Salt Palace expansion funding runs into trouble

House Republicans complained that GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. placed too many items on the legislative special session that began Tuesday and is expected to conclude today. .

At least one item, a $4 million state contribution to the Salt Palace Convention Center expansion, appears to be in real trouble. As the first day of the session dragged on, the bill was not even drafted. And no GOP House member could be found to sponsor the measure.

Under the Utah Constitution, the governor calls a special legislative session and sets the agenda. After meetings with individual lawmakers and legislative leaders, Huntsman put 15 items on the call, one of the largest agendas in recent history.

As predicted, the bill that would allocate $3 million in cash and another $1 million in tax breaks toward completion of the current Salt Palace expansion in Salt Lake City turned out to be the most controversial.

Sen. Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, sponsored a Salt Palace measure during the 2005 Legislature but declined to run the bill in the special session. "I'll vote for it if it ever gets to the Senate," he said. "But it has to get there."

"It doesn't have a sponsor, and I'm not going to vote for it," House Majority Whip Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, told the House GOP caucus.

But there is still a day to go, and Huntsman could rally his forces. City and county lobbyists were working lawmakers Tuesday afternoon and evening.

"I think we should tell Rocky we spent the money on the Legacy Highway," said Rep. Brad Johnson, R-Aurora, referring to Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, a Democrat who has often criticized the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Anderson supports expansion of the Salt Palace, which is owned by the county, and opposes building of the Legacy Highway, which northern Utahns say is needed to relieve traffic congestion to and from Salt Lake City from Davis County northward.

Legislators have attempted to punish Anderson and Salt Lake City before. Two years ago, angry over Anderson's participation in an anti-Legacy lawsuit, lawmakers seriously considered withholding some sales-tax revenues from the city.

"I don't see a lot of (legislators) wanting to bleed for" the expansion if Huntsman and local governments won't fight for it, said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.

Anderson kept quiet Tuesday, saying he wouldn't comment on the Salt Palace issue until later today.