Ahead of the session, Utah News Dispatch interviewed Gov. Spencer Cox and the two legislative leaders at the helm of the GOP-controlled Utah Legislature — House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams. They said lawmakers are likely to debate three big headlining issues: election reform, higher education and immigration.

Here’s what to expect to come of those issues when lawmakers convene for their 45-day session:

• Election reform: Lawmakers are expected to discuss changes and possible limitations to voting by mail, but not unravel it completely. They’ll also likely debate potentially removing election oversight from the lieutenant governor’s duties.
• Higher education: University leaders are under pressure to review their programs for “inefficiencies,” cut or downsize low-performing programs, and better “realign” with the workforce. Democrats worry this will open the door to cutting liberal arts.
• Immigration: Lawmakers will likely discuss policies and resources to help President-elect Donald Trump deport undocumented immigrants in the state with a focus on those committing crimes, though details are so far scant. The governor also said he supports expanding Utah’s requirements for businesses to use E-Verify for hiring employees.

Lawmakers to weigh changes to vote by mail, removing election oversight from LG

Following a divisive presidential election that stoked more distrust in elections in Utah than ever before, the Utah Legislature is expected to discuss a variety of proposals meant to improve trust — even if issues are far and few between.

While a recent legislative audit found no “significant fraud” in Utah’s election system (which currently sends by-mail ballots to all of the state’s active registered voters) it also found some errors, including 1,400 “likely deceased” voters that hadn’t been removed from voter rolls. Of those, 700 were marked as “active” voters, and in 2023 two ballots were cast in the names of voters classified as “deceased.”

Out of 2 million registered voters, that’s a small number. But it’s still too many for House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, who raised questions about the security of Utah’s vote-by-mail system, which heavily relies on signature verification, after the audit was released.

While Schultz said in general Utah has “really good elections,” crediting most county clerks with running “really tight ships,” he said that doesn’t mean lawmakers shouldn’t look for ways to improve.

“I don’t care what anybody says, the voter rolls in the state of Utah are a mess, and they need to be cleaned up,” Schultz said. “Certain counties do a much better job than other counties. But this is the second audit in a row that shows (problems) with voter rolls. … So it’s a little frustrating to see these areas not be addressed.”

Schultz added that Utah lawmakers are “never going to be able to create a system that’s flawless.” But he said every election he and other lawmakers “get a ton of messages, emails or text messages or phone calls saying, “Hey, I got ballots that I shouldn’t have gotten” in the mail.

“My daughter, a couple of years ago, got two ballots, one from Davis County and one from Weber County,” the speaker said.

Though it’s not yet crystal clear what lawmakers will do, it’s sounding unlikely that there’s appetite from the state’s top leaders to completely do away with voting by mail.

Gov. Spencer Cox recently defended voting by mail, but expressed willingness to implement earlier postmarking deadlines to help speed up election night ballot counting. Currently, Utah law requires by-mail ballots to be postmarked no later than the day before Election Day. Moving up that deadline would require more Utahns to either mail their ballot earlier, drop off their ballots in drop boxes, or vote in person.

“The idea is to make voting as easy as possible for the people who should vote, and difficult as possible for the people who shouldn’t,” the governor said, though he added, “I still believe in vote by mail,” noting that since it’s been implemented Utah’s voter turnout has increased significantly.

Maintaining voting accessibility and convenience is also important to Democratic leaders. House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, and Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla said they would not be supportive of getting rid of voting by mail or limiting it significantly — and they’re concerned the debate could open the door for that.

“To me, it’s 100% an implementation issue,” Escamilla said of the errors audits found. “The problem is not vote by mail. It’s who’s implementing vote by mail and (if) there are a lack of consequences.”

Romero said she’s also worried that by responding to election doubters, “the Legislature is operating under a fear paradigm.”

“We’re letting this small group of loud people — because I don’t think the everyday Utahn agrees with them — dominate legislation,” Romero said. She added that President-elect Donald Trump did win, and letting the unfounded rhetoric he and his supporters used shape legislation will likely disenfranchise not just Democrats, but Republicans too.

“We’re going to suffer the consequences, from my perspective,” Romero said, “to use his victory as the flag to say, ‘We need to do all of this to take away rights from people is very alarming to me.”

