Legislature may retain spending cap

A cap on legislative spending could remain in place.

The State Appropriations and Tax Limitation Act, which is intended to keep spending by the Utah Legislature in check by only allowing expenditures to increase at a rate determined by the previous year's spending and adjusted for population and inflation growth, could become a permanent fixture in state code. Originally scheduled to "sunset," or expire, in 2005, the Government Operations Interim Committee agreed this week to remove the sunset provisions.

Despite the cap's intention, it does not significantly restrict state spending because appropriations for education, transportation or savings do not count against the cap.

The state has only bumped against the cap, and legislators simply removed the Centennial Highway Fund from being included under the cap. It does, however, show the Legislature's "willingness to put limits on ourselves," which can look good to bonding agencies, Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley, said.