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!
Hello Becky,
I’m enjoying reading your blog, and sincerely appreciate the effort you are making to keep us informed. I received your survey in the mail, but I wanted to let you know here how especially important I feel it is that the Common Ground Initiative bills are passed and implemented. I was extremely disappointed that the first of these bills did not even make it out of committee today. A majority of Utahns polled said they believed same-sex couples deserved legal protections such as those offered in these bills. I urge you to not only support this group of bills, but encourage your fellow legislators to do the right thing, and provide these important protections for our gay friends, neighbors, and family members.
Thank you for your consideration.
I sent out surveys to folks in District 20 several weeks ago. I’ve received almost 500 of them back so far. I have not officially analyzed the data yet, but will be compiling and sharing on this blog the results of all surveys received in the next few weeks. If you’ve not returned yours, please do so your opinions can be counted. I have looked at all the surveys so far, however, and can tell you that upwards of 80% of responders show support of 2 or more of what are referred to as the common ground initiative issues. The two areas that receive the most support are fair housing and wrongful termination. I appreciate your input on this issue, Becky, and encourage others to pass their recommendations on by completing and mailing in their survey.
You need to do something about the Air in in the Valley it is horrible. The societal costs are huge..meaning increased health care costs.>>> More Deaths etc.. I can’t believe how much everyone has ignored this. This will really start costing money on the economic development and tourist front.
Don’t cut programs where there are FED leverage dollars.
The quality of our education is not good enough this is in part because the current method of paying for it does not burden the families (catholic and LDS) that have above average family sizes and thus burdens the rest.
You should revamp the Recruitment incentives for companies moving to the state… it is boondongle for real estate land owners. You are bringing in low paying jobs that don’t pay health care and in return “loosing” money on each job created in the cost of state services. Instead they need to focus on high quality jobs (about 1/3 of the recruits).
In a recent public meeting at the library, which Becky E. was kind enough to co-host, Senator Dan Liljenquist made it clear then (and I’ll admit I’m a little foggy on it now), but he said that common ground traditionally covers five elements that can not be debated: race, gender, age, religion and something else… but I don’t think it was sexual orientation. As a society, we can’t discriminate against another, on any of those issues. If I understand him correctly, he pointed out that this is much more than a homophobe issue. It has to do with “tort” issues, and lawyers interpreting who is related to whom, and how much weight does that relationship have, etc. I got the impression that it’s easy to look at this as “Gay vs. Straight” – but the issue is much broader than that. You can’t legally argue race, gender, age etc – but you CAN argue relationships, who should get more than another in a settlement case etc. Sure, gays living together can capitalize in the loophole that loosening the law provides, but watering-down the law will lead to more “tort” cases which is not a good thing for ALL of us (gays and straights). As you see in Becky’s blog, the courts are overloaded as it is. I thought he was very logical, yet sympathetic and sincere. The issues have to do with logic, and not emotion.
Prepare to be disappointed Martin. Based on your list I would guess that you would not like any of the cuts that will be made. The best we can hope for is that Rep. Edwards and the rest of the legislature will make their cuts judiciously.
Becky,
Did you send an email about the meeting that Ralph is talking about – if so I missed it. I would like to have attended.
Becky,
Your survey included the announcement of the meeting at the library, but unfortunately it was delivered to my house on the day of the meeting, and I picked up my mail too late to attend. I would like to have heard what Sen. Liljenquist said, too.
I’m not quite following Ralph’s explanation, above, and I’d like to understand why ‘common ground’ covers five elements that cannot be debated. And even if that is the case, just because this group of bills uses the name of ‘common ground’, it’s just a name for convenient reference for all the bills together. That alone should not disqualify the bills for consideration. Each should be considered on its own merits. It seems like Sen. Liljenquist may be too focused on the semantics of the name and not recognizing the important effort behind these bills.
I’m not saying I understand the issues, or that I even quoted him correctly. He just said something to the effect that in regards to things such as gender and race: we cannot discriminate. It’s against the law. However, when “relationships” come into the equation, it takes lawyers and a judge to sort it out. The courts create the “gray” area in an otherwise “black and white” environment. Again, it made sense at the time, but I’m afraid I’ve botched it. Maybe I should not have contributed.
And yes, I learned about the meeting a few days beforehand on the flyer that was sent to our home. It was VERY interesting. I don’t envy our politicians, because there are so many good points on all sides. But I admire the ones who are doing it for the right reasons. I think our community is in good hands with Dan, Sheryl and Becky.
Two points related to the recent stream of comments:
1. As far as getting announcements about town meetings out early enough for people to make arrangements to attend…we can, should, and will do better. An announcement was in the Davis County Clipper for two issues prior to the meeting and then also was announced on the back of the surveys, but I know many of those didn’t arrive in the mail until the day of the meeting. Not enough lead time, agreed. There is a gentleman who took copious notes on the meeting and has compiled them into a pretty extensive and accurate record of the evening. If you’d like a copy of those notes let me know and I’ll forward them to you via email.
2. The so called “Common Ground” initiatives actually include 5 different bills all surrounding a broad theme of clarifying and delineating rights to those in domestic relationships, including extended family and gay relationships. Each should be examined on it’s own merit. The first bill, which addressed wrongful death suits, did not pass out of the senate committee today. The others deal with wrongful termination of employment, fair housing, and he creation of a domestic registry.
Becky,
You might ask that gentleman for permission to post his notes here on your blog.
Yes, Becky, I agree with David’s suggestion.
And thank you, Becky, for stating that each of those bills should be examined on its own merit. I think there is a lot of fear-mongering going on relative to these bills and some people who seriously need some legal protections may not get them as a result.
P.S. David, I didn’t realize you and I were in Dist 20. We must be neighbors!
Based on the pictures you have posted, I suspect we are pretty close.
Becky,
Was everyone in district 20 supposed to get a survey? I didn’t receive one. I did, however, receive all of your postcards when you were running. Is there some place I can see a survey and answer to it?
Thanks
The surveys were sent out by the Utah Republican party to people in District 20 who voted in the General 08 election and included all Republicans, Unaffiliated, and Democratic voters alike. Their list was generated from the county clerk’s office, I believe. However, I can say that my own parents, who definitely voted in November, didn’t receive surveys in the mail either, so some people have definitely been missed. We are working on getting the online version up and going, but until then if you’d like a survey and didn’t receive one in the mail, let me know and I’ll send you one.
I’d like a survey.
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