Tag Archives: utah legislature

Election Integrity to be Strengthened with SB53

Posted on March 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

Voters are likely to see improvements in the current system of challenging voter eligibility with SB53 Voter challenge Revisions, now awaiting the Governor’s signature.

The ACLU of Utah has posted the status of the bill on its website :

SB 53 “Voter Challenge Revisions,” is a culmination of several years of work by Utah County Clerks, the ACLU of Utah and other voting rights advocates. This effort began after the 2007 election when the current election laws were misused resulting in a large number of Ogden voters being wrongfully accused of being ineligible to vote. The bill passed the Utah Legislature unanimously, and is before Governor Herbert for signature. The ACLU of Utah sent the Governor a letter encouraging him to sign SB 53.

In its letter to Governor Herbert on this bill, the ACLU of Utah highlights the flaws in the current system:

Under existing Utah law, an individual can challenge a voter’s eligibility without the voter knowing about that challenge – until the hopeful voter arrives at their polling place on Election Day.  The voter then has to complete a provisional ballot rather than cast a regular ballot, as unchallenged voters are able to do; provisional ballots are much more likely to be thrown out based on technicalities.

The integrity of Utah’s Elections will be strengthened with this bill and, as the ALCU highlights in its letter to the Governor, Election Day can be focused on the actual election and not on voter issues as has been seen under current law.

See previous post on Electoral Reform, including information about the Ogden voter challenges, here.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Nursing Mothers Bill Shot Down by Mostly Male House Committee

Posted on February 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Workplace Accommodation of Breast Feeding Bill, HB252, which would have afforded nursing mothers accommodations in the workplace, was shot down by members of the Utah House Committee after hearing testimony in support of the bill.  The action  is being called a “blatant slap in the face of Utah’s working mothers” by bill sponsor Rep. Christine Johnson.

Lawmakers tried to use the rhetoric that private business should not have to be subject to the law, as the Deseret News reported:

Despite supportive testimony from Intermountain Health Care, the University of Utah and Employers Council of Utah, the predominately male House committee expressed concern that HB252 created a mandate on private businesses.

“It’s not appropriate for the state to command us in all things,” said Rep. Mike Morley, R-Spanish Fork. He said the bill was simply “dictating common sense.”

Johnson  stated this about the actions of Utah’s prdominantly male lawmakers.

“This says a lot about the hypocrisy of this Legislature,” she said after the Friday night meeting. “We say we support families and women. The least we can do is support the desire of women to do the best for their families.”

The Salt Lake Democrat, an expectant mother herself, said lawmakers should be “embarrassed.”

Johnson said her proposal did not tell employers what to do, but rather what they should do, and that the negative vote highlighted pro-business bias in the Legislature.

“This body consistently shows favoritism toward businesses and gross inconsideration for anyone other than the majority,” she said.

It appears that the influence of private business owners dictates which populations are to be discriminated against in this year’s session (workers needing health care, gays and lesbians, and now nursing mothers….).  If the mindset, then, is that not all legislation should mandate things that would affect private businesses, where is  the line drawn?  Should this then apply to laws on the hiring practices of illegal immigrants?

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Immigration Reform – Repairing a Broken System

Posted on February 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

There are a number of immigration bills that have been signed into law in the past and new bills this year addressing immigration issues in Utah.

Mark Alvarez, Utah  Attorney, had a piece published in the Salt Lake Tribune in which he says,

In 2000, George W. Bush said, “Immigration is not a problem to be solved; it is the sign of a successful nation.” Candidate Bush said he wanted to make policy friendlier to immigrants. That effort froze on Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2008, Barack Obama said that America had nothing to fear from today’s immigrants: “Because we are all Americans. Todos somos Americanos. And in this country, we rise and fall together.”

Congressional debate will begin soon. Three main questions are: 1. Who should be able to come here? 2. How should border and internal enforcement be designed? 3. What should be done with undocumented immigrants?

Alvarez continues on by addressing 6 “points of contention”:

1. Family-based versus employment-based immigration.

2. Temporary workers versus permanent workers.

3. Skilled workers versus unskilled workers.

4. Genuine employment verification versus the status quo.

5. “Path to citizenship” versus “amnesty.”

6. Illegal immigration versus legal immigration.

Read his points in their entirety here.

