Utah
What are the priorities for the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority for the 2024 session?
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25218049/merlin_3013282.jpg "What are the priorities for the Utah Legislature’s Republican supermajority for the 2024 session?")
When Utah lawmakers meet Tuesday to kick off their annual 45-day session, the focus will be on the lists of priorities set by the Republican supermajorities in the House and the Senate.
The House majority published a 45-page guide entitled, “For Utah A Bold Vision, A Bright Future,” to showcase their intention to “pass policies that address today’s problems and create generational benefits” for Utahns.
The Senate majority caucus put together a priority list, too, “Utahns First Sustainability At Every Level,” that promises the state can prepare for any challenges by “building on the achievements of the past and prioritizing family and business-friendly policies.”
The issues to be tackled are largely general and don’t delve into some of the hot-button topics coming up, such as efforts to curtail diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the state public universities and colleges, or attempts to limit voting by mail.
Utah’s Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate aren’t planning to release their priorities until the start of the session, a spokeswoman said. Democrats hold just 14 of the 75 House seats and six of the 29 Senate seats.
New House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, went over his chamber’s priorities on Monday with the Deseret News editorial board and rolled them out at a news conference in the state Capitol on Wednesday,
“It’s been more robust, with more involvement, than any other one that we’ve done before,” Schultz told reporters Wednesday, saying the list of priorities “really, truly is our caucus as a whole coming together.”
They go beyond “what’s popular at the moment” to address long-term needs, the speaker said. “We’re at a pivotal time in the state’s history. As we transition form a small state to a medium state, the decisions we make today will have generational impact.”
House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, joins with members of the House Majority Caucus to review policy priorities and answer questions at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.
Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Utah House Republican priorities
The House GOP divided its priorities into four areas:
- People: “We want to make sure we continue to create policy that makes us a family-friendly state gong forward,” House Majority Leader Jefferson Moss, R-Saratoga Springs, said at the news conference, including by reducing regulations that limit access to child care and promoting what’s known as the “success sequence” of life events for young adults.
Taxpayers, Moss said, are “feeling the sting of inflation.” The House majority is promising to “continue to improve government efficiency so we can ease tax burdens.” Legislative leaders have already set aside $160 million for what will likely be another income tax cut this year, but Schultz said it’s “irresponsible” to say that’s the right number until after new state revenue projections come out in February.
Limiting regulation is also the GOP representatives’ plan for improving the health and well-being of Utahns, Moss said, and working with local governments to address homelessness is also on the agenda.
Improving school safety, easing the burden of school fees and “making it a more desirable thing to be a teacher, looking for ways to create more innovative pathways into the teaching profession” are ways to helps students and teachers, Moss said.
- Resources: For water, Moss said lawmakers will be trying “to find ways to conserve it and coordinating efforts across the state” to deal with drought. Energy is a big topic on the hill this year, with a statewide plan in the works to ensure “reliable, affordable and dispatchable” sources in the wake of what the majority caucus calls “Washington, D.C.’s irrational energy policy.”
The nation’s capital is also a target in the lands policy. “Lands is very important. We want to continue to fight for our lands, to be able to have access to our lands,” Moss said, referring to the federal government’s ownership of about two-thirds of the state’s acreage. The House Republicans are also calling for recognizing that “technological development and innovation in fossil fuels are part of the solution to our environmental challenges.”
- Accountable government: “We believe the federal government continues to overreach and we want to continue to push back on that overreach, fighting for our state rights,” Moss said. “Internally, we want to make sure the government is more efficient, finding ways to cut waste.” Schultz told the Deseret News that the Legislature’s budget committees have not been given a specific goal for reducing spending.
Public safety is part of the focus on accountability. Moss said there are a number of effort underway to answer the question, “how do we make sure that our citizens feel safe,” Those include dealing with staffing shortages as well as “other challenges” threatening the safety and security of state prison staff and inmates.
