Latest news with #LincolnFillmore
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Here are the Utah cities and counties that generate the most revenue from traffic fines
A Utah Highway Patrol traffic stop. (Getty Images) Six Utah municipalities got at least 10% of their overall revenue from traffic fines in 2024, according to the annual report by the Utah State Auditor, though none came close to the state limit on such fines. Sunset, a city of only about 5,000 people in Davis County, generated the highest percentage, with $502,013 of its $3,359,325 general fund revenue in 2024 stemming from traffic fines. That's about 15% of its annual general revenue. According to the auditor's office, here are the 10 Utah cities and counties that generate the highest percentage of revenue from traffic fines: Sunset (pop. 5,400): $502,013 out of $3,359,325, or 14.9% Mantua (pop. 1,300): $206,820 out of $1,596,394, or 13% Wellsville (pop. 4,100): $335,888 out of $2,779,116, or 12.1% Orderville (pop. 570): $48,240 out of $464,330, or 10.4% Willard (pop. 2,200): $230,269 out of $2,282,692, or 10.1% Monticello (pop. 1,700): $278,995 out of $2,779,751, or 10% Vernal (pop. 10,500): $651,998 out of $6,746,045, or 9.7% Uintah (pop. 1,400): $39,358 out of $738,155, or 5.5% Box Elder County (64,100): $783,374 out of $14,346,450, or 4.9% Holladay (pop. 30,200): $2,142,732 out of $23,179,672, or 3.2% The state legislature caps the amount of revenue cities can collect from such fines in a year. Anything above 25% of annual revenue must be handed over to the Utah Department of Transportation, which would then redistribute it around the state to improve class B and C roads, which are locally maintained. No other punitive action would be taken against the city, or county. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The 25% threshold was set by the Utah Legislature in 2021 through a bill sponsored by Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan. SB75 was intended to 'make sure police officers don't turn into revenue agents,' said Fillmore at the time, referring to a widely publicized instance in Mantua, where the city leaders used traffic tickets to bring more money to the city. According to reporting from FOX13 in 2021, the Mantua Police chief believes he was fired over his opposition to the city's policy. Fillmore's bill is similar to attempts by the Legislature to rein in money and resources taken by law enforcement, so seizures of property used in crimes didn't become a revenue stream for specific municipalities. 'It's to make sure that municipalities are focused on the distribution of justice and making sure people are doing what they're supposed to, and not providing any kind of incentive for a municipality to use it as a revenue source to fund other things in the city,' said Seth Oveson, Local Government Manager for the Office of the Utah State Auditor. SB75 tasked the auditor's office with reviewing whether municipalities are compliant. 'Our local government division is diligent in its review of all levels of local governments — towns, cities, counties, school and special districts — to ensure statutory compliance. This report ensures all municipalities are complying, and provides them and the legislature with accurate information as they plan and set policies,' said Auditor Tina Cannon in a statement last week. The general fund is generated from various operations or taxes in a city and town, like property taxes, sales tax, business license fees and court fees. If a Utah Highway Patrol trooper writes a ticket that results in a fine in a city, the money still goes towards the city. If the fine is collected in a municipality that doesn't have a justice court, the money goes to the county instead, which is also required to stay under the 25% cap. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cellphones out in classroom, real world in
'We call it a phone, but it's not. If it were a phone that you'd use to actually talk to people it would be great; instead it's a communication device that you use to not communicate.' That's state Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, waxing eloquent about a subject he's come to know quite intimately: cellphones in schools. It was his bill, passed almost unanimously in the recently concluded state legislative session, that prohibits students from 'using a cellphone, smart watch, or emerging technology during classroom hours.' Under the new law, educators have the ability to make exceptions — for safety or learning-enhancement reasons — but for the vast majority of the time, students in public schools are breaking the law if they use their cellphones during class time. The banning of cellphones had been considered by earlier legislatures, but didn't go anywhere because the rationale that it was harmful was based more on speculation as opposed to actual data. Then, a year ago, in March 2024, just days after the Utah legislative term ended, social scientist Jonathan Haidt's book, 'The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness' was published. The book was on The New York Times bestseller list for 40 weeks. Reviews were both effusive and dispiriting. 'Words that chill the parental heart,' wrote The Wall Street Journal. 'Incredibly chilling … Remarkably persuasive,' blared the Telegraph. Haidt's book 'gave us the data we needed; it was a game-changer,' says Fillmore. And not just for Utah legislators. By the time the 2025 legislative session began, 'we were latecomers to the game,' Fillmore points out, noting that a number of school districts in the state had already implemented their own bans, along with more than a dozen legislatures in states across the country. 'A lot of states were looking for data to take action,' he says. With most of a year to prepare, Fillmore did his homework, speaking to and learning from Utah educators who were already clamping down on phone usage. One visit was to Granger High School in West Valley City, where the principal had opted for a bell-to-bell ban — no cellphone use inside and outside the classroom for the entire school day. 