Lawmakers push for funding of State Hospital remodel
From KSL.com
By Adam Thomas
SALT LAKE CITY — There's growing support among state lawmakers to spend $2 million on the Utah State Hospital.
The hospital has a wing for mentally ill children, and it's not in the best shape.
"I, frankly, was appalled," one lawmaker said. "If you were down there to see it, you would be ashamed."
One after another, lawmakers made a pitch Wednesday to get $2 million to design a new pediatric wing, but Rep. Jen Seeling, D-Salt Lake City, put it more bluntly.
"It is a pig hole," Seeling said.
She called it a value statement about how the state treats vulnerable and sick children.
"[We're] warehousing them in a deplorable pit of disgust," Seeling said.
The amendment passed and was sent to the Senate.
E-mail: athomas@ksl.com
