This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For a decade a rape kit in a Cache Valley attack went untested, gathering dust, one of hundreds of kits from similar crimes around the state.
It wasn't until that kit finally got tested that the victim of that attack learned through a DNA match the identity of her attacker, who had committed other crimes and was in the federal database.
"Maybe, if we had tested it sooner, we wouldn't have had a rapist — and it was a brutal rape — out there on the streets," said state Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City.
It's why Romero fought all session for $2.4 million to test all rape kits around the state.
"It's the right thing to do," she said. "When someone experiences sexual violence and assault and they go through the exam, which is invasive, I think we need to know what the results are."
It's surprising, then, that in a state budget that is in the ballpark of $15 billion, Utah lawmakers could muster only $1.2 million, half the money needed to hire the staff at the state crime lab, train sexual-trauma counselors and create a system to track the rape kits.
Where are Republican budgetmakers spending taxpayers' money instead?
Well, you and I are paying $300,000, again, for the Big Outdoor Expo and the Hill Air Force Base Air Show. We are paying $70,000, again, to support America's Freedom Festival, the annual July 4 fireworks show in Provo, and $50,000 to support the Web.com Professional Golf Tournament.
Lawmakers and the governor are turning over couch cushions trying to get the last cent they can, so the numbers could change, but the ink is drying fast.
Right now, for example, we are paying $30,000 to host the International Women's Football League Worldwide Championship, because, apparently, supporting women who play football is a higher priority than supporting women who have been raped.
Lawmakers clearly have a soft spot for sports. After Sen. Lyle Hillyard got $1.5 million two years ago to help pay stipends to student-athletes at Utah State, the Legislature is spending $3.1 million to support athletes at Dixie, Utah Valley and Southern Utah universities, and Salt Lake Community College and Snow College.
Team spirit is important. More important, it appears, than funding air-quality programs.
Not only did lawmakers cut the staffing budget at the Department of Environmental Quality, they also defeated a bill by Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton, to extend a wildly successful tax credit for electric vehicles — House Speaker Greg Hughes cast the deciding vote. They refused to provide money that Gov. Gary Herbert requested to replace air-monitoring equipment, and $250,000 the governor requested for air-quality research.
"We spent the money on Teen Chef instead," said Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, referring to a $250,000 appropriation for a reality TV-style cooking program for high school students that Herbert vetoed last year, only to have his veto overridden by the Legislature.
"This is the worst session since I've been here," said Arent, who is in her 17th year in the Legislature.
That's not to say budgetmakers are neglecting the great outdoors. They are, for example, paying $2 million to Big Game Forever, a contract that started to lobby Congress and the federal government to keep wolves off the Endangered Species List and advocate for predator-control programs.
Big Game Forever was the subject of a scathing audit at the end of 2013 that said nobody could track how the money had been spent. Since then the funds flowing to Big Game Forever have steadily grown and this year legislators are making it a recurring $2 million appropriation to the private group.
Lawmakers are also sending another $1.2 million to various groups for the never-ending war over control of public lands — made easier because the state won't be spending another $1 million on the Outdoor Retailer show that is leaving town.
Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, got $350,000 for the state Commission on Federalism to generate "actionable strategies" to assert states' rights and expand its curriculum on federalism. And Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, got $1.1 million for the state to control wild horse populations, including possibly slaughtering the animals.
That's probably more important than, say, solving Utah's homeless crisis.
To their credit, Utah lawmakers are spending more than $30 million to combat homelessness. But they missed a key part of the equation — affordable housing.
Statewide, new data show that Utah is lacking about 47,000 units of affordable housing. A commission led by Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox sought $10 million to help alleviate the issue and got about half that much.
With the state looking to overhaul its homeless programs and drastically reduce the number of shelter beds available, there has got to be somewhere for those people to go to take the next step toward building a new life.
But there were more important things, like $50,000 for anti-pornography efforts, another $100,000 for the Utah Shakespeare Festival and $500,000 for the Discovery Gateway children's museum.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was often fond of saying: "Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value."
This budget speaks volumes to the values of our Republican legislators.