September 22, 2005

"Let's include those from different political persuasions who have differing voices, let's come to the table, let's talk about the concerns, let's see if we can't strike common ground." - Gov. Huntsman

Reporters (in order of appearance):

KEN VERDOIA, KUED
DAN BAMMES, KUER
ROD DECKER, KUTV
RICH PIATT, KSL-TV
REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS
LEE AUSTIN, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO
LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS
JOHN DALEY, KSL-TV
JULIE ROSE, KCPW
JENNIFER DOBNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Transcript:

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, thanks for joining us today. As we meet, we are less than 24 hours after an announcement of agreement in principle between your office and the Sierra Club on the Legacy Parkway project. Do you feel, to resolve this, you had to come more than half way with the environmental concerns?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I don't know if there's any way of measuring what half way is in this negotiation or any other negotiation. All I can tell you is there was good will represented at the negotiating table. A willingness to hear the concerns and, indeed, the creative thinking of all parties involved, and I think it was a combination of those two that really allowed us to succeed in the end. We had to get legislative input, and there was a legislative negotiating team that was put together toward the very end, and that was an important step.

But I think it was, as Marc Heileson of the Sierra Club said yesterday, a win-win-win. I think it was good all the way around. I think it will be good for the citizens of the state. I think it will be good for those who care about the environment in which these roads are laid out, and it may even create a template, of sorts, for the way in which we discuss further future transportation options.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, Representative Dunigan from Taylorsville disagrees with that view. He believes that the state, by this agreement, is essentially opening itself up to extortion from environmentalist groups and will in the future have to give away more than it wants to. Do you feel that this has set a precedent for inviting challenges on every project the state wants to do?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well listen there are typically challenges with these types of projects, there always will be challenges. I think we are better off bringing all parties to the table and trying to negotiate a framework on day one. I think if that had been done back in the late '90's then we probably would not have had the delay that we have seen, and wasted $200 million. As we move forward I think we probably look at a different paradigm. I'm not opposed to that.

Those concerned citizens have legal standing. That must be recognized. I think it's highly unrealistic to simply exclude people from things as important as transportation. And we'll probably reflect on what we have done the last few months, and see the progress that has been made, and perhaps conclude that as we go forward maybe we can do it better than we did ten years ago.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Would the best place to apply this be, for example, on the Bear River Dam project?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I don't know. I don't know where it goes from here. All I can tell you is the model that we created some months ago worked on Legacy Highway, maybe it will work on others.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: As you said, it was $200 million. Five years and I guess $235 million is the current estimate. It went from $451 million for the cost of the project when they had it last time to 680-something for the cost of the project. And about five years' delay. Now, I can't see that much was changed for that. The road, you've still got the road, it's still on the original alignment, it's still four lanes, a little narrower in the median. You won't have trucks on it, and you've got soft asphalt or something. But it seems to me that for five years and $235 million, we got almost nothing. Was this deal available in '90 to the state? Did the environmentalists back down? What actually happened here?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well I think we brought the parties together for the first time ever. You either bring the parties together to conclude a deal or you let it play out for the next two to three years, with the logical outcome, had we done nothing, and you waist another hundred million.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Their position until yesterday was don't build it at all. Widen Redwood Road. Before it was do nothing at all, not even widen Redwood Road. What- - Could the state have gotten a deal five years ago? Were the environmentalists, did they look at the litigation possibilities and decide that they didn't have it? That's a big sudden change?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: It's impossible for me to look back five years ago and say what could they have done, what should they have done? All I know is that I was faced with one of two options. Either sit in with the plaintiffs in good faith and hope that they sit in good faith, as they did, or continue to battle this in court for the next two to three years and spend a lot of taxpayers' money doing so with nothing to show for it in the end. I chose the former, to sit down and try to broker a deal. And we did that, and I'm not sure that that could have been done five years ago. I assume it could have been if parties wanted to get together, although I'm not going to play Monday morning quarterback.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: Governor, is there an important lesson for the state about the process of getting a project like this approved, as the valley continues to grow, as the state continues to grow there's going to be more challenges and more conflict about these kinds of projects. This one clearly you could argue wasn't done correctly in the beginning. Is there a lesson that you would like to carry forward as a result of this?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Inclusiveness. I think it's probably the very important public policy lesson to be learned. Let's include those from different political persuasions who have differing voices, let's come to the table, let's talk about the concerns, let's see if we can't strike common ground. You know, we all know we're going to disagree on some things, but we also know we're going to agree on some things. Let's find the points of agreement and move forward. And as we look at transportation projects going forward, I sense that we're going to be of that mind set.

