(exciting music) - [Announcer] PBS Utah presents the Governor's Monthly News Conference, an exchange between Utah reporters, and Governor Spencer Cox.

- Good morning, everyone.

It's great to see all of you again.

Thank you so much to PBS, and to our reporters who are here with us.

I apologize that we're starting 15 minutes late this week later than normal.

Sometimes I get to be a dad, and today was one of those days, so thank you for joining us a little bit later than normal.

I'd like to begin just by talking about a recent trade mission we took to Canada.

Recently, we've talked a lot about building, and building opportunity for Utahns, building security, building for the next generation.

And when we talk about building Utah's future, I believe that sub-national and international partnerships are an extremely important part of that vision.

That's why I traveled to Canada last week to strengthen ties with one of our most important trading partners, and explored new ways to collaborate.

We were in Ontario, and in Quebec.

Both provinces met with leadership in those provinces, industry leaders, to discuss how we can work together on issues that matter to both of us, like advanced energy, nuclear innovation, and life sciences.

Ontario leads the America's in nuclear power generation, and Utah is leading an all of the above approach to our energy strategy.

Together, we're not just trading goods, we're sharing ideas, and those ideas are important.

We're working together to solve problems, and build something bigger than either of us could build alone.

International trade isn't just about what we sell.

It's about who we partner with and what kind of future we're shaping.

We're able to learn about their nuclear technology, they have a small nuclear reactor that they're building and have been working on, tremendous lessons for Utahn opportunities there.

And as we look forward to hosting the world during the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic games, we want to continue to make it clear that Utah is open, ambitious, and ready to lead.

And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

- Governor, speaking- - Governor have you- - Oh, go here first.

And then we'll- - Sorry.

Speaking of building, you met with Ryan Smith and county mayor, Jenny Wilson this week.

What was the nature of that meeting, and what does the public need to know about downtown plans?

There's a lot of taxpayer money invested in the downtown rebuild.

- Sure.

Yeah, thanks, Lindsay.

The nature of the discussion was just about the future and what's going to happen, that mid block area, and specifically with the Convention Center, that's the gist of the meeting.

This is just an amazing opportunity to transform the capital city of our state in powerful ways that will impact people for generations.

I was having conversations, I actually had gotten back and done some research about how that all came to be, that whole transaction.

Many years ago, before I was born, there were important meetings happening with our friends from the Salt Lake Tribune, actually Jack Gallivan, who was the head of the Salt Lake Tribune back then in the 60s.

And the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, David O. McKay at the time, and it was really cool to read about that.

They'd go to breakfast, like, once a week, or once a month, something you wouldn't expect, and they became fast friends.

And it was Jack Gallivan that convinced David O. McKay to give the land to the county for the original Salt Palace, when it was built there.

And of course, the Convention Center has been there now for a long time.

And yet, the Convention Center is in dire need of change and upgrade, and the opportunity to create an arts, entertainment, and sports corridor there that, again, will transform the city in powerful ways, is incredibly exciting.

And so you do see an incredible amount of investment happening by the state, by the city, by the county, and by the private sector, and that's where we get, I think, some real synergy.

So it really was just about kind of the vision for that area, how we make it all come together, what needs to be done to get there.

I know the county has to go through a process as well so that they can start demolishing that part of the Convention Center, and rebuilding a new Convention Center.

So it's incredibly complex.

There's a lot of moving pieces, and there were no decisions made there.

It was just, "Hey, what is the vision, how can we continue to work together?"

- Besides the funding structure that the legislature set up, and the bills that you signed, what is the state kicking in?

Because some of the argument from the locals is that Salt Lake is giving and giving, and the state is not necessarily kicking in money for an economic driver, like the Convention Center, that pulls in tourism dollars.

- Yeah, no, there's a tremendous amount of money that the state is kicking in there as well.

There's, I think, about $300 million in transportation funds that will be used in that corridor there, from the Delta Center east, and then I think there's an additional 300 million as well that will go to different parts of the project.

So the state is certainly doing their part, and then, again, the people that will benefit the most from it, though, are the city and county, and so it makes sense that they would share a bigger burden than people who live in Sanpete County or San Juan County.

Yeah, Bridger, yeah.

- You were the first to visit Canada this year in terms of US governors, and you said at the end of your trade mission that you planned to send letters to fellow governors encouraging them to make similar trade missions to Canada.

Have you already sent these letters, and have you heard back from governors about your trip?

- Yeah, we haven't sent the letter yet.

It's being prepared right now.

We're working on it, but that letter will probably go out next week sometime, and I anticipate that it will be very well received.

I have been speaking with governors about potential trade missions, not all of them to Canada, but to other places, as well.

And it's very encouraging.

I think most governors will do trade missions this year to different parts of the world.

