The Utah Commission on Aging hopes to extend its life by joining forces with the University of Utah Center on Aging.

Commission members this week voted in favor of the move, which must also be approved by state lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session. The 2005 Legislature created the commission to research and address public policy issues related to the state's rapidly increasing aging population. By state law, the commission is set to sunset in June 2007.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has approved the proposal, which would have the Commission on Aging continue its work through June 2009 while housed at the U. Center on Aging. Two dedicated staff members — an executive director and an administrative assistant — would work from within the center's offices, located at the university's College of Nursing, with a state-funded budget of about $180,000 per year.

After June 2009, the commission would be free to seek its own funding or cease existence, executive director Maureen Henry said. Meantime, its 21 members from various state departments, local governments and community groups would continue to meet and address issues of concern to seniors.

"Our objective is to continue with things in a very similar fashion to what we have now," Henry said.

The commission's statutory obligations fit easily into the university's Center on Aging mission, which includes community service and outreach, said Dr. Mark Supiano, the center's executive director and a U. professor of medicine. Outreach is the least developed of the center's three-part mission statement and could benefit from the commission's expertise, he said.

"I think it's a win for the work of the commission and it's a win, frankly, for the university and the Center on Aging. And I hope it will go forward," Supiano said.

Legislative approval of the move, and additional state funding, is hardly a lock. The commission was approved in 2005 after considerable debate about its cost and whether lawmakers would be asked to finance it past its original two-year authorization.

Rep. Pat Jones, D-Salt Lake, who carried the original bill to create the commission, will sponsor the 2006 bill for its extension, along with Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden. Both are commission members.

If the measure does not pass, Henry said, the Utah Commission on Aging will still have done good work during its two years.

"If we go out of existence next June, we will have made a dent," she said. "There are going to be some pretty major projects that we will have left."

Henry is particularly proud of the Utah 2030 project, which will be presented to lawmakers early next year. The project looks at aging issues among all departments of state government and puts into place procedures for dealing with the upcoming aging boom.

Between the years 2000 and 2030, Utah's population of residents 65 years or older is projected to grow by 118 percent, making seniors 13.2 percent of the state's total population.

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