RICH PIATT, KSL-TV: But it took an expensive lesson like this for that to get played out for some.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, better to learn those lessons than not to learn those lessons. We could still be fighting this, or spend the next two years fighting it, and waste another $200 million. And I think that would be a complete waste of time and taxpayer money.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently said that they can build a nuclear waste repository or the temporary storage facility on the Goshute Reservation. Have you decided yet, will Utah bring suit in federal court to stop that?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: We have a legal strategy which includes appeals. We figure that we can delay this by legal means, for maybe a couple of years, maybe two to three years, I don't know what the legal experts will tell you, but we've looked at every legal recourse that we have at our disposal. That, to me, is an incomplete approach. We have to do it because we have to keep the garbage out of the state. But simultaneously, we must be pursuing an executive branch strategy and a legislative strategy. The three of them have to all be managed simultaneously--legal, executive, legislative. And while we work the legal angle, which we are very, very aggressively under Mike Lee our general counsel, we're also working legislative angles and executive branch angles.

REBECCA WALSH, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE: Governor, you have a lone holdout in the congressional delegation in Senator Hatch. He's the only one who isn't backing Harry Reid's plan, and pushing his own plan that continues to rely on Yucca. Are you working on him? Are you hoping to bring him into the fold?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: The senator can speak for himself. I think it's ill advised. It would be nice to be able to speak with some sense of unanimity as a state and a delegation, as I believe Nevada is doing, on something as important as this. I do believe that as we come together with one voice and one mind that there are some things legislatively that we can accomplish with the help of our friends in Nevada. Perhaps others in adjoining states. That's only possible if we come together in a unified way. And that's something that I have encouraged, and I will continue to encourage.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Utah was unified before you came in, in the other direction. All the delegation, the delegation supported Yucca Mountain. Now it looks as if you guys have been kicked around by Harry Reid. You guys have run a bunch of legislative initiatives to stop the Goshute reservation, and Harry Reid has stopped them all. And the reason he has given for stopping them is, "I don't like them. I don't like the idea." So now it appears that maybe, maybe you're buddying up to Senator Reid, who holds the power in this. Is that fair?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, I think it's somewhat on the mark. I would say that your characterization of our having been kicked around, maybe before I landed here, but I have not been kicked around by Harry Reid. I've had several discussions with Senator Reid about this, and they've been very helpful and productive discussions.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Not so productive that he's gone along with stopping the Goshute Reservation plan. He blocked that reservation plan.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: We're not finished yet.

TOM JORDAN, METRO NETWORKS: You're almost certain to catch a lawsuit on the rural roads initiative that's just been announced. Is there a plan for inclusiveness in talking about that?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I think that always helps, and the BLM will do what they feel they need to do at the end of the inventory, which will probably take another year to complete. And again, these are all roads that basically have been identified, or close to being identified over the last many, many years. Again, we're going back to 1866 legislation when you look at RS-2477. And this is what the Tenth Circuit did, was basically reaffirm what existed before 1976, and basically stating that it's now the prerogative of state law to determine these things. So the inventory will move forward, it'll take about a year to determine where those roads fall.

I suspect the BLM, following the completion of the inventory, will want to bring suit. I don't know for sure, I'm just guessing, on some of those roads. But yes, there ought to be an inclusive process that plays out in the run up to that. And there will be a lot of stakeholders who will want to speak, there still is a legal process, an appeals process that is open in the aftermath of the Tenth Circuit decision. I don't know what will happen there, but chances are it could be appealed. But that's where we are.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, let's engage in our own inclusive process in this venue by turning to Logan and a question from Lee Austin of Utah Public Radio. Lee?

LEE AUSTIN, UTAH PUBLIC RADIO: Thank you very much. I'd like to shift briefly if I could to the area of tax reform. Seems to be common wisdom that the effort to enact a flatter income tax is losing a great deal of steam, especially with the formal testimony by a representative of the LDS Church last week. Do you have a plan to bring back from your team for a flatter tax that eliminates the deductibility of charitable giving? Is there any point in that right now?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Thank you, Lee. Tax reform is anything but dead. I read an editorial saying that it was dead, dracula-like dead, which I thought was way off the mark. When we introduce our tax package in the next couple of weeks I think you'll see that it is anything but dead. I've had conversations with lots of different stakeholders, yesterday with Bishop Niederauer, and will continue to do that in the run-up to our releasing our own tax package. I'm still shooting for a flatter, fairer, simpler tax, one that takes into account the most vulnerable in our society, that in other words keeps, holds them harmless vis-a-vis where we are today on taxable income.

