California Journal of Politics and Policy

The 2017 Utah legislative session, an intensely busy 45 days, focused heavily on tax reform,funding of public schools, and addressing the state’s homeless crisis. At the conclusion of thesession, the FY18 budget totaled $16.2 billion, a seven percent increase over the FY17 budget.Public schools received a large increasing in funding—in total a seven percent increase to addressstudent growth and other programs. The discussions about tax reform failed to produce anyagreements and will likely be addressed in the 2018 session. Although homelessness was addressedwith more than $12 million in funding for new homeless shelters, low-income housing,and expanding a 10-year tax credit, the crisis in the state continues to grow and a special sessionis likely to be held in fall 2017. This report provides the details about the 2017 legislative session,the FY18 budget, and the factors—such as demographics and economics—that impacted thebudget.