Representative Trisha Beck, D–Sandy
District 48
In 2007 our family suffered a terrible tragedy. My dear nephew suffered an accidental overdose after he became addicted to a medication that had been subscribed to him for pain. Unfortunately, he died.
I don’t want other families to go through the pain and heartache that my family has gone through. That [...]
Utah is facing an $850,000,000 budget shortfall in the 2010 legislative session. This special report by KSL’s Rich Piatt features comments by House and Senate Majority and Minority Leadership.
Representative Tim Cosgrove, D–Murray
District 44
During the 2009 legislative session I sponsored and passed a bill, HB401, which ensures that military members will not lose custody of their children to an ex-spouse while they’re deployed. From the time the bill was presented to me until its final passage, I believed very strongly that this was good [...]
Recently I had the opportunity to visit Price, Utah along with many of my colleagues from the Democratic House and Senate caucuses. It was a great opportunity for all of us to learn about issues that are most important to the people who live and work in rural Utah. As an urban legislator, I don’t deal on a day-to-day basis with the issues that affect our rural communities. Our trip gave us a greater appreciation for rural issues like water, land use, and energy development, all of which have a huge impact on rural Utah. Our trip helped us to understand the degree to which these issues affect the entire state.
by Representative Christine Johnson
Recently, I sat in a Health and Human Services Committee Meeting during an interim day at the legislature. As a member of this committee, I am always intrigued by the presentations and presenters that come and speak to us in favor of or in opposition to legislation and policy that comes before [...]
Assistant Minority Whip Carol Spackman Moss
Millcreek
Monday, July 20 – Pre-conference tour: Microsoft School of the Future
Microsoft and Philadelphia City School District partnered to build a 65 million dollar high tech school to serve as a replicable reform model of learning for the 21st Century. It is located in a working class, high [...]
Minority Leader David Litvack
Salt Lake City
Cost Cutting Strategies in Corrections
This session highlighted the experiences of three states (Pennsylvania, Colorado & Connecticut) in addressing the high costs of Corrections and the impact on state budgets.
In general, the conversation focused on three primary strategies to reducing costs associated with prisons and jails, while not compromising public safety [...]
Representative Lynn Hemingway Holladay During the week I attended many interesting sessions. I am a member of the Energy and Agriculture Committee so the first two days were attending committee meetings. The topics were Underground storage of Co2 (Sequestration), clean coal technology, the Presidents energy plan (Cap and Trade). We also talked about the effects [...]
From Representative Rebecca Chavez-Houck
Salt Lake City
Using an Alternative Population Base for Redrawing Districts
A few states alter the data delivered by the U.S. Census Bureau before using it draw district boundaries by reallocating special populations such as students and military personnel. Some states have looked at adjusting the data to alter where incarcerated persons are [...]
In July of 2009, several members of the Utah House of Representatives attended the NCSL meetings in Philadelphia. Utah House Democrats who attended these meetings would like to share our impressions with you. In the following days, we will posting our thoughts and impressions of the meetings this year, and welcome your feedback.
Best regards,
The Democratic [...]
