- Lawmakers approved a $28.1 billion base budget this week, with $8.4 billion for social services and $8.3 billion for public education.
- Utah's budget has increased from less than $7 billion to over $29 billion over the last 25 years.
- With money already set aside for savings and tax cuts, lawmakers must reallocate from existing programs to fund new priorities.
Utah lawmakers approved over 90% of the budget this week with 35 days left in the 2025 legislative session.
The state’s unique base budget process settles the vast majority of spending long before lawmakers struggle over remaining supplemental appropriations from new legislation.
But this year there will be no new revenue to fight over. Just tough decisions about where to cut the old to fund the new.
“We have zero and zero — zero one time and zero ongoing,” House Budget Chairman Val Peterson, R-Orem, said. “So that’s the number the committees are working with.”
December estimates revealed a disappointing tax revenue forecast for the upcoming fiscal year.
Lawmakers were left with no available money for their 2025 policies after $344 million in new funds were set aside to make up shortfalls in the base budget, $145 million for “rainy day” funds, $231 million for an unspecified tax cut, $112 million to cover any potential losses in “high risk revenue” and $104 million for state employee raises.
“When you add up all those at the end of the day, that doesn’t leave any money for the committees to allocate,” Peterson said. “We’re instructing the committees right now that if they want to add different priorities, they have to find within their existing budgets money that they can reallocate.”
This will mean hard decisions have to be made, Peterson said. If lawmakers commit to fulfill appropriations requests on homelessness, housing or public education, they will need to cut from transportation, research or higher ed.
What’s in the budget?
The $28.1 billion base budget for fiscal year 2026 is comprised of nine spending bills, including $8.4 billion for social services, $8.3 billion for public education, $3.7 billion for transportation infrastructure, $2.9 billion for higher education and $1.3 billion for criminal justice.
The main funding sources for Utah government operations are over $10 billion from the income tax fund and general fund, and $7.7 billion from the federal government.
The base budget process, which began two decades ago, has become a way to bring “consistency and stability to the budgeting process” by quickly reapproving appropriations from the previous session, Peterson said.
Federal funding for social services, transportation and public education have been a driving factor in the state’s budget quadrupling over the past quarter century, from less than $7 billion in fiscal year 2000, to more than $29 billion in fiscal year 2024, Peterson said.
However, the state still remains one of the best prepared in the country to withstand fluctuations in federal funding, like states faced this week when the Trump administration briefly announced a pause on financial assistance.
“Utah is one of the least dependent states on federal funding, which actually helps us in a bunch of situations where they’re talking about freezing or halting funds,” Peterson said.
One reason for the state’s fiscal resilience is its emphasis on participation in the appropriations process, Peterson said. Utah is the only state Peterson knows of in the country that places every legislator on an appropriations subcommittee.
“I think that brings a closer examination of where we’re spending our dollars,” Peterson said.