'This would have been August of last year when we went there,' Fillmore says, 'the principal described to us how noisy the school was at lunch time. At first he wondered what was going on. Then he went outside and saw that the kids were talking to each other — actually using their mouths to talk; interacting and having fun together instead of just staring down at their palm.' Fillmore has a history of looking out for kids. In 2018, it was his 'free-range parenting' bill that helped protect parents from liability for letting their kids do such things as walk home unattended from school, or go to the park or the mall alone. It was the first such law passed in the country and inspired many other states to pass similar laws. The objective behind the free-range bill is the same as the cellphone ban bill. 'I consider it another step in the direction of letting kids have more freedom and more time in the real world and actually experiencing reality,' says the senator. 'We put so many boundaries on our kids for the sake of safety in the physical world, but we take the tethers off in the virtual world — here's your phone, interact with perfect strangers — and the virtual world is much more dangerous than the real one. 'In the real one you'll skin your knee, you might break your arm, but in the virtual world you are virtually guaranteed to be harmed, and not by skinned knees and broken arms, but by depression and anxiety and broken mental health.' He continues, 'When you break your arm you learn that it hurt so you're going to be more careful next time, but you also know 'I'm going to be better in six weeks.' When you get in trouble in the virtual world, where you've been stalked by a predator or you've been the victim of the kind of cyberbullying that comes from the worst kind of people, it has long term effects that are not 'I'll get better in six weeks and be more careful on the monkey bars from now on.' It can destroy the spirit in a way that has long term nasty consequences.' Keeping cellphones out of schools won't eliminate all those dangers all of the time, of course, but at least it will when class is in session and might help break some habits. 'Technology can be great, it allows us to do a lot of good things,' acknowledges the Utah senator who has made it his career to look out for kids. But it also has power over us. 'I'm a victim too,' muses Fillmore, 'I don't like how often I pull out my cellphone because I'm bored. We've kind of trained ourselves to do that. I wish it was easier to just be bored.'
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Did the 2025 Legislature do enough for housing affordability in Utah?
The chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee, Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, clearly hasn't been pleased with the progress made on affordable housing at the 2025 Legislature. When asked at a Senate media availability in the final weeks of the session if enough action has been taken this session given Utah voters put housing as their top priority in a new Sutherland Institute survey, Fillmore didn't hold back. 'The Legislature has done a lot over the last couple of years,' Fillmore said, including creating a $50 million first-time homebuyer program in 2023. Sponsored by Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, the program provides up to $20,000 in loans to eligible buyers. And last year, Gov. Spencer Cox helped push through novel legislation authorizing the state treasurer's office to make roughly $300 million in public investment funds available for three years for low-interest loans to developers building affordable homes. In January, the governor stressed in his State of the State address that he remains committed to getting 35,000 starter homes, defined as single family units under $400,000, built over the next few years. But Fillmore told reporters the shortage of starter homes in the state hasn't been adequately addressed this session. 'As long as Utah is a fantastic place to live, we're going to have demand for homes. We need to find ways to increase the supply of homes, particularly homes at the bottom rung, the first rung, of the home ownership ladder,' he said. 'That's really what we're missing.' Attempts to boost supply this session have not been successful, Fillmore said. 'I do confess to this year being a little bit disappointed in what I felt like we were able to get done,' he said. 'We're getting some good policy in, but a lot of the proposals that really would have made a big difference in increasing supply have not passed.' He cited efforts by Rep. Ray Ward, R-Bountiful, to mandate increased housing density in urban municipalities, including allowing single-family homes to be built on lots as small as 6,000 square feet. That bill, HB90, was held in committee. Fillmore was its Senate sponsor. 'Cities very jealously guard their ability to restrict the supply of housing,' Fillmore said. 'That is a challenge for people who want to build homes, for people who want to buy homes and for people like us that are really interested in increasing the supply of housing.' The senator quickly added that he wasn't talking about all local governments and made a point of praising Salt Lake City, South Jordan and other cities for the 'really great work' being done on housing there. But, he said, 'it's been a little bit frustrating this year that really meaningful policies that would make a big difference in increasing the supply of first homes just have not been able to move because of the roadblocks created by local government.' Adams tempered that sentiment before moving on to another topic. 'That's a high priority and we're going to keep working on it,' the Senate president said. Cameron Diehl, executive director of the Utah League of Cities and Towns, said plenty did happen on housing this year. 'I actually think there have been some important bills this year that will make a difference in the land-use process space, and will make a difference in the housing affordability space,' Diehl told the Deseret News. Among the legislation on his list is a Fillmore bill easing garage requirements for some new homes. The bill, SB181, was part of a consensus package of bills backed by the state Coalition on Housing Affordability that's co-chaired by Fillmore and Rep. Stephen Whyte, R-Mapleton. When that bill was heard by a House committee, Fillmore referred to it as affordable housing legislation focused on parking by offering 'this really, novel, new way to think about parking, which is a two-car garage counts as two parking spaces.' What that means is housing defined by a municipality as affordable and deed-restricted to owner occupancy doesn't need a garage but could be required to have on-site parking. Coming up with that compromise took some nine months of negotiations. He used the word 'disappointing' again in committee when agreeing that local governments still have the power to mandate garages be built for other homes and described the bill as a 'good incremental step' towards affordable housing that 'nobody loves.' Diehl sees the bill as ensuring the financial benefit from a city not requiring a garage goes to the homeowner, since those properties would have to be built as affordable, owner-occupied housing. What the league opposes, he said, is any state presumption over land use planning. 