I think we'll definitely see more going to Canada and I'll continue to encourage them.

It's an easier one, even if it's not part of your kind of trade mission strategy, getting to Canada is so close and so easy that I anticipate that we'll see more going there.

- Governor the explosion- - Yeah.

- At Northrop Grummon yesterday, leaves a lot of answers, leaves a lot of questions.

What was in the building, were there any emissions that were harmful that were released?

Is there an environmental impact?

Have you been given any of those answers?

- So, I don't have all of the answers yet, but what I have been told is that there is no danger to the public, and so our public safety team is continuing to work with them to understand what was the cause, how did it happen, and how to prevent that from happening in the future?

- Are you satisfied with the transparency so far?

- So far, yes.

And we'll see if we have any other questions once the investigation is completed.

- Governor Cox, speaking about immigration, what is your stance on Washington County's agreement with ICE to address illegal immigration, and do you think that other law enforcement agencies here in your state should do the same?

- Well yes, so we've been working very closely with ICE from the beginning of the administration.

We've had almost daily contact with ICE, and that's true of many of our counties as well.

And so I think whether those agreements are formal or informal, there's certainly collaboration happening there, and I think that that will continue.

- Another question about immigration.

Your stance on the recent revocation of nearly 50 international students' visas across Utah?

- Yeah, so that's one we've asked the administration for more information.

We've asked them to give us a little bit of a heads up when these things are happening.

We'd like to understand better what the criteria are for those changes.

Certainly, we know that there were some that had criminal backgrounds that we were not aware of that the universities were not aware of.

Others, that does not appear to be the case, and so we would very much like to figure that out.

I know that last year on a couple occasions, President Trump, on podcasts, and on other forums, talked about how important it is to attract the most talented and brightest from other countries to our country, and we know how important those visas are, and how important immigrants are to building our economy, and we're very fortunate to have the greatest system of higher education in the world.

It really has been the star of education, and we're a place where the best and brightest have always wanted to come.

And so it's important that we vet those who come, that we make sure we understand their backgrounds so that they don't pose any threats, that they're supportive of our country, and the work that's being done here.

And then it's important that we get them and we keep them, and so that is an area for sure where we're having ongoing dialogue.

We wanna make sure that some of these very, very bright students that are here, as long as they're here, they don't pose any threat, or have any criminal background, we want to continue to attract those types of students.

- And has the administration responded to you?

- Not yet.

We've reached out to them.

We know there was a statement, I think the Department of Homeland Security did refer us to a statement that came out, a policy last week, that said that they would consider the antisemitic activity on social media, but we don't know if that was the case with those who have received those notices right now.

- Governor, today is the Great Utah Shakeout- - Yeah, I know, in fact, I think we were supposed to be shaking, like, eight minutes ago.

- Probably, but I wanted to ask you, there has been budget requests for early alert morning systems.

The Seismic Safety Commission by the state was disbanded in 2024.

A bill this year to create another safety commission never made it through the legislative session.

Do you feel like the state is doing enough to actually be prepared when you see budget requests not funded, and commissions disbanded?

- Yeah, so look, there's always work that needs to be done on the funding side.

We understand that.

The commission's work, we have experts that are doing this work, all over the state.

Utah State University has several experts that are working on this University of Utah, as well.

We are getting the information that we need from the experts to do the work.

We have several projects going on across the state, and specifically with infrastructure across the state.

So dam safety, water pipelines, there's work being done there.

We have been able to get some funding for those projects over the last couple years.

We've been able to notify and map that the buildings across the Wasatch Front, that don't have the right foundations, and the right building materials, it could pose a real threat, including the Governor's Mansion.

When that happens, somebody else will be governor.

So we know how dangerous those buildings are, and we'll continue to work for it.

This is something that's going to take decades to do, and I do feel like we're moving in the right direction, but certainly, some urgency is helpful.

Okay.

- On that same note, winter is coming to a close, which means runoff season is upon us.

How are you feeling about that?

Any emergency declarations, and de-funding?

Are we gonna need a sandbag?

What have you been prepped on that?

- Yeah, Saige.

Thank you.

We feel really good about where we are.

If you followed the water year closely, again, along the Wasatch Front, the Great Salt Lake Basin, we were above average, a little bit above average, so pretty normal year for most of the state, and because we've had a couple warmups now, over the weeks where we've gotten up into the 70s, and even up into the 80s a couple times, and then it's cooled off today.

It's cool again.

We're getting some snow, which is much needed and great.

That warming and cooling trend, and what the long range forecast is, we do not anticipate having any big runoff.

There may be some localized issues, as there always are, but we don't anticipate any issues there.

However, I will say, it wasn't a great year for all of the state, and Southern Utah, especially southwestern Utah, was well below average, and they are seeing some elevated drought conditions there.