Schultz said because voting by mail is “so popular” among Utahns “maybe there’s a way to kind of find a balance between in-person voting and the current vote-by-mail” system.

“Let’s have this conversation, see where it goes,” the speaker said.

Schultz said he’s also not a fan of relying on signature verification to count by-mail ballots, and he’s interested in exploring possibly letting by-mail ballots be sent to voters as they are currently, but requiring them to be returned in-person with a form of identification.

“One of the ideas that’s being talked about is, yeah, go ahead and still get your ballot by mail, but then you have to take your ballot (back),” he said. “If you take it to a drop box, I think you need to show ID. Then that way you don’t have the signature problem. I don’t think it’s that big of an ask to ask people to show their ID to drop their ballot off.”

That would entail a dramatic shift from what county clerks currently do to verify and count ballots — but Schultz said he believes it would be simpler than the effort it takes to verify signatures, and counties could rededicate their staff to “create drop boxes with poll workers.”

Adams said he also has misgivings about using signatures to verify ballots.

“I believe there probably needs to be a better way, a more quantifiable way, to be able to verify the ballots,” the Senate president said. “You can take away some of the vague decision-making that we’re asking the clerks to do. Because I don’t want to vilify the clerks. I believe most of our clerks in the state of Utah are really good people, and at times we put them in a discretionary decision-making process.”

When pressed about Schultz’s preferences, Adams said it’s possible Utah’s election system could be changed to have a “combination” of allowing some voters to mail their ballots in while others may need to drop off their ballots in person.

“Those that have driver’s licenses, and you can verify in a quantifiable manner, maybe they mail them back in. Those that can’t, have to drop box them,” Adams said. “This is going to be a work in progress. We don’t have the answers right now, but it’s going to be one of the big discussions of the session.”

While Cox said he’s also supportive of “cleaning up the voter rolls,” he also noted recent election audits have shown there is “very minuscule fraud, if any.” Still, he said he’s also supportive of looking for ways to “do better and prevent the potential for fraud.”

“I feel very confident in the way our elections are being administered right now,” Cox said. “But I know that there are lots of people that don’t, and so we need to figure out ways to help them feel better about our elections.”

Another weighty election reform topic lawmakers are also expected to consider is whether the lieutenant governor should continue to oversee the state’s election system — or if that duty should be assigned to another state official.

Last year, Rep. Ryan Wilcox, R-Ogden, introduced a bill that would have stripped the lieutenant governor of those oversight responsibilities and created a separate elections office with a director appointed by a committee that consists of the governor, lieutenant governor, Senate president, House speaker, auditor, treasurer and attorney general. However, that bill, HB490, didn’t progress during the 2024 session, with Wilcox saying at the time he tabled it for more discussion.

Schultz said he’s supportive of removing that responsibility from the lieutenant governor — but he said he doesn’t yet know what 2025 legislation will entail.

“I don’t think anybody should be overseeing their own election,” Schultz said.

That was a complaint repeatedly made by GOP political opponents of Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson throughout the election cycle — though Henderson designated Greg Bell as an independent adviser and she said she “sequestered herself” from any complaints that arose about the governor’s race.

When pressed on this, Schultz said Bell hardly issued any statements during the election cycle when compared to Henderson, and he believes election oversight is an optics issue lawmakers should address.

Asked if Henderson should be worried about keeping her job, Schultz said “there’s plenty of things for the lieutenant governor to do.”

“This has nothing to do with the current lieutenant governor,” Schultz said. “This just has to do with what we think gives the public the most confidence in their elections. That’s where our focus ought to be. We want to give the public the most confidence — as much confidence as possible — in elections.”

Adams, however, said he’s “not supportive of making a commission” to appoint an elections director, which Wilcox’s 2024 bill would have done. “I think when you make a committee assignment it just creates confusion.” He also questioned that if the governor, or Senate president or Speaker weighs in on an election appointment, would that create a “conflict?”

The Senate president said he doesn’t yet know what he’d support, but he’s open to hearing ideas.

“Whatever system we come up with, it has to be better,” Adams said. “I share the speaker’s concern. … but we’ve got to make sure the solution is better.”

