Time will tell how bills from the 2017 Utah Legislative Session will affect the Uintah Basin. As Chief Sponsor of SJR-14, a joint resolution regarding jobs in rural Utah, Senator Kevin Van Tassell says business expansion and development will be encouraged in rural Utah, striving to create 25,000 new jobs over the next four years. Utah knows how to create jobs but not always in rural Utah, shares Senator Van Tassell. “I believe we can have diversity.” One of the obstacles for areas like the Uintah Basin is that programs to help job expansion are less available because high incomes in the oil field put the average income as too high to qualify. Now, if a county is over 3 percent unemployment that county can apply for the programs available, explains Senator Van Tassell, allowing for expansion and the diversity of jobs which will be a great opportunity for the Uintah Basin.
