Utah State Representative Candice Pierucci is making it a priority to stop taxpayer dollars from being used to purchase technology from CCP-owned companies. In video comments provided to China Tech Threat (CTT), Rep. Pierucci talks about her bill, the Public Entity Restrictions bill (HB 404) that received unanimous support at the committee level and will next be taken up for a vote buy the full House.
“I’m running legislation that would prohibit Utah’s official entities, funded by taxpayer dollars, from making any purchases from Chinese-owned companies with technology that could be used to influence and collect data on citizens. It is about safeguarding our taxpayer interests and dollars and making sure we aren’t funding the CCP,” said Rep. Pierucci.
Updated research by CTT found Utah continues to spend taxpayer money on risky technology, spending a combined $51,025,679 on restricted Chinese technology from Lenovo, Inc. and Lexmark, Inc. between 2018 and 2024.
According to data on accessed through Transparent Utah, since the original research in 2023, the state has spent an additional $2,631,049 in 2024, $6,188,533 in 2023, and $7,741,105 in 2022 on restricted Chinese technology from Lenovo, Inc. Additionally, CTT accessed previously unreported purchases of Lexmark, Inc. technology totaling $63,548 between 2018 and 2023.
Rep. Pierucci has a strong record of bills to protect Utah from CCP influence, and has passed legislation to prohibit China from purchasing land in Utah and shutting down Utah’s Confucius Institutes that were funded by the CCP.