Davis County – A Pretty Great Place!
Two shout outs to Davis County…..
One of the great assets legislators from Davis County enjoy is the opportunity we have to meet weekly with the Davis Chamber of Commerce’s Legislative Affairs Committee. This committee consists of business and community leaders in the county who come together every Monday morning at 7:00 (!) during the legislative session to discuss the bills and issues that have a direct impact on our county. This morning was our first meeting and we discussed HB48, “Amendments to the Tourism, Recreation, Cultural, Convention, and Airport Facilities Tax Act,” Rep. Craig Frank. This bill repeals the 1% restaurant tax and the LAC is in strong opposition to this bill as they feel it shifts the tax burden from tourists to locals. Barbara Riddle, President and CEO of the Davis Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Louenda Downs, County Commissioner, both spoke against it and referenced the good the 1% tax has done for tourism and recreation efforts in Davis County. Another bill discussed was HB24, “Economic Development Incentives Act Amendments,” Rep. Brent Wallis, which provides incentives to draw businesses to Utah. Other issues they support: the Utah Procurement Team, the WSU Bachelor of Engineering program, Falcon Hill Infrastructure Development, Transportation prioritized list for East/West Corridors, and maintaining funding for higher and public ed. Each of the legislators present had a chance to discuss the bills they are working on and get feedback from the committee. This meeting is known to be tremendously effective and is actually now being copied by Salt Lake County.
The second shout out is to Congressman Rob Bishop. While technically not a Davis County resident now, he was born in Kaysville and graduated from Davis High School. Congressman Bishop was at the Capitol today and spoke in the House chamber. He spoke passionately about federalism and the horizontal and vertical separation of powers. He feels three concepts regarding federalism are important:
1. Educate people about federalism.
2. Find ways the federal government is duplicating state programs and help that money state in state.
3. Empower states to fight against the federal government.
More tomorrow!