Utah lawmakers quickly pass emergency order and funding to address flooding

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox asked the Utah Legislature to extend his state of emergency to address flooding across the state, which was set to expire Thursday. The House and Senate quickly passed that resolution, keeping the emergency order in place until Aug. 15.

Next, Cox wanted lawmakers to move funding around to help the Utah Department of Transportation cover the millions of extra dollars it spent to plow roads this winter and to help with flood response and road damage this spring.

 Lawmakers approved moving $20 million from UDOT’s highway construction fund to its maintenance fund.

The legislature also approved moving more money from wildfire and other budgets. In all, it’s potentially $40 million for flood response.