Bills still await Huntsman

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. gets his first crack in office at vetoing legislation and budgets today, the last day he has to either sign or veto a bill or let it become law without his signature.

Top Huntsman aides say the governor, who signed 29 bills Monday and has not vetoed any bills yet, has fewer than 20 bills on which he hasn't made a decision. He must do so by midnight or the bill becomes law without his signature.

An exception to that rule in Utah law deals with "concurrent resolutions," like SCR2, a bill that would allow state trust lands in Tooele County to be leased to a private firm for a municipal and commercial waste landfill.

State law says that before state land can be used for a waste storage facility, the House, Senate and governor must agree.

A group of Utahns, including former House Majority Leader Kevin Garn and former House Speaker Mel Brown, have plans to build a large municipal waste facility on the western shore of the Great Salt Lake. The group heads up Wasatch Regional Waste Management Corp., the firm that holds the new waste facility's permit, although the group would sell its firm to Allied Waste if Huntsman signs SCR2.

If the governor signs the resolution, the sale could reportedly make Wasatch's principals big bucks for shepherding the permitting process through state agencies, the Legislature and the governor. Although SCR2 remained unsigned Monday, Garn said that Huntsman and his staff "have done the due diligence and asked the right questions, which gives us a high degree of confidence" about its prospects.

The biggest selling point, Garn said, is that the project could generate millions of dollars for the state's school trust lands administration, which currently owns and manages the 2,000 acres that would house the landfill.

"Because of the money it will bring into the schools, we're pretty confident he will sign it," said Garn, who is Wasatch's president. "We haven't thought about it beyond that, because we do think it will be signed."

Brown, a partner in the company, agreed.

"I think he'll sign it," Brown said Monday afternoon. "But obviously, if he doesn't, there would need to be a backup plan. But we haven't discussed what that will be exactly."

Along with vowing to not accept any hazardous waste, Wasatch and Allied recently promised only to take Utah waste to dissuade critics who claim the state is becoming the nation's junkyard.

Jason Chaffetz, Huntsman's chief of staff, said he was "glad" to hear about the deal because the governor opposes turning the state into the nation's dumping ground. But Chaffetz stopped short of committing the governor's support.