By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News | Photo courtesy of the Utah House of Representatives
As the 2026 general session of the Utah State Legislature races toward its finish, lawmakers are rushing to push priorities across the finish line. For Rep. Christine Watkins, this is no different.
Rep. Watkins joined the KOAL newsroom to provide this week’s legislative update and give a look at what can be expected of the final weeks of the session.
Opening our conversation, Watkins first spoke on HB105, a cleanup bill that addresses orders of permanent custody and guardianship of a minor.
“What it deals with is a bill that we passed last year. And it said that people, when they cleaned up their act, if they have not lost their parental rights and their children or child is with a spouse or ex-spouse, they can petition the court to have some time with that child because they’ve obviously been cut off. And when one of our attorneys went in front of a local judge, the judge said, well, the legislature didn’t make that retroactive,” explained Watkins.
She continued,” So that’s all this bill does is it makes it retroactive so that if you were in trouble five years ago and it’s taken you a while to get your act together, but you’d like to have some time with your children now, whether it’s a weekend here and there or some time in the summer, you can petition the court, prove that you have straightened up your life.”
Switching topics, Watkins discussed a bill that drew ire from the Idaho Legislature and the petroleum industry: HB575. Originally, the measure aimed to decrease Utah’s gas tax by 50%, while charging refineries more to offset the cost.
This drew heavy criticism from the Idaho State Legislature, with the state going so far as to threaten to withhold water from the Bear River, a tributary of the struggling Great Salt Lake.
“When they first came out with the bill, it was pretty wicked. I’m just going to tell you that. It was going to hurt our oil and gas industry. It was going to hurt the refineries up here in Woods Cross. And we were going to hurt the people in Idaho,” said Watkins of the bill. “I stood up in our caucus meeting and pointed out the things that I don’t think they had thought about. And I actually had several reps come up to me and said, ‘Oh, we appreciate what you said. We had not looked at it through the lens that you presented to us.’ And so they went back to the drawing table and totally changed things.”
The bill now will see refineries increase production, a move which Watkins stated,” will not affect Idaho. It will not affect the Uintah Basin with the oil and gas that they’re doing. And by increasing production, we hope it will decrease the price.”
She continued,” And we have a gas tax formula that, depending on inflation, goes up and down. In January of 2027, we were already set to go down the gas tax. So what they’re doing is they’re moving it up to July 1. So from July 1 on, you will see a reduction in your gas prices because the gas tax will be dropped. I think it’s six or seven cents on July 1. And then, of course, it’ll just stay the same when July one of 2027 hits.”
Throughout the start of 2026, energy has been a focus for the public, both nuclear and coal. One addition coming was the reopening of the Emery Valley Mine following its acquisition by Wolverine Fuels. Watkins praised the development: “We need that coal, and we need our good coal.”
Closing out our conversation, Watkins provided a plug for the new Museum of Utah located in the State Capitol building,” I want all our teachers to know, those of you that come up here for field trips, you can be booking tours of that building now. So if you have someone in your family that’s a teacher, an elementary teacher, and they want to bring their kids up here, tell them to get online or on the phone and get your tour booked for next year, because I’m telling you, it is amazing.”
To keep up with the 2026 general session of the Utah State Legislature, visit le.utah.gov.