2021 Legislative Session: Week 7

*|MC:SUBJECT|*

2021 Legislative Update: Final Week

The 2021 Legislative Session has officially come to a close. This session was much different than your average session. We took many different precautions to ensure legislators, staff, and interns remained safe and healthy. Thankfully, the pandemic did not interfere with our work in the Legislature, and we were able to get a lot done for the citizens of Utah.

I want to thank you for all of your feedback. I have appreciated your calls, emails, and meetings. Your thoughts and insights on legislation have helped inform my decision on tough votes and helped shape legislation. I hope to continue to hear from you.

Thank you,
Representative Rex Shipp
House District 72

Bill Highlight

With the end of the 2021 Legislative Session, I wanted to provide you with a comprehensive list of bills that I sponsored this session. Please take a look below to see what I have been working on!

Vaccine Update

Vaccines will now be available for anyone 50 years. As well as those with diabetes, a BMI of 30 or higher, and anyone with chronic kidney disease. The Governor also announced his hope in having vaccines available to all Utahns starting on April 1st. To learn more, click here.

A Very Special Appearance

There was not a dry eye in the chamber as we said hello to Rep. Jon Hawkins. Rep. Hawkins has been in the ICU battling COVID-19 and has been unable to participate in the legislative session. Watching Rep. Hawkins cast a few votes and speak to his colleagues was the most memorable and special moment of the entire session.

Executive Appropriations Committee

The Executive Appropriations Committee met Thursday evening to finalize the budget to present to the full bodies before the session ends. Additional items to the budget included caucus-approved fiscal note bills and HB 433 Amendments Related to Infrastructure Funding, which provides $834,600,000 for infrastructure projects throughout the state. This is the largest single one-time investment in infrastructure and an incredible investment into Utah’s future.

New Utah State Parks

The Legislature passed HB 257 Utah State Park Amendments, which will create two new state parks: Utahraptor State Park and Lost Creek State Park.

Located in the Moab area, Utahraptor State Park will cover 6500 acres with campgrounds, trails, and endless outdoor recreational opportunities. The park is named after the Utah State dinosaur and is near a huge deposit of dinosaur bones.

Another new state park, Lost Creek, 365 surface acre lake, is located in the mountains of Northern Utah and is popular for fishing, ice fishing, and wakeless boating.

In addition to the state parks, the Legislature will appropriate millions of dollars to drastically assist the Division of Parks and Recreation in improving and expanding recreation access across the entire state, helping alleviate the growing demand for outdoor recreation. The improvements will increase outdoor recreation in Utah and benefit local economies and park visitors. The funding will add approximately 500 campsites to the state’s overall campsite inventory and expand public parking by 10%, which will add around 1000 additional visitor parking spaces. When completed, these investments will mean we will be able to accommodate literally thousands of additional visitors each weekend at our state parks!