'Everyone acknowledges the challenges around finding a place to live. City leaders recognize that, which is why we've spent a lot of time over the last few years looking to improve our land use processes and making efforts in what we can do,' Diehl said. Utah communities, which have oversight responsibilities for new construction, have 'planned for many housing units that have not yet been built for market forces that are outside of our control,' Diehl said. 'So we get the frustration.' For Tara Rollins, executive director of the Utah Housing Coalition, the biggest frustration this session was the failure of a bill she and other advocates saw as key to helping the state's low-income renters, HB286. The bill would have diverted a share of state liquor sales to the Olene Walker Housing Loan Fund but was held by a House committee after a member, House Majority Leader Jefferson Moss, R-Saratoga Springs, suggested avoiding 'trying to find piecemeal ways to get around things.' Backers joined the bill's sponsor, Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, at a news conference at the Capitol called to revive interest in the idea, which could have added $28 million to the fund named for Utah's first woman governor. It didn't work. 'That's what we worked the hardest on,' Rollins said, noting the loan fund has helped with a lot of development over the years. She said the Legislature hasn't done enough this session to make housing more affordable, for either renters or buyers. Gov. Spencer Cox's housing adviser, Steve Waldrip, said that and other issues left on the table this session will likely be hashed out as work continues on a new statewide housing plan set to be completed this fall. The second phase of putting together the plan will be 'where the rubber meets the road,' Waldrip said. A balance will need to be found on issues like housing density, he said, where reductions in lot sizes will be weighed against preserving neighborhoods and quality of life. But that doesn't mean there weren't significant efforts to make housing more affordable, Waldrip said. However, he said unlike with past programs, what's been accomplished just hasn't attracted a lot of attention. 'What we have done has kind of flown under the radar,' Waldrip said, pointing to changes made by HB360 that expand how the $300 million made available by the 2024 Legislature for the governor's starter homes initiative can be used. Only about $30 million has been loaned out so far, Waldrip said, but the bill that passed in the final hours of the session earmarks money for programs that ready older houses that are currently being rented in Salt Lake City and Ogden to be sold as starter homes. The bulk of the remaining dollars available for loans can now go towards building 'starter condos,' Waldrip said. The units, which he said could include conversions of existing apartments, would need to be 'truly affordable,' priced as much as $75,000 below market. He anticipates there will be a mix of single-family homes and condominiums built. Construction on new condos could start as soon as this fall and going a long way towards meeting Cox's starter home goal, Waldrip said. 'That will probably have the most impact on the creation of starter units of anything that we do this session,' he said. 'There's a lot to go. We're fighting an uphill battle. We're growing faster than we're building.' What's tricky, Waldrip said, has been figuring out the best way to unleash private markets to help solve a shortage of affordable housing that is way too big for government to try to 'subsidize out of existence.' Allowing the state loan funds to be used to build condominiums may end up making a bigger impact on that shortage 'than anything else that we've done in the last 10 years,' he said, even though 'it's not as sexy or as flashy as some of the other things.' Contributing: Brigham Tomco
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Watered-down version of Utah's big alcohol bill revived
SALT LAKE CITY () — After initially failing in the Senate over concerns about cities controlling how close alcohol could be sold to parks and churches, a of a bill changing Utah's alcohol laws is advancing in the Utah legislature. The fifth substitute to S.B. 328 is headed for a House vote but will now only allow a planned new development at the Point of the Mountain, which sits on state-owned land, to decide its proximity rules. PREVIOUS STORY: Major alcohol bill fails to advance in Utah legislature 'This is kind of a unique situation where we've got 600 acres of land that we're developing … it has a large — an 18-acre park that traverses the entire section,' said Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R- South Jordan) during Wednesday afternoon's Senate debate. 'Just to make sure that it is going to be a prime spot for recreating and dining, we wanted to make sure there are restaurants able to be located there.' Senator Kathleen Riebe (D – Cottonwood Heights), voted against the measure and argued that there were other areas in the state where restaurants or hotels were struggling with proximity laws. 'I think that if this is good economic business sense for that community, I think it would make good economic business sense for every community,' she said. Bill banning pride flags from schools passes Utah Senate, returns to House The latest version also takes out a so-called 'sin tax,' which would have added revenues to create inmate education programs. However, it still allows for a 'straw test,' where mixologists or bartenders can still taste a drink by placing their finger over a straw. The bill also allows for grocery pickup of alcohol with strict ID and camera requirements. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A ‘clever' way for universities to pay college athletes for playing sports?