A Facebook group called Utahns for Immigration Reform has been created to advocate for a fair and just system of immigration for all people without violating anyone’s civil rights, regardless of immigration status.  The group calls for citizens to become engaged in the process of advocating for the repair of the current broken system and creating an equitable system for all people.   From the group’s page:

We can influence American immigration laws by being engaged in the process.

No person is illegal. Being undocumented is a violation of civil law, not criminal law. Federal immigration reform needs to happen now because the immigration system is terribly broken. We agree that all people should immigrate legally but in a broken system unfortunately that is not the reality.

The page continues on by describing how current legislation is damaging:

SB 81 is a now Utah law. The new law encourages racial profiling. Most law enforcement agencies in Utah understand that the law is an afront to civil rights and have refused to enforce it.

Immigration reform will make SB 81 unnecessary.

Cory Redstone, creator of Utahns for Immigration Reform issued this notice yesterday about SB251 Verification of Employment Eligibility and   HB 428 Non Resident Tuition Amendments

SB 251 is another employment verification bill. This bill mandates the use of E-verify for every employer, not just those contracting with the state as SB 81 did. Because E-verify has a %5 rate of inaccurate information this is just wasteful. Additionally the rate of failure could be used to discriminate against minority workers and cause undue delays in employment if a record is mistakenly flagged. There will be discrimination against businesses who are minority owned. They will face more scrutiny and undue harassment because of this law.

Make no mistake E-verify use is eventually going to be mandated on a federal level eventually but all of the kinks need to be worked out. We also need to see Comprehensive Immigration Reform so nobody works without documentation. Please call OR email your legislator and tell them to vote no on SB 251. Just one phone call from you can make a huge difference.

There is also a bill to take in-state tuition away from undocumented college students HB 428.

Here is the link to find your state Senator to call or email:
http://www.utahsenate.org/map.html

There is an analysis of HB428 at the Enriching Utah Coalition blog. (Read this coalitions mission and values here.)

Bills on immigration can be viewed here, but not all bills addressing immigration issues are in this category and in fact the bills referred and linked to in the above paragraphs are not listed on this page.  For example another bill that addresses health care for immigrant children up for consideration this year: SB44 Health Amendments for Legal Immigrant Children

One thing is evident:  The people must be engaged and getting their voices heard on these issues to address the unjust system currently in place.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

The Heat is On: Utah’s House Votes to Withdraw from Western Climate Initiave

Posted on February 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Utah’s House yesterday voted to support HJR21 Joint Resolution on Energy Policy, which calls for Utah to withdraw from Climate Change Initiative.

Initially the Resolution used words like  “conspiracy”, claiming that efforts were afoot to manipulate climate change data.

Solve Climate, a publication on daily climate news and anaylsis, reports on action by Utah’s lawmakers:

Among other things, the resolution claims there is “a well organized and ongoing effort to manipulate global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome.”

A last-minute amendment removed the words “conspiracy,” “gravy train” and “tricks,” but the statements remaining are still inflammatory, echoing the claims of conservative groups such as the Heartland Institute, Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI), and Utah’s Sutherland Institute.

A group of Brigham Young University scientists were so disturbed by the wording of the resolution, HJR 12, that they wrote to the legislature last week highlighting several inaccuracies and urging the legislature to reconsider.

“Even if all the political solutions proposed so far are flawed, this does not justify politicians in attacking the science that indicates there is almost certainly a serious problem,” the scientists told lawmakers.

The article continues to discuss Utah’s possible motives behind this resolution, along with a transcript of Rep. Mike Noel confronting a University of Utah’s Bioengineering professor’s opposition to the Resolution (Noel is reported, too, to have contacted Utah State University to complain about a Physics professor there who question the Resolution).  Read the article in its entirety here.

Drew Thompson, of  the Stop HJR 12 group on Facebook, sent out this message yesterday to citizens:

House Joint Resolution 21, which would call for the withdrawal of Utah from the Western Climate Initiative, passed in the House today [Thursday, February 25] by a margin of 52 to 18.  When it is assigned to a committee in the senate we will start to reach out to those committee members, and anyone interested in testifying at the senate committee hearing is encouraged to do so. To get live updates on HJR 21 visit http://le.utah.gov/~2010/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HJR021.htm and sign up to track the resolution.

HJR 12 will likely be voted on in the coming days. The best thing for [citizens] to do now is to contact members of the senate with [their] concerns. Senators care most about the opinion of their constituents. Find out who your senator is and call, write to, or email them you feelings about HJR 12. To find out what district you are in and who you senator is visit http://www.utahsenate.org/map.html. For students I would suggest writing to the senator from your parents’ district as the senators representing the U probably won’t support the resolution to begin with.

