Becky Edwards

As you may have read in the paper, $15M additional has been backfilled into public education.  It was announced by the republican leadership in our caucus today  that “we had $15M more than we thought coming from a structural balance.”  To be honest, I’m still not clear where that money was found (we joked it was under some sofa cushions in the Capitol), but I do know it lowers the total hit to public ed (we are only talking FY09 here) to just over 3%, down from the original cut of 7.8%, with the original 3.5% backfill and now the $15M new backfill.  That should help schools avoid some of the drastic cuts at least for this FY.  We begin looking at FY10 next week.  

Several bills were discussed in the Education committee this morning.  One was a bill, sponsored by Rep. Laura Black, that would allow school districts to determine birthday cutoff  for enrolling a child in kindergarten.  This was intended to help year round schools who begin in July and with a September 1st deadline often have children coming in under age 5.  After much discussion, it was defeated in committee, with a tie vote of 5-5.  In the case of a tie a bill is defeated.  Since I voted for the bill (I liked the control it gave to individual school districts) I thought the tie should go to the runner and it should move on, but baseball rules do not apply here.

The second bill in Education was presented by Rep. Lorie Fowlke.  It was a bill that allowed credit transfers for teachers when moving between school districts.  The intent of the bill is good, but economics of individual school districts may make it very difficult for more experienced teachers to transfer when a district may prefer to hire a first year teacher over a highly qualified, seasoned teacher because of cost.  After a lot of discussion we tabled this bill and it will come before the committee again next week. 

The last bill discussed was presented by Rep. Wayne Harper.  It is a bill that restructures the tax base that public ed draws from and includes sales tax in the mix along with property tax.  This bill got no further than Rep. Harper’s opening remarks and then we had to adjourn for floor time.  This is a very complex bill and when it is heard next week is sure to be very controversial.  The volatility of sales and property taxes will need to be looked at as well as other impacts this would have.

Davis County legislators had lunch with many of our County officials; Commissioners Louenda Downs and Bret Milburn, County Assessor Jim Ivie, and County Treasurer Mark Altom.  We discussed the burden state cuts will place on counties, specifically in the area of health and human services where counties provide about 80% of those services.  We also discussed their take on Rep. Harper’s education/tax reform bill.

It was a great day and the end of the first week.  Five and half more and LOTS of work left to do.  I’ll send out my legislative update tomorrow and catch up on some research on bills for next week.

One of the highlights of today was the chance to spend time with two outstanding UofU students, who were raised right here in District 20. They left the University of Utah “hill” to spend some time on Capitol Hill as part of the UofU’s “Research Posters on the Hill” series. The first student was Karisa Snow, Bountiful, senior in Chemistry, whose project discussed ways in which molecular connections can be manipulated to create pharmaceutical products. The second was Megan Lindsay, Bountiful, senior in Social Work, whose project involved using dance in elementary school settings and outlined the wide range of benefits to the students. These two presentations, along with all the others, demonstrate the creativity and dedication of University students and are a great example of why we need to maintain funding to continue a strong system of higher education.

To give a flavor for the scope of bills that come to the floor this morning I thought I’d just list the bills that were acted upon today:

• HB26, Child and Vulnerable Adult Endangerment Provisions, passed
• 1SHB86, Division of Real Estate Related Amendments, passed
• HB244, Disruption of School Activities, passed
• HB17, Expedited Partner Therapy Treatment, the bill that received the most nay votes today, 8, but it still passed
• HB33, Refund of Unearned Health Insurance Premiums and Medicare Supplement Insurance Premiums, passed
• HB75, Utah Communications Agency Network Amendments, passed
• HB216, Telecommunication Pricing Flexibility Amendments, passed
• HB238, Exemption of University Housing from Eviction Laws, passed
• HB247, Amendments to Email Information Required of Registered Sex Offenders, passed
• HB87, Identity Theft Amendments, passed
• HB106, Controlled Substance Database Amendments, passed
• HB11, Recodification of Natural Resources Provisions, passed
• HB34, Penalties for Destruction of Bald Eagle, passed

You can see there is a lot of material to read, digest, and form opinions on in preparation for discussions on the floor. Luckily, the resources available to us are plentiful: the Legislative Office of Research and General Council, Office of Legislative Fiscal Analyst, and other staff, are great at providing accurate information, analysis, and data, and do a fine job of maintaining a nonpartisan stance on the issues. It is a system that produces good, reliable information. We are deeply indebted to all their counsel.

The Executive Appropriations Committee will give it’s “final” budget report to the Republican caucus tomorrow morning. I expect they have taken the 7 1/2% cuts discussed earlier, included back in the 3 1/2% backfill we agreed on a few days ago, and have their recommendations to present. I will report on that tomorrow.

Also today, the new legislators, House and Senate, had lunch with Governor Huntsman and Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert. We had a chance to meet the Governor’s staff and hear the Governor reiterate much of what he said in his state of the state address. His priorities echo much of what remains important here in District 20: Education, Energy, the Economy, the Environment, and Ethics. I am officially coining these District 20 priorities the “Five E’s.” It is imperative we take action on these “Five E’s” this session.

Thanks for your involvement!

