SALT LAKE CITY – In his traditional press conference on Mar. 6 summarizing the recently completed general session of the Utah Legislature, Gov. Spencer Cox called the 45-day session “… a really positive experience.”
“As I mentioned earlier today …” Cox told reporters gathered at the Capitol, “I think this is my favorite session (of the Legislature) since I became governor.
“I’m really proud of the members of the Legislature and I think that this was a session that the citizens of Utah should be proud of as well.”
The governor went on to praise lawmakers for their efforts to address literacy, homelessness, social media regulations, housing affordability, energy availability and a host of other concerns.
During the 45-day session of the Legislature that concluded at midnight on Mar. 6, Utah lawmakers proposed a near record of more than 1,000 bills, totaling 606 introduced in the House, 330 in the Senate and 85 resolutions. Other than a handful of proposals that have already been signed into law, Cox now has 20 days to decide whether to enact the more than 500 bills passed by the Legislature.
On a minimum of sleep the following morning, House Majority Leader Casey Snider (R-Paradise) provided an alternative view of the legislative session. At a gathering of Cache County Republicans at the Riverwoods Conference Center, Snider said that he was proud of the fact that lawmakers had also “killed” a record number of bills during the general session.
Ironically, among the bills that did not pass the Legislature was one that would have limited the number of legislative proposals that could be introduced in future general sessions.
In his remarks to the media on Mar. 6, Cox gave lawmakers a well-deserved pat on the back for proving tax relief for Utahn families for the sixth consecutive year.
In addition to a total of $1.4 billion in tax cuts enacted since 2021, the Legislature passed an income tax reduction from 4.5 percent to 4.45 percent during its 2026 session.
While that cut will only provide about $45 a year in tax relief, Utah families are also expected to benefit from a 15 percent reduction in the state’s gas tax starting July 1.
House Bill 575 (Fuel Tax and Supply Amendments), which was signed into law by Cox on Feb. 23, also streamlines state regulations to make it easier to build pipelines in Utah to increase the supply of gasoline.
Finally, the Legislature also passed House Bill 290, increasing the income eligibility threshold for Utah’s Child Tax Credit.
That bill will raise the income limit for the child tax credit by $7,000. That will raise the eligibility threshold from $54,000 to $61,000 for a married couple filing jointly, allowing more working families to qualify.
The Utah Policy Project estimates that HB 290 will benefit an additional 8,000 working families and about 12,000 additional children.
While the Legislature removed some taxes, lawmakers added others, including what Cox called “a targeted ad tax.”
“This is another area where we want to protect our kids,” the governor explained. “Too many of the largest companies in the history of the world have been mining data from our kids and targeting them (with harmful content).”
To raise funds to help address mental health treatment for minors, the 2026 Legislature closed tax loopholes for video streaming services and added new taxes on online content regarded as harmful to minors.
Also with the goal of protecting minors, lawmakers voted to raise the tax on cigarettes by 50 cents per pack and added a $1 tax on alternative nicotine products.
The state budget passed by the Utah Legislature during its 2026 general session totaled $31 billion.