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.
in 2000 the U of U asked me to create a system to better prepare our students for high education. I am now working on that and it takes no funds from the government to do it. Like wise we do not need a government funded higher education. In reality government involvement in education stops a great deal of money that could be invested in higher ed. etc.