A petition to warn our elected officials about climate change is in circulation, and if you haven’t had a chance to sign it yet please visit the following link to learn more.
http://climateletter.highroadforhumanrights.org/

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

“Unless you have been in our wheelchairs, you don’t know what it’s like….”

Posted on February 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

This is the message that  disabled citizens wanted to get across to legislators as they rallied yesterdayat the Utah Capitol in protest of the cuts being made to health care in Utah as part of HB67 Health System Amendments and the budget cuts being made this year.  The bill is before the Senate after passing the House on February 11th. (See previous post on this issue here.)

The Deseret News reported on the rally in today’s news.

“….[the legislators] are compounding the problem by supporting bills against health care reform,” said Stevie Edwards, a West Jordan resident who said he came to the Capitol to “do what I can to make sure that they understand that their positions have real-life consequences for those of us who depend on a little assistance just to get by.”

Several attending the rally, which was organized by the Disabled Rights Action Committee and the Anti-Hunger Action Committee, said the bill is premature, likely unconstitutional and makes outlandish claims without any convincing evidence to back them up.

“And they are compounding the problem by supporting bills against health care reform,” said Stevie Edwards, a West Jordan resident who said he came to the Capitol to “do what I can to make sure that they understand that their positions have real-life consequences for those of us who depend on a little assistance just to get by.”

Organizers of the rally had these things to say:

The coalition’s chairwoman, Barbara Toomer, who has been a wheelchair-bound disabled rights activist for years, said….”By bringing health care reform into this new push for state sovereignty, lawmakers should know they are reaching for that high ideal by standing on the backs of the disabled and the 258,000 uninsured citizens who would finally have coverage under federal reforms,” Toomer said.

Utah lawmakers pride themselves on being health care reform leaders in their own right, said Bill Tibbetts, head of the anti-hunger coalition. “So far, the main health care reform solution is to do less every year.”

Participants in the event are tired of fighting this issue year after year.

“This is not national health care reform leadership, and HB67 is a lie,” said protestor Jason Weeks, a disabled local keyboard player and Web-based music promoter.

“I’m just here to be part of the group that has to constantly fight tooth and nail to keep on being able to fight tooth and nail their whole lives,” Weeks said. “The federal options are not the obscenity some lawmakers are trying to make them out to be. Besides that, it hasn’t even happened yet, and who knows if it will.”

In an effort to avoid raising taxes, the legislators have proposed deep cuts to many services as part of this year’s budget balancing act.  (View post about budget proposal here.)

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,

One Large Step Backwards; One Giant Leap Back to the Dark Ages

Posted on February 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

Today the Senate Education Committee heard testimony in support of SB54 Health Education Amendments, which would require schools to incorporate instruction abut contraceptives in health education course. Planned Parenthood of Utah sent out this message after the hearing:

Despite the presence of numerous pediatricians, teachers, students, researchers, and parents willing to testify in favor of the bill, the Senate Education Committee denied them that opportunity.  The bill as it is written was not considered or discussed.  Sadly, this signals an unwillingness on our Senators’ part to engage in a constructive debate about the facts, and a refusal to exchange ideas on how to address the issues we are facing as a community.

Fortunately, our campaign is not over and we still have half the legislative session to go.  Our champions, Senator Stephen Urquhart and Representative Lynn Hemingway, are still working hard on the Hill to see this through.  We have only gotten this far through your vocal support.  Your letters, emails, calls, and signatures have kept this issue alive, and thanks to your engagement, sex education still has a fighting chance.  Here’s what you can do now: tell Senator Urquhart and Representative Hemingway, directly WHY you support comprehensive sex ed.  Tell them your stories, tell them why you believe that education is key, tell them what you have seen and heard, and tell them thank you.  The Senate Education Committee may have closed out the public’s voice today, but they cannot silence you altogether.  Give our allies your stories to take with them as they continue their efforts.  Please take a moment to share your reasons for supporting sex education by emailing them at surquhart@utahsenate.org and lhemingway@utah.gov.

Not only was the bill not discussed as written, the Deseret News, Fox 13, the  Salt Lake Tribune,  and KSL are reporting on the silence of committee members:

….the bill proved so controversial that lawmakers chose not to even talk about it Monday morning, disappointing many who had come to speak in favor of the bill and thrilling others who showed up to speak against it. Members of the Senate Education Committee refused to let sponsor Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, present a new version of the bill.

