Utah News Dispatch
These bills will become law, but Cox won’t endorse them with a signature
The gavel that will be used by House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, is pictured in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, January 5, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
On his deadline to give a final executive approval to the Legislature’s work this year, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed 555 bills and vetoed seven.
The two remaining bills will become law, but without his endorsement.
Cox made the distinction to HB78, Motion Picture Incentives Amendments, and SB266, Medical Amendments, in his veto letter to the president of the Senate and Speaker of the House.
“I am allowing two bills to go into effect without my signature because of the overwhelming legislative support,” Cox wrote.
The film incentives bill, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Stenquist, R-Draper, allows the state to offer tax incentives for film productions in rural communities past an initial July 2024 repeal date. Some conservative lawmakers had concerns about giving a “handout to Hollywood,” while supporters said the policy is good for the economy.
The Senate voted 19-8 to pass the bill and the House agreed to the changes in a 47-22 vote.
“I have expressed my concerns in the past with the amounts of money being spent on film incentives,” Cox wrote. “I believe there are better returns for taxpayer dollars.”
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The Medical Amendments bill authorizes health care systems to create a pilot to develop a behavioral health treatment program using any form of psilocybin or methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).
Both the Senate and the House voted unanimously to approve the legislation.
However, the state’s Mental Illness Psychotherapy Drug Task Force had recommended the Legislature to wait until the Food and Drug Administration approved the psychedelics, Michelle Hofmann, executive medical director at the Utah Department of Human and Health Services, told the House Transportation Committee.
The group issued guidelines in case the Legislature wished to allow use of the drugs ahead of the federal ruling but they weren’t considered, she said.
“This bill as it’s currently drafted does not include many of the manufacturing, safety and other regulatory guidelines recommended by the taskforce,” Hofmann said.
That was the reason Cox cited for not signing the bill.
“I am generally supportive of scientific efforts to discover the benefits of new substances that can relieve suffering,” Cox said in his letter. “However, we have a task force that was set up specifically to advise the Legislature on the best ways to study Psilocybin and I’m disappointed that their input was ignored.”
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