Higher education falls into this category, too, in the House GOP list, “I know we’ve heard a lot about this. That’s making sure that our campuses are free to be able to express your opinions, and not have to worry about whether you’re going to be scrutinized on that. We want to make it inclusive for everyone,” Moss said. Also on the agenda is reducing the time and money needed to earn a degree.
- Future: “We’re looking for innovative solutions to big problems,” Moss said, in housing, transportation and technology. Reducing regulation is again part of the plan to “streamline” the development of an increased supply of affordable housing.
Transportation investments “are essential to maintian Utah’s high quality of life,” the caucus’ guide says, accounting “for growth where it is happening” while considering all options including public transit.
Moss said House Republicans “want to look at new ways to embrace new technology but also make sure we’re safeguarding our data.” The guide points out that artificial intelligence “promises to boost productivity and enhance our everyday lives; however, potential risks like misinformation and deep fakes pose a threat to public wellbeing.”
The Senate Chamber is pictured at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
Utah Senate Republican priorities
Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, who is serving his sixth session as a top legislative leader, stressed the need to continue the state’s significant successes.
“We’ve got kind of a legacy that we need to uphold. When I think about what’s been done before us, we’re very fortunate,” Adams said, citing Utah being singled out nationally for the state’s economic and other strengths, including volunteerism.
“There’s been some great things happening in Utah,” he said. “But with those great things, there are some challenges also.” The Senate majority caucus has identified those that will be a priority this session. They are:
- Energy: “Energy drives our economy,” Adams said. “We’re going to do everything we can to try to keep our energy prices reasonable in Utah even though a lot of it is out of our control. We’ll do what we can here.”
The state will still move toward renewable energy “but we’re not going to do it at the expense of our economy, he said, adding that means finding ways to keep coal-fired power plants open longer, although it’s “very unlikely” there will be financial incentives offered.
- Water: “Water has already been a priority in a drought,” Adams said, “We’ll continue to look at innovative conservation practices and trying to find a way to protect Great Salt Lake and develop the water resources we need.”
- Education: Among contiguous states, “we have the highest starting teacher salaries after what we did last year and we’ve doubled the spending, on education in the last 10 years,” he said, but a bill is in the works to raise the pay to $100,000 or “high performing teachers.”
- Affordable housing: “Great efforts” have been made in the past on higher-density developments in cities but Adams said he’s “been panicked we’re losing our middle class. Home ownership is really the American dream.”
Last session, the Senate leader sponsored legislation setting up a fund for first-time homebuyers that he said sparked the governor’s budget proposals on housing. Adams stopped short of signing off on that plan, but pledged to “continue to focus on trying to get people into a home.”
- Homelessness and criminal justice reform: While the issues are listed separately on the Senate majority’s list, Adams said they should be combined. “We need to make sure we’re giving people a hand up, not a hand out, that we’re trying to motivate them to change their circumstances.”
He said there will probably be some “refinements’ of the governor’s homelessness proposals but “we’re aligned for sure in principle.”
- Infrastructure: The economy may dictate what lawmakers can do, Adams said, when it comes to improving Utah’s transportation system and addressing traffic congestion to keep up with the continued growth in our state.
- Fiscally responsible tax cut: “We’ve cut taxes again and again and again, three years in a row but again this year we’ll be probably a little more cautious,” Adams said, due to the slowdown in the state’s revenue growth that he blames on energy prices. Like Schultz, he suggested there may be changes to he proposed $160 million tax cut.
- Social media: Utah “will continue to lead in that. We’ll stand up and protect our kids against any litigation,” Adams said. “It’s pretty much documented that we’re seeing some difficult social effects from social media,” especially on teenaged girls,
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A simple moment watching a child laugh changed everything for Ivan Gonzalez.
Eight years ago, Gonzalez was working at the Ronald McDonald House when he had an idea to throw a birthday carnival for the kids staying there.
“Let’s do a carnival, birthday carnival for the kids,” he said.
MORE | Pay It Forward
What happened during that event stuck with him.
