This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A legislative panel voted Friday to wipe out Utah's Office of Ethnic Affairs, as well as to cut funding for cancer research and stop printing tax booklets.
The vote came as the Business, Economic Development and Labor Appropriations subcommittee made preliminary recommendations to shave $16 million from programs, part of an effort by the Legislature to cut more than a half-billion dollars from the state's budget.
Lawmakers plan to return next week and could restore some funding to the most crucial areas.
"We've kind of torn the house apart, and the next several weeks we may add rooms, we may restore others," said Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, chairman of the subcommittee. "We'll see where this lands."
The Office of Ethnic Affairs consists of 10 employees who help refer Utah's ethnic minorities to government services. The Legislative Fiscal Analyst's Office, which recommended eliminating the office, said those referrals could be handled by various state agencies.
"I'm really concerned about doing away with that," said Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City. "Our ethnic minorities in the state of Utah deserve some sort of access into the Governor's Office, and that's the way this was intended to be."
Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy, co-chairman of the subcommittee, said he has been told the Governor's Office plans to make money available through his budget, but had no details.
A spokeswoman for the governor could not immediately be reached Friday.
The subcommittee also recommended a $437,000 cut to state aid for the Huntsman Cancer Institute — a 25 percent reduction. The institute would have to find other funding, the analyst said.
"This is really just going in the wrong direction," said Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, who noted the institute's founder, Jon Huntsman Sr., has paid far more than anticipated to sustain the institute "because we're not stepping up with funding."
The subcommittee approved a slew of other cuts as well, including suspending any new art purchases, and no longer printing paper copies of the state income-tax booklets. The tax materials can be found online or at tax offices.
This is a corrected version. The original version said, incorrectly, that funding for the state property ombudsman was being cut.