Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall speaks during a media round table at the Salt Lake City & County Building in Salt Lake City on March 21, 2025. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch)
While reflecting on the “good, the bad and the ugly” of the 2025 Utah Legislature, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said she was left feeling “deeply concerned” about the “tenor” that came from Capitol Hill this year.
Lawmakers’ efforts to expand their power and exert control — especially over Salt Lake City — was a clear theme that underscored the 45-day session. And that was not at all lost on Mendenhall, who told reporters during a media roundtable on Friday that lawmakers’ appetite to take control of Salt Lake City in various ways has grown to new “punitive” heights.
“I really have a hard time seeing how anybody who says they believe in smaller government and local control would ever actually support what happened in the Legislature this year,” Mendenhall said.
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The mayor — who handily won reelection in 2023 — acknowledged that this has long been a dynamic between the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature and Democratic Salt Lake City, which is a blue dot in a sea of red in an otherwise highly conservative state. As the capital city — which is also home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the dominant religion in Utah — state leaders have always taken a special interest in what goes on in Salt Lake.
“We’ve long had disagreements politically with the state legislature, long before my administration and probably even before I was born. That’s not a new relationship between Salt Lake City and the state,” Mendenhall said.
But this year, lawmakers brought it to a whole new “punitive” level, she said.
“And there was an audacity to some of the proposals that we saw, some of which didn’t pass, others did,” she said. “Ones that really sought to control our residents’ lives and to narrow our city’s ability to function as a municipality.”
Sitting in front of a white board with a list of bills — some good, some bad, and some terrible, from Salt Lake City’s perspective — Mendenhall highlighted several pieces of legislation impacting Salt Lake City, including:
- HB77, which prohibits many flags — including LGBTQ+ or pride flags — from being displayed not just in school classrooms, but also all government buildings. The bill would only allow flags included in a prescriptive list, which includes the U.S. flag, the state flag, military flags, Olympic flags, college or university flags, and others.
- HB267, a bill to ban public unions from collective bargaining. Currently, just Salt Lake City’s police and fire departments, and a handful of the state’s school districts, have unions that engage in collective bargaining.
- SB195, an omnibus transportation bill that inserted the Utah Department of Transportation’s oversight over Salt Lake City’s ability to manage its own streets.
- HB465, a bill that would have originally forced Salt Lake City to partner with the Department of Public Safety to respond to police homeless encampments and drugs or else risk losing state funds — but was ultimately watered down to remove punitive measures. The bill also now allows the state to use eminent domain to condemn “unincorporated property owned” by Salt Lake City to site a new homeless shelter.
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Those were just a few of the 345 bills — plus another 523 substitute bills — that Mendenhall said her team tracked this year. That marked a 23% increase in the pieces of legislation Salt Lake City had an interest in compared to last year.
“Without question, we saw an incredible amount of focus on our capital city in this legislative session,” Mendenhall said.
Mendenhall had a fiery response to one of the most controversial bills — HB77, the bill to ban flags including LGBTQ+ or pride flags in schools and on government property — which has special implications for Salt Lake City because it hosts the Utah Pride Festival and Pride Parade every year at Library Square.
“My encouragement from my lips to God’s ears is that Gov. (Spencer) Cox will veto HB77,” she said. “It is not reflective of the values of this community, of our capital city, and I think of many of the businesses who choose to locate here because of the welcoming and inclusive culture of Salt Lake City. We are an asset to the state of Utah because of our welcoming position to diversity and LGBTQIA rights.”
Asked if Salt Lake City will sue over the bill if it becomes law — which critics argue violates free speech rights — Mendenhall told reporters, “our attorneys are evaluating that right now.”
The flag ban bill has also stirred drama as Salt Lake City, Park City and Utah state leaders work to entice the Sundance Film Festival to stay in the state. Last week, the Hollywood news site Deadline quoted an unnamed “Sundance insider” expressing frustrations with the bill, and the outlet reported HB77 could be an “eleventh-hour obstacle” that could impact Utah’s chances of keeping the film festival.
Drama over Utah’s bid to keep Sundance heats up over LGBTQ+ flag ban bill
While Cox told reporters Thursday that Sundance organizers have told leaders “very clearly that political issues have nothing to do with the decision,” Mendenhall said she worries the flag ban could indeed jeopardize Salt Lake City and Park City’s efforts to keep Sundance.
“I think there’s a strong track record of bills that have changed the outcome of locations of major sporting events and major conventions,” she said. “I think it would be harmful to our effort to retain Sundance.”
Why do Utah lawmakers have their crosshairs fixed on SLC?
The mayor said she and legislative leaders have a strong working relationship — so she doesn’t suspect strained relationships or a lack of “respect” to be what fueled so many bills targeting Salt Lake City this year. Rather, she said it boiled down to a variety of political and economic factors that are causing lawmakers to want to be involved in Salt Lake City’s governance.
“These lawmakers have my phone number. They know they can talk to me. They know I will show up. They know I will negotiate in good faith,” she said, adding that she appreciated the lawmakers who did take advantage of her “open door” and negotiated with her on many of the bills, “which is why we ended in a better place than we started out.”
However, she said at times it was “disappointing” when those negotiations would not be reflected in substitute bills, some of which ultimately passed.
“It was a long 45 days for us,” she said.
While there’s always been a power dynamic between Salt Lake City and the Utah Legislature, Mendenhall said in recent years — really since 2018, when lawmakers first created the Utah Inland Port Authority despite outcry from city leaders about a “power grab” of city land use and taxing authority — lawmakers have been incrementally asserting more control over cities.
“I do think that this has been gradually escalating power,” she said. “So I’m not particularly surprised, although I think that this pendulum swing of how far they’re willing to go was farther this year than I’ve ever seen.”
So why was this year different?
Mendenhall said growing state interest over Salt Lake City stems from an increasingly divisive political climate — as well as wanting to be not only involved, but a key decision-maker in major events and developments coming to the city, from the Olympics in 2034 to major league sports teams.
“Salt Lake City is strong, and there’s a lot of good growth that’s happening here,” she said. “And I think the state wants to benefit and be a part of some of those growth conversations that they weren’t necessarily aligned to participate in originally.”
The Legislature’s top two Republican leaders — Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper — both issued statements Friday addressing Mendenhall’s comments while also signaling willingness to keep working together.
“We appreciate working with Mayor Mendenhall and all local leaders as we craft policies that serve our state’s and capital city’s best interests,” Adams said. “While there may be differences of opinion on certain issues, our goal remains to ensure that legislation supports the long-term success, safety and well-being of all Utahns. Throughout the legislative process, we welcome input from stakeholders across the state and remain committed to open dialogue and collaboration.”
Schultz said while the state and Salt Lake City’s constituents run the political spectrum, there’s a reason why state leaders have an interest in the capital city.
“I recognize that state and city leadership have different constituencies and, at times, different approaches to addressing challenges. Mayor Mendenhall and I may not always see eye to eye, but I respect her commitment to serving Salt Lake City,” Schultz said. “As the capital, Salt Lake City plays a critical role in Utah’s economy and overall success. That’s why collaboration between state and city leadership is essential. While city policies reflect local priorities, they also have broader impacts on the entire state. It’s important that we keep an open dialogue and work together on the long-term success of Utah.”
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