Today marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. The Scouts have long been one of the most influential organizations in the life of many young men, including my own son who is an Eagle Scout. We were privileged today to be visited in chamber by an actual bald eagle and scout leaders from councils across the state. Rep. Brad Daw’s resolution celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America. Almost everyone in the chamber joined in as current or past scout leaders, parents of eagle scouts or those who were eagle scouts were asked to stand. I am grateful for the principles, character, and service taught to boys the world over through the scouting program, and for the universality of the message and program. Government could learn a lot from the Scout motto, slogan, and law. A Scout is: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
Other noteworthy events from the day include a visit from Congressman Jason Chaffetz to the chamber. He expressed thanks for the fiscal discipline of Utah and emphasized the tremendous debt the federal government is continuing to build. Raising the debt ceiling now to $4.5trillion means that $600M a day now goes to pay off the national debt. Chaffetz also spoke about areas of focus for him: the Narrows project in Sanpete, the Beaver/Piute Wilderness bill, the NSA/Camp Williams project (the $1.5B Department of Defense project which will employ 1000 people), and wolf management and fire fairness bills.
This morning we met with the Davis Chamber Legislative committee. Several bills were discussed that held interest to the Chamber, but two were the main items discussed: Electronic Cigarettes (more on that bill from Rep. Paul Ray later) and State Retirement. Sen. Dan Liljenquist shared that he will not be proceeding with SB42 as SB 43 will get the same savings as SB 42 by addressing the rehires. SB 94, a suspension of the 1.5% 401K for employees hired after 1986, and SB 63 also address URS reform. Included in this package of bills is a commitment to meet 100% of obligations to current employees, implementing a 2nd actuarial study analyzing the framework of the bills passed this session, a July 2011 implementation date for all the bills (URS needs 1 1/2 years to study and restructure their system). Also, the current system will remain in place so we can roll back into it if the state needs to or wants to down the road.
Work on two of my bills continued as well…. on HB 153, “Recycling of Electronic Items” I met with all the stakeholders who have been working on recommendations for this bill and we tried to hammer out some of the details and build consensus. Three hours later we were in a position were most of the people got most of what they wanted. There is a quote up at the Capitol, “Never let perfect get in the way of good.” This bill exemplifies that. It is a good bill and would go a long way to helping the hazards incurred from electronics in our landfills which is the fastest waste stream in the state. Rep. Roger Barrus and I continue to work with refinery operators and municipal leaders on our two goals: process safety management and land use/planning related to refineries. I’m very appreciative of the efforts and time put forth by the refinery operators in their efforts going forward to implement best practices for process safety management. HB 169, “Refinery Amendments,” is my bill providing structure for municipalities and counties as they make land use and zoning decisions related to refineries. We are still working on language for this bill and I’m hoping to have it numbered in body by the end of the week.
Any requests for a topic for this week’s Bagels and Briefings? Let me know. Next Saturday, Feb. 20, the topic will be Utah’s Retirement System and Sen. Dan Liljenquist will be our guest. 10:30 am, 1121 Eaglewood Loop, North Salt Lake. Let me know if you’re going to be attending so I can be prepared (just thinking like a Boy Scout) with enough handouts.
