Castle Country Radio has been conducting weekly Legislative updates with Representative Christine F. Watkins during the general session that has been taken place this year. She took time on Monday morning to give us her final report on the dealings taking place on the hill.

The first thing she spoke about this morning was the state’s budget, “We’ve allocated a good share of the money, but it’s not over yet. On Friday we’ll do what we call the bill of bills. When it’s done and over, we vote and we’re good for 2025,” said Representative Watkins. The state’s budget has decreased this year so they have less money to work with.  This is due to all the federal money that the state received over the last two years is now gone.

She also wanted to mention the $167 million tax cut, “Our state income tax is going to go from 5.55 percent to 4.55 percent. So it’s not a lot of money, but we keep doing this, kind of careful making sure the state can continue being prosperous. So that’ll give a little bit of help to everyone.”

Finally, she has worked tirelessly on the San Rafael Research Center and is happy to report that she was able to get the funding needed. “We found out that we had funded an energy, I’m going to say a pot of money, a couple of years ago and nobody has ever used it. So we grabbed that for the maintenance and operation of the research center. Then I was very blessed to be given the appropriated $2 million to buy it,” stated Representative Watkins. Once the legislature ends, the process for the state to purchase the San Rafael Research Center will take place.

The San Rafael Research Center is the only one of its kind in the state and the opportunities the facility could bring to the area are endless. “Its become the shining star in the state and there is no research center in the state of Utah. It’s going to be handled by the state Energy Department of Development. So, it’s going to have a lot of great people behind it and supporting it,” said Representative Watkins.