As a bill works its way through the Utah Legislature to allow universities to compensate college athletes for the use of their name, image and likeness, one state senator wondered if it's just a 'clever' way to pay them for playing sports. Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, also questioned why those payments wouldn't be publicly available under the state Government Records Access and Management Act, or GRAMA. Lawmakers also expressed frustration about putting sports ahead of academics during a Senate Education Committee meeting last week, with some saying what was once amateur athletics is turning into 'semi-pro' sports. Their comments came during a hearing on HB449, which would allow schools to directly pay athletes for the use of their NIL. 'Does that mean the university cannot compensate them for actually playing football?' Fillmore asked. Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, the Senate sponsor of the legislation, replied, 'If they're playing football and they're a star player, the name, image and likeness is going to be part of what we use. So what you're really doing is compensating them because of the name, image and likeness that they have based on being football players.' 'That seems awfully clever to me,' Fillmore said. 'Why not just pay them for playing football?' Last year, a judge preliminarily approved a settlement in the House v. NCCA antitrust case that would create a revenue sharing model in college sports. If the agreement goes through in April, universities could earmark as much as $20.5 million to directly pay athletes starting in July. Most Power Four schools are expected to spend $15 to $17 million on their football rosters. Millner told the committee the court case is driving the legislation and the proposed law is necessary for the 'large' schools in the state to compete with universities across the country, noting other states are passing similar legislation. Fillmore also raised questions about transparency in the use of public money. Last year, lawmakers passed a law making NIL contracts with third parties, such as businesses, private records under GRAMA. He said that made sense because public funds weren't involved. 'But this is public money. I understand it's not legislatively appropriated money but regardless of that, when it goes to a university, it becomes public money,' Fillmore said. 'Is this information going to be publicly available subject to GRAMA because now it's public money?' The original version of the bill stated that direct payments to athletes would be public records subject to GRAMA. But the House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, stripped that from a revised version, saying the universities believe the payments would be private under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA. In 2023, Utah universities argued that NIL contracts are 'education records' under FERPA in a case involving the Deseret News' attempt to obtain athletes' NIL agreements submitted to their schools. FERPA broadly defines education records as 'records directly related to a student' and 'maintained by an education agency.' The State Records Committee, which lawmakers are poised to abolish this year, rejected that argument and ordered the universities to release the contracts. The schools appealed the ruling in state court where a judge ultimately decided NIL contracts are private records after the Legislature changed the law to shield them from public view last year. HB449 is now silent on whether direct athlete payments are public records but does not preclude anyone from requesting them under GRAMA. Millner said they could be subject to the public records law. Fillmore said it made sense that contracts between college athletes and outside organizations were private. 'But now that it's public universities paying athletes, I'm not sure that it remains a private matter anymore and that's something we ought to consider as we move forward,' he said. The bill prohibits schools from using state funds for NIL payments. Millner said the money would come from TV and media contracts as well as gifts and donations to the universities. The legislation requires an audit of NIL spending every five years starting in 2028. While Education Committee members said they understand the need for the bill, they were frustrated about having to consider it at all. 'It's unfortunate that our highest paid employees in most states are coaches. And it's unfortunate that we now have the tail wagging the dog when it comes to education,' said Sen. Kathleen Reibe, D-Cottonwood Heights. 'I understand this bill is somewhat necessary if we want to be competing in the academic sports arena but it's really unfortunate that we put so much time and energy into these sports and we're cutting school budgets but we're increasing our access to better athletes.' University of Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham is the highest paid state employee, making $5.7 million in 2025, according to the state website TransparentUtah. Reibe voted for the bill but said 'at some point we all have to recognize that our education institutions are education institutions and not sporting arenas. This really frustrates me.' Senate Education Committee Chair John Johnson, R-North Ogden, echoed Reibe's comments. 'Utah needs a law regarding direct athlete payments but lawmakers need to ask themselves, 'Are we funding universities as academic institutions or are we creating media … entertainment, I guess, for the general public?'' 'At some point we really need to ask ourselves how far are we going to go with this,' he said. 'Because now it really is becoming a semi-pro team and … we have to ask ourselves if we're in that business." The committee unanimously approved HB449. It's now awaiting a vote in the Senate.
