(bright music) - [Announcer] PBS Utah presents the Governor's Monthly News Conference, an exchange between Utah Reporters and Governor Spencer Cox.

- Good afternoon everyone.

It's great to see you all again.

Thank you for accommodating a change in the schedule.

We're doing this on an afternoon instead of a morning and on a Tuesday instead of a Thursday, but it's great to see the members of the media and those who are watching from home.

Now, we just got some good news this morning that I know you've reported on, but Moody's has reaffirmed Utah's AAA credit rating, the highest possible rating that a state can earn.

This might not make front page news headlines everywhere, but here in Utah it definitely matters because what it really means is this, our state is strong, stable, and well managed.

And when economic uncertainty seems to dominate the national conversation, right now, Utah is once again bucking that trend.

So let me give you just a little context.

Right now, only 14 states in the country hold the AAA bond rating from all three major credit rating agencies.

We're one of them, and we've never fallen below that rating, not once.

We didn't get here by accident, and we certainly won't continue to stay here by coasting.

This rate reflects years of smart, careful, and principle decision making across both parties, across multiple administrations, and across every branch of government.

It is a reflection of the hard work that happens behind the scenes in the Office of Planning and Budget, our legislature and our agencies as well.

It's also credit to the culture that we built here in Utah, a culture of living within our means, planning for the long term and taking stewardship seriously.

It's also, well, let me just say this, I know a credit rating doesn't sound like the most exciting thing to most people who are watching today, but here's why it matters to you and your family.

Because of this rating, Utah will continue to have lower borrowing costs.

That means we spend less interest and more on infrastructure, on schools, on roads, water, and public safety.

It means that taxpayers get more value for every dollar, and that's the kind of government we believe in, one that delivers results and doesn't leave future generations holding the bill.

It also sends a signal to investors, to companies, and to national partners that Utah is a safe place to grow, to build and to bet on the future.

Now, I want to be clear, this isn't to say that Utah doesn't have problems.

We're not perfect.

Moody's pointed out some of the real challenges that we face, especially around the price of housing and keeping up with infrastructure demands in a rapidly growing state.

They're certainly right to raise those concerns.

But what they also said, and I think this is key, is that Utah is well positioned to manage those challenges.

And the reason for that is we're proactive because we don't wait for things to become crises, because we believe in common sense problem solving, and we bring people together to get things done.

That's what our new Grit Initiative announced last month, is all about, aligning state dollars with results that matter for real people.

And that's what our new Build Coordinating Council is doing, making sure that we invest wisely and responsibly as we prepare for the growth ahead.

In other words, we don't see this AAA bond rating as a reward.

We see it as a responsibility to keep doing the work, to keep earning the trust of the people we serve, and to certainly stay ahead of the curve.

And let me just say how grateful I am to all the people that make this possible.

Our budget team, our state treasurer, our state agency directors, members of the legislature, you all play a part in this.

And to every Utah public servant who works to stretch taxpayer dollars just a little bit further, thank you.

Utah story is not just about numbers, it's about values.

And I believe this rating reflects something deeper than just financial metrics.

It reflects a shared belief that government works best when it works responsibly, when it plans ahead, and when it puts people first.

So yes, today's rating is really good news, but even more important, it's a reminder of what we are capable of when we choose to be a state of builders.

And with that, I'm happy to take questions.

- Governor, your feelings on President Trump activating the National Guard and sending the Marines to Los Angeles, do you have concerns of what's happening or do you support what is happening?

- Well, look, I have lots of concerns about what's happening in California.

You've seen the videos, you've seen what's happening out there, the riots, the chaos that is ensuing.

Things we saw five years ago and things that should not be happening.

And so I'm sympathetic to a president who wants to make sure that we're protecting lives and property and doing everything possible to make that happen.

Obviously, there are responsibilities that fall, responsibilities that fall on governors, responsibilities that fall on local leaders and responsibilities that fall on our national leaders as well and the president.