Cox took a similar stance as Adams. He said discussions with lawmakers are ongoing, and he and Henderson will be working “closely” with them on any proposals, but if lawmakers do make changes he said he’ll only support them if they make Utah’s election system better, not worse.

“If there’s a better way to do it, we will support that better way. And if there’s not, then let’s keep it and just improve what we have already,” Cox said.

Escamilla and Romero said they’re open to hearing ideas about changing the lieutenant governor’s election duties, but they’d need to see the details before deciding whether to support or oppose it.

Romero added, though, that she believes Henderson and her election staff have “done the best they can,” especially given how much Utah’s election system has evolved in recent years.

She added that the audits found “minor hiccups,” not sweeping problems.

“So I feel like my colleagues are making an issue out of something that isn’t there, that can be fixed if we just hold our counterparts a little more accountable and make sure they’re following what’s expected of them,” Romero said.

Higher ed cuts and ‘re-alignment’ looms

House Speaker Mike Schultz said higher education “reform” is his “biggest priority” — specifically “consolidating programs.” He’s floated a 10% cut or “reallocation” to encourage universities to find inefficiencies, though it remains to be seen where those budget discussions land.

“Look, higher ed plays an extremely important role here in the state of Utah and in our economy, and that’s why I think it’s so important that we get this right,” he said, adding that currently the system “is not headed on a sustainable path … because you’ve got businesses walking away from higher ed and looking to do something different because they’re not getting what they’re needing out of it.”

A recent legislative audit warned Utah’s public education system is bound to lose students to private or nontraditional schools unless it caters more to jobs that the workforce demands and prioritizes programs that attract more students.

That’s teed up a debate that’s leaving educators nervous. Last month, University of Utah leaders warned faculty they’re in for a hard year on Capitol Hill, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

“We’re under extensive scrutiny right now by lawmakers, both locally and nationally, around the return that education is providing,” University of Utah President Taylor Randall said, the outlet reported.

Schultz said he wants universities to cut or consolidate low-performing programs, or programs that “only graduate a handful of students each year.” He wouldn’t name what programs he thinks need to be cut, saying he wanted universities to undergo a review to determine that. However, the House speaker said he’s got a long list of programs he thinks should be serving more students. He named engineering and nursing specifically — programs he said that are in high demand but face wait lists.

“If we just do a 10% cut across the board, that’s terrible. That’s a terrible idea,” Schultz said. “We’ll get it wrong … because that will actually drive up tuition. But if we come in, use a scalpel and we’re strategic about it and say, ‘OK, let’s collapse these programs, keep them here and expand them here, so that everybody still has that opportunity, then take the savings from those programs and reinvest into other areas that are needed, that will help … stop tuition from rising.”

That may mean some professors could lose their jobs, Schultz told Utah News Dispatch. “That’s a possibility,” he said, though he added, “We’re talking about a two- or three-year phase-in to help be careful with some of those things.”

The House speaker acknowledged that’s likely nerve wracking for educators to hear, but he said the goal is to improve the system for all Utahns.

“We’re going to come back and do what’s best for Utah,” he said. “Maybe not what’s best for that certain professor, but it’s going to be what’s best for the citizens of Utah.”

Cox is also supportive of reforming higher education, but he’s taking an optimistic outlook on the debate.

“From my conversations today, I think it could be a good year for higher ed — I really do — if we’re able to land this in the right spot and if people really come together,” Cox said. “I’m still hopeful and optimistic. I know it’s going to be a little bumpy as we work through this, but that’s OK. That’s the nature of the process.”

Cox said Utah’s higher education is “incredible,” praising Utah’s university presidents for fostering a system that not only educates Utah’s youth but also supports the economy. However, he said it’s also time to consider some changes.

“One thing that happens, though, in every institution, especially government institutions, is we’re really good at creating new programs and new rules … we create stuff really quickly, and we’re terrible at getting rid of stuff that isn’t working anymore or times have changed and things are different,” the governor said. “That hasn’t been happening as much as it could have with our institutions of higher learning.”

Cox said he has been meeting with university leaders to discuss reviewing their programs and finding classes or programs “that aren’t meeting needs of students and employers in this state,” and then “reallocate” resources toward programs “that are in demand.”

“This is something that I think should have been happening anyway, and I think the discussions are going very well,” he said.

