Tim Cosgrove – Campaign Finance Reform
From the Provo Daily Herald – Representative Tim Cosgrove sponsors legislation to restrict what lawmakers can do with campaign funds.
by Joe Pyrah
A Democratic lawmaker is attempting to close one of the last ethics loopholes not currently being addressed in the Legislature.
Rep. Tim Cosgrove, D-Murray, is sponsoring legislation that would restrict what lawmakers can do with their campaign war chests. Under Utah law, they can currently spend it however they want — a mortgage payment, a boat, a European vacation.
"The public voice can be very loud to us as legislators when we step outside the boundaries," said Cosgrove, who got input for the bill from both sides of the aisle.
The bill would fine lawmakers 50 percent of the amount misused, and require the legislator to pay back the full amount to the campaign fund.
Cosgrove's bill has the support of Speaker of the House Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara, who said on Friday that he is excited to see the reform. Clark has secured the support of House Republicans for five other reform bills including a constitutional amendment to establish an independent commission to hear complaints.
The bill can be quite detailed about what does and doesn't constitute a personal expenditure. Unlike the citizen initiative currentlygetting signatures to get on the November ballot, it would allow lawmakers to use their funds to give to other lawmakers and political action committees.
But while specific in many areas, some are so broad that they could mean anything. For example, a candidate or office holder would be allowed to use their campaign funds for a "ticket to a meal or event, the primary purpose of which is to promote the social, business, commercial or economic well-being of the candidate's or officeholder's community."
"I don't know how much they're concerned about the details as they are about guidelines," Cosgrove said. "It's next to impossible to include everything on the list you could include."
Attempting specifics while leaving potential loopholes is a real problem with this kind of legislation, said Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo.
Bramble has often debated the merits of campaign fund use, saying that the harder you try, the more confusing it gets.
"You very quickly snowball into this very complex set of minutiae," he said.
Bramble and others like Gov. Gary Herbert say transparency is the only real answer. If there are requirements for timely disclosure, then voters can decide whether they like what a lawmaker is doing. He does support the idea of restrictions, he just doesn't see an easy solution.
"I happen to agree you shouldn't take your family on vacation on your campaign account," he said.
Read MoreRepresentative David Litvack – Exoro Group / Utah Policy Legislative Summit
House Minority Leader, David Litvack, D–Salt Lake City, addressed the Exoro Group / Utah Policy Legislative Summit prior to the 2010 legislative session.
Read More
Utah Policy – is not funding enrollment growth a cut to education?
From the Utah Policy Legislative Policy Summit. The experts weigh in on the question "Is not funding public education enrollment growth actually a budget cut?"
Read MoreAntidiscrimination Study Announced by Rep. Christine Johnson
Representative Christine Johnson, D– Salt Lake City and Senator Howard Stephenson, R– Draper, announced today a moratorium on all legislative bills related to anti-discrimination in the LGBT community. Representative Johnson also introduced a bill which requires a study by a legislative interim committee of public policy related to discrimination in employment and housing.
Representative Johnson has been in negotiations with House and Senate Republicans to produce compromise legislation in an attempt to unite Democrats and Republicans, Mormons and non-Mormons, Gay and Straight, to continue the "peaceful progress that has been made since Salt Lake City passed an anti-discrimination ordinance," Johnson said in a statement.
"This bipartisan bill puts all bills relating to preemption, adherence, employment and housing non-discrimation, as well as LGBT adoption and wrongful death to bed for the remainder of the session," she stated.
Johnson reiterated that this legislation does not mean that opposing sides are abandoning their respective legislative goals.
"It does mean that democrats and republicans have mutually agreed that further edification and understanding on all sides of the issue is necessary," she said. "Sharing our state means respecting differences of belief and opinion."
Watch this afternoon's news conference, below.
Read MoreThe Minority Report – January 25-29, 2010
Legislative Update from the Utah House Democrats
for the week of January 25 – 29, 2010
Dear Friends:
This is the first issue in our 2010 "Weekly Update" series, from the Utah House Democrats in the Utah Legislature.
