Utah legislative leaders push nuclear power, mineral extraction, spaceports and affordable housing in opening remarks of 2025 session. 

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• Benjamin Wood
• Visitors to the Utah State Capitol gather in the Rotunda during the first day of the 2025 legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2024.

CAPITOL HILL—Republican leaders of the Utah House and Senate opened the 2025 legislative session with both calls to action and words of warning on Tuesday, describing conditions where the water and power supplies are running dry, where high housing costs are pushing residents to leave the state and where special interest groups are manipulating the democratic process.

"There are some who would like to alter or destroy the Utah dream. We cannot let that happen," said Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton. "We will not let initiatives driven by out-of-state money turn Utah into California."

It's a familiar refrain from Adams, whose now-eight years on the president's dais coincide with a period of marked ballot activity, stemming from the successful passage of three citizen initiatives in 2018—on medical marijuana, Medicaid expansion and political redistricting—and the Legislature's subsequent efforts to destroy those voter-approved laws. A legal challenge on the redistricting initiative—intended to mitigate partisan gerrymandering through an independent commission—is ongoing before the Utah Supreme Court, which last year issued a landmark ruling enshrining the right of the public to reform their government.

Lawmakers blasted the ruling as akin to creating "super laws" and, in a hamfisted effort to cement their authority over constituents, saw proposed constitutional amendments on the 2024 ballot invalidated due to deceptive wording and failure to comply with legal requirements. Further attempts to retaliate against the courts and the public are broadly expected this year, under the auspices of saving Utahns from themselves.

"We cannot let unelected special interest groups outside of Utah run initiatives and override our republic, destroy our businesses and demean, impugn and cast aside those who are duly elected to represent their neighbors and friends in Utah," Adams said.

Utah's Chief Justice Matthew Durrant, during his State of the Judiciary remarks on Tuesday, alluded to the tensions between the two branches of government. But he emphasized the role of checks and balances in democratic debate, and urged lawmakers to "carefully assess" the long-term implications of any changes to judicial policy they might pursue during the legislative session.

"We are, of course, aware that the Supreme Court has issued an opinion or two in the last year that some in this body disagree with," Durrant said. "While I don’t know anyone who enjoys being criticized, we understand that disagreement can be healthy and an important part of our system."

Adams also warned of an "arms race" in the development of artificial intelligence, which he said poses a threat to both prosperity and national security, if that race is lost to a foreign power. The state is in need of a better-trained workforce, he said, as well as abundant, low-price energy and the local extraction of critical minerals for emerging technologies.

"The country that controls AI will, in turn, control the world," Adams said.

While more subdued in his remarks, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, similarly stressed the importance of Utah's mineral reserves and workforce training programs. Like Adams, he noted that China has imposed a ban on the export of its critical minerals, creating a domestic supply vacuum that Utah is poised to fill.

"We cannot continue to depend on our adversaries to supply our way of life," Schultz said. "By unlocking the power of these minerals, Utah can help the U.S. reduce dependence on other nations and secure a brighter, more self-reliant future."

Schultz focused on education and public lands in his remarks, complimenting new programs aimed at preparing students to enter high-demand fields and ongoing work to "realign" higher education and decrease the time spent earning a degree. On public lands, he shared an anecdote of a campground he used to visit but that, allegedly, has fallen into disrepair under federal stewardship.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Utah's latest attempt to claim ownership of its public lands. A perennial topic at the state's Capitol, lawmakers have long bristled at the policies of the Bureau of Land Management—particularly those limiting motorized vehicle access and commercial activities in sensitive areas—and have spent millions of taxyapers dollars on both legal and public relations campaigns, to little tangible result.

"This isn’t just about one campground—it’s about who gets to decide Utah’s future," Schultz said. "No one knows or loves this land more than we do. It’s time for Utah to manage Utah."

Schultz also emphasized the lack of attainable housing options, sharing the story of a young couple who spent years saving up for a down payment in the state's increasingly cutthroat market. While that couple succeeded at finding a home, he said too many others remain priced out by the planning and zoning of municipal governments and policies that prevent—or fail to incentivize—the private market from investing in affordable starter homes.

"If we don’t get housing right, Utah’s No. 1 export will not be its products—it will be our kids and grandkids," Schultz said. "The American dream will be exported from Utah."

Adams also signaled that the development of nuclear power will be a priority in the Senate, echoing the position of Gov. Spencer Cox, who touted the potential of nuclear energy in his December budget recommendations. In particular, Adams pushed the idea of "micro" reactors, smaller-scale energy production facilities that are limited in deployment by regulatory constraints.

"Micro-nuclear reactors can be constructed in a factory. They can be transported on a truck. They can be dropped in place and daisy-chained together," Adams said. "Utah needs to be the first state to have micro-nuclear reactors."

He also suggested that Utah could be the home of a future "spaceport," and that athletes participating in the 2034 Olympics could be delivered to competition venues by air taxi, a recurring and largely speculative talking point among lawmakers looking for novel ways to escape from traffic congestion without investing in traditional—and proven—mass transit services.

"Utah is uniquely positioned for this bold leap and is primed to reach new heights," Adams said. "The sky is no longer our limit—the stars are."

Speaking to the full membership of his chamber, Schultz said the challenges related to energy, public safety, education, transportation and housing are not unique to one party or the other, but are shared by all Utahns.

"These are not Republican or Democratic issues. These are not rural or urban issues. They are Utah issues," he said. "And the people of this state expect us to come together, roll up our sleeves and get to work."

The 2025 Utah legislative session runs for 45 days, concluding on March 7 at midnight. A daily schedule of committee and chamber debate, as well as the hundreds of individual bills sponsored by lawmakers for consideration, can be found at le.utah.gov.