Around kitchen tables across the state, parents are reviewing monthly budgets, trimming subscriptions, delaying home repairs and deciding which expenses can wait. These careful choices reflect a reality many Utah families face as the cost of everyday essentials continues to climb nationwide. As paychecks stretch thinner, Utah families are doing everything they can to save money, and the government should be no different.
Here in the Utah State Legislature, our financial focus is the same as yours: save money wherever we can, spend money only where it will help the most. As the stewards of your public dollars, we want to keep the government lean, accountable and focused on what actually works. And because we balance our budget every single year — unlike the federal government — we know fiscal discipline matters.
Just like families across the state, we are turning fiscal responsibility into results. This year, we asked every state agency and every appropriations committee, which oversees government spending, to review their budgets to identify programs that are underperforming, duplicative or no longer serving their purpose. Our overall goal is to cut 5% of each agency’s spending by reducing programs that may have made sense at one time, but don’t anymore. This will allow us to focus our resources on the programs that are most benefiting Utah and its people.
We are unique among states in that every member of our legislative body serves on an appropriations committee. This means that we have voices from all over Utah, from Salt Lake to San Juan, deciding how to spend Utahns’ hard-earned tax dollars. Having a wide range of perspectives is critical, especially when we have to make tough choices.
During the first four weeks of the legislative session, lawmakers carefully review agency budgets, hold public hearings to gather input from stakeholders and members of the public, and shape funding recommendations for the upcoming budget year. Those recommendations then move to the Executive Appropriations Committee, where they are approved as part of the state budget.
Our approach is the same approach that many of us use in our family budgeting. We all understand the differences between necessities and extras. You pay the mortgage. You buy groceries. But sometimes you scale back on things like extra streaming services, eating out or season passes that no longer fit the budget. We are asking the same questions: What do we really need? What’s working? And what can we live without?
This strategy has already proven effective for Utahns. Last year, state colleges and universities went through a similar review under HB265 Higher Education Strategic Reinvestment. The Legislature challenged higher education institutions to cut low-value spending and reinvest the savings in high-impact programs that lead to better jobs for Utah students. Our colleges and universities undertook the effort, identifying $23 million in administrative costs and reinvesting those savings to expand high-impact opportunities for students in fields like engineering, health care, business and technology. Best of all, these reinvestments come with no tuition or tax increases, making clear that asking hard questions translates into real savings.
This is government efficiency done right! No essential programs will be cut, and core services will always be funded. But at a time when life is getting more expensive for Utahns, we have a responsibility to cut costs that don’t deliver real value — and either reinvest those dollars in programs that do or return them to the people who earned them. As legislators, we know there is no responsibility more important than being responsible stewards of your hard-earned dollars. So, as you continue to follow the news of what we’re doing here at Utah’s 2026 General Legislative Session, know that we have one simple goal: make sure more money stays with Utah families, where it belongs.