The law seems pretty clear, although it looks like there's going to be a lawsuit and some debate about that.

I do think it is legal for the president to do that.

Whether it's wise or not, when things get out of control, somebody has to stop it.

And so I'm grateful that we have a president who's willing to act to help stop that.

We will not allow that type of rioting to happen here in Utah, here in our capital city or anywhere else.

And we'll be prepared to make sure that doesn't happen.

- Governor, you have a deadline coming up of June 21st on the HB 267 referendum, the collective bargaining referendum.

That would be the day you need to declare whether or not you're gonna call a special election.

What's your thought process on that?

Will there be a special election in November?

- Yeah, we'll continue to look at that.

Again, the referendum process has moved forward.

We have the option of being able to call an election this year or next year, and so that's something we've certainly looked at.

We'll continue to look at, you know, we're having conversations with lots of people, having conversations with the legislature, having conversations with county clerks who have to oversee those elections, and just trying to see what's best.

Is it best to get it on now and get it over with?

Is that easier?

Is it too much pressure on places that won't be having an election?

Even though there is an election in November, not every municipality will have one.

if you don't have people sign up to run for mayor, if it's an uncontested election, they don't have to hold the election.

So what kind of a burden would that add?

What would the cost be?

We're looking at all of those.

We'll make a decision as we get closer to that deadline.

- It's not off the table?

- It's not off the table.

We could have a special election this year.

It's still possible - Back on the situation in California.

What do you make of this argument that California tends to make about state's rights?

That this is stepping on state authority, that they don't want it, they don't need it, and yet the president is doing this?

- Well again, the Constitution clearly states that the federal government does have the ability, and federal law also states that the federal government has the ability to call up National Guard troops from the states.

And as a states rights person, I don't love that.

I wish the Constitution didn't say that, and I wish that the federal law doesn't say that, but it does say that.

And so that always is an option.

Now, Ben, part of your question, you said the argument that they don't need it, and I think that's where the real argument is happening.

I think they probably do need it.

Again, I've seen the videos.

The damage that is being done is unconscionable.

And we can't have that in a civil society.

Look, I want Utah to be the best place in the United States to protest.

I want to do everything possible to protect the right of those who want to protest.

We had protests on Saturday, this past Saturday or Sunday.

I guess the protests were on Sunday.

We're going to have, apparently, additional protests potentially on this Saturday.

And I think that's wonderful.

That's also part of the constitution, the ability for people to show up and express their views and do so publicly, the right to assemble.

I want Utah to be the worst possible place to riot.

The minute you start to spray paint the capitol, the second you implement violence or property destruction, we will arrest you and we will hold you accountable and we break up the disturbance that is happening.

We are going to be over prepared and just a word of warning to anybody who is thinking about any type of violence or chaos or property damage or vandalism.

It will not happen here, and you will be held accountable.

So if you want to protest, this is a great place to protest.

If you want to do that, you know, go to California.

- Governor, I would like to bring up the Utah Compact.

You know, you've been pro at it and we know that Utah has been recognized for this, right?

Do you think, or do you still believe the compact's principles are relevant as of right now with everything that's happening right now?

- Sure, yeah, and if you read the compact, too many people only read the end of the compact, not the beginning of the compact, that we also support law enforcement and support actually obeying and defending the laws that exist.

I heard a couple other questions.

Please, yeah.

- On the National Guard aspect, NPR reported on Friday that Homeland Security is requesting 20,000 National Guard troops to help with immigration enforcement, including guard duty and riot control.

This is not an association with the what's happening in LA right now, but it also says that it's gonna be reaching out to red states.

So I am curious, have you heard from the administration about sending guard troops?

Are we sending guard troops?

And what are your thoughts in general?

- Yeah, we haven't heard from the administration about sending guard troops anywhere.

We have had conversations about logistics help, and this has been going on for months, for transportation and logistics around just processing those immigrants who are here illegally, not going hands on, not being a part of anything that ICE is doing.

Right now, the holding facility for Utah is in Nevada.