On the areas that today are deductible, I think you'll see some changes there in the tax policy ideas that we present. I think you'll see some ideas on the sales tax on food. I think you'll see some ideas on investment tax type of credits, and I think it will be basically the- - I think you'll be pleased. It'll be the culmination of a lot of work that has been undertaken, not only by our office but by the tax review commission as well, and with a lot of consultation with the community. So I would say that it's anything but dead.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: An idea you've mentioned when you were in a candidate, I can't remember how much you committed yourself to it, was elimination of the corporate tax. Is that still- - Is that going to be part? Might it be part?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: It will likely not be part. For me it is more important to have a flatter, fairer income tax that helps all people in some way, shape or form, than simply doing away with the corporate tax.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Sales tax on food. Is your idea to reduce it? To eliminate it?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well my idea is to turn it into a credit form, as opposed to just simply eliminate it altogether. A credit form that would be available on an income-sensitive basis, that would be a credit at the end of the year. It would presuppose that one files a tax form, and if you're in an income category where you don't pay taxes you would still get a credit back, so it would be an incentive to fill out your income tax filing.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: So essentially it's an income tax credit that you would call a credit for the sales tax on food, though it wouldn't actually have anything to do with how much you ate, only with how much you made.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well it would be directly tied to sales tax on food. And we're working out now the metrics for that, but it would have a direct tie to sales tax on food. It would alleviate the burden that so many, so many face and feel at the lowest income categories as they buy the most basic of all staples, food.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: The new Utah State Tax Commission report shows that the state already has a surplus of almost $41 million just for the first two months of the budget year. You've had some pressure from Republican leaders in the legislature for a tax cut as part of this whole reform effort. You've pretty much held the line so far on making all of this revenue neutral. But with these new figures, are you rethinking that in any way?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: No I'm not rethinking that, and part of it is because I don't know what the new numbers will show. These are very early, preliminary numbers. We have to get, shall we say, the real data. This is a preliminary indication of where we might be going, but it is by no means an accurate portrayal of where the numbers are, or extrapolated over twelve months, where we're likely to be at the end of the year.

You've got to remember we've got energy prices that are going to be extraordinarily high, we've got another- - We probably have some inflationary tendencies in the economy. We're growing very quickly, and that means prices will likely escalate to some extent. I mean the yin and yang associated with economic growth.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Is there any way you can see yourself supporting a tax cut as part of this whole reform effort?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well, the most immediate reform effort, I have no plans for that. Where we might be next year based upon the numbers, we'll just have to see where the numbers are before we answer that.

DAN BAMMES, KUER: Governor, your economic development board recently gave KraftMaid Cabinets the green light not to keep a promise they had made to pay a higher wage level when they build a new facility here in Utah. And that begs the question for other companies that are being recruited to come to the state, whether or not they are going to be required to keep the promises they make in order to take advantage of the incentives that the state provides. Is that a problem in your mind? And will future economic development efforts be hindered by that?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well I think we need to stay somewhat flexible on the economic development side, and look at variables beyond simply what wages are going to be. Wages are extremely important, no doubt, and the effort in total is to achieve a higher wage rate over time, which we're seeing happening in the state. We're seeing that our economy as it grows is now providing higher wages as well. But in the case of a company that is bringing in 15 to 1,700 jobs, the highest number of jobs the state, I think, has ever seen in one investment.

Moreover the kind of manufacturing industry is going to create a multiplier effect in the surrounding economy which has at times four or five number associated with it. Jobs that are no doubt going to create a higher salary and compensation level as well. You have to look at the total picture. It isn't just a company. It's a company with just under 2,000 jobs, with a manufacturing base that is going to then create a multiplier effect with subsidiary and peripheral industries that will greatly benefit the south end of the valley.

And so I think, as opposed to looking at it monochromatically, as you might somebody bringing in 100 and 200 jobs and let's just look at one criterion, you have to look at two or three in making a decision. It wasn't my decision at the end of the day, it was the investment committee. They are independent and they do what they feel is right. But I would have to say in the case of KraftMaid, they were correct in looking at these additional economic variables that are going to be very good for our state's economy over time.

JOHN DALEY, KSL-TV: Governor, I have some hurricane-related questions for you. One, Rita's coming. Are we expecting to possibly have some more evacuees come here to Utah?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: We could, John. We received a call from FEMA a couple of days ago, just a heads-up, we may be calling again with a request to place more evacuees with the storm, depending upon its trajectory. We're prepared. We have probably just over 100 evacuees left at Camp Williams. We have the infrastructure that's still in place and the ability to serve many more, should we be called upon. And I just don't know what will play out over the next 24 to 48 hours. I would not be surprised if we were asked to take more in the way of evacuees. I think what they're looking at is figuring out a way of freeing up room.

And I talked to the governor of Texas, Rick Perry just a couple of days ago and he said, "We have assimilated virtually an entire state into our state." He said, "We have 40,000 new kids in our public education system." And what will likely happen is they'll have to make room available for those in the Galveston or the Beaumont or the Houston areas, who will be in need of temporary housing. You've got to find it somewhere, which means you've got displace those who are currently occupying those rooms.

