September 01, 2020 (Rod Arquette Show) - Peter Reichard, President of the Utah Foundation, joins Rod to discuss the foundation’s latest report on voter concerns, which found government spending and taxes are high on that list for Utah voters. Listen at 1:23:48
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 26, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation releases the second in a series of Utah Priorities Project briefs looking at Utah voters’ top concerns. State Taxes and Government Spending ranked second in July. Concern is driven in part by the economic crisis and a recent attempt at major tax reform.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 19, 2020 (Salt Lake Tribune) - One day a guy calls a lawyer and asks how much he charges for a consultation. The lawyer says he’ll answer three questions for $350. “That’s kinda steep, isn’t it?” the guy asks. “Yes,” the lawyer responded. “Now what’s your third question?” All the best lawyer jokes play on pretty much this same theme, that if you ever need a lawyer it’ll cost you. And, like all jokes, there’s an element of truth to it. … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 18, 2020 (Standard-Examiner) - Income inequality is on the American mind, with an economic crisis upon us, tensions on the streets, and a growing sense that an increasingly remote elite is controlling an increasingly disproportionate share of the nation’s wealth. Concerns are emanating from right, left and center. One prominent observer is now even arguing that an age of “neo-feudalism” is nigh. Utah Foundation recently explored income inequality in a series of briefs in our “Significant Statistics” series. Our … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 16, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation releases the first in a series of Utah Priorities Project briefs looking at Utah voters’ top concerns. Health care (costs and accessibility) ranked first in July 2020, maintaining its top spot since the 2016 Utah Priorities Project. When asked their top priority regarding health care costs, nearly half of voters focused on health insurance costs, possibly because Utahns are more likely than the residents of any other state to have employer-sponsored health insurance. … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 07, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - While Provo, Utah, made national news in July as the location of a protest against masks, does it really reflect a majority of Utah voters? Should there be a state mandate for masks? In a Utah Foundation blog post see what Utahns think and how it breaks down along urban/rural and ideological divides. Significant Statistic | How Utahns View the National Masquerade
Direct Link: Read Full Article
August 09, 2020 (Wasatch Gazette) - Mike Parsons, Public Affairs Director at Cumulus Media, sat down with Utah Foundation Research Director Shawn Teigen to talk about What’s on Utah’s Mind: Voter Issues and Concerns in 2020. The conversation was part of the Wasatch Gazette that plays on Sundays on: B98.7 KBER101 K-Bull 93.3 860am Power94.9 Listen to the interview here.
August 04, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - The Utah Foundation has released What’s on Utah’s Mind: Voter Issues and Concerns in 2020. This report – the first release in the 2020 Utah Priorities Project series – outlines voters’ top concerns. The project uses surveys to inform candidates for elected office, elected officials, civic leaders and others on voters’ priorities. It draws from a survey taken before the coronavirus pandemic hit Utah and from a second one taken this summer.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
July 20, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - There has been a sharp decline in government jobs since the pandemic began affecting Utah’s economy in March. From March to May, nearly 20,000 government jobs disappeared – a 7% decline. This is roughly proportional to the decrease in jobs overall – 6%. This contrasts with the previous recession, when jobs overall decreased 6% from 2008 to 2010 while government jobs actually increased by 3% over the same time period.[1] Still, there is a major long-term decline … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
July 17, 2020 (Utah Public Radio) - A new report from public policy researchers finds that over 50% of homeless service providers are facing a variety of challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report from the Utah Foundation, a non-partisan public policy research group, focuses on Salt Lake County homeless services providers, such as shelters, advocacy groups, and food banks. The report states that providers face a variety of challenges right now.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
July 10, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation releases Keeping Open the Doors of Hope: How the Coronavirus Pandemic is Affecting Homeless Services in Salt Lake County. The report presents findings from a survey of homeless service providers in Salt Lake County exploring the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It is the first in a series of reports on homelessness.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
July 02, 2020 (KUTV 2) - Beyond the Books asked the non-partisan research center Utah Foundation for their take on the wisdom of a public entity giving up money meant for education to stimulate a local economy. “One strong criticism of incentives in general,” says Utah Foundation’s Christopher Collard, “is that the government is getting involved in the private market and is essentially trying to pick a winner.”
