Working For Utah
With the shortest Legislative session in the country, things really started to move fast in week 3. We heard a large number of bills on the floor of the house this week, including 3 of mine that passed and moved on to the Senate.
Some have suggested that as Utah grows, perhaps it would be wise to lengthen our session to allow more time to hear more bills. There may be some merit to that argument. However, I think there is wisdom in having a short session. First, it requires the legislature to prioritize important policies, which essentially has the effect that some bills are dropped. Second, it ensures part time legislators make their living doing something other than politics. This reminds us that there is real life outside of Capitol Hill, which helps us all to stay more aligned with life in our own communities, and spend less time focused on politics. I think the short session is one of the reasons we are consistently recognized as the best managed state in the union.
Some of the highlights this week that will benefit our community, including bills that increase stipends for educators to purchase classroom supplies, strengthen security at our public schools, along with two important bills, HB432 and HB272 that will help protect children from child abuse. With only two weeks left, you're invited following along, in person or online at le.utah.gov.
After an amendment to ensure only more serious classes of offenses (such as reckless driving and assault) were included in the list of offenses that could be enhanced with greater penalties, my HB30 Road Rage moved to the senate. I appreciate the support of my colleagues and the many concerned citizens who have spoken up on the issue. Here is a recent article on the progress: https://kutv.com/news/politics/road-rage-bill-advances-to-senate-floor-with-stricter-penalties-education-plans#
In response to the abhorrent and unacceptable actions of Utah State School Board member Natalie Cline using her social media to recklessly target and violate the privacy of a minor, the Legislature passed a concurrent resolution censuring member Cline. This is the first time in state history (that our staff could find) that the Legislature has censured an elected public official. A public figure should never use their platform to bully a child. I send my love and support to the student athlete who was targeted and her family. Click here to read the full censure.
Some have asked why the legislature did not impeach Ms. Cline, which I was initially in favor of. We discussed this at length with our leadership and legal counsel. The impeachment process could take several months and would certainly have attracted significant media coverage. Many felt like Ms. Cline would attempt to use the media coverage during impeachment to amplify her extreme messages and paint herself as a victim of establishment overreach. There is no desire to allow Ms. Cline and her allies additional attention or credibility. There was concern about what impact and attention a prolonged impeachment process with media coverage would have on the student athlete and her family, and on other student athletes in our state. There was also concern that if the legislature used impeachment for this social media post, would it open the door for others to demand impeachment or try to use impeachment as a political weapon for other social media posts. There was no appetite to have Utah start using impeachment as a political tool like we see in Washington DC.
While I would have liked to have seen the legislature do something stronger than Censure, I agree there are potential dangers and problems with going down the long impeachment path. I would like to get this repulsive matter behind us and put our collective efforts towards electing a new board member that would better represent Utah families and positively support Utah children. I donated to the campaign of Ms. Cline’s opponent, Amanda Bolinger, who is well qualified as a former special education teacher, coach, and school principal, and would encourage others to support her too.
As the second driest state in the nation, we must continually plan for our water needs. Because water is a top priority for the Legislature, we designated this past week as Water Week at the Capitol. During the week, we heard and debated important bills that will help ensure our water future, such as SB 118, which makes it more affordable to implement water efficient landscaping in new home builds, and HB 453, which increases protections for the Great Salt Lake. Click here to learn more about how we plan to protect our water resources.
Since it was “water week”, I’ll remind all those who want to do something extra to support the Great Salt Lake to sign up for this nice looking GSL license plate. Purchase of the plate will contribute to a fund which will be used to benefit the Great Salt Lake watershed & ecosystem.
We need just a few more people to sign up to reach the 500 number, which is the minimum number to start production of the plate.
There are easy instructions at the following link: https://house.utleg.gov/gsl-license-plate/
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