SALT LAKE CITY—Forty-five days and hundreds of bills later, the 2021 legislative session concluded March 5. Funding for education, infrastructure and affordable housing were among the highlights as lawmakers dealt with COVID protocols and pandemic related bills.

“I never thought we’d do this when I looked at the last year and a blended session,” said Senate President J. Stuart Adams. “You can call this the year for education, infrastructure and tax cuts. It’s been a very productive session.”

It was peculiar with COVID, said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross. “But it was very successful. If you look at the budget we funded an historic amount for education and transportation. We also put $50 million into housing and the homeless and addressed mental illness. There were a lot of good bills.”

The Governor said it was a successful session without drama, said Weiler. “When you have that many legislators it’s not always easy to have harmony between the House and the Senate. When there is respect and understanding for each other’s priorities it’s a win, win, win.”

There are always surprises, he said. “Leading the legislature is like herding cats. You have all these people who march to the beat of their own drum.”

Weiler had 15 bills that passed and another five that didn’t. “We passed some big bills so I’m happy with the overall body of work,” he said. “One was SB161 to bring parity with mental and behavioral health. COVID expanded Telehealth which is a substantial breakthrough for rural areas so patients don’t have to drive to Salt Lake to meet with a mental health specialist. That’s a huge step in the right direction.”

SB107 works to keep schools open, said Weiler. “We know we’re going to lose a lot of kids who lost so much with COVID. We want to help them get back. This would default to keep schools open and it required the Salt Lake School District to advance to a full schedule. Other districts had gone to four days (in person) and we wanted Salt Lake to do that as well.”

Another bill Weiler sponsored allowed veterans to audit university classes without paying tuition. “It was kind of a no brainer,” he said. 

A year ago the state shut down, Weiler said. “We thought we were headed into a great depression. However, we were well positioned to manage the economic and social insecurity, and we went about doing just that – funding school enrollment growth and inflation.”

Weiler said the blended approach led the legislature to:

• Fund nearly $500 million for education

• Provide $121 million for teacher and staff COVID-19 bonuses

• Cut almost $100 million in tax

• Allocate $50 million for affordable housing

• Fully fund growth and inflation in Medicaid

• Provide $110 million for parks, trails, recreation and quality of life

• Invest $1.1 billion into infrastructure for roads and transit (only $230 million in bonds)

“Utah is doing very well,” he said. “The future looks bright. Now with vaccines we hope things will start to return to normal in the next few months.”