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 18, 2020 (Standard-Examiner) - According to a 2019 report from the Utah Foundation, state and local tax incentives are often seen as controversial. Critics view them as public subsidies that distort true economic growth and cause local governments to (at least for a time) forgo tax revenue. Proponents see certain tax credits as a necessary tool to spur development when the private sector can’t. The nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research firm says post-performance tax incentives carry less risk for … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 13, 2020 (Deseret News) - Most Utahns who wind up in court for civil matters like debt collection, eviction and employment issues do so with no attorney, a new report finds. The recent analysis from the nonprofit Utah Foundation also says more than 2 in 3 low-income Utahns don’t think they could afford to hire a lawyer if they needed one. The figures illustrate a shortage of low-cost or free legal help in the Beehive State that creates an uneven … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 11, 2020 (Salt Lake Tribune) - COVID-19 continues to have far-reaching impacts on Salt Lake County’s homeless population and the providers who serve them, according to new data presented Wednesday to the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness. About 16% of organizations surveyed as part of a service gap analysis conducted by the Utah Foundation, a research and analysis firm, say they have reduced services to this vulnerable population during the pandemic, while 2% percent say they’ve temporarily shut down.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 10, 2020 (Deseret News) - Any major economic crisis has a tabula rasa effect, with businesses, investors and individuals pausing to consider big changes. Some will roll out a map of the United States to seek greener pastures. Some of them will decide to place their chips on Utah. Many current Utah residents will just double down. That makes sense, because this state is among the safest of bets. Here are 10 reasons why.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 01, 2020 (Heavy) - Voting during a coronavirus pandemic has become a major issue as states grapple with the current pandemic and the potential of a second wave of coronavirus outbreaks in the fall when the presidential election is set to take place.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
June 01, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah housing building permits decreased from 3,070 in March to 2,089 in April, a 32% decrease. Interestingly, this came just after a March in which the greater Salt Lake City area (MSA) saw the highest number of housing permits in decades, and perhaps ever – over 1,500. The next month, they plummeted: April saw a decrease to just over 800.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 21, 2020 (Fox 13) - As we try to rebound from the pandemic – some Utahns need help with legal issues. FOX 13 gathered some of the resources people can tap into. With so many communities hurting right now financially – there are attorneys who are offering their legal services, free of charge. A new report from Utah Foundation shows that there is a major gap when it comes to lower-income Utahns being represented in civil legal cases.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 15, 2020 (Deseret News) - A new report from Utah Foundation finds a major gap in representation in civil legal cases in Utah. As COVID-19 continues to take an economic toll on Utah families, lower-income households will continue to suffer.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 12, 2020 (KSL News Radio) - Overall, Utah is doing much better than the rest of the United States when it comes to unemployment. But, some of the rural areas of the state are struggling with unemployment more than others. The data from the Department of Workforce Services was compiled by the Utah Foundation who says while a total of 150,000 people filed new unemployment claims over the last seven weeks, there are still 100,000 people who continue to file each … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 12, 2020 (Salt Lake Tribune) - Utah has once again ranked last in the nation in per-pupil spending, a spot it has held for more than two decades — meaning students who started kindergarten when the trend began could have graduated from college in that time. The numbers, released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau, show the state allocated $7,628 per student using totals from 2018, the most recent available. That keeps Utah in its longtime place at No. 51 behind … Continued
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 12, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah employment numbers are bleak, but not as bleak as the national numbers. From February to March, state unemployment increased by 1.1% to 3.6%. This is the second largest monthly increase in the past 45 years. Only in late 2008 was there a larger monthly unemployment increase (1.4%). The state’s unemployment rate will jump much higher for April.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 06, 2020 (Daily Herald) - Debt collectors, landlords and others hold overwhelming advantages in legal resources compared to the low-income people they sue in civil court, says a Utah Foundation report illuminating gaps in the justice system. More funding for private and public entities that support low-income people would help close the gaps identified by the study, Shawn Teigen, principal author of the April 30 report, said in an interview.
Direct Link: Read Full Article
May 06, 2020 (UtahPolicy.com) - Utah Foundation released The Justice Gap: Addressing the Unmet Legal Needs of Lower-Income Utahns. This report focuses on the legal needs of lower-income Utahns – or the roughly 26% of Utah’s population living at or below 200% of the federal poverty line. The purpose is to inform the public of Utahns’ civil legal needs and provide research to help stakeholders with informed decision-making on the future allocation of legal resources.
Direct Link: Read Full Article