Utah governor Gary R. Herbert will deliver his 2014 State of the State address Wednesday night.
Gov. Herbert is expected to focus on a number of issues during the annual event. According to Marty Carpenter, the governor’s director of communications, he will specifically address health care, ethics reform and economic development. He will also address the importance of finding Utah solutions to Utah problems and his top budget priority, education.
“The State of the State address provides the governor with the opportunity to tell the people of Utah where we have had success in the past year, share the challenges we face as a state and outline his plans to address those challenges,” Carpenter said.
Both Republicans and Democrats are excited to hear what the governor will outline as his goals for the upcoming year.
“We have a record here in Utah of low unemployment, low taxes, a very vibrant economy,” said Julian Babbitt, executive director of the Utah Republican Party. “I imagine these are things we can expect to hear from the governor in his speech.”
Ian Hansen, president of BYU College Democrats, is hoping the governor addresses air pollution, gun control and the radicalization in the Utah State Legislature. Last Saturday he joined other college Democrats and more than 4,000 people at The Utah State Capitol calling for government action on the pollution in Utah. He believes there is finally enough momentum, even outside of the Democratic party, to deal with air pollution.
“Utahns don’t want to see Utah’s cities in the top five for pollution right now. So that’s definitely one of the biggest policy issues we want to hear about during the governor’s speech,” Hansen said.
The speech begins at 6:30 Wednesday night in the House Chamber at the Utah State Capitol. It will also be live-streaming at www.governor.utah.gov
