Six months after refusing to set aside any money for promoting a complete and accurate count in next year’s census, Utah lawmakers have belatedly changed their minds.
In Monday’s one-day special session, called mainly to get the state out of the medical marijuana distribution business and turn that responsibility over to the private sector, the Legislature appropriated $1 million to pay for promotional and outreach efforts for the census.
It may seem like a simple matter of counting heads. But, in reality, there are hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants at stake, not to mention population updates that will be used to determine Utah’s congressional districts.