Utah legislators returned to Capitol Hill on Monday, January 25, 2010. We immediately began working on issues that are important to us and all Utah families.
First and foremost, we look forward to passing a good and balanced budget for the state of Utah. In the coming weeks, we will present a budget proposal that we believe will get us through these difficult times. In our budget, we will make proposals protect public and higher education, keep Utahns working, and protect services to children and the elderly. Our second priority is to ensure that a meaningful ethics reform package passes in the Utah Legislature.
We will focus on areas that have always been important to Utah Democrats: Ethics Reform, Utah's Public Employees, Education, and Services which affect children, seniors, and the disabled.
Here are some highlights from this past week:
Governor's State of the State Address
Governor Gary Herbert addressed the body of the Utah Legislature on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, and presented his plan for Utah. The full text of Governor Herbert's speech may be found here.
The Democratic Response to the State of the State may be found here.
House Minority Leader David Litvack spoke to KUER's Jenny Brundin regarding the Governor's comments:
"We have to be honest with the public. We know that there are 11,000 new students coming into public ed, 24,000 students in higher ed… if we don't fund that enrollment growth, that's a cut. Democrats are not OK with that. We have a problem with that."
The full news report may be found here.
Another article from the Provo Daily Herald reporting on the Democratic response to the Governor's speech can be found here.
Legislative Highlights – January 25 – 29, 2010
Responsible use of prescription pain medications saves lives!
Representative Trisha Beck, D–Sandy, held a press conference to promote HB 30, which would place cardisoprodol, sold under the brand name Soma, as a Schedule IV drug.
In 2007, Representative Beck's nephew, Denver Daniel Snarr suffered a fatal overdose after being prescribed powerful medications for pain.
"At the time of his passing, we as a family vowed that we would take our pain and do everything in our power to ensure that other families would not need to suffer as we have," said Representative Beck.
"We vowed to promote responsible use of RX pain medications. Hopefully, the passage of these bills will reduce irresponsible use of RX pain medications and save lives," she said.
If Beck's bill is passed by the 2010 Legislature, the drug would be added to Utah's Controlled Substance Database Program, allowing tracking of prescriptions and creating penalties for unlawful possession or distribution of the drug. Refills would be limited to five times within six months.
HB is expected to be heard on the floor of the House of Representatives next week.
*****
Bill that would allow Medicare card as valid voter ID fails in the House
A bill that would have allowed Senior Citizens to use their Medicare card as valid voter ID failed in the Utah House of Representatives. The bill, HB 79, sponsored by Representative Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights, was intended to help Utah's Senior population have greater access to voting in elections.
"This bill is about easier access for persons in their 80s and 90s," argued HB79 sponsor Rep. Marie Poulson, D-Cottonwood Heights. "These senior citizens have earned the right to have some things made easier. We would not like to disenfranchise this group by throwing barriers in their path."
In 2009, the Utah legislature passed a law that made it manditory for voters to show a valid ID at the voting polls. A valid driver's license, a passport, or a concealed weapons permit are among several forms of ID that are allowed as identification at the polls. Representative Poulson's bill would have allowed a medicare card to be included on the list as an acceptable form of ID, allowing Utah's elderly to go to the polls to vote, even if they did not have a valid driver's license or other form of acceptable ID.
Unfortunately, the bill failed, with the following vote count – 27 YES, 47 NO. Opponents argued that the bill could possibly open the way for voter fraud.
All 22 Democrats supported Representative Poulson's bill, along with 5 Republicans.
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Things to watch in the coming weeks:
- Budget decisions affecting children, seniors, and our neighbors with disabilities
- Legislation to help end prescription drug abuse
- Legislation that will impact public employees
- Legislation in ethics reform
- Legislation requiring background checks for human services providers and public education employees
As we proceed through this legislation, we are interesting in learning about issues that are important to you. we invite you to visit our website at www.utahhousedemocrats.org and take our online survey. What matters to you, matters to us! We hope you will take the time to share your thoughts and opinions. We also hope you will browse through our website and read our thoughts and opinions about the legislation we are considering in the 2010 legislative session.
Best regards,
The Utah House Democrats
www.utahhousedemocrats.org