Cox also said he’s instructed state agencies to prepare for possible budget cuts if a recession hits the U.S.
“We’re always planning for the worst. That’s part of what we do every year, and we’re one of the few states that does that,” Cox told reporters during his monthly PBS Utah news conference on Thursday. “But look, I look at the data just like everyone else, and the possibility of a recession has gone up significantly. Certainly the trade wars have played a role in that.”
Regardless of “whether you think trade wars are good or bad or will lead to something better, everybody agrees that it’s going to cause pain in the short term.”
“And we have to be ready for that,” he said.
During a separate news conference earlier this week, on Tuesday, when he and Republican legislative leaders celebrated Utah’s 18th year being ranked No. 1 in the nation for best economic outlook, Cox said he had “instructed all of my department heads to come up with recession plans, looking at three different levels of cuts … if there is a recession.”
Cox said Thursday that state leaders “will be very cautious in our spending” heading into July 1, when the state’s fiscal year starts, and “we’ll adjust accordingly.”
The Utah Legislature is already expected to convene in a special session in May to tackle issues the governor outlined in a veto letter he issued March 27, to make changes to at least two bills — HB263, a bill dealing with election transparency and HB356, a bill requiring some counties to elect district-based council members.
During that special session, he also said he wants the Legislature to repurpose $3.5 million it had set aside as part of Utah’s bid to keep the Sundance Film Festival, which opted instead to move to Colorado.
It’s possible, depending on national developments and impacts to the economy, that state leaders could also consider budget changes during a special session, but that remains to be seen.
Pressed on how state leaders will ensure “equity” among state agencies if there are budget cuts so that some services, like social services, aren’t overly impacted, Cox said “the Legislature ultimately controls the purse,” but he also added “we would be equitable in those types of cuts.”
Cox also said Utah leaders did something similar during the Great Recession.
“We took some across-the-board cuts, but then we let the experts who run those departments figure out how to implement those,” he said. “Because in recessionary times, there are some places where you would want to increase the budget and others where you would want to decrease it more.”
He presented a hypothetical scenario of a 3% cut. “It doesn’t mean you cut 3% from every program, but every department would have to find those 3% cuts in their own ways that make sense and continue to serve the people in the state,” he said.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