Adams also said he doesn’t see the debate around higher education this year as “a negative. I see it as a big positive, because we have these high-demand jobs that we can’t (fill).”

“Everywhere I go, I talk to employers. What’s the No. 1 concern? ‘I need people. I need trained people,'” Adams said, adding Hill Air Force Base “hires more engineers than we produce in every one of our universities every year.”

The governor also acknowledged there’s “been some angst with higher ed around the country,” though he wanted to “separate” the effort in Utah from the fallout after presidents of the country’s most prestigious universities — Harvard, Penn State and MIT — testified in congressional hearings about addressing antisemitism amid protests of the war between Israel and Hamas.

But Romero said she worries the discussion will put Utah’s higher education professors in a “compromising position.”

“This isn’t anything new. … This is a national movement,” Romero said, pointing to the conservative push in Florida to reshape the state’s higher education system by rooting out what they perceive as liberal bias, setting limits on tenure and restricting academic freedom. She also pointed to layoffs and upheaval at Texas universities after lawmakers cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as Republicans there have become increasingly critical of “wokeness” within higher education.

Though Schultz and Cox said they see this year’s discussion of Utah’s higher education system as separate from the anti-DEI legislation passed last year, Romero said she worries the debate around cutting low-performing programs will leave liberal arts programs vulnerable, and some lawmakers may use it as an opportunity to cut certain classes or programs they may not agree with.

“Our universities have always been a place where people can think critically and figure out and identify who they are,” Romero said, adding she doesn’t want lawmakers to reduce students’ abilities to explore their interests.

“I’m really concerned that we’re not looking at the bigger picture,” Romero added. “We shouldn’t take away things from individuals, especially adults. We want to choose what we want to do and how we want to have our university experience. Not everyone has the same experience.”

Escamilla said she wants the curriculum to be set by academic experts, not by legislators.

“I hope that we do data-driven policy on this type of issue, because our entire future and economy depends on this,” Escamilla said.

Though she acknowledged the audit showed “some gaps we need to address,” she said that doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating “important pieces of curriculum or degrees that have to do with history.”

Democrats, she said, will be “watching” to make sure the debate is focused on efficiencies and workforce needs — and doesn’t dovetail into a culture war.

“We are concerned about some of the movement toward eliminating these critical conversations,” Escamilla said, expressing concern that it will turn into a “continuation of the anti-DEI stuff.”

How will lawmakers assist Gov. Cox’s plan to assist Trump deportations?

Soon after winning a second term as Utah’s governor, Cox announced Utah will be gearing up to assist the incoming Trump administration’s plan to ramp up deportations. In late November, Cox outlined a set of priorities to “identify, incarcerate and deport” undocumented migrants in Utah who have committed crimes.

Details are still scant on exactly how Cox and other state leaders plan to do this, but among the priorities the governor’s office listed in a news release was an intent to work with the 2025 Utah Legislature on “a variety of policy enhancements associated with criminal behavior by illegal immigrants.”

“You’ll definitely see changes around immigration,” Cox said, adding it’s “on everybody’s minds as we’ve seen literally millions of people cross the border illegally over the past four years.”

Meanwhile, a group of seven GOP Utah House representatives, one Utah senator, and Commissioner of Public Safety Jess Anderson have announced a news conference for today to unveil “legislation aimed to improve public safety and address the impacts of the Southern border crisis.”

Cox expressed frustration with President Joe Biden’s administration, saying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials “have not been helpful when it comes to being able to transport and house those illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in our state.”

“This has been an ongoing frustration for us with the current administration for some time, and so we’re hopeful with the new (Trump) administration we’ll be able to work through that,” Cox said.

When asked for details on what legislators will be working on, the governor said, “We’re just starting to have those discussions,” so stay tuned. However, he did say that his administration will be “working with the Legislature on those policies to make sure we have the resources necessary for housing and transport of criminals.”

In his most recent monthly news conference, he reiterated that deportations would start with a focus on those who have broken the law while living in Utah — regardless of whether it’s a violent crime or not.

“If you commit crimes, I don’t care if they’re violent or nonviolent, yes. You should not be here,” Cox said. “You shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

But lawmakers are likely to discuss legislation also dealing with hiring undocumented employees. When pressed for specific immigration “policy enhancements” expected during the 2025 session, Cox told Utah News Dispatch lawmakers may revisit the state’s requirements for which businesses must use E-Verify, a system that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of employees to work in the U.S.

