Interim Highlights – What Happened, What to Watch
Yesterday was the first day of Interim committee meetings Session. What did they do? What are they planning on doing? Here are some of the highlights:
Economic Development and Workforce Services
This is the first year these two committees have been have been combined. Key topics of discussion:
- Economic Development Task Force- The House sponsor of the bill establishing the task force. Rep. Brad Wilson gave the committee a rundown of the task force charge. It will meet over the next two years to explore ways the legislature can more effectively and intentionally work with various stakeholders who are focused on maximizing Utah’s economic development. As a part of that work the task force will incorporate a discussion on how air quality challenges impact Utah’s economic development. The committee membership was being finalized as of interim day.
- Review of Capitol Facilities Grants Process for Community and Culture Grants – This grants process, established in 2009, has run into some challenges in that organizations and legislators are circumventing it to the detriment of agencies and organizations that are following the process and rules. The appropriations subcommittee that reviews the grants along with the Department of Community and Culture, is reviewing these challenges along with other related issues and will provide input and recommendations for perhaps changing the process or finding ways to hold grantees (and legislators) responsible for compliance.
- Department of Workforce Services/General Assistance Discussion – Rep. Brian King initiated a discussion related to increasing the cash benefits that are offered through GA. The Department has recently authorized such an increase, but there are other changes in benefit offerings that may be counterintuitive to the benefit provided by the increase. In addition, Sen. Karen Mayne presented a list of concerns which have been brought to her by stakeholders who work with the Department. These connect to additional conversations related to the Department’s modernization program and rumored negative ramifications of implementation of that program on employee morale and client satisfaction.
Education
- State Supt. of Public Education Larry Shumway explained how a calculating error resulted in a $25 million error in underfunding the Minimum School Program. He and Jonathan Ball, director of the Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst are working together to put in place procedures to prevent similar errors in the future. The committee chairs and co-chairs have sent a letter to the governor requesting a special legislative session in June to make sure the school districts are funded by the beginning of the school year.
- Committee staff did a presentation on the development and adoption of the Common Core Standards in language arts and math. It was a comprehensive explanation and an attempt to dispel the untruths circulated by the Eagle Forum. The most important point to note is the Standards are different from Curriculum. Utah core standards may be accessed at www.schools.utah.gov/core
Government Operations
Agencies who regularly report to the committee shared reports on assigned issues and projects.
In particular, the Department of Administrative Services talked about implementation of HB80, which was passed this year and requests study of ways that administrative services could be consolidated or be made more efficient among the various departments and agencies. The Department is assessing needs and concerns of the various agencies and will provide a set of recommendations later on this year.
The lion’s share of the meeting focused on the various recommendations that the Elections Office requested be studied over the interim. These include (among many others):
- Review of complaints processes related to candidates violating election code and what could be done to make these less political (i.e., implementing a statute of limitations on complaints).
- Deciding whether or not to sunset a current law that allows unaffiliated voters to change their affiliation at the polling place for primary elections.
- Increasing filing fees to be more reflective of impact of elections on county clerk budgets.
- Allowing certain candidates who may be temporarily living overseas to file for election electronically. (We were told of a situation where a judge, who was overseas in the Ukraine, had to fly back to the United States to file his candidacy before the deadline, and then flew back to finish his work.)
- Requiring candidates for local office to comply with reporting requirements set forth for legislative candidates.
- Establishing a mechanism to deal with anonymous contributions.
Health Reform Task Force
The task force has a very ambitious agenda and has established four working groups to provide recommendations on the following issues related to preparing to work with the Federal Government as we move toward implementation of ACA exchange requirements (the task force has pretty much decided that they will work towards defining how Utah will implement requirements in an effort to make this a state-driven agenda and process, as well as how to continue our momentum in providing health access and coverage for as many Utahns as possible, regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court ruling on ACA later year):
- Insurance Market Issues
- Reinsurance Program for High-risk Enrollees–Integration with Exchange Market & Risk Adjustment Methodology
- Medicaid Behavioral and Mental Health Delivery and Payment Reform
- Utah Health Care Compact
The task force also reviewed recent rules changes related to implementation of the exchange requirements and discussed what we should take into consideration in selecting a “benchmark plan” as the “floor” for an essential benefits package (required under ACA).
