(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
Today’s opening of the Utah Legislature will bring a variety of issues in the spotlight, among them being:
The Budget- addressing the “shortfall” and how/if to use the “rainy day” fund and other measures to generate revenue – and within the budget debate are the hot topics of public and higher education, state retirement system, transportation and taxes on food, as well as the overall raising of taxes issue.
Ethics Reform – including a controversial citizen’s initiative and a package of proposed ethics bills by legislators, inlcuding establishing an independent commission to hear complaints from citizens and putting limits on campaign contributions.
Fair Housing and Employment practice for gays and lesbians – a bill proposed that will afford the GLBT population protection from discrimination in employment and housing
Health Care Reform – an overhaul of Utah’s health care system through a package of bills that intend to divert the current sick care system to a more preventative health care system.
Sex Education – measures to determine how much information students should have access to when it comes to using contraception
Be sure to connect to the Utah Legislature’s website which has a multitude of resources including bill tracking, archived videos of the various sessions and a children’s page. See also Utah Legislature Watch’s post on resources and the various news feeds along the sidebars of our site.
And awaayy we go!
Two years ago my friend Green Jenni, of Jen’s Green Journal, approached me about creating a site to monitor the activity of Utah Legislators and the Legislative Session. I thought it was a fantastic idea. Thus, Utah Legislature Watch was born.
The first year, 2008, there was not much activity as we both were very busy with our lives. Well, we still are very busy with our lives, but last year, 2009, we got in gear and got this project rolling. We were noticed by many and were often called by reporters and journalists for interviews.
Today we have an active site with posts almost daily. We have a few other people listed as authors who occasionally offer posts on the site.
We have a Facebook Fan Page which, as of today, has 600 fans! We also have a twitter page which is also growing.
This year our goal is to visit the Legislature personally during session as much as posslble – difficult to do with our jobs and family obligations, so we’ll see how we can achieve that goal.
We need more writers. If you love to write, contact us (go to the about tab on the site). If you already report on the Utah Legislature, consider becoming a writer for Utah Legislature Watch and cross-post your blog posts.
We are excited to continue growing and reporting on the happenings of the Utah Legislature.
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
Monday is the big day: Opening of the 2010 Utah Legislature. Utah Legislature Watch has tools for readers to use to follow the session on the left sidebar of this site. Here is specific information:
Specifically for Monday, Opening Day:
10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
Opening Ceremonies
Opening Ceremony
Adoption of Rules
Introduction of Bills
Introduction of Staff
Assignment of Bills
11:30 AM – 01:50 PM
Lunch
02:00 PM – 05:00 PM
Floor Time
02:15 PM – 03:30 PM
Joint Convention for the State of Judiciary Speech
House Chambers
Governor Herbert’s State of the State Address will occur Tuesday night at 6:30pm in the House Chambers.
The Legislative District 61 (Utah County) website has tips for citizens as well, which have been pasted here:
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
Here is the latest from Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, to save money:
“Almost all of the industrial world uses 11 grades,” he said. “Why do we use 12? The kids either got their one foot in AP classes in college, or they’re just running around, taking PE.”
Wow, the U.S. has a hard enough time trying to keep up with its counterparts in other countries. So….at the expense of the education of our children, to save money we cut out part of their education?
Where is the logic? Most importantly, where is Sen. Buttars’ evidence to back this statement?
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
If one Utah legislator gets his way, wild wolves will be in great danger if found anywhere in Utah.
State Sen. Allen Christensen has proposed a bill that would require state wildlife officials to capture or kill all wild wolves that wander into Utah – even those in areas where they’re protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.
Christensen, a Republican from North Ogden, said he worries that wolves from neighboring states could eventually decimate Utah’s elk and deer populations and hurt the livestock industry.
First, the deer population is declining due to changing climate and food resources, according to an October 2009 Deseret News article. Second there are measures in place to compensate livestock owners for losses should any occur. Rep. Christensen has no concrete evidence to back this proposal. The proposal is based on "possible" losses.
There are currently no known wolf packs in Utah although a few loners occasionally wander into the state. A radio-collared wolf was captured in a coyote trap in north-central Utah in 2002. That prompted state officials to start a lengthy process to develop a management plan for others that might wander in.
The article in the Billings Gazette continues to point out that a survey of Utah residents found that plan favorable.
Rep. Christensen will fight tooth and nail, using private funders, to get his proposal passed.
Christensen said he’s willing to take his proposal as far as possible, including using it to assert state’s rights and fight it out in court."It’ll take a while to work its way through all the obstacles," Christensen said.
He said he hopes private funding – including from sportsmen and livestock groups – could be used to fight any challenge to the law.