I would say yes, there is a very real possibility, in fact, we're working on it right now, of an emergency declaration for a couple counties, maybe more than a couple, a few counties in the southwest corner of our state, that will be experiencing drought, which will hurt our agriculture business in those areas, and some others.

So we'll be working with local officials and emergency officials on that.

- The COVID laws tripped up plans for a drought declaration.

Are you looking to address that, considering that you're limited to every 30 days, and a drought certainly doesn't last 30 days?

- Yeah, so again, I wanna be clear about what that does and doesn't do.

It doesn't limit a drought declaration.

I can make a declaration at any time.

It just, to continue the declaration, the legislature just needs an opportunity to weigh in.

We could have done that earlier.

It doesn't really impact anything, but because the legislature isn't coming together in April, we didn't wanna have them come back just for this, so with a May session coming up, that gives us an opportunity to work closely with them to issue a drought declaration.

- So what do you think of how likely it is of a veto override session?

- That's a great question.

You would have to ask somebody in the legislature, which I know you have, Lindsay.

And we, again, we feel very good about the vetoes.

I think if you read the veto letters, they were thoughtful, well-intentioned.

I will tell you, I had several legislators on a couple of those vetoes who actually voted for the bills, who came back to me and said, "Hey, after reading your letter, I agree with you.

That makes sense to me."

And so I think it's fairly unlikely we'll have a veto override, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

- Are you in any discussions to potentially stave off a veto in any way, potentially bringing something back in a special session instead of having them override?

- No, so we are going to have a special session.

We had talked about some things, I signed a couple things that we had agreement on to come back in a special session.

And I'm always open to looking, if we need to add something else there, then we possibly could, and so those conversations are ongoing, but there's no negotiation to prevent a veto override session in exchange for something in a special session.

But it is possible that you could see something in a special session from the veto where they've agreed to fix something that we didn't like about a bill, and they just don't wanna wait a year to do that.

- You have expressed some frustrations about the flag bill, and certain things that were included, or maybe could have been negotiated.

Are you talking to them about fixing that bill?

- So we haven't had any discussion about that bill coming back, Ben.

Yeah?

- On Tuesday, Trump asked whether Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity because of political and ideological views.

Are you worried how breaking this norm could be used against conservative or religious organizations under future administrations?

- Yeah, so heaven knows I have lots of disagreements with Harvard, and the way that they've operated.

I think those have come to light over the past couple years.

There's been some real upheaval there, and I had a chance to go to school there.

Decided not to, and went somewhere else.

But there are lots of great things that happen at Harvard, and great things, some of the brightest thinkers in our country today, and here in the state of Utah come out of Harvard.

And it's a very important institution, so I think it's one we should care about.

One of the things I like to do in my job, and I encourage everyone to try a thought experiment, and that is to just ask yourself how you would react if the other side did the thing that your team is doing now.

And I think it's a good check on us at all times.

And I am worried about the destruction of norms that happened.

I worried about it during the Biden administration.

A good example of that are the pardons that Biden issued to family and friends, something that we warned about, that breaking that norm is a bad idea, and doubling down on those things.

There's no end to the, "Well, your team did it, so we're gonna do it even more."

It's just a terrible way to run a country.

This is one where despite my significant disagreements with Harvard, I would be very wary, and by the way, Harvard has tons of money.

Like, maybe it does make sense that universities with those types of endowments should pay some taxes, right?

We can have that discussion, and I think it's a worthy discussion.

Lots of discussions about these big endowments, and are they doing what they were intended to do, and should there be public funding, or public subsidies for that type of thing?

I'm absolutely open to that conversation.

But when we do it for ideological purposes, I try to imagine what happens if my team loses another election, I suspect that sometime in the future, we might lose an election.

It seems like that's what happens, and it could be in '28.

And what that means then for, imagine a world where a Gavin Newsom gets elected president and decides that he wants to go over after conservative causes, right?

That he thinks religion should not be exempt, and then we have institutions in our state, like Brigham Young University, or a church that is headquartered here who is now facing the very real possibility of that type of backlash, or imagine going after Second Amendment groups who believe in gun safety, and taking away their tax exempt status.

It just, it worries me.

It scares me, and I think we should tread very carefully.

- Along the same lines, the Trump administration is ignoring court orders to return inmates in that El Salvadorian prison.

This seems to fit into what you're saying about breaking down norms, but do you have thoughts about whether, is this a constitutional crisis, or the potential for a constitutional crisis?

- Well, look, we've had, we've certainly had constitutional struggles before between the courts and executives.

I think if you go back to FDR, Woodrow Wilson, similar, kind of that breaking down of norms that happens.

This is an interesting one where you have a Supreme Court order, a 9-0 order, and so, the problem with this is there's just no nuance in the discussions.

