Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s plan would also offer city employees up to $500 for a range of products and services, including lift tickets, student loans and gym memberships.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City City Hall in 2022. Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s fiscal 2024 budget includes a program that would reimburse city employees for a variety of expenses, including those incurred when they travel out of state for abortions or other medical procedures.
Starting next year, Salt Lake City could begin reimbursing its employees who travel out of state for abortions and other forms of medical care.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s fiscal 2024 budget includes a proposal to create lifestyle savings accounts, a sum of money that city employees can draw on to pay for a broad list of products and services, from ski passes and student loans to season tickets in gym and travel for medical treatment.
We created this policy around the needs of our employees, Mendenhall said in an interview, and wanting to make sure they can cater for whatever their family’s unique needs are.
The fund would not cover the medical procedures themselves, the mayor said, but would apply to travel costs incurred to access treatment. Mendenhall’s plan would give employees up to $500 to cover eligible costs.
When specifically asked whether the money would cover travel expenses for employees seeking out-of-state abortion services, the mayor said he would reimburse any health care and medical travel needs.
Mendenhall said employees could use the fund to pay for travel to places that treat rare forms of cancer, to reputable medical centers like the Mayo Clinic or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, or if they moved to the city for work at the their previous provider to end their current treatment.
These are real-life scenarios, she said, that this bill could help reimburse travel expenses related to those health care needs.
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(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Utah Capitol in February 2023. Conservative state lawmakers have previously reversed progressive policies enacted by Salt Lake City’s progressive leaders.
Mendenhall’s avoidance of the word abortion comes amid decades of tension between Salt Lake City and the legislature. City hall officials have long seen progressive policies in Utah’s bluish capital shot down by a red-dominant Capitol.
Representatives from Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson R-Kaysville and State Senate Speaker Stuart Adams R-Layton said they had not heard of Mendenhall’s proposal and had not had a chance to review it.
Public funding for abortion is illegal in Utah except in a few cases, including those involving rape and incest.
Mendenhall said the introduction of citizen programs came about a year after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s landmark ruling that had protected the constitutional right to abortion nationwide for nearly 50 years was just a coincidence.
In Utah, a law that would ban abortion with limited exceptions in Beehive state was temporarily blocked just days after the high court ruled that abortion laws would be left up to the states. Lawmakers expanded that law earlier this year to ban abortion clinics. The new provision has also been suspended.
It is now up to the state Supreme Court to decide whether the law conflicts with the Utah Constitution. Meanwhile, abortion remains legal in Utah for up to 18 weeks, with some exceptions beyond that limit.
In a statement, Planned Parenthood Association of Utah president and chief executive officer Kathryn Boyd lauded the city’s proposal as an ultra-flexible benefit that gives employees and their families access to much-needed health care.
Everyone wants the assurance that they can take care of their family members no matter what, and Salt Lake City is meeting that need, he said. We hope this new benefit catches on in other communities.
The program would keep SLC competitive
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, speaking in January 2023, says the proposed repayment program will help the city remain competitive as an employer.
According to city staff, Salt Lake City is likely the first public sector entity in the state to consider offering a lifestyle savings account to employees.
An employee advisory committee has told the administration it would like to see child care reimbursements, the mayor said. But because many city workers are childless, the human resources department has proposed a large program to cover a range of expenses.
Mendenhall said programs like the one he’s proposing help keep the city competitive as an employer. Utah’s capital, she said, competes with the private sector for workers more than it does with other governments.
Pledging to reimburse those who may need to travel elsewhere for an abortion is not entirely new to the Hive State.
This year, Michelle Hyncik, president of the recently reformed Utah Royals from the National Women’s Soccer League, said the club has always had a policy that allows women across the organization to be reimbursed for costs if a certain medical procedure it is not supplied in Utah.
From our perspective, said team co-owner Ryan Smith, it was important across all of our organizations that such a medical benefit be available.
Board Chairman Darin Mano said Salt Lake City wants to be the best employer in the state and offer benefits that improve the lives of its workers.
It’s important that employees are given the tools they need, she said, to meet life’s challenges.
The program still needs scrutiny by the City Council next month to be included in the final budget. Mano said unless the public expresses strong opposition to the proposal, he expects the board to adopt the benefit.
If approved, employees will be able to apply for refunds starting in January.
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