Week 2 of the General Session
With only 45 days to debate and pass hundreds of bills, every day is important and full of meaningful deliberation. Stay up-to-date and watch committee meetings or floor time at le.utah.gov.
This week Rep. Brooks had the opportunity to speak with members from the Washington County Youth Coalition. Youth had the opportunity to discuss and ask questions about Rep. Brooks existing bills. Representative Brooks was excited to speak with young members of the community that have an interest in the exciting and important process of government. Thank you WCYC for taking the time to visit us!
Balancing the state budget is one of the most important constitutional responsibilities given to lawmakers. Utah is actually the ONLY state in the nation that allows all lawmakers to be a part of the budgeting process. All 104 lawmakers sit on an appropriation subcommittee, and this week, the House and Senate passed the base budget, which will help fund key areas in our state. Rep. Brooks and his colleagues will continue to make adjustments to the state budget over the next several weeks.
House Bill 215 - Funding For Teacher Salaries and Optional Education Opportunities establishes the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program and provides raises the salary for teachers. Not only does this bill allow for our essential educators to receive a raise but it also allows that students who may have a difficult time learning in a traditional environment to find a solution that works best for their learning capabilities.
Vote: Yes
Representative Brooks is a firm believer of the public school system and comes from a family of educators. He also knows that our public schools in Washington County are full of excellent professionals who are dedicated to teaching our children. He also understands that every child is different not every student learns the same way.
Many people have valid questions and concerns about the bill. It doesn’t help when there are so many contradicting reports and one-sided statements. The program does have an accountability component for learning/testing, does not give money directly to parents and does not take money away from the school system. In addition, it provides a significant pay increase for teachers. The program would provide an option to approximately 4 students per school.
Click HERE for more information.
House: Senate:
Committee: 12-4-0 7-2-0
Floor: 54-20-0 20-8-1
Status: Sent to the Governor for signing.
House Bill 194 - Motor Vehicle Dealer Requirements Prevents dealers from adding on or implying optional charges are required, like glass etching, carbon offsets and ID protection. Required additional fees would be something such as tax and licensing.
Vote: Yes
If you've ever bought a car, you may be familiar with the frustration that comes from optional fees that are presented as mandatory and are tacked on to the original price of the car. Representative Brooks has had this happen to him and know many people who have had the same experience. This bill promotes transparency and promotes consumer protections when buying a car. He voted in support of this bill this week in the Business and Labor Committee.
This bill will likely be heard on the house floor sometime this week.
House: Senate:
Committee: 13-0-2 -
Floor: - -
Status: House 3rd reading calendar.
Senate Bill 16 - Transgender Medical Treatments and Procedures enacts policies regarding transgender treatments and procedures. It prohibits sex change procedures on minors and requires specific standards to be met before hormonal treatment can begin.
Vote: Yes
Rep. Brooks believes this bill is about protecting youth. He is sensitive to those youth struggling with these very difficult issues. Unfortunately, this often happens during their teenage years, making it even more difficult. Rep Brooks emphasized “We all need to be thoughtful and realize different choices or desires do not justify being cruel, unkind, or discriminatory.”
House: Senate:
Committee: 11-3-0 5-2-0
Floor: 58-14-2 21-7-1
Status: Sent to the Governor for signing.
House Bill 114 - Theft Defense Amendments ensures that even if livestock is sick, injured, or even a liability to the owner that it is not legal to commit theft of the livestock.
Vote: Yes
The driver for this bill originates in Southern Utah and is sponsored by Representative Albrecht. In the committee that Rep Brooks chairs, many commented that this bill leaves animals vulnerable. However, this bill does not prevent reporting abuse, neglect or other violations against animal farmers or producers. This bill does protect private property and an individual’s due process. Because this bill doesn’t hinder those that want to protect animals it passed unanimously from the Natural Resources committee.
House: Senate:
Committee: 11-0-3 -
Floor: 65-4-5 -
Status: Passed to the senate for further consideration.
House Bill 188 - Golf Related Water Modifications requires that the water usage of all golf courses and driving ranges must be reported and be available for the public to access.
Vote: HOLD
This bill has to do with monitoring water usage on public golf courses. Rep Brooks stated that data is always valuable, however, nearly every golf course gets its water in a different way and a one size rule from the State is not the best approach.
This kind of rule to monitoring water should be done on the local level. For example, St. George may use reclaimed and treated sewer water while others use well water, agricultural canal water or some may use culinary water. Rep Brooks recommended to the sponsor to work with stake holders and the legislative water commission to work through the details.
This bill is being held in the Natural Resources Committee for further consideration.
House: Senate:
Committee: - -
Floor: - -
Status: Held in the Natural Resources Committee
This week, Representative Brooks has made progress on several important pieces of legislation.
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HB131 - Vaccine Passport Prohibition
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Representative Brooks has been working hard on passing a bill that would protect the privacy of your medical information for the past two years. This bill prohibits the government, employers and businesses from requiring a vaccine passport to enter their facility.
House: Senate:
Committee: 10-2-3 -
Floor: - -
Status: Will be up for voting Monday morning on the house floor.
These are tax bills that are being held with most other tax bills and if passed will likely be passed in a tax bill package later this session.
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HB88 - Social Security Tax Amendments
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This is a bill Rep Brooks has worked diligently on since he came into office six years ago. His previous bills have raised the threshold to $62,000, meaning a couple who make less than $62,000 a year will not have to pay social security tax. HB88 would raise that threshold to $84,000.
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HB296 - Minimum Basic Tax Rate Reduction
H.B. 1 Higher Education Base Budget
H.B. 4 Business, Economic Development, and Labor Base Budget
H.B. 6 Infrastructure and General Government Base
H.B. 7 National Guard, Veterans Affairs, and Legislature Base Budget
H.B. 11 Volunteer Government Workers Amendments
H.B. 18 Online Dating Safety Amendments
H.B. 25 Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls Task Force Sunset Extension
H.B. 29 Mental Health Support and Law Enforcement Co-response
H.B. 35 Unfair Practices Act Amendments
H.B. 41 Utah Retirement Systems Revisions
H.B. 71 Local Health Department Revisions
H.B. 78 Behavioral Health Treatment Access Amendments
H.B. 94 Reverse Mortgage Amendments
H.B. 110 Waste Tire Recycling Fund Amendments
H.B. 112 State Fish Hatchery Maintenance Account Amendments
H.B. 122 Sex Offender Registry Amendments
H.B. 133 Health Care Facility Visitation Amendments
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