Amidst the snowy and icy conditions outside, the Capitol is aflurry with folks who are passionate and fiery about their issues and concerns.  It is a great place.  Today began with a Higher Education Caucus where the speakers were Scott Anderson, CEO of Zions Bank and Dennis Jones of NCHEMS, a research and development company specializing in higher ed.  The focus was on how to maintain a globally competitive workforce through education that is responsive to the needs of the state.  Some statistics:  every $1 invested in higher ed brings in $7 in economic benefit; the educational level for Utahns has slipped in the last 10 years which means kids today have less education attainment than their parents; the educational gap between whites and minorities is higher in Utah than in all but six other states; Utah is squeezing as much output as it can with the level of funding for higher ed which is among the lower end in the US; the growth potential is bright for Utah.  It was a great perspective on the importance education and specifically higher ed have to our economy.

The League of Cities and Towns was out in full force today at the Capitol with hundreds of Youth Council members attending a conference. I had the chance to spend some time with both Bountiful City Youth Council and North Salt Lake City Youth Council.  It was great to see several kids I knew on both councils and feel of their excitement and great preparation.  This is a great group of kids.

We had floor debate on about 20 bills.  Again, no bills coming through yet that have a fiscal note of any kind.  Most bills so far have been developed throughout the year, in fact several were in the hopper last session and time ran out before they got to see their moment on the floor.  The only bill that was passed out with anything less than a 100% “yea” consensus was HB 51, Exemption for Alcoholic Beverage Manufacturing License, which provides for home brewing of 100 gallons a year, which had 4 dissenting votes and obviously still passed.

We had a chance to meet the youth councils again for a lunch at the LDS Conference Center and a fabulous opportunity to hear Joseph Ellis, the author of “Founding Brothers” and several other books, speak.  He spoke about the two founding moments of 1776 — Declaration of Independence and 1778 — Declaration of nationhood, i.e. the Constitution; and how they defined the careful balance between rights and responsibilities.  We are still struggling with that same balance today.  He counseled to ground yourself in the past and then move forward, that the past will provide a framework and perspective.  He also said that many feel Darwin got it exactly backwards when it comes to political leaders:  We started with the best and brightest and look where we are now.  That got a lot of laughs.

In the Transportation Appropriations Committee this afternoon we heard from the Division of Environmental Quality and all their departments within their Division.  It was good to get a sense for the details on services provided, FTE’s, and role with other agencies.  That took up the entire agenda.

Another great day.

For those who haven’t had a chance to hear Governor Huntsman’s State of the State address from this evening, you can read it in it’s entirety here:  http://www.utah.gov/governor/news_media/article.html?article=2301

It’s easy to see why he enjoys an over 90% approval rating.  The thing I was most pleased with was the statement that he is reinstating major road projects representing $3.9 billion that had been put on hold in November.  This will be a great stimulus to Utah’s economy.  

On day 2 of the session we were in chamber for two hours and listened to and voted on about 20 bills.  The complete list can be found on the legislative site.  In the Education Standing Committee we unanimously endorsed a bill that defines a symbiotic relationship between SLCC and UCAT.  Salt Lake Community College and the Utah College of Applied Technology will work together to provide technical education for thousands of students throughout the state.  House Bill 15, sponsored by Rep. Ron Bigelow delineates how this restructuring will work.  The bill itself can be found at:  http://le.utah.gov/~2009/bills/hbillint/hb0015.pdf.  This bill had been in discussion all summer and represents a tremendous amount of compromise on both sides, but if the governance issues can be resolved as stated in the language of the bill students will be well served.

If you want to see the bills that will be discussed on the floor for the next day, the link for that information is:  http://www.le.state.ut.us/jsp/jdisplay/allcals.jsp?user=&billlist=

Today was the first day of the 2009 Legislative session.  It was a great morning that began with a beautiful prayer offered by Elder Russell M. Nelson that included a petition for legislators to “put principle above politics and morality above expediency.”  Great counsel.  A fabulous quartet from the UofU, the “Crimson Four,” sang several arrangements of favorite songs.  Speaker David Clark addressed the body of legislators and challenged all Utahns to find innovative ideas to make Utah a better place.  He gave each member of the House a book to write an idea a day for 100 days, to end July 24.  I’d love to take any of your ideas to Speaker Clark.  Email them to me, or directly to him at utahmatters@utah.gov.  

Then it was down to business.  In a joint session with the Senate we heard Chief Justice Christine M. Durham describe the dire consequences of cuts to the Judicial branch of Utah government.  You can read her comments in full at http://media.bonnint.net/slc/915/91549/9154923.pdf.  I highly recommend reading her address.  It outlines in great detail the effects recommended budget cuts will have on the state’s justice system.  

Later in the afternoon we held a Republican caucus where the budget was discussed.  As you know we are looking at a 7.5% reduction in all areas for the rest of the FY09 budget.  Appropriations subcommittees have been meeting over the past several weeks grappling with how best to make these cuts.  In many cases the burden is quite onerous on agencies and institutions on the other end of the adjustments which need to be made in the next 5 months.  It was decided today that we would adopt a 7.5% ongoing budget cut for FY09 with a 3.5% backfill that will leave us with a net 4.0% reduction.  That 3.5% backfill of $175M is coming from the following cuts in one time monies the state is currently not using:  $52M Gunnison Prison expansion, $46M USTAR facilities, $15M Disaster Recovery Fund, $30M Water Development, and $32M Bonding.  This decision should allow us to move forward on FY09 while still working out the details on FY10, which will be greatly influenced by the budget numbers that come in the first part of February.

All in all this was a momentous first day.  We certainly have a lot of work ahead of us and I’ll be blogging each day of the session and sending out an official legislative update each Friday of the session.  If you’re not on the email list, let me know you’d like to be at beckyedwards@utah.gov.

Thanks!