Utah’s housing, economy and more: What Gov. Spencer Cox said is a priority this legislative session

SALT LAKE CITY  — Utah Governor Spencer Cox spoke with Inside Sources on Tuesday about his priorities during Utah’s 2026 legislative session, including how many bills have been proposed so far and how tax cuts implemented through the “Big Beautiful Bill Act” affects Utah’s budget.

What follows is a portion of the discussion, and a link to the full podcast.

This transcript has been edited by KSL NewsRadio for brevity. 

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Housing and homelessness

COX: “Certainly, the cost of living is a big deal for people in this state. We remain committed to making sure that we have housing, attainable housing for our kids and grandkids and for every Utahn. We’re very worried about homelessness, in Salt Lake City especially, but in Ogden, St. George, all across the state. Making sure we have the resources to hold people accountable and get them the help that they need.”

Education and social media

COX: “We have a huge literacy initiative that we’re working on. Literacy is a foundation to education and we know that if kids can’t read by third grade, the outcomes are not going to be positive for them, and so we’re going to be working very closely to help in that sphere as well. And then, again, protecting our kids and our grandkids. We remain committed to holding social media companies accountable and leading the nation in that space.”

Listen to the full interview👇

 

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

INSIDE SOURCES HOST GREG SKORDAS: “What’s the state of our state’s budget right now? It seems like every year, thanks to you all, we have a surplus, we’re fine, we don’t ever go into deficit. But the margins seem to be getting less and less.”

COX: “We’ve been very fortunate to have the number one economy in the country, we led the nation in GPD growth two years ago, we haven’t seen the 2025 numbers yet but we’ll be top five again in that space and that’s good for us.

What’s challenging the budget this year happened in the federal level. So, when the Trump tax cuts through the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ were passed, we’re what’s known as a conforming state so our laws automatically conform to whatever the federal laws were. It’s good for Utahns, it’s about a $300 million state tax cut for Utahns, and that’s already baked into this budget… one of the biggest tax cuts in our state’s history is already baked in. But it just happened that, that was kind of what we were looking at for surplus this year as we moved into the budgeting process was about $300 million. So, yes the margins are going to be tight, but that’s okay.”

Too many bills

INSIDE SOURCES HOST HOLLY RICHARDSON: “I think I remember, it was a couple years ago you said, ‘That bill could have been an email.’ As of this morning there were 484 bills numbered and drafted. Is that too many?”

COX: “Oh yeah. It’s way too many. In fact, there’s probably 1,200 bill files open, you mentioned how many are drafted, that used to be the limiting factor was that there wasn’t enough attorneys to draft bills, which was a good thing. Sadly they added some attorneys so they’re drafting more and more bills. It’s just way too many…”

Watch the full interview👇

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Other stories on the 2026 legislative session:

• ‘Utah is the hope of America:’ What will be discussed during the 2026 legislative session
• Utah Legislature addresses Utah housing growth and challenges