Commission backs draft bill to track Utah's exposure to federal funding changes

Salt Lake City — The Federalism Commission voted to advance a commission bill that would create a federal‑funds review process and fund development of a fiscal‑health dashboard to measure Utah's reliance on federal dollars.

Representative Roberts, sponsor of the draft, said the bill has two components: "Number 1, it creates a review of federal funds process that works through this commission . . . Number 2, it creates a fiscal health dashboard, that helps monitor some of the risks that the state has in relation to our federal government partners." The project would pair the commission with the governor's Office of Planning and Budget and the Legislative Fiscal Analyst (LFA).

Utah State University's Analytics Solution Center described a plan to build a data warehouse and a dashboard designed to help planners and legislators model the fiscal effects of shrinking or interrupted federal funding. "We can't manage what we can't measure," said Tyler Brough, research director at USU's analytics center.

Commissioners asked for details about cost and maintenance. The transcript records two related appropriation figures discussed in committee: an early reference to "$650,000" for initial development, and later staff discussion that the bill language contemplates "$500,000 ongoing, $150,000 one‑time" to create and maintain the platform. Sponsors said the precise amount and scope will be refined with a statement of work and LFA input.

Representatives pressed whether the dashboard would be directly editable by LFA and about automation of data feeds. "My goal would be that there would be the ability for us to interact with it and for it to be a tool for LFA," Representative Roberts said; USU presenters said they would design APIs and hand off a deployable tool.

The commission voted, after achieving quorum, to approve the bill as a commission bill subject to amendments and scope clarification during the legislative session. Members emphasized the tool's value for contingency planning, noting that federal funds represent a substantial share of some state budgets and that analyzing duration, reliability and risk of federal sources is central to fiscal planning.

The commission directed sponsors to work with USU and LFA to refine the scope, produce a statement of work and return with cost estimates before final appropriation decisions.

No final appropriation was enacted at the meeting; commissioners characterized the funding numbers discussed as initial estimates pending a defined scope and legislative process.