State of the State will be in Fillmore

Even though the Utah Legislature spent $20,000 remodeling the new, temporary House chambers to accommodate Gov.-elect Jon Huntsman Jr.'s first State of the State address next month, Huntsman has decided to give the address down in Fillmore's old Territorial Statehouse building.

Since, by law, the governor's State of the State address must be given to the Legislature, the 104 part-time lawmakers (or most of them, anyway) must travel 140 miles south to Utah's first capitol to hear Huntsman, who takes office Jan. 3.

"The governor's own (political action committee) will pick up half of the cost, roughly estimated to be $10,000," to transport lawmakers and other dignitaries to the speech from Salt Lake City, said Huntsman's chief of staff Jason Chaffetz.

That's nice, said incoming House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.

"We don't have any money budgeted for such a trip. And I don't know how many legislators, so busy at the opening of the session, want to take the time and effort to go all the way down to Fillmore to hear a speech they can watch on TV. I promised (Huntsman) I'll go, but I can't say" how many of his colleagues will do likewise.

In truth, said Curtis, "Lately, the State of the State address by the governor has become more of a media event than a real address to the Legislature."

The governor addresses the Legislature on a day legislative leaders set. Most likely, Huntsman will give the address during the first week of the 2005 Legislature, which convenes Jan. 17.

"We're looking at Jan. 18, but we don't want to conflict with President Bush's State of the Union address, so we're waiting for White House confirmation on when the president will speak to Congress," Chaffetz said.

The 90-year-old Utah Capitol building itself is closed for four years for $200 million worth of earthquake-proofing and general remodeling. And the new chambers, located in an office building behind the Capitol, has the same floor space as the old chambers but smaller public galleries. In addition, the new chambers have a 12-foot ceiling. The old chambers had large second-story galleries and were much more open and grandiose.

Chaffetz added that he hopes the Legislature didn't remodel the temporary House chambers "just to build us a stage, because we've had zero communication" with state officials about the chambers not being adequate for the State of the State address, said Chaffetz.

Curtis said he had one brief conversation with Huntsman about the State of the State address, well after work on the dais had begun.

"He wanted to get out to rural Utah" for the speech, said Curtis.