Utah already has a management plan that allows wolves into the state, compensates livestock owners for losses and allows for them to be killed or relocated if they drive down game populations.
Christensen’s bill would take state policy further, though, with the hopes of eliminating any chance wolves could get a foothold anywhere in Utah.
Wolves were wiped out of Utah a century ago for good reason, he said.
"Their lifestyle isn’t compatible with ours. People say that’s a haughty attitude. I’m sorry, we’re here to stay," Christensen said.
This self-righteous attitude has led to a proposal for which there is no basis and therefore will be a waste of taxpayers resources to pursue in the upcoming legislation.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged endangered species, environment, Utah, utah legislature
I have been taking a very long time to write about this – like a year. It has been hard to think about how to write about where I am politically. I think I have finally found the words to express myself in this regard.
I love politics. I love reading and writing about politics and issues that are affected by our political system. If I had more time I would spend as much time as possible on Capitol Hill and I would run for office. I would spend more time writing more lengthy articles for blogs. In my distant past I have written for newspapers on non-political issues. I love writing and I absolutely love interviewing people and creating posts on those interviews. Oh for more time…..but other things take precedence at the moment!
I came to Utah as “non-declared” to a political party. I did not want to be tied to the Democrat (and certainly not Republican!) party. Four years after moving to Utah, I found the Green Party.
I began my political affiliation with the Green Party of Utah (GPUT) in 2001. The Green Party platform was everything I had always believed and valued. I became quite involved and eventually became a delegate to the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) and on to Co-Coordinator of the state party. I ran for Salt Lake County Council in 2006 in my district. I became a leader at the national level on committees. I helped organize local and national Green Party events. I spent nearly every moment of my spare time on Green Party issues, activities, and politics. I maintained lists, participated in weekly conference calls with my colleagues across the nation and I was a part of the GPUS speakers bureau. Political life was good.
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
By now most people know that Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon had been courted for entering into the gubernatorial race for Utah which recently became a reality.
Corroon’s grassroots "Back to Basics" campaign is focused on creating jobs, supporting public education, economic development that supports small and local businesses and renewable energy.
Running a gubernatorial race in Utah as a Democrat is very challenging. Peter Corroon has the passion, leadership, and people skills, not to mention a rapidly growing grassroots support base, to operate a successful campaign. Utah Legislature Watch will be monitoring and reporting on this race.
Read "The Race is On" by One Utah‘s Cliff Lyon
Read about the Corroon for Governor Bloggers Lunch by One Utah‘s Glenden Brown
View the facebook group created by Misty Fowler who was instrumental in initiating the Draft Corroon for Governor campaign and has been an author for Utah Legislature Watch.
and the Facebook campaign page here.
Corroon’s Campaign committee has created this promotional video:
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged corroon for governor, peter corroon, Utah, utah governor, utah legislature
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
Rep. Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City has a piece of legislation in store for this year’s session that will assist women on Medicaid with family planning.
Rep. Jen Seelig, D-Salt Lake City, says she will sponsor legislation in the upcoming session of the Utah Legislature to extend family planning services, including birth control, to two years following childbirth for women on Medicaid. The federal government would pay 90 percent of the cost. The bill may include a provision to extend the service to all families with annual incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
The article points out that private insurance pays for similar services to women and that women on Medicaid should also benefit. Further, since most unwanted pregnancies occur with teens due to Utah’s archaic law that prohibits teens from obtaining birth control, teen women should also benefit from such services.
The CDC cites statistics about pregnancy at its page, Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)
babies born as a result of unplanned pregnancies are more likely to be unhealthy at birth, more often are below-normal birth weight and have to be cared for in costly intensive-care hospital units.
Rep. Seelig’s bill makes sense. This population of women are in need of family planning services and should be able to receive them.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged health care, reproductive health, utah legislature, women's issues
(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)
The L.A. Times is reporting today about the Utah group Peoples Right LLC and its current initiative on ethics reform which is getting signatures…. electronically.
Legal? Maybe. And possibly a precedent for the future. For now, the state elections office will need to decide if the signatures will be accepted.
No state currently allows electronic signatures to be submitted for initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
But The Peoples Right LLC contends that Utah’s electronic signature verification law allows registered voters to submit their names online. The group is using its online system to gather signatures for two initiatives it is seeking to place on the Utah ballot in the fall.
But whether those signatures can be counted will be up to the lieutenant governor’s office, which administers elections in Utah.
State law acknowledges that electronic signatures are valid substitutes for handwritten ones, but the election code makes numerous references to paper forms that must meet strict guidelines before they can be accepted.
This will no doubt be controversial, especially in a state that has made citizen initiatives very difficult to organize.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged citizen initiatives, citizen rghts, petitioning, utah legislature
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 