Opponents of the bill feel that all education about reproductive health should be taught by parents:

The Eagle Forum’s Gayle Ruzicka said, “It broadened what they would be able to teach about contraception. We want to keep it the way it is. We have a policy to protect the children, and we want to keep it that way.”

Protection from…..what again?  Certainly not diseases, as Utah’s rate of chlamydia is rising rapidly.

Studies from Planned Parenthood of Utah show that Chlamydia is the No. 1 communicable disease in the state with five new cases reported every day and 5,000 new cases every year.

A substitute bill is being formulated by Sen. Howard Stephenson,R-Draper, whose idea is quoted in the Deseret News as:

….to make the sex education curriculum available online. That way parents could pick and choose what to teach and make the education more private and age appropriate for their child’s maturity level. “This is ideal for individualized instruction,” he said.

This is not realistic.  Not only are there parents who don’t discuss this with their children, there are many families who do not have computers or the time to instruct their children at home, due to having to work multiple jobs and helping their children just keeping up with their regular homework.

Please join in the discussion going on in response to this issue over at Utah Legislature Watch’s Facebook page.

Read previous posts on this bill here.


(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , ,

Health Care Crisis: Groups Organize to Ask Important Questions

Posted on February 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Disabled Rights Action Committee (DRAC) and the Anti-Hunger Action Committee (AHAC) have together organized a rally at the Utah Capitol for Tuesday to confront legislators on the HB67 Substitute Health System Amendments in advocacy for the rights to adequate and equitable health care for all, particularly addressing the current crisis of those who are without insurance.  This announcement was recently distributed via Facebook ((links to organizations and the bill added by this post’s author):

Utah Legislature Action/Press Conference
Whereas the legislature continues to deny that there is a health care crisis we need to set the record straight!

Whereas the State of Utah, embodied in State Representative Carl Wimmer’s HB 67 bill continues to deny that there is a health care crisis in Utah and

Whereas Representative Wimmer asserts in HB 67 that Utah has embarked on… health system reform, that the health system reform efforts for the state … address the unique
circumstances within Utah and to provide solutions that work for Utah and that Utah is a leader in the nation for health system reform, and

Whereas on February 23 Families USA will be releasing a report detailing the number of uninsured Utahns who will die from untreated illnesses as a direct result of their uninsured status,

Now comes the Disabled Rights Action Committee (DRAC) and the Anti-Hunger Action Committee (AHAC) to ask why, in light of the above assertions, dental, vision, physical and other critical aspects of health care have been cut from Medicaid, to ask why critical health care has been cut from children and to ask why consideration is being given to further cutting back on Medicaid eligibility, further increasing the roles of Utah’s uninsured, and

To set the record straight that there is a heath care crisis in Utah—any needless death or suffering is a crisis.

Join us February 23, 2010 at 1:30 PM in the State Capitol Cafeteria to ask why our legislature insists on denying the existence of a health care crisis in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary while continuing to engage in actions that worsen the health care crisis.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , ,

Legislators Continue to Ignore Climate Change

Posted on February 20, 2010 | 1 comment

Utah’s legislators are continuing to raise the temperature on Climate Change issues, putting Utah in the spotlight on environmental issues.

KSL TV has a video piece on yesterday’s vote here.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported  today:

In a 4-2 vote over the objections of critics — including former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson and a large contingent of university students — the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee approved Rep. Kerry Gibson’s nonbinding measure.

It calls on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to freeze efforts to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions until completion of “a full and independent investigation” of climate-change science.

Read the rest of the article here, where even BYU scientists are quoted as opposing the resolution.

Drew Thompson, of the  Stop HJR12 Facebook Group distributed this message to the group’s supporters yesterday:

Dear friends,

Thanks to all those who attended the meeting this morning….Unfortunately we were not successful in stopping the resolution at that meeting, but not all hope is lost. The resolution will now go the senate. We should now direct our voices to our respective senators via letters, phone calls, emails, etc. I will try to find out when the actual vote will occur and will notify you all so we can get as many people as possible up on the hill at that time to oppose the resolution.

There was an incredible energy at the meeting this morning. I hope we can harness that passion to enact lasting change within our state and across the country.