Judiciary
The committee discussed:
- amendments to the asset protection trust statute
- changes to Utah’s product liability statute
- what items to study during the interim
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
- One of the major topics discussed was the use of License Plate Readers to track vehicles involved in criminal activities such as drug trafficking and kidnapping. The US Drug Enforcement Agency wants to install two LPRs on I-15, and collect data for law enforcement purposes. Committee members had a number of questions about LPR use and privacy concerns. We anticipate this topic will be discussed again at the June interim committee meeting.
Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
- Heard report on Sage Grouse
- Reviewed Interim schedule
- Sunset review of Environmental Scientist approved for 5 more years
Political Subdivisions
The committee heard:
- an overview from Joseph Wade about political subdivisions within the state
- a presentation on what definitions for “rural” exist within the Utah Code
- a presentation on potential amendments to jurisdictional issues relating to constables
Public Utilities and Technology
- The committee is trying to determine the real impact of the hacking of the Health Dept data base – hard times for DTS department. Met new director and new ombudsman.
- Rural telephones looking to have someone help pay for high speed digital service.
Transportation
- Roads and highway construction are all on or ahead of schedule except for the highway between Lehi and Highland. That is way behind and the contractors are being fined over $3 Mil.
INTERIM DAY! Join us tomorrow at the Capitol
Each month, usually the third Wednesday, between May and November, all legislators attend Interim committees. Legislators meet to discuss issues, hear testimony from experts and the public, and draft potential legislation for the following General Session. Today legislators will meet for the first time since the end of the 2012 General Session. These first meetings will be used to set the focus of future interim committee agendas. You can find agendas and listen to the live committee discussions at http://le.utah.gov/.
Interim committees are structured into two blocks, a morning group and an afternoon group. Here are the committees and links to their respective agendas for May 16, 2012:
9:00 am Block
Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=933
Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=942
Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=934
Economic Development and Workforce Services Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=946
Transportation Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=936
Judiciary Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=941
2:00 pm Block
Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=938
Education Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=945
Business and Labor Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=940
Government Operations Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=944
Political Subdivisions Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=943
Health and Human Services Interim Committee http://utahlegislature.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=931
We will be monitoring the actions of the Interim committees throughout the summer, so check back with us. Here is the 2012 Interim schedule:
Wednesday, May 16
Wednesday, June 20
NO MEETINGS IN JULY
Wednesday, August 15
Wednesday, September 19
Wednesday, October 17
Wednesday, November 14 (second Wednesday to accommodate Thanksgiving week)
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Sex Ed Bill Causing Weber State University Classes To Close
Salt Lake City – Some school district officials in Utah this morning may have been surprised to hear from Weber State University that the Ogden college is considering dropping some of their concurrent enrollment courses next year if HB363 (the anti-Sex Ed bill) isn’t vetoed by Governor Herbert.
Representative Joel Briscoe (D)
“This is horrible,” said Representative Joel Briscoe (D, HD25). “This is exactly the type of ‘unintended consequences’ Democrats warned about. Not only will HB 363 strip parents of the right to choose for themselves how they want their kids taught sex ed, but now we’re seeing that high school students nay be denied the opportunity to take college courses.”
Over 850 high school students in Utah take college-level Child and Family Studies courses from Weber State University currently. If other universities, such as Utah State University and Utah Valley University, offer similar concurrent enrollment classes, they may be forced to drop these courses for high school students as well if Governor Herbert refuses to veto H 363.
Read MoreCapitol Window! The Final 2012 Legislative Recap
Capitol Window
The Final Week of the 2012 Legislative Session
When the 2012 Legislative Session started, House Democrats pledged to hold fast and true to an idea and theme which is sorely lacking on Capitol Hill these days: common-sense solutions.
The 2012 Session may have been labeled as quiet and boring, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t ideas and bills which we felt were detrimental to the citizens and future of Utah. Here are a few examples of bad ideas coming from our Republican colleagues which House Democrats pushed back against:
Anti-Sex Ed. The now infamous HB 363 from Republican Rep Bill Wright strips away the rights of parents to choose how and what their children are taught about Sex Education in schools. Utah already has an “opt-in” system, meaning that no student in Utah attends a sex ed class without their parents expressly saying that they want them to attend. Yet both House and Senate Republicans decided that parents are not the best judge for their children, and passed the bill to let school districts stop teaching the courses altogether, and those that continue to teach them are forbidden from ever discussing premarital sex, contraception or homosexuality. As a wise BYU professor testified (to no avail), “You can’t just tell a child what to do and expect them to listen, you have to give them all the information so they understand why they should choose [to be abstinent].”
