Utah State Legislature Brief: How USU is Affected by 2026 Legislative Session

LOGAN, Utah — With the close of the 2026 General Legislative Session on March 6, Utah State University is reviewing House and Senate appropriations actions and bills with direct impacts to the university, employees and students. A list of many of these bills is provided below, with a link for more information.

At the time of this publication, some of the following bills have yet to be signed by Gov. Spencer Cox. More information about specific programs will come in the coming weeks.

Employee Compensation

The Utah Legislature approved a 2.5% discretionary salary increase for higher education employees. University officials are still determining the breakdown between cost-of-living increases and flex funding and will share that information after conversations with faculty senate, staff employee association leadership and university administrators.

The compensation increase was appropriated at the traditional 75/25 match rate for degree-granting institutions. This means the state provides 75% of the funding for salary increases, and institutions like USU must fund the remaining 25% with a tuition increase or another source of funding.

During his town hall on March 6, USU President Brad Mortensen said the pay increase implementation is being discussed and more information will be provided over the next month, with the increases going into effect on July 1.

Funding Highlights

As noted by Mortensen in his email to faculty and staff on Monday, thanks to partnerships throughout the state, USU received several one-time and ongoing funding allocations from the Utah Legislature. This funding will go to many areas of need that will strengthen USU’s mission and ability to support students, university stakeholders, and the state and local community. These include:

$1.8 million of funding for performance in access to higher education, timely completion and the percentage of high-yield degrees earned.
Approval of nearly $29 million in dedicated funds for a re-scoped renovation and expansion of the historic Animal Science Building and $165,000 in ongoing funding for building operations.
$750,000 in one-time and $750,000 in ongoing funding for the Center for Civic Excellence.
$150,000 in one-time and $150,000 in ongoing funding for the Analytics Solutions Center to create a public dashboard visualizing the risk of federal fund reductions.
$1.5 million in one-time and $500,000 in ongoing funds to establish an odometry lab and proof-of-concept for communications-based train control on a light rail vehicle line. The goal of this project is to determine the best and most appropriate signaling system for current and future transit operations in the Salt Lake Valley, and to promote a center of excellence at Utah State University for such systems.
$50,900 in ongoing funding for operation and maintenance of USU’s new hazardous waste facility to support research.
$1.9 million in one-time and $650K in reallocated ongoing funds for the new Forest Restoration Institute to expand its role and work with the state’s Watershed Restoration Initiative to fund watershed and forest restoration projects.
$200,000 in ongoing funds for the Rural Business & Agricultural E-Commerce Accelerator.
$85,000 in ongoing funds for the Utah Marriage Commission, operated by USU Extension.
$695,300 in ongoing funds for the Utah FFA Association, operated by QANR’s applied sciences, technology and education department.
$250,000 in one-time funds for a study on impacts of geothermal energy development.
$300,000 in one-time funds for the Bear River Agricultural Education & Resource Center.
$200,000 in one-time funds to address the rise in extreme behavioral issues in Utah elementary schools via the extreme behaviors intervention trial program in the department of social work.
$200,000 in one-time funds to study the teacher academy model in the USU Center for the School of the Future. The study will focus on enhancements to K-12 teacher preparation, effects on educator retention within the first five years of employment, effects on K-12 student achievement, and increased teacher skills and capacity due to participation in the academy.

In addition to these USU specific allocations, the Utah Board of Higher Education also received several allocations that help USU. These include:

$50 million in one-time funding to create a pilot state-level grant program for higher education research funding.
$15 million in one-time funding to secure, develop, and support a dedicated artificial intelligence research data center, which shall serve as a shared research resource available to public institutions of higher education and researchers throughout the state.
$3 million in one-time funding for an energy, artificial intelligence, and deep tech workforce accelerator.
$4.5 million in one-time funding to pilot evidence-based policy grants for education and workforce programs.

Also, prior to the conclusion of the legislative session, the Utah Legislative Executive Appropriations Committee issued final approval for USU to receive the remaining 70% of funding for USU’s Strategic Reinvestment Plan.

Legislation Highlights

The Utah Legislature passed several bills and actions that affect USU and higher education in the state. A list of many of these bills is below. Formal summaries of all bills can be found on the USHE website.