Up until two years ago, Utah required private employers with 15 or more employees to be registered with and use E-Verify or another status verification system when hiring. Then in 2022, the Utah Legislature passed a bill, HB252, to relax those requirements to only businesses with 150 or more employees.

Cox said he expects lawmakers to revisit that law again and discuss tightening up Utah’s E-Verify requirements.

“I think there will be a push to lower that threshold again, which we’d be very supportive of. I have no problem with that,” Cox said. Even though he signed the bill in 2022, he said, “I wasn’t the one supporting the bill to roll them back in the first place, and I’d gladly put those back.”

Adams said he’s supportive of the governor’s plans for deporting those who have committed crimes. But he also expressed a desire to help working immigrants stay. He pointed to a law the Utah Legislature passed in 2011 that he said helped balance those who have jobs “stay, and those that didn’t have jobs would go home.”

“That system has handled it fairly well,” Adams said, though he said “there are probably some additional changes that need to be handled.” He didn’t offer specifics on what those changes may be.

“Criminals that have come across the border that have felony records that have committed crimes need to be sent home. There’s just no question about it,” Adams said. “But people that are here that are working and productive, we need workers. And we need to find a way to allow them to continue working.”

Adams called on the Trump administration to not just focus on deportations, but also “fix” the immigration system — something people from both parties have been urging for years, but little progress has been made.

“If the Trump administration wants to kick the doors off of anything, they ought to take leadership on fixing the immigration policy. Open the doors wider,” he said. “Let more people — lots of people — come through a regulated, legal process. Just by supply and demand, if you can come through legally, there’s going to be less efforts to come through illegally.”

Schultz said given the Biden administration’s handling of the border over the past four years, “I think it’s fair to say when you open up the borders and allow as many people to come across illegally … I don’t think you can have the same immigration policies that the state of Utah has had in the past.”

But “what does that look like? I don’t know. But, you know, clearly, we need to look at it and see where we go. It will be a topic of conversation,” Schultz said, though he added he didn’t want to “get into specifics” because discussions with other lawmakers are still developing.

Escamilla and Romero — both Latina women — are concerned about how the discussion around immigration is being framed, and they worry about how exactly these plans will be executed.

While Cox says the focus will be on criminals, Romero said the rhetoric lumps all undocumented immigrants in as criminals, as well as puts legal immigrants and their families at risk of political hate.

“When they amp up this rhetoric about, you know, rounding people up and deporting them, they also put people like me and other individuals at risk because … that hate trickles down, and you see how people dehumanize individuals regardless of their status, and that’s a big concern for me.”

Romero added that “everyone wants to hold criminals accountable, but it’s how we define ‘criminal.'” She questioned if that means every documented immigrant who gets a speeding ticket, or those who are simply residing in the state illegally.

“I’d love for the governor to walk in my shoes for one day, to see how it is to live in the state of Utah as a person that’s part of the Hispanic community,” Romero said. “Take a step in my shoes, Sen. Escamilla’s shoes, or the mixed-status families that live in our districts for years and see the hate that’s being hurled at them because of the election of Donald Trump.”

Romero also agreed the nation’s immigration issues need to be fixed — but she said that’s a federal issue, not a state issue.

“Do we have to do something about the border? Yes. Do we have to find a system that works? Yes. But that’s up to Congress. Not the Utah Legislature,” she said.

Escamilla said she’s concerned when Cox said he plans to work with the Trump administration, which she said has signaled an appetite not to just focus on criminals, but all undocumented immigrants. She also said under current policies undocumented criminals who commit crimes should already be detained and processed.

“Who’s going to disagree with that? No one. I’ve never met someone who said, ‘Nope, those people should not be processed and taken care of,'” Escamilla said. “Well, they already do. The law already says you process them.”

So Escamilla said it’s unclear exactly what Cox and Utah lawmakers will do, but Democrats will be arguing for Utah not to take a heavy-handed approach by sweeping up people who haven’t committed crimes but are out of status or maybe waiting for their paperwork.

“We are concerned how it will impact families, especially mixed-status families,” Escamilla said.

Utah News Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.