It's just like either you hate the Constitution, or you want terrorists living in America.

It seems like those are the two choices.

And I think there's another choice out there, and that is that you follow the court order, that this person was here, the one that I think you're referring to, the Garcia case, that person was here illegally, and probably isn't a great person, probably should be deported.

And so I think you can do those things.

I think you can bring him back, go through the process, and then have him deported.

And that's probably the way it should work.

It really does matter that we hold to these Constitutional norms, but pushing the boundaries of those norms is the prerogative, and was intended.

Like, that's okay.

The founders saw these types of things happening, knew that they would happen.

It's not the worst thing to challenge those norms, see where the lines are, and then work within those lines.

But I think we can do both of those things.

People talk about, well, why would an illegal alien have the same Constitutional rights as an American citizen?

And they don't.

They just don't.

But due process, there are different levels to due process, and I think that that 9-0 court order, I don't know that it was surprising to anybody, at least with a legal background, because that's how you determine if someone is a US citizen or not, and that really matters.

It's not, you don't have that type of Constitutional protection to protect someone who's here illegally.

You have that type of protection to protect those of us who are here legally.

And so I don't think it's the end of the administration's goals to fix what was so broken during the last administration.

I think we can do both of those things.

- Governor, back to Northrop Grumman for a minute.

What is the state's role in the investigation as you understand it?

- We communicate regularly.

- Okay.

Would you also speak to the importance with the federal government, is that what you're referring to with the company, or the feds, when you say communicate regularly?

- With the company.

- With the company, okay.

What is the importance of Northrop Grumman's footprint in Utah?

- Oh, it's hugely important.

It's one of the largest employers in Northern Utah.

The work they're doing is some of the most critical work in our nation right now.

This is a great example of how Utah's economy is thriving, and the relationship, the private-public relationship.

The state was very wise in taking some land outside of the Hill Air Force Base, and then setting that land aside for businesses that would do work in the defense industry, and we're really a model to the rest of the nation, so it's incredible that we're able to get those thousands and thousands of jobs and again, one of the most important defense contracts in the country right now.

- Governor, going back to water really quick and the drought conditions in Southern Utah that you talked about, are you worried about the impacts to Lake Powell, or concerned about other recreational areas in the area?

- Yeah, we're looking at those numbers, always worried about Lake Powell.

I mean, we've been worried about the Colorado and Lake Powell for years.

The good news is that Lake Powell, that water going into Powell does not come from the southwest side of the state, so that's more kind of the Colorado area, and north, including northern Utah, we're talking northeastern Utah, and Flaming Gorge, and that area.

So the water is a little bit better, the water content in the mountains is a little bit better there.

The other good news is that all of our reservoirs were above average, coming into this year, so even a below average year isn't going to cause that much damage to the recreational side of things.

But it is something we're always monitoring, that we're careful about.

I would also just note, I've noted before that Washington County in particular has done more when it comes to water conservation than any county in the state over the past couple years.

They've gotten really serious about it after we talked about it for years, and pleaded and asked, and they've taken that on in big ways, so they're better prepared to have a rough year, like the one that they're facing right now.

- On the issue of the Colorado River, have you been updated on the status of negotiations, and what are you being told?

- Yeah, so we get updates monthly on the status from our team, meet with the Senate president and the House speaker to talk about it, meet with the commissioner of the Great Salt Lake every month, and what I've been told is that negotiations are ongoing.

It's difficult right now, for sure, Ben.

It's kind of, you've got the Upper Basin states, the Lower Basin states, California and Arizona.

There seems to be some divide between California and Arizona in where they are, and everybody's just trying to work through this and figure it out.

We're working closely with the federal government as well.

I think there's opportunities for us to get there, for sure.

We're going to need investments in technology, and I think we should be willing to help with that.

Desalination should be important for our country.

Lots of other countries are doing that.

Obviously, California sits in a place where desalination could work.

But it's very expensive, and California shouldn't have to bear the cost of that alone, and so I think we can continue to work together to figure out new water sources, and then how to divide up a declining river between the seven states.

- So are you on board with this idea that the Senate president has floated in the past of giving California money for desalination in exchange for Colorado River water shares?

- Yeah, I would absolutely be in favor of something like that.

And again, the federal government would have to be involved, helping there as well, as it benefits lots of states.

But those are ideas that make sense, and as we continue to grow as a nation, we're gonna have to be really smart about doing that, and we're gonna have to help each other out, and be willing to find compromises.

- And that's all the time we have for our television broadcast.

Thank you so much for joining us for the Governor's Monthly News Conference.

(exciting music) - [Announcer] This has been the Governor's Monthly News Conference.

For video and more information, visit PBSUtah.org/governor.