(soft music) - [Announcer] PBS Utah presents "The Governor's Monthly News Conference," an exchange between Utah Reporters and Governor Spencer Cox.

(dramatic music) - Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

It is great to be with you again.

Happy holidays.

Happy snowy days.

We apologize.

There's been some technical difficulties, but it looks like we've got everything squared away right now.

I do want to begin by talking just a little bit about the snow that we've been receiving.

Obviously, this has been very good for our snowpack.

Our statewide snowpack is at about 150% of normal.

This is obviously very, very good news, and we're so excited that the snow is coming.

During winter, though snowpack accumulates, and this is so critical because, as the weather warms in the spring, that snow melt produces runoff, which in turn fills our reservoirs.

Right now, our statewide reservoirs, our storage is at about 45%, with many still critically low.

So it's going to take multiple years, we know, of good snowpack to refill our reservoirs.

I just wanna point out that about 95% of the state's water supply comes from high mountain snowpack.

And as good as it's been, if you look at the charts, we're really in the early stages of the snowpack year.

The most critical months are actually February, March, and April, when that snowpack really climbs.

And so while we're excited and grateful, we still have a long ways to go to have enough snowpack to fill our reservoirs and to pull us out of this drought.

So to my fellow Utahns, of course, I urge you to continue to conserve water and to continue to pray for snow and rain.

We need all the help we can get.

And speaking of help, with all this snow comes some traffic issues.

We know it probably took all of you a little longer to get here this morning than it normally would.

I want to give a huge shout out and thanks to our Utah Highway Patrol troopers and county and city officers across the state, as well as our snowplow crews at UDOT, and again, our local city and county snowplow crews as well.

As of yesterday, we had 485 active plows during this latest set of storms.

UDOT crews have plowed an incredible 222,000 miles and clocked 16,000 employee hours for snow removal, again, as of yesterday.

And over just the past week, our Highway Patrol officers have responded to 643 crashes.

They've issued 1,682 tickets for speeding.

And unfortunately, there have been three crashes involving Highway Patrol vehicles and officers.

These are usually Highway Patrol officers that are off the side of the road and someone driving in unsafe conditions runs into those those cars.

So we are asking all drivers to please, please, please slow down.

We have not had winter storms really like this for a couple years, and over that time, we've added about 100,000 new Utahns who maybe aren't used to driving in these conditions.

And some of us may have forgotten to drive in these conditions.

We're begging you to please slow down.

Just because you have a big truck or a big SUV, they slide and crash harder than smaller cars, so please keep yourself and others safe.

Give plows room.

Do not pass our snow plows.

And if you see a crash or an emergency vehicle on the side of the road, please move over and slow down.

We desperately want to keep everyone safe this holiday season, and of course, I want to wish all of you a very happy holiday season.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, whatever it is you celebrate.

And with that, I'm happy to take some questions.

- Governor, some hospitals across the state are reporting being near capacity with respiratory and influenza patients.

The treatments for these illnesses are in dwindling supply nationwide.

As we near the holidays, the chances are that the situation will worsen.

Is your administration aware of these concerns and in a position to take action to help hospitals deal with these cases?

- Sure, yes, yes.

We are very aware.

We're always working closely with our healthcare community and we've, many of you have reported on what we're seeing, really, across the nation.

Of course, with COVID still with us, we're seeing influenza A really moving throughout the country and throughout our state, and RSV has been a problem a little earlier than normal in the season.

And so we urge everyone to take the appropriate cautions based on your own health situations.

Of course, RSV is much more dangerous for small children, and so we would encourage people to be extra cautious if you are around infants and you're not feeling well.

And then our elderly population and those with preexisting conditions are much more at risk when it comes to influenza.

And of course COVID, we would encourage people to get up to date with their vaccines.

The good news is that the influenza vaccine seems to be a better match this year than it has been in some past years, which is good news.

As a government, we won't be doing anything, but we will be continuing to encourage people to take appropriate actions.

People know what to do, and so we will encourage them to keep doing that.

- Governor, your thoughts on the Executive Appropriations Committee this week not including, set aside money for your teacher's salary proposal, particularly in light of reports that some lawmakers may be trying to tie vouchers to that salary raise proposal?

- Well, I'm not surprised at all at that.

It would be very unusual for them to set aside that amount of money for something new in an EAC before the session.

You have to understand that their new members just got elected in November and they're just coming in.

In fact, their first caucus meetings were this week, so they haven't even had a chance to talk about my budget with their new caucus members.

It would be a dereliction of duty for them to include something that big, a proposal, in an EAC meeting before sitting down with their members.

So there's nothing controversial about them not including that.

