Dental funding sidestepped

Besides refusing to provide $2 million for dental care for the needy, legislators acted on a dozen other items, including authorizing hundreds of millions of dollars for a variety of road projects.

After back-and-forth negotiations that lasted much of the day and evening, lawmakers by press deadline were nearing a decision to reallocate $291 million back to the Utah Department of Transportation for road funding. The money was vetoed by the governor in March because of a technical error in the state budget.

With the money, UDOT can move forward in distributing the money to different road projects across the state. The state Transportation Commission is meeting today to decide where specifically the money should go.

If the money had not been re-allocated, several road projects this summer would have been delayed, according to UDOT officials. Those projects include the construction of passing lanes on U.S. 191 between I-70 and Moab.

The funding fix was supposed to be a quickly-approved item, but the Senate and House had differing views on how much money should go to specific UDOT funding categories, some which would have benefited rural areas more than urban, and vice versa.

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Contributing: Nicole Warburton, Josh Loftin

E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; awelling@desnews.com