So if they arrest someone who has an order for deportation, for example, they spend hours processing those people and they have to put 'em in a van and drive them down to the Vegas area.

And that takes a tremendous amount of time.

And we don't have a lot of ICE resources.

So there has been a request for help with the states using their National Guard for that, and they can use training hours for some of those types of things as well.

So those are conversations that are ongoing, but we don't have any requests for anything else.

- If they did say that they wanted the Utah National Guard to be deployed in order to help with immigration enforcement in other states, would you consider sending the troops?

- We would have to look at the situation and consider what's happening in those other states, and if that's a good use of our resources.

Yeah.

Yes.

- I wanna bring your attention to the case of Emiliano, a now 15-year-old juvenile.

This last legislative session you signed Senate Bill 318, which creates a prosecutor conduct commission that oversees claims of prosecutorial misconduct.

On May 23rd, after a lot of briefing and argument, third district court Judge David Johnson issued a 15 page order that disqualified the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office from the case, including the DA himself, Sim Gill.

The judge wrote, and I wanna read this quote to you.

The judge wrote, "In light of the cumulative missteps by the Salt Lake County District attorney's office, including failures to disclose conflicts, a lack of transparency and conduct giving rise to serious ethical concerns, the court finds that the resulting of appearance of impropriety can only be resolved by disqualifying the office from further participation."

Given that a judge has found and documented serious ethical concerns in the juvenile case by the DA's office, would you want the newly formed prosecutor conduct commission to look into this case for potential prosecutorial misconduct?

- I would, yeah.

That's exactly the type of situation that was contemplated when I signed that bill.

Yeah.

- Follow up question to that.

Now, in this case of Emiliano, Sim Gill sent an email out on March 12th to the entire staff about this case saying that the accusations of an inappropriate relationship between the prosecutor and the West Valley city police detective were unsupported, unsubstantiated allegations.

In this ruling, Judge Johnson called that the most troubling.

What is your response to that?

- Well, my response is that he doesn't get to make that determination.

Again, they've already been disqualified.

So an outside organization is gonna have to look into those allegations to see if they're truly supported or not.

I can't take him at his word on this.

- Governor.

- We're gonna move on.

Yeah, please.

- The version of the big beautiful bill, the so-called that passed the house bans the enforcement of state laws that regulate AI systems for 10 years.

Now, Utah has led the nation in AI governance policy.

Do you disagree with these provisions of the big beautiful bill and are Utah's laws evidence the AI regulation can benefit both consumers and industry?

- Yeah, I am concerned with that regulation.

We've been recognized not just across the country, but across the world as having the first and smartest of the AI regulations that have been proposed out there.

And I think as we've had conversations with members of the house, in fact, sadly, a lot of members of the house said they didn't know that was included in the bill.

But as we've had those conversations and talking to our senators as well, there's this misunderstanding, I think, of what the Utah law does and what they're trying to do.

What we're doing is very different.

Our law does not impact the development of AI.

So these large language models, the development, which we are in a global arms race, we admit that and we were very careful with our bills to not tell these models what to do or how to do their business.

What we're focused on is the very practical impact of AI and how it is then being used in commercial applications that impact the residents of Utah.

So this is just normal consumer protection as we would do with anything else.

And what's so smart about what we put together, and again, why it's been recognized everywhere, and I just want to lay this out as well.

AI companies actually support what we are doing because they recognize that this is the right way to do AI regulation as opposed to just piecemeal.

I understand the concern, this idea that every state can just start saying how you're going to develop AI, and that would lead to a hodgepodge, it would make it impossible.

We would fall behind and we would lose this global race that is happening right now.

We're not doing any of that.

What we're doing is giving an opportunity for different segments of AI who want to, again, use their new technology to benefit the lives of people.

So the first space that we're really looking at is using AI for mental health coaching and in mental health, psychology and using it as a stand-in for, because we do have a limit of the number of people who are practicing.

There are wait lists for people.