“There I was watching this kid play whack-a-mole, just having a blast, laughing,” Gonzalez said. “And then I see his mom kind of with happy tears because he’s enjoying himself.”
That moment led to something bigger.
Gonzalez realized the experience shouldn’t stop with just one event or just one group of kids.
“I said, wait, we can do this not just for kids in the hospital,” he said with excitement.
So he started a nonprofit called Best Seat in the House, which creates events and experiences for children who often face difficult circumstances.
“We provide events and experiences for disadvantaged kids,” Gonzalez said.
The organization serves children battling cancer and other medical conditions, refugee children, kids living in poverty, those in foster care and children with special needs.
“These kids grow up too fast,” Gonzalez said.
For Gonzalez, the mission is deeply personal.
“I grew up very poor,” he said.
He remembers the people who stepped in for his family when they needed it most.
“The local church, we weren’t even a part of it,” he described. “My parents couldn’t afford Christmas gifts and I still remember the gifts they gave me. They didn’t even know me.”
Today, he hopes to create that same feeling for other children through his nonprofit.
“Kids live in poverty and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from, let alone going to a play or to a game,” Gonzalez said.
But for Gonzalez, the reward isn’t the events themselves, it’s the joy they create.
“You can give me a billion dollars, all the money in the world,” he says as tears roll down his face. “I won’t trade these opportunitieskids just enjoying life.”
Because of his work giving back, KUTV and Mountain America Credit Union surprised Gonzalez with a Pay it Forward gift to help him continue creating those moments for kids across Utah.
For more information on supporting Best Seat in the House, click here.
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Utah
‘Don’t release him ever. Please.’ Family of slain Utah teen calls for justice at parole hearing
SALT LAKE CITY — Francisco Daniel Aguilar says he’s sorry for shooting and killing his girlfriend, 16-year-old Jacqueline “Jacky” Nunez-Millan, a Piute High School sophomore, in 2023.
But just as he did when he was sentenced, he didn’t have much of an explanation on Tuesday as to why he shot her not once, but twice.
“It just kinda happened. I was mad. And I stepped out (of my truck) and started shooting,” he said. “When I saw her fall, I just kind of panicked, I just went and shot her again.”
But Jacky’s friends and family members say even before she was killed, Aguilar already had a history of violence, and they now want justice to be served.
“You don’t accidentally take a gun, you don’t accidentally grab a knife … you don’t accidentally shoot someone, those are all choices,” a tearful Rosa Nunez, Jacky’s sister, said at Tuesday’s hearing. “Keep him where he needs to be.
“Don’t release him ever. Please.”
On Jan. 7, 2023, Aguilar, who was 17 at the time, got into a fight with his girlfriend, Jacky, shot her twice and left her body near a dirt road outside of Circleville, Piute County. He was convicted as an adult of aggravated murder and sentenced to a term of 25 years to up to life in prison.
Because of Aguilar’s age at the time of the offense, board member Greg Johnson explained Tuesday that the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to hold a hearing much earlier than the 25-year mark, mainly to check on Aguilar and “see how things are going.” Aguilar, now 20, is currently being held in a juvenile secure care facility and will be transferred to the Utah State Prison when he turns 25 or earlier if he has discipline violations and is kicked out of the youth facility.
According to Aguilar’s sentencing guidelines, he will likely remain in custody until at least the year 2051.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Aguilar told the board that he was feeling “stressed out” during his senior year of high school. He said he and Jacky would often have little arguments. But their bigger fight happened when he failed to get her a “promise ring” around Christmastime, he said.
On the night of the killing, the two were arguing about the promise ring and other items, Aguilar recalled. At one point, he grabbed a knife and then a gun because, he said, he wanted to “irritate” and “scare” Jacky. According to evidence presented in the preliminary hearing, Aguilar and his girlfriend had been “trying to make each other angry” when Aguilar took ammunition and a 9mm gun from his father’s room and then drove to the Black Hill area in his truck with Jacky.
