Today is the start of the 2022 Utah Legislative session!  What will it bring?

Last Thursday, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce held its annual Economic Summit, where they talk about what the state’s economy looks like, what the outlook is for the coming year, and with the legislative session right around the corner, what the Chamber’s legislative priorities are for this year.

You really get the sense that rapid growth, housing affordability and quality of life are right up there this year.  For example, in the category of business climate & economy, one of the priorities is:

We support policies that are geared towards smart growth strategies.

Okay.  To say you support smart growth is one thing, but that is a really fluid term.  What does the Chamber mean by smart growth?  Well, we get a better definition in the list of priorities for housing:

We support incentivizing housing near high-capacity transportation, jobs and other destinations, including transit-oriented, mixed-use developments that make smart use of land and allow residents to live in walkable, accessible communities.

This theme is carried on in the priorities for infrastructure and transportation:

We support local governments’ intentional efforts to plan and zone for mixed-use, multifamily and missing middle housing in coordination with high-capacity transportation and transit service. We also support requiring local governments to consider long-range regional transportation plans as they develop their general plans and zoning decisions.

There are more priorities listed that deal with land use, growth and quality of life.  You can take a look at the Chamber’s entire list here.  This list not only seeks to tell state officials and legislators what the business community thinks is important, but local governments as well, as many of them would require action at the local level.

Should be a most interesting legislative session this year!