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Utah House Speaker Greg Hughes opened the 2017 Legislature by calling for lawmakers to plunge in to help solve one of the state's most pressing problems — homelessness — and to eradicate the drug trade that preys on those vulnerable people.

"This state has a homelessness crisis," he told the House on Monday. "One city cannot take on this issue. One county cannot take on this issue. The state by itself would not be able to take on this issue."

He called for a joint effort to ensure the job is done properly and warned that the state is "not sending out blank checks hoping our partners are going to be able to make this work out for us. We are partners in this. We will have every one of those dollars accounted for."

The comments come as Salt Lake City is trying to open four new shelters and create new programs for the homeless — but the sites selected and process used have proved controversial.

"If our partners buckle under this political pressure, if the hard choices just become too hard," Hughes said, "then we'll just keep moving forward and we will go do that job" with other willing stakeholders.

The Draper Republican sought to put a human face on the problem by pointing in the gallery to Brandon Kitchen, his partner, Heather, and their baby twins. When Kitchen was released from prison after 21 years behind bars, he found himself in The Road Home shelter and in despair.

Things changed for Kitchen when Fred Ross, then-deputy Salt Lake City Police chief, told him about a program that would help him find a job if he were sincere. "Brandon did not want a handout," Hughes said. "He wanted to start his life, but he needed some help."

Within a few weeks of landing a job, Kitchen moved into transitional housing, said Hughes. He later went to an apartment. "Fast-forward, and now Brandon is a family man" with a job — and is an example of what life could become for the homeless.

The House speaker called for attacking organized drug trafficking, especially operations that target the homeless.

"I am drawing a line in the sand with this speech in this session. … that we are going to eradicate this criminal element in the state of Utah," he said, adding that he is working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a partner in that effort.

Hughes spoke about two other key issues: public lands and education funding.

He opposed the Our Schools Now initiative-petition movement that seeks to put a $750 million income tax increase on the ballot for schools. He warned such an increase would discourage new firms from locating in Utah and actually lead to less revenue for schools.

He said the situation is made worse because the federal government owns two-thirds of the land in Utah, so fewer property taxes are collected for schools.

Hughes urged other options, including again pushing for state control of public lands to use them to help raise money for schools.

Hughes called the new Bears Ears National Monument created by Barack Obama an overstep that hurts local communities. "I am calling for, and we will be pushing for, the new Trump administration to rescind this national monument entirely."

No U.S. president has ever undone a national monument; it's a legal question whether such authority exists.

Senate President Wayne Niederhauser told the Senate the new monument was an example of "tyrannical" executive power. "We need fewer executive orders and more acts of Congress."

The Sandy Republican's speech to the Senate talked about what he believes it truly means to make America great again, President Donald Trump's slogan.

"Making America great again means, for me, a period of decentralization of power," Niederhauser said. "Send the power back to the state and the people as contemplated by the 10th Amendment."

He said Utah's congressional delegation challenged legislators to come up with a "list of grievances" and examples of federal overreach.

"Today I'm challenging the Legislature and staff, our state divisions and departments, our local government and foremost the people of this state to send us your ideas," Niederhauser said. "I call upon legislative colleagues across the country to join together and build a barrier around state jurisdiction and guard it jealously."

Niederhauser also spoke against the Our Schools Now ballot initiative. He said lawmakers are committed to looking at education funding, but that a single-year tax increase of $500 million to $750 million is "politically difficult."

The speeches were part of ceremonies opening the new Legislature, which included welcoming plenty of new faces.

One of every six lawmakers are new to the body this session, 16 out of 104.

That includes Utah's first Chinese-American legislator, Rep. Karen Kwan, D-Taylorsville. Still, the Legislature has only nine members who belong to minority groups: four Latinos, three Asians, one African-American and one who is openly gay.

In other ways, the new Legislature looks a lot like recent ones.

Republicans still have commanding majorities: 62-13 in the House (after Democrats picked up one seat in the past election), and 24-5 in the Senate (the same as last year).

Women are still far outnumbered by men, 20 compared to 84.

And eight of every nine lawmakers are Mormons: 91 of 103 (while Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, has declined to state a religious preference).

The citizen legislators meeting for the next 45 days come from all walks of life.

That includes 18 attorneys, the most common profession among them. Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Alpine, is both an attorney and a doctor.

Fifteen members are business owners or run businesses. Another 15 are current or retired educators.

Health care is well represented: five members are doctors, two are dentists, two are health-care administrators and one is a pharmacist.

Real estate-related industries also have several members: five current or former Realtors, four homebuilders or developers and one title insurance professional.

Five lawmakers are ranchers; two are farmers.

Some unique professions among legislators include art dealer (Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City); a Highway Patrol lieutenant (Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry); and a low-voltage technician (Thatcher).

Lawmakers are poised to hit the ground running. They had nearly 300 bills written and numbered on Monday, ready for consideration.

Leaders say, as they always do, that they expect the top priority for the session to be education funding.

Officials also expect significant debates this session on homelessness, medical marijuana, transportation funding, clean air, public lands, alcohol laws, perhaps Medicaid expansion and more.