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By Bryon Saxton
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
Governor's signature creates WSU/USU engineering partnership
LAYTON -- Sporting a St. Patrick's Day green tie, Gov. Jon Huntsman sat at a table flagged with "Wildcat" purple and used the power of his pen to transform nine more bills into law.
The ceremonial signing took place before a crowd of about 150 community business leaders at the Weber State University-Davis campus in Layton.
The signings, part of a mini-Wasatch Front signing tour by the governor, were also part of the seven-hour Northern Utah Business and Economic Summit held on the Davis campus.
The summit was sponsored by the Davis Chamber of Commerce.
"This is a phenomenal thing you have got going here," Huntsman told the group.
"It's good to have the governor," said John Pitt, Davis Chamber of Commerce executive director. "We're glad he chose this function to do (the signings) in Davis County."
Before signing the legislation, Huntsman took a few minutes to tout the strong economic growth occurring within the state as it moves into the 21st century.
When a state does well economically, Huntsman said, it is able to fund education.
And this year, he pointed out, lawmakers did just that in giving education a 23 percent increase in state funding for the year.
Huntsman said he would challenge any other state in the nation to be able to show such an increase in spending for education.
With that increase, Huntsman said, came pay increases for teachers, "reminding the world that education is one of the most noble pursuits."
"The right signals were sent," he said regarding the way funding education translates into economic development for the state by giving those employers already here an opportunity to remain here.
One of those employers is Hill Air Force Base, which stands to directly benefit from two bills the governor signed into law Friday.
The first bill, Senate Bill 232, creates a Military Installation Development Authority. It paves the way for commercial development on 600 acres of federally owned property west of the base.
Sen. Sheldon Killpack, R-Syracuse, said the development spanning four cities and two counties makes room for commercial development to serve the base.
One particular industry of interest is aerospace companies, Killpack said.
Another bill signed into law also benefits the base as well as the WSU-Davis campus. Senate Bill 53, sponsored by Sen. Greg Bell, R-Fruit Heights, creates a higher education engineering partnership among WSU, Utah State University and the base.
The bill establishes engineering courses to be offered on the Davis campus.
The partnership with USU will educate engineers needed to fill base jobs, and provide an opportunity for those engineers already working on the base to complete their degree, said Dr. Warren Hill, dean of WSU College of Applied Science and Technology.
"The cooperation between USU and WSU sets an example for other institutions," Hill said.
Huntsman said there are currently 1,000 job openings for engineers across the state.
"And they are high-paying jobs and the jobs we want to keep here," he said.
Other legislation the governor signed into law at the campus included:
* HB 339, Regulation of Cottage Food Production Operation.
* HB 351, Revolving Loan Fund for Certain Energy Efficient Projects, including making schools more energy efficient.
* HB 88, Automated Teller Machine Charges for International Accounts.
* HB 341, Attorney General Crime Violence Prevention Special Revenue Fund, i.e. Amber Alert.
* HB 46, Disaster Recovery Funding.
* HB 103, Statewide Mutual Aid Act.
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