That's just the way the process works.

I do think it will be included as we start the legislative session and start to work towards that, but those discussions, we've got a few months to have those discussions.

- What about vouchers?

Have you had discussions on that?

Where do you stand on that?

- We have not had, well, so we've had discussions last session about vouchers.

Certainly, there have been some talks about vouchers moving forward.

I've been very clear on vouchers.

And we say vouchers and that means something different to lots of different people.

The devil will always be in the details.

What does this look like?

We actually passed a couple years ago, a voucher-type program, I guess if we're using that term.

It's a scholarship program for special needs kids that could use a portion of their state-funded education to get a private education.

And I support school choice, I've always supported school choice, but I've also said we need to do more to fund teachers and to fund our education system before we do that.

And so we, we've put forward some very strong proposals this year.

I think those are valid on their face whether or not we do some sort of school choice bill this year.

I expect there will be a school choice bill this year and I'm hoping that we can, again, we can get a significant amount of funding into education so that I can support that.

But I haven't seen those bills.

I don't know what those look like.

And so those discussions will be ongoing.

- Governor, you're asking for about $150 million to address housing affordability in the coming year.

Do you believe there has been enough proof of concept in those programs this past year to warrant more than the 55 million that was awarded last year?

- Yeah, and that's a question that the legislature will be asking as well, and it's the right question.

We've sat down with our team.

We've looked at what has been happening with that 55 million.

This is kind of the problem with the legislative session, of course.

That money didn't get appropriated until July 1st so we're not even six months into proof of concept, right?

And so we're in the process of proving that concept.

But I have to put next year's July budget in place now, and my hope is that by the time we get to the end of the legislative session in March, so, you know, three months away from now, that we will be able to show the legislature that we've been good stewards of that money and that the proposals that we've put forward are working.

So I do believe they are working, I really do, and the partners that we're working with, what we're seeing, the data that we're seeing coming back is really hopeful that these programs actually do make a difference, again, with the most vulnerable.

And we're putting, the 150 million, where we use that I think also really matters as we're rehabilitating housing that is existing now.

We don't wanna lose any ground for those low income vouchers.

And then again, providing new homes.

We're working with Salt Lake City on their tiny home project that we're big fans of.

We seen in other states that makes a difference.

And that's part of this, even if we haven't proved it out in every scenario yet, we do have data and research from other states where they've been able to do this and we'll be bringing that to bear as well.

- Okay.

- Sorry, go ahead.

- Talking about the budget, you have proposed a billion dollars in tax cuts.

What do you say to critics who say that this is just going to make inflation worse by providing these tax cuts when people are being hit hard by rising costs?

- Yeah, yeah.

So what I say to those critics is they don't understand inflation and how inflation works.

And let me be clear here.

When the federal government sends these tax rebates back to people, and let me be clear, some of those weren't even tax rebates.

I mean, when the federal government was sending those checks to people, that is inflationary because the federal government is printing money to do that.

We don't do that as a state.

So this money that we've brought in from taxpayers is going to be spent in the State of Utah.

The question is whether the State of Utah spends it or whether we let families spend that money.

And so there's no inflationary impact because it's going to be spent here.

I would rather let families have that money back because they are getting hit by inflation that has been caused by the federal government's poor spending decisions and by the war in Ukraine, and by some terrible decisions by the Chinese Communist Party in the way that they've managed COVID.

All of those things are causing inflation that are impacting families.

Giving families some of their money back so they can spend it on these things that are more expensive instead of the government spending it on things is not inflationary at all.

In fact, it's going to help families overcome some of the inflation that is being caused by these other issues.

- Governor, should families living in the path of I-15 expansion be preparing to move?

- Well, I hope not, honestly, and we're going to look at this very carefully.

This is why we go through a process, right?

There is a process.

We know that on the north end, there's going to need to be some expansion, and what that expansion look like and where it happens, we have laws in place to protect those families.

If we do have to move some of those families, they will be very well compensated for that.

We try to avoid that at any cost, and so we'll continue to go through that process and see where that ends up.

But I'm never a fan of forcing people out or forcing people to move unless there's really no other possible route.

- Okay, we do have a reporter joining us remotely.

Chris Reed with "St. George News," go ahead with your question.

- [Chris] And good morning, Governor, and a very happy holiday and Merry Christmas to you.

- Thank you, Chris.

Good morning.

- No problem.

And return to the health question for a second.

In fact, Intermountain Healthcare is going to be having a press conference after yours discussing the concerns about overcrowding at children's hospitals and they're saying that it might be even ICU crowding in other hospitals in the state.

And, you know, health experts are bringing up that dreaded word that a lot of people don't like to hear, which is masks, again.

