Utah has not had an open governor’s seat since 2004. In 2020, several credible candidates will vie for our votes. A competitive field stimulates competition between the candidates’ personalities and leadership styles as well as a robust discussion of their policy ideas they promise to enact.
We ought to note, first, that Utah is currently doing very well in so many areas. Under Gov. Gary Herbert, Utah continually ranks as the best-managed state in the union. It repeatedly places as the best or near-best state economy, most-diversified economy, is among the top for highest quality of life, has low taxes, possesses a highly productive workforce, and has first-class colleges and universities with affordable tuition.
Utah is one of a few states with a AAA bond rating. State finances are well-managed, with multiple “rainy day” funds, a perpetually balanced budget, with little game-playing to hide unacknowledged liabilities. Gov. Herbert shares the credit with the Legislature and past governors. But his prudent, steady, inclusive style and salesmanship has navigated Utah to higher places than we could have dreamed of a generation ago.
Indeed, many of the issues the next governor will face grow out of Utah’s success story. Beginning with the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, we have been discovered. That’s good. But that brings the challenges of growth. My list of issues for gubernatorial discussion:
1) Air quality: Poor air quality is an unforgiving constraint on Utah’s economic growth as well as a first-priority health issue. Our bowl-like geography creates inversions, which our human activity soon fills with harmful pollutants. We can’t continue with the “same old, same old.” We need real solutions that will not kill the economic golden goose or our attractive lifestyle but will protect our kids and families from dangerous pollution.
2) Workforce: Utah’s full-employment economy is reaching maximum capacity without more educated and skilled workers. Gov. Herbert set a goal several years ago to have 66% of our working-age population (it was then 40%) have a college degree or a certified skill on top of high school graduation. In the years since, we have only increased to 44% with those skills. Utah will assuredly fall behind the rest of the nation and the world if we lag in getting more Utahns to join the skilled job force. Our new governor must be the driving force to coordinate public education, the Utah System of Technical Colleges, our colleges and universities, and employers to streamline public and technical education as well as on-the-job training in industry to produce many more skilled workers.
3) Intergenerational poverty/social equity: Our state has made a significant start in identifying the factors causing intergenerational poverty. The next challenge is to help low-income residents join the middle class through creating affordable housing, access to education, job training, and family and community interventions. Just as they need better jobs, Utah’s employers need them to fill higher-paying skills-based jobs.
4) Traffic congestion: Freeways are expensive, take a long time to build, consume lots of land and breed pollution. Our geography and air quality constraints along the Wasatch Front won’t allow for many more major road projects. We must embrace the best technologies to move people in environmentally friendly ways; build transit-friendly centers for work, play and shopping; and invest in mass transit projects that solve the “first and last mile” barriers preventing most Utahns from regularly using transit.
5) Rural economic development: Rural Utah has not enjoyed the unprecedented economic growth of the Wasatch Front and Washington County. Rural Utah suffers from over-dependence on tourism and extractive industries and their boom-bust cycle, as well as decreasing reliance on coal and other carbon fuels. Rural Utah must be aided in finding alternative jobs and business opportunities.
6) Mental health: Utah’s families, rich and poor, are dealing with an unprecedented prevalence of mental illness, substance abuse disorders and suicide. Our system is patchwork, difficult to navigate and seriously underfunded and understaffed. It must be integrated and intuitive with open doors for all.
7) Public health: Like all Americans, Utahns suffer from alarming increases in heart disease, stroke, cancers, diabetes and kidney disease because of poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyles. We cannot afford to pay for the significant increases in these exceptionally costly conditions. We need a major societal movement to reverse this dangerous decline in public health.
Greg Bell is the former lieutenant governor of Utah and the current president and CEO of the Utah Hospital Association.