Unfinished business: Cox administration reflects on triumphs and trials from the first 4 years

SALT LAKE CITY — The end of 2024 marks the end of Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s first term and the beginning of his second four-year term in office.

As the year comes to a close, nearly three dozen Cox appointees who head Utah’s governing offices wrote letters highlighting what they see as Cox’s biggest accomplishments.

But their responses also point to some of the state’s largest challenges that remain unresolved.

What stood out from Cox’s first term in office?

The way state agency leaders put it, Cox inherited the complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic and a historic drought upon transitioning from lieutenant governor to governor in January 2021. But a focus on streamlining government operations and tackling funding and regulatory hurdles helped the state emerge even stronger.

Just in 2024, Utah received recognition as the best state in the nation — for the second consecutive year; the best state to start a business; the most affordable state; and the state with the best economic outlook — for a record 17th consecutive year.

Here’s what the state’s agency leaders say stands out from Cox’s first term:

• Water: Joel Ferry, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, pointed out that Cox helped negotiate over $1 billion in investments to improve Utah’s water scarcity. Policy changes included establishing the Water Enhancement Trust to benefit the Great Salt Lake and funding agriculture optimization.
• Education: Rich Nye, the governor’s senior adviser for education, praised the school choice compromise Cox helped to negotiate that resulted in a $6,000 pay raise for teachers and that “generated new interest in education as a profession.” This was part of what Nye said was a record $2.6 billion spent on Utah’s K-12 system, including $130 million for rural school construction needs.
• Social media: Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of the Department of Commerce, focused on the Cox-led initiative to pass legislation “regulating social media companies to protect minors.” This included a law requiring age-verification for porn websites as well as lawsuits against Tik Tok and Meta alleging that the tech giants knew their products harm young users.
• Healthy dialogue: Gordon Larsen, the governor’s senior adviser for federal affairs, reflected on Cox’s high-profile role as chairman of the National Governors Association from 2023-2024 which gave Cox a megaphone on important Utah issues, like public lands and energy permitting, and allowed the governor to present his “Disagree Better” initiative on the national stage.

What will Cox prioritize in a 2nd term?

As his first term drew to a close, Utah’s governor made big commitments that have yet to be fulfilled.

The places where Cox has taken the boldest public stances include the complicated questions of chronic homelessness and public land management, as well as housing and energy, which Cox has repeatedly said are his biggest priorities.

But as Cox enters a second term, these are the issues where his advisers and appointees had the least to say by way of measurable outcomes.

• Homelessness: Wayne Niederhauser, the state’s first Homelessness Coordinator, outlined how the newly created Office of Homeless Services secured funding for deeply affordable housing units, initiated microshelter and case management pilot programs, and planned a centralized homelessness campus. However, chronic homelessness has doubled in the state since 2019.
• Public lands: Redge Johnson, executive director of the Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office, applauded Cox’s support for the state’s lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court questioning the federal government’s management of public lands. However, it is uncertain whether the court will take up the case which will cost tens of millions in taxpayer dollars for legal fees and advertising.
• Energy: Ferry touted the purchase of the San Rafael Energy Research Lab, which focuses on sustainable power sources, and the governor’s Operation Gigawatt, an initiative to double the state’s energy production, in part by investing in nuclear energy. While Utah boasts some of the cheapest energy in the country, Rocky Mountain Power proposed a 30% rate increase in July.
• Housing: In 2023, Cox appointed Steve Waldrip as the first senior adviser for housing strategy. A flurry of housing bills passed in 2024 seeking to simplify regulations, subsidize home ownership and incentivize starter-home construction with the goal of building 35,000 homes in five years. However, Waldrip said the fruit of these efforts “is many years off.”

Following the June Republican primary debate for governor, Cox said his biggest regret from his first term was his inability to do more on what he says is his top issue: housing affordability. After three years of passing dozens of bills meant to increase the supply of starter homes in Utah, “none of them really made a dent,” Cox lamented. “This is the single most important issue in our state.”