Happy Birthday Representative Patrice Arent!
Salt Lake City – A very Happy Birthday to Representative Patrice Arent! Thank you for all your incredible work and dedication to the people of House District 36 and Utah!
Democratic Lawmaker Announces New Approach To Teachers
Representative Carol Spackman Moss (D)
Salt Lake City – Representative Carol Spackman Moss is proud to announce the latest piece of legislation from the House Democrats in the Best Schools Initiative. The new bill would tackle head-on the problem of ineffective teachers.
HB 115 creates a pilot program called Peer Assistance and Review using expert teachers to conduct regular evaluations for novice teachers and under-performing veteran teachers.
“Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years,” said Representative Moss. “We also have a growing concern about the continued employment of ineffective teachers.”
According to Representative Moss, Utah schools need to offer more support for struggling teachers.
“We have wonderful teachers here in Utah,” continued Representative Moss. “But how can we expect the best from them if we’re not willing to provide the necessary tools to help them be their best?”
Read MoreThe True Effects of Health Care Reform
Representative Brian King (D)
While many here in the Utah Legislature are insistent with their anti-Federal Government and anti-Health Care Reform rhetoric, perhaps we should take a moment to examine what effect the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is actually having on Americans.
Representative Brian King found this outstanding article on the true effects of Federal Health Care Reform this morning, and he wanted to share it!
We understand why President Obama trumpeted the killing of Osama bin Laden while barely mentioning health reform, his most significant domestic accomplishment in his State of the Union address last week. Ten years after 9/11, the killing of Bin Laden was an indisputable triumph for President Obama, welcomed by almost every American. In contrast, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), enacted with only Democratic votes by the scarcest of margins in 2010, remains a complex, highly controversial piece of legislation with outcomes and costs that remain to be seen in the years ahead.
Yet surprising even to many advocates of health care reform, evidence is emerging that the ACA is already improving life for millions of average Americans. It is promoting long-overdue fundamental changes in our dysfunctional medical system. Moreover, because those reforms are starting to directly address heightened economic insecurities of average families – the personal financial conditions that will largely determine this year’s election outcomes – President Obama would be wise to more forcefully and more specifically explain how his health care bill is already helping millions of vulnerable families and the country as a whole. Sure, financially-pressured families will celebrate the derring-do of Seal Team Six. They should directly appreciate the immediate impact of improved insurance coverage and reduced medical costs.
Here are five concrete realms in which the Affordable Care Act, which won’t even take full effect until 2014, has already had an impact:
Read the rest of the article HERE
Read MoreVideo- House & Senate Democrats Weekly Press Briefing
House Democratic Leader David Litvack, Representatives Patrice Arent and Carol Spackman Moss, and Senator Karen Morgan
Salt Lake City – Today at their weekly press briefing, House and Senate Democrats laid out their plans for the Health Of Utah Families. Watch the video below!
“Few issues are as important for our local State Government to address as the health of the citizens of Utah.” said House Democratic Leader David Litvack. “Whether it be the quality of the air we breathe or the diseases we live with, these are things that we all face on a daily basis and it is a common-sense principle of Democrats in the Legislature to listen to the problems of Utah citizens and address those problems to protect both this generation as well as the future of our children.”
Read MoreHouse Republicans Vote Against Democratic Participation On Committee
Representative David Litvack, House Democratic Leader
Salt Lake City – HB48 (Barrus -R) creates a committee of Utah Legislators to participate with representatives of other states in national talks on energy. Last year the committee of 4 was required to have at least one Democrat, but this year Republicans voted against Democratic participation.
On Monday, House Democratic Leader David Litvack moved for an amendment to HB48, reinstating last year’s rule that no more than 3 of the committee of 4 could be from the same party. “This is about bringing in all sides of the conversation,” said Litvack after the vote. “The people of Utah aren’t being represented when you silence voices just because you don’t want to hear what they have to say.”
All 17 Democrats in the House voted for Representative Litvack’s amendment, as well as a handful of Republicans, including House Speaker Lockhart (R). However the amendment still failed by 46-25.
Democrats accused Republicans on Monday of abusing their huge 80-24 margin in the Legislature to try to strip Utah Democrats of representation on an interstate group that seeks to help states develop their energy resources.
The House voted 57-16 along party lines to pass, and send to the Senate, HB48 by Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville. It changes a provision that had required members of both parties to be among four legislators appointed by leaders to represent Utah on the Coalition of Energy Producing States.
Barrus, a member of the coalition, said some unnamed members of both parties had failed to actively participate in that coalition. He said the change allows leaders to more easily find people who have the time, interest and experience to serve without looking at their party affiliation.
But House Democratic leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, said it was aimed to take away his party’s seat at the table. He said the appropriate way to handle a problem if a member is not attending is to talk to their leader to appoint someone else, and not to allow stripping a party of all representation.
Read the full Trib story HERE
“For 12 years that I’ve been up there this has always been the standard that when we have a committee, when we form an official legislative committee, that we always have proportional representation between both parties,” said Litvack. “I understand the frustration that if members were not showing up, that’s not ok. If we’re going to be at the table then we need to be there, and I get that. But the solution is not to remove the Democrat from the committee.”
Read the full KCPW story HERE
Read MoreRep Hemingway Fighting For Military Families
Representative Lynn Hemingway (D)
Salt Lake City – What happens to the spouse of a Utah soldier when they’re transferred to a base out of state? Current law allows for no help, but Representative Hemingway (D-HD40) is running a bill to protect those who protect us.
“Currently, when an active duty soldier in Utah is transferred to another state, their spouse has to quit their job to follow them, but because their spouse quit and wasn’t fired, they don’t get unemployment. ” says Representative Lynn Hemingway.
After receiving several calls and emails from constituents who have faced these dire circumstances, Rep Hemingway says he decided a bill was necessary to prevent such needless hardship on military families. HB 263 would extend unemployment benefits to the spouses of military personnel to protect them in the event that the soldier is transferred out of state.
“These are not people who are quitting their jobs for no reason,” says Rep Hemingway. “When a soldier is transferred there is no option to turn it down, they have to go and obviously their families are going to go with them. That can be extremely difficult on these young families to lose that income with no safety net to help.”
HB 263, has been endorsed by the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense of the United States, and has also received support from the Department of Workforce Services (who oversee unemployment benefits). It also passed through the House Workforce Services Committee with a unanimous vote.
“We are 1 of only 10 states in the entire country that don’t provide these protections for our military families,” continued Representative Hemingway. “As a Democrat, I believe that this is the very least we can do for those who do so much for us.”
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