Public Lands. Unfortunately, a whole slew of anti-public land bills were passed this year. As we’ve said before, there is legitimate debate about what Utah’s Enabling Act actually means and whether or not the United States Government ever obligated themselves to dispose of land they own in the state. But charging recklessly forward with message bills that have been deemed as most “likely unconstitutional” by even the General Counsel for the Legislature is not the way to go. The last thing we need is another time consuming, multimillion dollar lawsuit that taxpayers have to pay for, but even the Republicans have admitted that is where these bills will lead. And unfortunately, there is a 99.99% chance that Utah will lose the lawsuit, leaving us out years and millions of dollars that could have been put to better pursuits like restoring Medicaid programs or improving neighborhood schools.
But the 2012 session was not just negative after negative, House Democrats saw many successes and efforts that will lead to a better and brighter future, with a higher quality of life for all of us.
Representative Patrice Arent is to thank for the Legislature finally moving forward towards improving our air quality, having wisely attached her Air Quality Task Force to the Economic Development Task Force. She has also taken a big bite out of tax fraud, successfully passing HB96 which bans zapping (aka “phantomware”) software which is used by some retail businesses to hide cash sales. Zapping, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, is responsible for an estimated $147 million in fraud every year in Utah!
Representative Joel Briscoe is protecting Utah’s precious and limited water supply. HB 462 authorizes the Constitutional Defense Council to defend Utah water supplies against attempts by other states to seize them.
Representative Chavez-Houck tackled the enormous task of finally pushing our state towards allowing legislative petitions and initiatives to be signed online. It’s too difficult to gather enough signatures solely by standing in a grocery-store parking lot, and the move towards online signing is long overdue.
Representative Tim Cosgrove’s HB 125 will help rural and low-income kids on Medicaid gain access to dental coverage, a service sorely needed among many in Utah. He also passed HB 162, which creates a task force to assist soldiers returning from military service reintegrate into communities.
Representative Brian Doughty fought the good fight against the State Legislature’s constant intrusion into the work of local city and county councils with HB 181. He also pushed hard for state employees to have the right to share their health insurance with another dependent adult in their home (like an aged parent) if the employee isn’t married.
Representative Sue Duckworth co-sponsored SB 61, which follows up on a task force created last year to rehabilitate land in Utah which has been damaged by invasive species (like cheap grass or quagga mussels).
Representative Janice Fisher made a valiant effort for the rights of Mobile Home Owners, who currently can watch their rent increase as often as Park Owners want.
Representative Lynn Hemingway honored the families of soldiers by extending the spouses of military personnel unemployment benefits if they have to quit their jobs in order to follow the soldiers out of state because of a transfer. Until now, Utah was one of only 10 states in the country that wasn’t providing this service for those who serve us.
Representative Neil Hendrickson passed a new rule through the House. Currently, if someone places a hold on your bill after it has been passed, you may not even notice. But with HR 1, both the Speaker and the Representative is immediately notified.
Representative Brian King is assisting both businesses as well as Utah’s homeless population, running HB 101 which provides a tax credit to businesses who hire a homeless person.
House Democratic Leader David Litvack successfully passed a bill through the House creating a blue ribbon commission to study ways to make the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control more efficient, following revelations that they’ve lost millions of taxpayer dollars to fraud and waste. He also passed HB100, which provides English Language Learners and members of a federally recognized Native American tribe additional time to complete the social worker licensing exam.
Representative Carol Spackman Moss’s HB 115 was one of the primary components of the Best Schools Initiative, and will create a peer review and assistance program to help new or struggling teachers. Utah currently loses a high percentage of teachers in the first 5 years, and Representative Moss’s bill will go a long way toward stopping that loss and improving teacher quality.
Representative Marie Poulson had some big successes, passing HB 21 which will create a database of emergency contact information with the DMV which can be accessed by emergency responders, as well as her contribution to the Best Schools Initiative: a Joint Resolution on providing Utah students a world class curriculum!
