Tag Archives: legislators

Affirmative Action: A Thing Of The Past?

Posted on February 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

Some Utah Legislators hope so.

HJ24 Equal Treatment by Government is moving faster than one can say “equal rights”.  The Resolution is aimed at eliminating Affirmative Action and would require an amendment to Utah’s Constitution, which would be up to the voters to ratify in the November election.

Ward Connerly, a former member of the University of California Board of Regents … has worked to pass similar legislation in other states, was in town to testify for the bill.”The implication is that those of us who are … minorities cannot compete and therefore society has to bestow its benevolence,” Connerly, who is black, told lawmakers. “Sometimes we don’t realize that’s a double-edge sword. We demean people.”

Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said the measure will help ensure Utah colleges don’t discriminate.

“We’re not getting necessarily the most qualified students there because of the quota system,” Waddoups said.

Opponents are angry at the speed at which this is occuring:

“To pull this bill out two days ago, and ram it down the throats of this community, is awful,” said Rep. Jackie Biskupski, D-Salt Lake City. “This is big, and it deserves public input.”

Jeanetta Williams, president of the NAACP Salt Lake Branch, said she wasn’t made aware of the proposal until Thursday night.

“He’s trying to kind of do it in a backdoor approach, which I find very offensive,” Williams said.

Senator Margaret Dayton supports the Resolution:

This fast moving resolution has caused a flurry of controversy.

But is the Resolution really necessary?  The Standard.net has published an opinion piece on the issue.

Our main beef with Oda’s resolution is a concern over whether it’s really needed in Utah. According to Kay Harward, University of Utah senior associate vice president for enrollment management, there is no preferential treatment when it comes to admission in state universities. Also, state agencies are not allowed to use preferential treatment in hirings or promotions.

Nevertheless, Utah legislators are determined to prevent even a hint of a non-existent quota system from infecting our state. Before that energy is expended, it might be a good idea for Oda and other anti-affirmative action fighters to find evidence of such discrimination in the state.

Agreed.  The evidence has yet to be published to solidify the justification for this Resolution.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Why Stop At 12th Grade? Just Do Away With Education All Together!

Posted on February 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

The proposal to to cut out the 12th grade to save $60 million in Utah’s Budget has generated much commentary in the blogosphere.

Over at the Jonathan Turley Blog, an interesting (tongue in cheek) concept has been presented as a result of Sen. Chris Buttars’ proposal :

It is not clear why legislators have decided to keep public education at all. If we simply eliminate education, we can send children directly into military training or to work for foreign companies from countries that are expanding their research and educational budgets at the same rate of our decline.

Mr. Turley offers this sentiment, referring to other destructive actions that the U.S. implements (that impacts state funding), all to “save money” while funds are continually being poured into the defense coffers – funds that could be diverted to state budgets:

….the proposal captures our self-destructive path. While nations like China are massively increasing research and educational budgets (here), we are selling off public lands and buildings, (here), while pouring money into Iraq and Afghanistan. What do we think is going to happen? Because few of our politicians have the courage to demand a withdrawal from these countries, we are raising our debt limits, destroying our public programs, and undercutting our ability to compete in the future marketplace.

Cutting out a grade in public education is a bad idea.  Doing so does nothing to support public education or address the issues that face public educators.  This bill is a waste of Legilsators time and taxpayer’s money.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Lawmakers claim global warming is “conspiracy”

Posted on February 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Utah must look really crazy to the world right now.  Members of  a House committee passed a non-binding resolution to keep federal global warming laws out of the state.

ksl.com has posted a piece on the action today:

KSL.com on Utah Legislature view on climate change

The committee plans to take the resolution to the full House for a vote.

There are also many conservative Republicans who strongly believe global warming is a conspiracy to do something that would harm Utah. The resolution reflects this theory with strong words and a strong message.

For example, it claims perpetrators of “Climategate” often “incorporate “tricks” related to global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome.” The end result is what the resolution calls a climate change “gravy train.”