And I know, assuming you know as governor, that Utahns aren't very keen on that word, even when it's recommended rather than mandated in any way.

So as far as precautions, especially going into the next couple weeks of the holiday season, what should people be cognizant of?

You've mentioned a few things, but is if, especially when around kids and older people, should masks be a consideration?

- Sure, always.

And even before COVID and the great masks wars of 2020, masks are an option for people.

And I've shared this before.

I have two siblings that are high risk.

They both have cystic fibrosis.

My sister was wearing a mask long before COVID ever happened this time of year if she had to go somewhere.

And if we were around her, had to be around her for any time and any of us were feeling under the weather, we would wear a mask as well to help protect her.

And mostly, we would try to avoid being around her.

And this is just where I think some common sense needs to come into place with people.

And if there are some lessons that we learned during COVID, I hope one of them is if you're sick, then don't go to work if you can avoid it.

Try not to go to church where you can infect lots of other people.

That's just good common sense.

And I think it's just kindness and empathy to be careful around people.

And, you know, we have to make these decisions, and so this time of year, my sister decides that she has to stay home a little more often than she normally would.

She avoids some of those things so that she doesn't end up in the hospital.

And those are decisions we can all make.

I do see people wearing masks all the time.

I see people wearing masks at the grocery store, I see people wearing masks at church, and that's perfectly fine.

So again, if you're sick, don't go and get other people sick because they might end up in the hospital.

Use just a little common sense there.

And if you want to wear a mask, that's fantastic.

Feel free to wear a mask and help to protect yourself that way.

- Governor, there was an audit this week released about elections in Utah finding no widespread problems, systemic problems or fraud; however, finding some room for improvement and making 22 recommendations.

Your thoughts on the audit and the message that maybe some of those recommendations might send to voters out there?

- Yeah, well, we were really happy with the results of the audit.

And as someone who worked as lieutenant governor, I'm especially proud of Lieutenant Governor Henderson and the great work that she and her team have been doing.

It's helpful for those that are interested in the audit to really understand how elections work and that we have 29 county clerks.

Every election is a county election.

Even a presidential election is a county election.

And those clerks are independently elected and they run their own teams.

The lieutenant governor's job is to help oversee that, to give them assistance, to try to help them in any way possible, and then again, do everything we can to make sure that our elections are free and fair and that there is no fraud.

And so I was very happy to see once again what we've been saying for years now, that Utah runs very good elections, that there is no evidence of fraud in our elections, that the people who were elected were elected freely and fairly.

Now, with those recommendations, we're excited about those recommendations.

Every single year when I was lieutenant governor, and every single year now, the last two years that Lieutenant Governor Henderson has been overseeing this, we worked with the legislature on an election security bill to improve elections to make sure that they continue to be free and safe and fair, that only people who are eligible to vote get to vote, that they only vote once, that they vote in the district where they're allowed to vote, and that we prevent people from fraudulent activity.

And so these recommendations will help us do that.

And of course, trust is so important and that's why both the lieutenant governor and I have spoken out so fiercely against those who are trying to undermine elections without any evidence whatsoever, just making stuff up whole cloth and trying to sell it as truth.

Because when you lose faith in elections, that erodes the very foundation of our republic, and we cannot do that.

And so these recommendations will help us to continue to improve trust.

And the data speak speaks very clearly.

We saw a significant increase this year over last year in polling around the people of Utah who believe that elections are fair and free and not fraudulent.

That's good news for us.

We also saw that 93% of Utahns cast their ballot by mail this past election.

Even though we have Election Day voting, you can vote in person, 93% of Utahns chose to mail in a ballot, and that's really great news.

Again, that's a show of support.

Although there are a few very loud detractors, they are very, very few.

And so we appreciate the audit and look forward to implementing it fully.

I would also note that many, if not most of those recommendations, had already been implemented by the time the audit came out.

- Governor- - Earlier this week, Governor, you banned the popular social media app TikTok for state-owned employees devices.

Can you tell us a little bit about why you did that, and do you see banning any other social media platforms in the future?

- Yeah, well obviously, this is something that we watch very closely.

And our biggest concern with TikTok is something that the FBI director has confirmed that we've known for a while now, and that is that the Chinese Communist Party has direct access to the data from TikTok that users are putting in right now.

That's deeply problematic.

It's problematic for national security, it's deeply problematic for personal security, and of course, state security.

We cannot in good faith allow that app on state devices knowing that there is direct access to any data that may be stored there or inputted there.

And so that was a pretty easy decision for us.

Many other states are doing that now.

