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Governor Confronts Controversial Issues In Conference

Governor Herbert
http://blog.governor.utah.gov/
Governor Gary Herbert gave monthly address Thursday giving response to pertinent Utah issues.

Thursday morning, Gov. Gary Herbert addressed issues currently facing Utah.

In regards to the problematic Utah Transit Authority audit that came out earlier this week, Herbert said that it is for transparency and accountability that audits take place within the government.

“I’m just in the process of having my people review the audit. Our general councils review not only the audit on UTA, but also the 50-page response from UTA, and with a cursory view, it appears that a lot of these issues are old issues going back to 2009 and maybe even before that,” Herbert said. “I believe that the new leadership there in place now, has taken steps to correct those problems.”

Herbert also commented on the federal court decision, which found Utah’s ban on co-habitation illegal, but also deemed it illegal to procure more than one marriage license.

“I think it’s probably not good policy and good practice for families to have that kind of a situation—so, that’s my own provincial view of traditional marriage,” he said. “It’s something that doesn’t seem to be enforced, it has not been enforced, and I think that’s part of the reason why the courts have ruled the way they have ruled.”

Additional issues discussed included education funding, the candidacy of Becky Lockhart for the position of education superintendent, and Utah’s ongoing work with the Obama administration to come to an agreement upon Obamacare implementation. He said there are 35 issues being discussed with the Obama administration, 25 of which he claims have reached consensus. Herbert said a form of employment should be tied to receiving health care access.

“If you’re able to work… as a condition for having the taxpayers give you free health care or some kind of subsidized healthcare, at least a minimal requirement is that you ought to let the state of Utah help you find a job,” Herbert said.

He said he is “cautiously optimistic” the healthcare implementation issues will be resolved by September.