AGENDA
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND WORKFORCE SERVICES INTERIM COMMITTEE
UTAH LEGISLATURE
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 • 9:00 a.m. • Room 20 House Building
Approximate Time Frame
9:00 1. Committee Business
Call to order
Approval of the minutes of the July 16, 2014, meeting
9:05 2. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
TANF, also known as the Family Employment Program (FEP), is a federal assistance program to help families with children when the parents or other responsible relatives cannot provide for the family’s basic needs. FEP also supports pregnant women in their third trimester. For a household of two, for example, an applicant must have a gross monthly income of $843 or less and may receive $399 in monthly cash assistance for a maximum lifetime duration of 36 months. The federal government provides block grants to states to run the program. The Department of Workforce Services will explain the program, describe recent issues, and explain recent innovations.
Kathy Bounous, Director, Adjudications/Appeals, and General Counsel, Department of Workforce Services
9:50 3. Arts, Libraries, and Museum Grants Program
By statute, a competitive process is provided for awarding grants to eligible applicants for capital facility projects in arts, libraries, and museums. The process requires applicants to submit detailed grant applications, which are then formally reviewed by each of the divisions’ boards. In practice, however, the statutory process is largely circumvented in favor of individual legislators sponsoring funding legislation or an appropriation for each specific project. The Department of Heritage and Arts is interested in the committee’s input on whether the statutory process should be retained and followed, revised, or repealed altogether.
Julie Fisher, Director, Department of Heritage and Arts Brian Somers, Deputy Director, Department of Heritage and Arts
10:10 4. Affordable Housing
In the June 18, 2014, meeting, the committee heard about programs to help Utah residents obtain affordable housing. A suggestion was made to continue the discussion to gain a better understanding of existing programs, including federal programs, as well as possible changes that may be needed to ensure affordable housing for Utah residents in the future.
Tara Rollins, Executive Director, Utah Housing Coalition Terry Feveryear, Executive Director, Salt Lake Housing Authority Steve Erickson, Consultant, Crossroads Urban Center
10:50 5. Utah Fund of Funds Audit
The Utah Fund of Funds is administered by the Utah Capital Investment Corporation. The corporation was statutorily created in 2003 as an independent quasi-public corporation to make venture capital fund investments to provide access to alternative capital to Utah entrepreneurs. The Legislative Auditor General released “A Performance Audit of the Utah Fund of Funds" in August 2014. The audit reviewed operations, determined whether the program is achieving expectations, and evaluated investment and economic development numbers reported by the program. The auditors will present the audit findings to the committee followed by a response from the Utah Capital Investment Corporation.
Darin Underwood, Audit Manager, Office of the Legislative Auditor General Brian Dean, Audit Supervisor, Office of the Legislative Auditor General Bret Jepsen, Managing Director, Utah Capital Investment Corporation
11:50 6. Other Committee Business / Adjourn