Wednesday’s Summit County Council hearing on S.B. 84 at Ecker Hill Middle School is getting much-deserved public attention. The strong reactions triggered by the legislature’s involvement with Dakota Pacific to affect development of the Kimball Junction Tech Center need to be heard in Summit County and at the Capitol.
At the same time, the clock is ticking as Friday midnight approaches, marking the end of the 2023 General Session. Just as critical, tomorrow is the last day the legislature can vote on bills with a fiscal impact of $10,000 or more. Time is short.
Since the session opened on January 17, the Chamber and our statewide partners have advocated for action on tourism and economic policy. However, what lawmakers can get done during their 45-day session always comes down to “the art of the possible.” We’re part of the Utah Tourism Industry Association’s Legislative Policy Committee and the Utah Rural Chambers Coalition, and we weekly review bills that will impact our community.
H.B. 291 aims to bring short-term rental operators into compliance with business license and tax remittance requirements. It provides amnesty to sellers of short-term rentals — protecting them from penalties for previously violating certain ordinances regarding STR operations — if they obtain the appropriate licensure and meet other criteria by a specific time.
Despite the explosion of STRs and their dramatic impact on communities like ours, there is still much we don’t know about the industry’s size and scope and no systematic reporting to document it. H.B. 291 creates pilot programs for municipalities and counties to gather data on STRs and report to the state for compilation of statewide data on the STR industry in Utah. However, there are challenges with the pilot program related to amnesty, taxation, and definitions.
H.B. 247 concerns the law around possible over-service of alcohol and any accident, injury or death that may be connected to it. The bill sharpens the definition of intoxication for the purpose of determining liability, adds specifics about who may be held liable and under what circumstances, and clarifies what a plaintiff must demonstrate if they desire their day in court.
We’re supporting H.B. 417, which allows counties with populations less than 40,000 – which is most Utah counties, though not Summit County – to use money from vehicle rentals paid mainly by visitors to help pay for emergency medical services, fire protection, law enforcement, solid waste, and other services upon which tourism makes significant demands. Across the state and in adjacent counties such as Wasatch, this bill would provide some relief where smaller resident populations bear the cost of public services with no mitigation for tourism’s impact on the demand and cost of those services.
In recent months, we have had productive encounters with legislators and legislation, from the Chamber Board’s approval of a 2023 Legislative Policy Agenda last fall to the educational meet/greet sessions with lawmakers organized by the Utah TOUR (Tourism Outdoor Utah Recreation) Caucus. I look forward to additional communication and partnership leading up to next year’s General Session, when once again you will find us on the front lines, advocating for the best of the possible.