The problem with the “Authorities” the legislature likes to create
Photo courtesy of E P Kosmicki.
UPHE member Malin Moench is a retired legal analyst who has decades of experience in econometric modeling work. He’s written a handful of wonderful op-eds on some of our priority issues, including the Inland Port, and the proposed mine for Parley’s Canyon.
His most recent op-ed in the Deseret News describes our concerns with “Authorities” created by the legislature, like the Utah Inland Port Authority, and the overarching one proposed by SB337 – “Unfortunately, authority decisions to distribute these financial gifts to specific developers and specific projects are not made objectively by the “invisible hand” of free markets, where all the needed information is open and public. Their decisions are unavoidably political. Legislators (or their proxies) sit on authority boards to influence where development zones will be established, which private developers and which projects will benefit from tax subsidies, and which will obtain below-market-rate loans. Typically, these decisions are being made by non-experts behind closed doors, heavily influenced by developers whose private interests are at stake. What could possibly go wrong with such a process?”
Too often, these authorities exclude public health and ecological professionals, treating critical environmental and health considerations as secondary concerns rather than fundamental ones. Decisions about development, industry, and land use should be guided by those with expertise in the fields they impact—not politicians and their appointees acting behind closed doors. Furthermore, these authorities create an unfair financial shield between taxpayers and the allocation of public funds, allowing subsidies and tax breaks to be distributed without transparency or true public oversight. Instead of serving the public good, they function as mechanisms for funneling resources into private hands at the expense of community well-being.
Malin Moench goes on to describe, “To implement the Council’s policy, its Chief Executive Officer could decide which of Utah’s geographic zones will be spared and which will be covered with asphalt and concrete using just a map and a magic marker. He could then order the proposed new Beehive Development Authority to reach into its bag of tax subsidies and make it happen.