Adding fuel to the climate change fire, legislators are looking at yet another resolution, that in essence, denies the reality of climate change:  HJR 21 Joint Resolution on Energy Policy .   Thompson continues:

We may also want to start turning our attention to HJR 21. It is a resolution urging the governor to withdraw from the Western Climate Initiative and will have a more immediate and profound effect on policy within the state than HJR 12. It is currently in the House of Representatives and will likely be voted on this upcoming week. While you are contacting your senators about HJR 12 you should consider contacting your representatives about HJR 21.

The motives for these resolutions are clearly about the economy and not about saving the planet.  There is no discussion about how to balance the two.  Our planet’s future is at stake and without a planet there will be no jobs to protect.

Students from the University of Utah and Westminster College had this to say to legislators:

Jillian Edmunds, a student at Westminster College, compared scientists who doubt man-made climate change to historians who don’t believe in the Holocaust, while University of Utah student Derek Snarr, blasted the committee for ignoring experts.

Both Snarr and Edmunds warned that decisions made by the Legislature now would have an impact on later generations.

“What we’re saying here, as future generations, is … ‘are you willing to sit here, do nothing except the status quo, and force us to face the consequences?’ ” Edmunds asked.

View previous posts on climate change legislation here.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

Women who have miscarriages now at risk….

Posted on February 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

The big news of Utah’s Legislators yesterday was the passage of HB12 Criminal Homicide and Abortion, which will make women criminally liable for intentional miscarriages.  The subjective nature of the bill brings potential harm  to women in this state.

Planned Parenthood of Utah, in its memo sent out yesterday after the vote, stated that:

During the floor debate, both Senator Margaret Dayton and Representative Wimmer refused to support an amendment that would provide protections for victims of domestic violence! The bill is now going to the House of Representatives for the signature of the Speaker and will then move to the Governor for his signature.

The refusal to support the proposed amendments leaves the door open for women who have natural miscarriages or miscarriage due to domestic violence open for prosecution.  The bill is punitive in nature and provides no practical options to prevent or to assist women with unintended pregnancies.

Another abortion bill, HB200 Informed Consent has passed the Utah House and is currently before the Senate.  This bill is aimed at requiring clinics to give a detailed description of the ultrasound images if the woman seeking an abortion asks for the information (which, by the way, woman can already do….).  See my previous post on that bill here.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

HJR12 Heats Up

Posted on February 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

The heat is on with the Climate Change Joint Resolution (HJR12).  A message from a newly formed Facebook group of citizens against this resolution, which had organized a rally of 300 people for Friday at 2pm,  came out with this news and call to action:

It looks like those on the hill in support of HJR12 smelt defeat and moved the resolution to a new committee at the last minute. HJR 12 has been moved from the Senate Workforce Committee to the Senate Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee. This means that the senators voting on the resolution have changed to the people listed below and the vote will occur this Friday at 8:00 am instead of 2:00 pm. This will likely reduce the amount of people who can attend on Friday, but if you are able to make it this Friday at 8:00 am we could definitely use the support.

It is crucial for us to contact this new list of senators as soon as possible. It’s likely that the committee was changed to ensure that the resolution will pass. You can just forward the emails you sent to the last committee members to these new senators. Two of the senators, Okerlund and Morgan, serve on both committees. If you are not able to make it to the meeting this Friday due to the time change you may want to mention that in your email.

On another note, High Road for Human Rights is collecting signatures in opposition to HJR 12. Check out http://climateletter.highroadforhumanrights.org/ before Friday to add your name to the list.

Thanks,
Drew Thompson

Sen. Dennis E. Stowell (R) (Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Washington)
Email: dstowell@utahsenate.org
Home: (435) 477-8143
Cell: (435) 559-8143

Sen. Allen M. Christensen (R) (Morgan, Summit, Weber)
Email: achristensen@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 782-5600
Cell: (801) 710-0315

Sen. Gene Davis (D) (Salt Lake)
Email: gdavis@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 484-9428
Office: (801) 484-9442

Sen. Margaret Dayton (R) (Utah)
Email: mdayton@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 221-0623

Sen. Karen W. Morgan (D) (Salt Lake)
Email: kmorgan@utahsenate.org
Home: (801) 943-0067
Office: (801) 538-1406

Sen. Ralph Okerlund (R) (Juab, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier, Tooele, Wayne)
Email: rokerlund@utahsenate.org
Home: (435) 527-3370
Cell: (435) 979-7077

Read other posts about this Resolution here.

(cross-posted to Utah Legislature Watch)

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,