1. Committee Business

Chair Styler called the meeting to order at 9:24 a.m.

Mr. Allred presented the General Fund reductions proposed by the majority party joint leadership. He distributed "General Fund Reductions - Natural Resources Appropriations Subcommittee," "Options for Balancing the Budget Including Cuts in Public Education," "Incremental Options for Balancing the Budget Holding Public Education Harmless," and "Majority Party Joint Leadership Balanced Budget - FY 2003."

Mr. Allred summarized the proposed General Fund reductions for the Department of Agriculture and Food.

Mr. Cary Peterson, Commissioner of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture and Food, emphasized the need to retain the meat inspection program, and indicated a reduction of funds could affect the federal match program.

Mr. Kyle Stephens, Director, Division of Regulatory Services, indicated the Division has been working on a proposed fee structure for regulatory services.

Ms. Renee Matsuura, Director, Agency Administration Services, stressed the difficulty of having the proposed regulatory services fees in place in the next few weeks.

Dr. Mike Marshall, State Veterinarian, Animal Industry, provided information on brand inspections.

Mr. Mike Bodenchuk described planned predatory animal control needs and indicated that reductions would be achieved through less helicopter hours.

Mr. Gordon Yonkers, Utah Association of Conservation Districts, discussed the needs of resource conservation and distributed the "Farm Bill - Utah Estimate Allocation."

Mr. Lee Roderick, Utah State University, indicated Climate Center budget would probably be discussed in USU's budget in Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee.

MOTION: Rep. Johnson moved to accept leadership's proposal for General Fund reduction for the Department of Agriculture and Food with the recommendation to reinstate funds for Meat Inspections, Predatory Animal Control, and move the reduction from Resource Conservation Administration to Resource Conservation on line 68. The motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Bob Morgan, Executive Director, Natural Resources, distributed a handout that compared the General Fund increases in FY 1994 to FY 2003 and the decreases in FY 2001 to FY 2003. He expressed his concern with the decreases that have been made in funding for the Department of Natural Resources the over past two years.

Mr. Allred summarized the proposed general fund reductions for the Department of Natural Resources.

Mr. Morgan described the environmental concerns of the Species Protection program reductions.

Mr. Kevin Conway, Assistant Director, Wildlife Resources, emphasized the importance of leaving some money in the Wildlife Resources Reimbursement fund to allow for federal matching funds.

Mr. Randon Wilson, Chair, This is the Place Foundation, expressed concern with the proposed reduction in funds for This Is the Place Heritage Park.

Mr. Courtland Nelson, Director, Parks and Recreation, explained the program to purchase lawn care equipment for future use of Soldier Hollow and explained that golf course fees pay for lawn care equipment.

Ms. Kim Hardy, Deputy Director, Utah Geological Survey, expressed the need for flexibility to shift reductions to other programs to reduce the loss of matching federal funds.

Mr. Larry Anderson, Director, Water Resources, explained they could live with the reductions if they had the flexibility to use other funds.

Mr. Nelson indicated he would discuss with Mr. Wilson any assistance that may be available to This is the Place Foundation.

The Subcommittee recommended Mr. Allred work with the Department of Natural Resources to finalize a recommendation for reductions.

2. Adjourn

MOTION: Sen. Hellewell moved to adjourn the meeting at 12:03 p.m. The motion passed unanimously with Sen. Allen absent for the vote.