So I think they're going to have to probably look at alternatives. We're ready, we're willing, we can step up to the task, as I think we've proved to the country in the aftermath of Katrina.

JOHN DALEY, KSL-TV: The attorney general this past week made a comment regarding the evacuees, about there being potentially several dozen murderers, I think was the language that he used. Later in the day they back pedaled on that. What do you think about the state looking into the background of evacuees, and also about his comment?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well the comments were erroneous, and probably ill-timed. It is standard procedure, from what I have seen and heard, if for no other reason than for Red Cross housing, as a requirement the background checks be done. And from what I've heard every state similarly situated has done just a fairly perfunctory background, criminal background check. The numbers, obviously, were way off. It is against the law, to begin with, to release this kind of information. But I will tell you that there are no extraditable offenses among the population. Nor have we had a single criminal incident among the evacuees since they have been here.

JOHN DALEY, KSL-TV: One hurricane-related question, there's been a lot of debate about global warning being a factor here. There's been warnings about its possible effect here in Utah. How serious a threat do you consider it here in Utah?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Global warming, or the storms?

JOHN DALEY, KSL-TV: Global warming.

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I don't know. I'm not a meteorologist, I just an aspired to be one years ago. But did I tell my son last night as we were watching the storms flow in on the weather channel late last night, and he asked me this very question. I said it would be an interesting time to be a meteorologist these days, to try to answer some of these questions. Because we are seeing some extraordinary weather patterns, the likes of which I think we've never seen. And I wouldn't even hazard a guess in terms of saying whether we're experiencing new and different weather patterns as a result of global warming or not. I mean they would have told you in 1975, based upon what Time Magazine had on its cover, as I recall, that we were heading into the ice age. So I think there is some variability in terms of what the meteorology community is telling us.

JULIE ROSE, KCPW: Governor, yesterday Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson signed an executive order offering benefits to same-sex couples who are employees of the city. What, if anything, do you plan to do about that executive order?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Well that's his executive order. I don't plan on issuing an executive order of my own. It has legal hurdles. I guess it has to go before, at some point, the city council. I'm not going to launch any legal effort of my own. That's up to the attorney general, but I will not be doing that. But it's a local government decision, based on what he, as the duly-elected mayor, wants to do.

There are only eleven states, last I counted, that offer such benefits. There are 130 cities, counties, and municipalities who offer such benefits. And there are probably 240 of the 500 top corporations in America who offer such benefits. In fact, as I look around the room, I don't think there's any one corporation represented here that offers such benefits. Channel 2 partially, and Fox TV does, but I'm not sure anyone else does in the corporate world. So this is a relatively new discussion. I think it will continue through the legal channels based upon what Mayor Anderson has decided to do, and we'll see where it goes from there.

ROD DECKER, KUTV: Will you support legislation that would ban the kind of thing that Governor Anderson's doing? There will be an attempt to pass such legislation. Will you support it?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: I'd have to look at it. I'm not prepared to comment on legislation before I have a chance to read it.

JENNIFER DOBNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Is there any opinion floating around your office about whether or not this runs afoul of Amendment 3 or not?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: No opinion.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: Is that something, though, that you would consider offering to state employees at some time? A lot of people have suggested that this is really an excellent economic development tool, to offer these type of benefits that show- -

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: We have a lot of good economic development tools. It really comes down to cost, and what I want to get right are the costs that are now on the table associated with benefits that we're making available to all of our employees. We're still working hard on getting that dimension right.

LISA RILEY ROCHE, DESERET MORNING NEWS: So is that a yes or a no?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: That's a no for now. We've got too many other issues related to employee compensation and benefits that we're working on.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor, unfortunately we're in the last minute of this program, I have to take control so we can end on time, but I'm going to give you one that's a little bit challenging. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the role of governors has been drawn into sharp focus as being critical in emergency relief efforts. Utah responded to another state's disaster, but did this raise questions for you about this state's preparation and ability to deal with the unimaginable consequences of a disaster that could strike your own jurisdiction?

GOVERNOR HUNTSMAN: Yes, indeed, it did. In fact, one of the reasons I wanted to make sure that our state stood up early and aggressively to help those in need is because I fundamentally believe that today it was somebody else's catastrophe, tomorrow it could be our catastrophe. And I hope that, number one, we as a state learned lessons of emergency preparation, to make sure that we are prepared, we are well lubricated as a state government to respond quickly and effectively. But also to ensure that we send out the message that we would expect other states to help us in a time of need, as well.

KEN VERDOIA, KUED: Governor Huntsman, thank you for your time today. And thank you. We'll see you next month on the Governors Monthly News Conference.

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