Hey everyone! Welcome back to another week of news here on Summit in Six! We have a quick episode for you today! We discuss week 4 of the Utah State Legislature’s 2025 General Session and then share some cool collaborations between the Summit County Sustainability Division and the Summit County Library. Alright, let’s get into the news! 

TOPIC 1: Legislative Update 

And, we’re back again with week 4 of legislative updates from the Utah State Legislature’s 2025 General Session! This week, Deputy County Manager, Janna Young, highlighted several bills the county is following on the hill. We’ll mention a few here today, but if you want to listen to Janna’s full recap, please visit summitcounty.info/councilrecording. 

Up first, Janna discussed a bill related to the Transient Room Tax. Details of the bill seem to be constantly changing, but in its most recent form there is potential for counties, like Summit, to use a portion of the revenues from the Transient Room Tax generated within their borders to spend on things like Search and Rescue, Emergency Medical Services, and, even, roads. Janna mentioned that if passed Summit County could explore using these funds for the Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, project on SR-224. 

After that, Janna dove into a couple energy-related bills. 

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• The first was House Bill 241 which prohibits solar development in the State of Utah on cropland, grazing land or forests and some other types of property. Some of the successful online and planned solar facilities in Utah couldn’t be built if they had to meet the requirements outline in the bill. As you know, Summit County, is already a part of a large-scale solar facility in Toelle County that supplies net 100% renewable energy for our county buildings and we have aggressive renewable energy goals that this bill would hamper.
  
• Up next, Janna talked about House Bill 249 which supports nuclear power development in the state. Summit County supports that, but there is language in the bill we object to. That language limits the ability of counties and cities to negotiate financial incentives for energy developments unless it is proposed in one of these to-be-established “electric energy development investment fund”. Also, for the tax incentives and tax increment financing negotiated, those benefits would flow partially to the state, not stay entirely within the local government. 
  

Every week of the session, we’ll remind our listeners that you can watch the 2025 legislative session in real-time through the online tool at le.utah.gov. Click on the “calendar” button then the desired meeting and the committee webpage will have links to materials and the audio/video recording. 

You can also follow individual bills and receive email alerts whenever action is taken on the measure. To sign up for alerts, visit le.utah.gov and click on the “Bills” tab at the top of the page to perform a bill request or keyword search. Once you’ve located the desired bill, click “Track this” or “Email notification.” The website for each bill also provides the bill text, status information, audio/video of any committee hearings or floor debates, and details on the bill sponsor.

TOPIC 2: Summit County Library x Sustainability Collaborations 

The Summit County Sustainability Department and the Summit County Library Branches have partnered to offer our community FREE resources to help their homes run more sustainably! 

If you’re interested in figuring out how your home may be wasting energy and money, you can now check out a FREE energy detective kit at any Summit County library! Whether you’re a homeowner or a renter, this interactive kit can help you find where energy and money are wasted in your home. A thermal camera, watt meter, smart plug, and refrigerator thermometer are included in the kit. For more information visit: summitcounty.info/energydetective.

And, if you need simple ways to improve energy and water efficiency in your household, all Summit County libraries are now offering FREE take-home conservation kits with items such as a toilet tank bank and weatherstripping foam, designed to save energy, water, and money! For more information visit: summitcounty.info/energydetective.