Along with scientific evidence, one only needs to look at things like the Hardiness Zone Map to see the the changes in climate over a period of years. (Oh, but wait!  The Arbor Day Foundation are some of those “conspiracy theorists”!).

Global Warming is a very controversial issue with conservatives.  The denial of global warming comes from the fact that the extraction industry would be heavily taxed and the profits would no longer be realized.  The rich would become less rich and that just isn’t acceptable.

That’s the bottom line, and at the expense of our planet and all its life.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

How the Insurance Industry”incarcerates” the purse strings of lawmakers

Posted on February 3, 2010 | Leave a comment

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

It is no secret that medical care is inadequate for inmates.  Legislators have a history of not approving adequate funding for the care of those who are incarcerated.  So when a bill is proposed that would save taxpayers money and still allow for inmates to receive medical care (under the provisions of the bill), you would think that Legislators would be happy, right?

Wrong.  The insurance industry obviously has influence over legislators with this issue.

Yesterday the House shot down a bill that would permit inmates to use their private insurance to pay for their health care while incarcerated.

H.B. 22Inmate Health Insurance Amendments,would require the inmates’ private carrier to serve as the primary insurer while serving time in a state or county facility.

According to an article in the Deseret News,

House members voted against the bill, saying state taxpayers should pick up the cost, even if the inmate is insured.Opponents said during debate that the bill painted insurers as bad guys, when in fact the bad guys are the ones who broke laws that got them arrested and incarcerated. They also argued that the bill was anti-free market and smacked of government takeover of a private enterprise.

Interestingly, the article points out the amount of donations candidates received in the 2008 elections.

In the 2008 election, the insurance industry gave $313,311 to state-level candidates (including the Legislature, governor and attorney general), according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Insurance companies gave the second-most of any industry that year, outdistanced only by the securities and investment industry, which gave $614,207, according to the institute.

And big insurance companies lose few political fights in the Utah Legislature.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, points out the cost savings to taxpayers with the passage of this bill.

The bill would save county jails more money than the state, with only a handful of felons in the state prison having outside health insurance. But a number of county jail inmates, who may be sentenced for several months up to a year, have insurance while incarcerated, Ray said.

"Taxpayers are getting hammered, and it’s time for insurance companies to step up and pay for what they’ve contracted for," said Ray just before his bill was voted down on a 30-44 vote.

This is just one example of how lawmakers are"incarcerated" themselves by big corporations….and at the expense of taxpayers and those in need of care.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Outlining Priorities: Guv’s State of the State

Posted on January 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Utah Legislature Watch)
Governor Herbert delivered his first State of the State Addre

tonight. His priorities including keeping taxes from being raised, holding public education harmless from budget cuts, transportation, and legislative ethics reform.

For the first time in three years, we are expecting an increase in revenue for the upcoming fiscal year. Housing is beginning to stabilize, the state’s labor market is resilient and our unemployment rate remains below the national average. I know this is of small consolation to those who are out of work, but we will continue to make sound policy decisions to move this state – and your families – back to solid economic ground and toward a more hopeful future. 

First and foremost, we must protect public and higher education. Utah has long been committed to funding our public schools, our colleges and universities, and our technical institutions. In fact, few states in the country spend as much of their overall budgets on education as we do. Our unique demographics – which is a way of saying we have larger families – mean we must continue to increase funding to maintain and enhance the solid education and training our students receive.

In spite of our difficult budget situation, I call upon you, our great legislators, to maintain our current level of commitment to education! Secondly, we must balance our budget responsibly, and in a way that does not stifle an economy that is finally beginning to show signs of recovery. We need to support our hard-working citizens and businesses, not stifle them with new tax burdens. We need to help them succeed, not hamper their success. And we need to think toward the future, not just of today. 

 
 

Read the entire text of Governor Herbert’s State of the State address here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,