So this could be a real solution, but there's also the potential for things to go terribly wrong, and the companies know this as well.

So we give them a safe harbor.

They come in, they work with our regulators, they sit down, we figure it out together, and then we run legislation together to protect the people that we're trying to help and make sure that the product actually works in the way it was intended to work.

Everyone we've talked to, literally everyone we've talked to, in the White House, in the US Senate in the US House of Representatives have said, oh, that makes sense.

That's not what we're trying to do with the BBB bill.

So our hope is that the last version of this bill that passes, whatever that looks like, will allow for the smart type of regulation that we're doing in Utah and prevent the bad kind of regulation that would stop AI from reaching its fullest potential.

- Governor, the Federal Compensation program for Downwinders RECA expired one year ago today, and advocates are urging congress to expand it in the reconciliation bill.

Do you still support expanding RECA to cover all of Utah and are you talking with Utah's delegation about that?

- Yeah, we've expressed our support to the delegation and we expressed it at the time it expired.

We'll continue to express support for that.

The repercussions of of that above ground nuclear testing in Utah are very long lasting.

And many of us have family members that have been impacted.

And so I think it's still important.

Utah's not alone, but Utah was significantly impacted, And so we're hopeful that they'll be able to get something done through the reconciliation.

- Are there any renewed discussions?

I know this has been going on for a long time.

- Yeah, I don't know that there's anything new other than just, we still support it and we're hoping something can get done.

- Speaking of morning, the Salt Lake City had a ceremony to raise one of their alternative flags, this one for Juneteenth.

Do you support what Salt Lake City's done to try to get around this ban on Pride flags?

You had said when you signed the bill that you didn't like that it affected government buildings.

- Yeah, and I don't support it.

I mean, they're dumb flags and it was a dumb bill.

- Wait, they are dumb.

- Yeah.

- Pride flags are dumb.

Salt Lake city flags are dumb.

- Yeah.

Salt Lake city flags.

- Okay.

- It's ridiculous.

I mean, you know, I feel bad for the Japanese Americans.

I feel bad for the Polynesian Americans.

I mean, who are we leaving out here, Robert?

I mean, I'm sure they feel great that they got around this dumb law and they did it with dumb flags.

- What do you think should be done?

- The whole thing's dumb.

- Well, what do you think should be done?

- Well, I already said what I thought should be done, we should raise the American flag and let's unify around that.

It's a great flag, represents everyone and the legislature doesn't need to be in everybody's business all the time.

I said that again, we're living in the dumbest timeline right now.

That's all I can say.

Ben.

- I wanted to ask about the state's nuclear ambitions, because clearly there's a lot of memorandums of understanding being signed, but we don't have a sense, and I want to ask you, how big are you planning to go with this?

Because are we talking one plant, two plant, three plants, eight plants?

And how much is this gonna cost and how long is it gonna take?

- Well, hopefully dozens of plants, again, small modular reactors are modular by definition.

And they stack, they build, that's the idea behind it.

We've gotta change our mindset of the Simpsons, the giant nuclear plant where Homer works.

You know, that's not what we're talking about.

These are small modular reactors.

They're safe.

We've gotta change the regulatory scheme to allow that to work.

There will be lots of different companies that are trying to get into this space.

We had a memorandum of understanding that was signed a few weeks ago.

We had another one that was signed this week.

- Yesterday.

- Yesterday.

Yep.

That's right.

That will allow another company to come in.

We're going to be working with all of these companies.

We wanna find the best technology.

We're not betting on any one technology or any one company, that doesn't make sense.

We're betting on the idea that there is going to be a nuclear renaissance.

And it's not just an idea.

This is not a crap shoot.

It's happening, it's happening in China right now where they have dozens and dozens of these plants that are already under construction and going online soon and 160 more that are in some form of proposal.

We're falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to nuclear technology.

And we believe that Utah can be a leader in this space.

And so we want to go big.

The market will decide how big that is.

Government's not going to decide that.

But we're going to present opportunities.