Representative Jennifer Seelig kept herself extremely busy this session. HJR 4 encourages businesses to respect mothers in the workplace by providing unpaid breaks and spaces for employees who need to breastfeed or express milk for infant children. She also passed HB 230, which paves the way for greater effectiveness and accountability in the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.
Representative Watkins’ HB 241 focuses on an effort to keep families whole and intact. It requires that the state must have clear evidence before it can remove a child from foster care provided by relatives (like grandparents or aunts and uncles) based on health or age.
Representative Mark Wheatley had HJR 1, which pushes for schools to maintain a level of sustainability in order to improve the health of our children and the quality of the buildings themselves.
Representative Larry Wiley focused efforts on public health, passing HB 189 which helps contractors limit the amount of asbestos the public is exposed to.
The State Budget is always one of the primary focuses of any legislative session, and this year was no exception. From the beginning of the session, some of our primary goals was to make sure that neighborhood schools received not only funding for this year’s growth, but also an increase in the level of per pupil funding (it’s inexcusable for Utah to be dead last in the nation!). We also placed a high priority on providing state employees a bump in pay which has been missing for quite a while. Months of work and negotiations, but we are proud to announce that both of those priorities made it into the final budget! There are several other Democratic victories in the budget’s pages, including funding for both the Tracy Aviary and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.
At the end of the day, we feel like we can be proud of the work we accomplished on the Hill this year. It’s tough to be in the minority, but House Democrats are joining the growing movement of Democrats across Utah who are stepping up, being louder, and showing our neighbors exactly why it is our party which reflects the true values of Utah. Our caucus did 167 press interviews between the first and last days of the 2012 Session, and we hope that each one reflected the common-sense values we all hold so dear: responsible government, a strong economy supported by a foundation of public education and neighborhood schools, fair pay for workers, and equality for all.
Thank you to all who participated with us on the Hill, whether attending our semi weekly open caucus meetings, speaking with us in the hall, or by email and phone. It is always critical for a representative to hear from their constituents, your voice does make a difference! Please stay in touch with us between now and next year, as most of the work we do as legislators happens during the interim.
On a personal note, I announced earlier this week that I will not seek reelection this year. It has been my honor and privilege to serve the people of District 26 for the past 12 years, but the time has come to move on and spend more time with my family. I cannot express enough my gratitude and heartfelt thanks for the many many expressions of love and support that I have received, and I’m confident that the next Democratic Leader of the House will continue moving our Caucus forward.
Until Next Year!
Sincerely;
David Litvack, House Democratic Leader & the Utah House Democratic Caucus
VIDEO- House Dem On Why Legislature Should Stop Meddling In Local Gov’t
Representative Brian Doughty (D)
Salt Lake City – Representative Brian Doughty (D) joined Comcast last week to discuss his efforts to make it more difficult for the Utah Legislature to alter or repeal laws and ordinances passed by city or county councils. Watch it below!
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House & Senate Democrats On Message Bills: Enough Already!
Utah Democrats delivered a message Tuesday about the many “message bills” that Republican legislators are running this election year to attack the federal government and the Obama administration.
“Enough is enough,” House Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, said in a news conference.
House Democratic Assistant Whip Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, complained that message bills take “time and the energy and the resources of the state Legislature … and divert them away from productive activity and into an attack on the federal government and an attack on the Obama administration.”
While Democrats don’t like the many message bills that attack public lands policies, they especially targeted the Senate-passed SB208, which would have Utah join a compact of states seeking to opt out of federal health care reform and, if allowed by Congress, control such programs as Medicare and Medicaid locally with federal block grants.
“This is not just a benign message bill,” said Senate Assistant Whip Pat Jones, D-Holladay. “Utah would be in charge of our own Medicaid and Medicare.”
She said Republicans are willing to take that big leap to send a message, without studying the costs and ramifications. She said she’s sure it will either raise taxes or lead to cuts in health care for seniors.
Litvack said the GOP effort is just “being driven by this desire to tell the current administration” that Republicans don’t like health reform, and “what is this, the seventh, eighth or ninth time that we’ve done that, so haven’t we sent that message?”
“If we’re serious as a legislative body and are not driven by posturing and politics and we want to talk about what’s the best way to provide health care to our citizens, then let’s do it the right way,” which he said would be to carefully look at costs and effects instead of leaving those as unanswered questions.
Read the full article HERE
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