This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A committee voted down a bill that could have excluded the Utah Transit Authority from receiving any money in future Proposition 1-like tax hikes for transportation.
The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Wednesday defeated HB215 by a 6-4 margin. It could have allowed voters to raise transportation taxes just for roads.
Rep. Brian Greene, R-Pleasant Grove, said voters defeated Prop 1 in seven of 17 counties that put it on the ballot last year — including Salt Lake and Utah counties — because they opposed giving a big share of the revenues to UTA or transit. A law that allowed Prop 1 had mandated that 40 percent go for transit.
Greene said some voters disliked controversy over UTA operations and high executive salaries, or simply wanted more money to go for roads.
"This bill seeks to reflect the will of the people and provide flexibility," Greene said. His bill would have allowed cities and counties to keep all the increased revenues for roads or, if they chose, give up to about a third of the total to UTA.
But several lawmakers, business groups, clean air groups and the League of Cities and Towns said HB362, passed last year to allow Prop 1 and raise gasoline taxes, was a grand compromise to address the needs of transit, cities and counties at the same time — and urged the committee not to alter it.
House Speaker Greg Hughes, a former chairman of the UTA Board, had urged such a joint approach last year.
But Greene argued that the most important stakeholders were not well represented in that compromise. "That's the taxpayer. We now know how taxpayers feel."
He said HB362 will not provide any money for transportation unless voters approved it.
"Voters have given us their opinion," he said. "This is a chance to do something different," or likely see it continue to fail and provide no money for roads or transit.