Gov. Gary Herbert is planning to call Utah lawmakers into a special legislative session next week as part of an effort to curb violence and drug trafficking in the neighborhood near the homeless shelter in downtown Salt Lake City.
Herbert’s spokesman Paul Edwards said Wednesday he could not offer details about what the governor will ask lawmakers to consider but said more information will be released in the coming days.
State officials, including House Speaker Greg Hughes and Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, last month launched a two-year effort around Salt Lake’s shelter that includes a stepped-up police presence, arrests and drug treatment, and is expected to include job training and placement.
Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski had previously said there would be a Sept. 20 special session to revise codes relating to transportation and city roads, but Herbert’s office had declined comment. Legislative action is a condition of the city’s lease agreement with the state, by which Biskupski signed over control of Rio Grande Street last week to the state’s Division of Facilities, Construction and Management.
Without such action at a special session and approval from the Salt Lake City Council — which has scheduled a public hearing Sept. 19 — the lease would expire Nov. 30. Should both the Legislature and the Council agree, the lease would extend until either Jan. 1, 2020, or 30 days after the closure of The Road Home at 210 S. Rio Grant St, whichever comes first.
A special session might also address appropriations or shifting existing funding to the $67 million operation, which officials announced last month has a $21 million funding gap. Hughes has said that the state could pay half that, while the city and county could match each other for the remainder.
The governor calls Utah’s Legislature into a one-day special session almost every year so lawmakers can pass measures outside their 45-day regular session every late January to mid-March.