And as we always have been a leader in this mentality that we can still build, we can still make things happen here.

Now in nuclear, we can't do it without the federal government, without the regulatory agency.

But I'm grateful again, with Trump's orders and there's bipartisan legislation where both sides agree.

This is one of the rare things where republicans and Democrats actually really do agree that we need to make way for the small modular reactors.

We need to construct them quicker, and we need to be able to start building again.

- [Ben] How much is this gonna cost though?

- Well, right now, it's not gonna cost us anything.

We have this laboratory space.

We've had it for years.

We're just providing space for these companies to come in and run their new technology there to see if it actually works.

And so that's not gonna cost us anything.

The hope is that it will save us down the road.

Now we do have money set aside for siting, because that is going to take some money and there will be state involvement.

I think I got $10 million from the legislature to work on that.

So that's a start.

It's going to take more, but it'll pay off in the long run once we get those regulatory approvals.

- Is it worth the state's commitment to this to build data centers, essentially to power data centers?

I mean, is that something that we as Utahans should feel good about?

- Yeah, I think so.

- In terms of the water use and if we're going to put this kind of investment into it for that kind of limited purpose.

- Look, I'm fairly agnostic when it comes to data centers.

Data centers are great in that they create a lot of investment in the state.

They don't create a lot of jobs.

So I'm not just a huge proponent of AI data centers, but they're happening and they're happening all across the country and they're coming.

And even if we don't put them here, they're going to draw power from all over the country.

So even if we didn't have a single data center here, we would still need to significantly increase our power production here.

If we're going to significantly increase our power production, we might as well put them here.

And the reason I say that it, Robert, the thing that that worries me most is the water piece.

But the new AI data centers, in fact, we have one here in Utah, they don't use much water at all.

In fact, they've come up with new systems where there's just one influx of water and then it stays in the system.

They're not drying in any new water.

They have the ability to cool that water, but to do that, it takes more power, so that's, that's the give and take.

So you need more power, but less water and that's what we're really focused on.

And so yes, I do anticipate that there will be huge data centers.

We know that, those agreements are already happening.

The market is driving that.

Utah is a great place for data centers because of our elevation, our location on the grid.

You need data centers close to the power sources.

We just passed a law that allows us to put power sources closer to where these data centers are going to be built.

They can be built out of our bad airsheds and in our better airsheds.

And so there's a tremendous amount of opportunity here, which is good for Utah long term.

And we're gonna need the power anyway, so let's build it and let's invite them here.

- Governor, back to the big beautiful bill and one of the provisions that Senator Mike Lee is proposing adding back in would be the sale of some of Utah's federal lands.

What do you know about what may be coming back into the bill?

Are you supportive of those lands that are gonna get sold off?

I know probably generally you are, but kind of the pushback on Maloy's amendment was some of the tribes had issues, some of the environmental groups had issues.

Where do you stand on that?

- Look, I don't know what's going to make its way back.

I mean, those conversations are still happening, if and what it will look like.

I think it will be a little different than what Congresswoman Maloy had proposed.

But we need those lands.

Senator Lee propose this for a long time.

That using lands in and adjacent to our cities for affordable housing is going to be critical.

I like to point out, I pointed this out, I think, last time, that this has been happening in the Vegas area for years.

It's the only place that's been happening because of leadership in the Senate many years ago where they were able to get that done.

And as governors, we were in Nevada in December with our Western Governor's Association.

We got a presentation on what was happening around the affordable housing on BLM land inside and right next to Las Vegas, and it's incredible.

Again, these were left-leaning members of Congress who made that happen.

And so this is not going to hurt the environment.

This is not something that's going to be taking tribal land away at all.

That that was never the intent.

And so we're gonna keep watching that closely and hopefully getting something in there that allows us to do this, - And that's all the time that we have for our television broadcast.

Thank you for joining us for the Governor's Monthly News Conference.

(bright music) - [Announcer] This has been the Governor's Monthly News Conference.

For video and more information, visit pbsutah.org/governor.