And of course, there was a bill unveiled a couple days ago, Senator Rubio, bipartisan bill, Democrats and Republicans, in both the House and the Senate supporting this idea of banning TikTok at a national level.

And so that's the reason for doing that.

I would also note that there's pretty clear evidence that this is part of a strategy by the Chinese Communist Party to debilitate our state, not just getting the data, but the very algorithms of TikTok that have been proven to cause harm to young people.

Not not just the amount of time that you get kind of trapped on there, of course, but even worse than that, when it comes to self-harm videos, addiction videos, that can lead a person into a very dark and dangerous place, and that is intentional.

We know that the app in China is very different.

It has much more of a learning tilt to it to help kids learn STEM and to show positive videos, not the negative side.

Their algorithms are very different there.

And so we can't allow that to be happening here unless and until the company can prove that that data is not being used for nefarious purposes.

I don't anticipate right now any other platforms being banned, but of course, if there is evidence of similar activity amongst platforms, we would certainly consider that.

Did you have a question?

- I think we cut you off.

- I didn't, sorry.

- Okay.

Okay.

- I've got a question for you.

With regards to your free transit proposal, Governor, do you anticipate a deal or a compromise needs to be struck with the legislature, something with the gas tax, something else?

- Look, we know we have enough, we know we have enough money this coming year in the budget to fund that proposal.

Whether or not the legislature decides that's something they want to move forward with, that remains to be seen.

We will keep having those conversations.

We think it's just a win-win-win all the way around.

We know that it'll help clean up our air.

We want to see what happens when we make available for free fare, what happens to ridership there, what that does to congestion on our roadways, how many cars can we take off the roads if that's happening.

We know what will happen in one month, and it was extremely positive, but could we extrapolate that over a year and see what it looks like?

Those discussions are just starting to happen, but we look forward to a robust debate on that one.

- Governor, what are your thoughts on higher education considering your recent release of the skills initiative?

Do you still feel like it's necessary or that students should strive for or taken on a person-by-person basis?

- Yeah, look, higher education is really important.

And as I mentioned in my press conference earlier this week, nothing about a skills-first approach is to diminish higher education.

In fact, one of the places you can get the skills that you need for a job is higher ed.

Our institutions of higher ed are some of the best in the country and we're very fortunate to have them.

But if you look at the way higher ed works mostly, it caters to a fairly narrow segment of our society, mostly to kids ages 18 to 25, right?

I mean, all of you went to college after high school, as did I, and that's a really positive thing.

And I want to say, you learn things there above and beyond just the skills that you get for your career.

You have roommates if you live on campus, right?

You learn how to work with new people.

You have experiences that will impact you for the rest of your life that you look back on positively.

And so we will continue to advocate for higher ed and higher learning.

It's a really positive thing.

But there are hundreds of thousands, millions of utahns who didn't have that opportunity and are kind of past that now or who have other aptitudes, and we should be making space for them and celebrating them as well.

Again, we tend to live in this kind of false choice, false narrative society that if you're skills-first, then you're anti-higher ed, and that's just not the case.

There are lots of ways to get skills in this life.

And what's happened is too many, you know, and I say the state of Utah falls into this, but too many employers have gotten kind of lazy about just using a degree as a substitute for a set of skills.

Now sometimes, that degree is a perfect match for those set of skills, but there are also other ways to get those skills that are not through that degree.

There are other times when the degree has no bearing whatsoever on the skills that are needed for that job, but for whatever reason, we've just had it in there as kind of a sifting mechanism.

When we take a little time and get a little more thoughtful, which is what we've been doing as state government, what does this job actually need?

What are those skills, and can you get them other places?

Then we open up those jobs to a whole new set of applicants, and it turns out we actually are better as state government and we do better work for the citizens of the state.

We get some very qualified people in there who love their jobs.

They also tend to be more loyal.

They stick around.

They're usually people who have been in the department for a while.

Maybe they started out at kind of the ground level, they've been working their way up, and now they're very capable.

They know the job better than anybody else, but they don't have a degree so we wouldn't even let them apply, and that just doesn't make any sense and that's what we're trying to solve.

- Okay, we're almost out of time.

We have about a minute.

Do you have any final thoughts for the broadcast portion for the end of the year?

- Well, for the broadcast portion again, I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

I also will just give a quick shout out to Utah's first lady.

We'll be celebrating our 26th anniversary together next week, and she's the best.

She's doing incredible work right now with our teachers, with foster families, with service, with unified sports, and special education, Special Olympics, and I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

- All right, ending on a positive note.

Thank you, Governor.

And that is all the time we have for our television broadcast.

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

Okay.

- [Announcer] This has been "The Governor's Monthly News Conference."

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

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