Jacky’s friend, McKall Taylor, went looking for her that night and found her. But after Aguilar shot Jacky in the leg, he began shooting at Taylor, who had no choice but to run to her car to get away. Her car was hit multiple times by bullets. Aguilar then shot Jacky a second time as she lay on the ground and Taylor drove away.
On Tuesday, Taylor’s mother, Lori Taylor, read a statement to the board on her daughter’s behalf.
“My innocence and freedom was taken from me,” she said.
McKall Taylor says the “horrifying events of that night will forever play in my head,” and the sounds of Jacky screaming and the gunshots as well as the sight of Jacky falling to the ground, will never go away.
“Francisco is a murderer who has zero remorse,” her letter states.
Likewise, Rosa Nunez told the board that for her and her family, “nothing in our world has felt safe since” that night as they all “continue to relive this horrific moment.”
After shooting Jacky and driving off, Aguilar says he called his father and “told him I was sorry for not being better, for not making good choices, I told him that I loved him. I was just planning on probably shooting myself, too.”
His father told him that although what he did wasn’t right, “he’d rather see me behind bars than in a casket,” and then told his son to “be a man about it. … This is where you have to change.”
Aguilar was arrested after his tires were spiked by police.
“An apology won’t fix what I did. I’ll never be able to fix what I did. But I want to say I’m sorry,” he said Tuesday. “I don’t even know how to fix what I did. I’m hoping I’m on the right track now.”
Johnson noted that Aguilar has done well during his short time being incarcerated. But that doesn’t change the fact “the crime was horrific,” he said.
The full five-member board will now take a vote. The board could decide to schedule another parole hearing for sometime in the future or could order that Aguilar serve his entire life sentence. But even if that were to happen, Johnson says Aguilar could petition every so often for a redetermination hearing.
The board’s decision is expected in several weeks.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Utah alleges a counterfeit airbag turned a routine crash into a fatal explosion that killed a teenage driver within minutes.
Alexia De La Rosa graduated from Hunter High School in May of 2025. On July 30, 2025, she was involved in a crash.
The lawsuit alleges that when the vehicle’s driver-side airbag deployed, it detonated and sent metal and plastic shrapnel into the cabin.
MORE | Crashes
A large, jagged piece of metal struck Alexia in the chest, and she died minutes later, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, filed by Morgan & Morgan in Utah’s Third Judicial District Court, was brought on behalf of Tessie De La Rosa, as personal representative of the estate of her 17-year-old daughter.
The defendants are AutoSavvy Holdings Inc., AutoSavvy Dealerships LLC, and AutoSavvy Management Company LLC.
Morgan & Morgan alleges that the Hyundai Sonata had previously been declared a total loss after a 2023 crash and issued a salvage title. The suit claims AutoSavvy later purchased the vehicle and had it repaired — during which counterfeit, non-compliant, and defective airbag components were allegedly installed — before reselling it to the De La Rosa family.
The complaint further alleges that AutoSavvy knew or should have known the vehicle contained counterfeit and nonfunctional airbag components when it was sold.
“This is the third wrongful death lawsuit we have filed involving alleged counterfeit airbags that we believe turned survivable crashes into fatal incidents,” Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan said in a statement. “No life should be cut short because a corporation puts profits above safety.”
Attorney Andrew Parker Felix, who is leading the case, said the firm is committed to uncovering how allegedly illegal airbag inflators enter the stream of commerce and are installed in vehicles sold to consumers.
“To make this perfectly clear, these are not supposed to be in the United States at all,” Felix said. “They are not approved for use in any vehicle that’s being driven in the United States.”
“They don’t have approval from any governmental agency to be installed in vehicles that are driven within the United States and regulated here,” he added.
Morgan & Morgan says it is investigating at least three additional deaths involving other defendants and alleged counterfeit airbags.
KUTV 2News reached out to AutoSavvy multiple times by email and phone. We were told a member of the company’s legal team would be in touch, but as of publication we have not received a response.
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