September, will end up in homeless shelters if there isn't additional funding.

This is another case of people at the very bottom end sort of getting left out, we've just been through the Medicid dental issue. Is there a way, I would imagine there is somewhere, to try to head off this kind of problem before it gets to this level, that perhaps can be floated in the next legislative session to try to make sure that group's taken care of before we start looking at major tax cuts or whatever?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well Tani Downing, who is responsible for Workforce Services, and does a remarkable job, I might add, will be putting forward an administrative rule today that will address some of the changes that are taking place, and call for public meetings and input enroute to dealing longer term with this issue.

We have to remember that we're one of only 16 states that still has this program in place, so as states go I think we're rather charitable. We asked for full funding last year, about seven to seven and a half million dollars. The legislature put forward, I think, more money than they ever have in support of this program. There is a shortfall, and it means that we have probably 1700 people who would meet the qualifications.

And you have to remember that this is a program for those who are in transition, either in the work place and they're injured and have a brief period of time away from work, and need the support, either single without children, or married without children, or it's those who are waiting for Social Security. And we do have some element of shortfall, I don't know exactly what it is. We want to address whatever that is, and make sure that we are doing the right thing. Tani has a plan, you'll hear more about that. More toward the end of the fiscal year in three days, maybe there's something more that we can find in terms of what she has in her budget, but she'll have to speak for that.

But it must be done in the context of addressing this, first with the legislature as part of the overall effort to take inventory of how our state's being affected by the deficit reduction act of '05, the Medicaid task force, in other words, that Sheldon Killpack is leading. That's how we're going to find the long term fixes. And it doesn't do us any good for us to act unilaterally and then for the task force to move off in a different direction. We have to kind of work in harmony.

Two, the advocacy communities need to be part of this as well, as they have been so far. We need to carefully identify as we go through this transitional period those of the whatever few hundred who might be on the short end of this, because of the funding, are most immediately in need. And I know the advocacy community will be part of this, as well.

But short term, we'll try to figure out what more we can do, Tani Downing, again, has some plans and some ideas, and we'll also follow up with the advocacy communities to see what, together, we can do as well.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, Senator Bob Bennett, Congressman Jim Matheson have been advocating a land use plan for Washington County worked out in cooperation with local governments there that includes, among other things, a plan to sell some public lands in Washington County for development. This is perhaps being seen as a precedent. Do you see it as something that, a model that could affect other development efforts for rural parts of Utah?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: The development side, I don't know if it is precedent setting. But the approach that the Washington County group is taking, I think, is unprecedented. I think Nevada has tried something similar, I think they're trying something again for Lincoln County. This is a very important process, and I think we ought to applaud it. I believe that Senator Bennett will be successful in terms of codifying things, legislatively.

But this is what we all ought to be considering doing more of, that is bringing stakeholders together. Where decisions longer term regarding land use and access issues and growth corridors and how communities that are growing as quickly as Washington County need to view their future, and deal with very, very significant land issues. People are sitting at the table, they're discussing all of the relevant issues, here, and if, in fact, they are successful, which I think they have been so far, it will likely, then, move on to a couple of other counties and we will have set, I think, a model here for dealing realistically and based on stakeholder input with the ways in which we ought to be looking at land going forward.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: There are some environmental groups that believe they have not been allowed to have the kind of input in the process that they wanted, and they're asking for public hearings on this, in fact commissioned a poll in which a large majority of the people they questioned indicated public hearings on this would be desirable. Do you think it's appropriate for people to complain that they have been left out of this process?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Of course it's appropriate for people to complain. That's how improvements are made in any process. But the local officials have taken charge of what is going on, and they'll deal with whatever voices are out there. I think they've been extremely inclusive, whenever you have a Democrat and a Republican who are driving the effort, as you have here, I think the outcome is probably going to be a fairly good one.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, Chris Cannon defeated his challenger, John Jacob in the Third Congressional District, and it was seen sort of as a benchmark for the nation on the immigration debate. Do you think there's any message there on how Utahns feel about the immigration debate, or were there side issues that sort of side tracted the election?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I didn't see a whole lot of side issues. I thought that, for the most part, the centerpiece issue of the campaign was, in fact, immigration. And I do believe that it bears out what many have seen in recent polling, which would suggest that most Americans, and I think most Utahns are interested in comprehensive immigration reform. You have to deal with the border, and I was just there, I saw first hand what it is they're trying to do, and then you've got to deal realistically with the human component, which are the 10 to 12 million who are here in the United States.

And I do believe that if we can take anything from the results of the election, it would be that comprehensive reform is what Americans and Utahns are looking for. And I hope, to some extent, that that is, then, a message or a call to Congress for the House of Representatives and the Senate to get together through the conference process and to be able to reconcile some of their differences before the election, as opposed to after the election.

Time is running out and the clock is running down. August is a dead month and typically you've got the two months leading up to the elections as relatively unproductive months, but it would be a very good thing if the House of Representatives and the Senate were to take this message, in part, and recognize that Americans do want comprehensive reform as it relates to immigration, and they want to get on with it as quickly as possible.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: If that momentum is lost, though, if action isn't taken by the election, do you still have confidence that Congress will deal with this issue?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Absolutely. I think it's just a matter of time. I personally would rather see it done sooner rather than later, but I do believe that this issue, since it is so significantly important for most Americans, and it is at the top of anyone's to do list, that it will be taken care of. Maybe some are looking for cover after the election, where you've got a period during which these things can be done, I don't know. I'm not sitting in Congress so I don't necessarily understand the sensitivities that many are working against. But it needs to be done, and I believe it will be done, it's just a matter of when.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, do you think it's Chris Cannon was cast as the guy who was soft on immigration. If he won, is that an indication that Utahns think there should be a more compassionate approach to immigration reform, rather than John Jacob's more law and order approach?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I don't want to characterize where the people of Utah come down on this. I never heard a fully articulated view from the Jacob campaign, other than deal with the border. When you look at comprehensive reform, you have to then go beyond the border to the human element, and I know Chris Cannon has worked pretty hard in terms of coming up with ideas for fixing that human component. And those who cast a vote for Chris, I think, knew that he had done this work, and likely would continue doing this work. So it does speak to a certain extent to comprehensive immigration reform.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor we have another question now from Craig Hislop of Utah Public Radio in Logan.

CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO: Governor, back to the primary election a little bit here, did you see anything in those results on Tuesday that would give any hope to those people that are probably, again, going to push and support a tax credit bill?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Now you're talking about a tuition tax credit?

CRAIG HISLOP, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO: Right.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: No, I didn't read any of that in the election results. Moreover, I haven't heard a lot about the issue to begin with. I think people are interested in education generally. We were fortunately able to appropriate some $3 billion last year in support of the WPU, which was an all time historic high, and I do believe, and I've just come from several town meetings in nine different counties, that people in our rural communities, as well as our urban communities, are interested in early childhood literacy, they're interested in teacher pay, they're interested in doing something with respect to the transportation issues, and many in our rural communities today face because of the escalating fuel costs, because of that we're having to discount many of the extracurricular activities that kids otherwise ought to be participating in.

These are the messages that I am taking from many of the town meetings I participated in, and I think that are absolutely core to education policy going forward. Now we're going to have the first of its kind education summit in September. And I'm inviting all 40 school districts to participate in this, and it is going to be an attempt to define our vision for public education in the state, what we think we can do. I want people walking out of this summit understanding what we as a state are pursuing in terms of goals and objectives and what realistically we think we can achieve. And I think the results of this summit will probably speak volumes about the direction that we ought to take in terms of public ed policy. Because it will be driven, in large part, by those who work closest to the issues, along with parents who are involved as well.

But these are some of the issues I'm hearing most about right now, and I haven't heard, quite frankly, very much about tuition tax credits.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: Governor, you just recently sent off a trade delegation to China. You had your eye on China all the way along as a goal. Have you got anything in the works from your end to try to establish the same kind of relations with China that you have with Mexico?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: That is our desire. In fact part of our, if I can call it our state's foreign policy I know that states aren't supposed to have foreign policies but I've identified four countries that are going to be, I think, an integral part of our future, either culturally or economically. And they are Mexico, Canada, China, and India. And we've covered our relationship with Mexico, and I think we've gone it very well. And we had President Fox here, kind of as a capstone event. We've got another trade mission going to Mexico very, very soon.

With respect to China, we're going to try to engage in the same level of relationship building, and that would be an economic component, that would be an education component, we've got some of our colleges and universities that are engaged in meaningful relationships with counterparts in China, and also something on a cultural level that we'd like to do with China. I'd like to visit sometime before the end of the year. I don't know when that's likely to take place, but we're trying to put something together that would make for a meaningful relationship with China.

India the same. And the reason I picked China and India is I think that over the next 20 to 40 years that our younger generations are going to be dealing more with China and India than any other countries of the world. They will be economic superpowers, they will be military superpowers. We need to recognize that, and I think as states have meaningful relationships will allow us to better understand them, and for them, moreover, to better understand us. I think we'll be able to derive a lot of important opportunities for those kinds of relationships.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, Congressman Cannon, Senator Bennett, both recently commented on the prospect of reprocessing spent uranium fuel rods as a way to potentially avoid some of the needs for long term storage that have been planned at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, and particularly on the Skull Valley Goshute reservation here in Utah. Have you been briefed on the prospects for nuclear fuel reprocessing, and do you see it as a way to minimize the need for long term storage?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Absolutely. It is something that I have spoken out about for at least a year. I think what is being talked about through Senator Domenici and the energy committee really makes PFS obsolete, where they are looking at making money available for storage sites that are close to the reactors themselves. We are not close to a reactor. You're looking at new areas that would be envisioned that are close for transportation, for storage, and reprocessing purposes, close to where this kind of, where the reactors are located, and energy is created.

I think it sends a very, very positive signal to Utah, and that is we would not be part of any kind of overall scheme to that extent, because we are geographically quite distant from those who would be involved.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: It's a Utah company that owns a significant part of the technology for doing this. Would you be friendly to doing some reprocessing here in Utah, or close by in the west?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I have said repeatedly that I don't like nuclear waste in our state. I don't like reprocessing, we don't use it, we shouldn't have to store it, we shouldn't have to deal with it, we don't benefit at all from nuclear sources. And for those who do, and for those who create jobs through nuclear power, let them assume that risk. But I think I've been fairly clear from the very beginning on what my position is.

BROCK VERGAKIS, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Governor, is there any chance left for a special session on tax reform?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I'd love for there to be a special session on tax reform. But there must be critical mass in terms of support, and we might find that there is critical mass in the legislature for a special session on tax reform. If there is, then it would be something I would be very willing and interested in engaging in, and I think we might know that as we get through the next month or two.

BROCK VERGAKIS, ASSOCIATED PRESS: How much time do we have left to accomplish that? Is it something that would have to occur by the end of August?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: No, I think that you could look well beyond August. I don't want to set any kind of time frame, here, but I would certainly be open to that as a possibility. But I'm only going to do it if I know we've got support in the legislature. And we're having those conversations and I think increasingly we are building support for tax reform.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: All right, thank you very much, Governor. We'd like to remind our viewers that transcripts and a video archive of the Governor's Monthly News Conference are available online at uen.org. And thank you for joining us today.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Thanks, Dan.

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