Noteworthy Issues
Week 1 of the Legislative Session
The first week of the 2022 General Legislative Session has begun! It certainly will be an interesting and exciting 45 days that I’m very much looking forward to. Many people have expressed concerns to me about a variety of issues that the legislature will potentially be addressing this session. Among those concerns are the COVID 19 response, funding for social service programs, as well as funding for education.
This week I also had the opportunity to attend the Legislative Reception at the Governor’s Mansion. The Mansion was beautiful, the company was great, and J Dawgs catered right across the street. It was a great opportunity catch up with Utah’s senior leadership and introduce the interns to them. Among the many that I had the chance to talk to were Governor Cox, Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson, the two-star Adjutant General of the Utah National Guard, Commissioner Anderson (Public Safety) and Margaret Busse, Executive Director of Commerce.
Also this week, I welcomed the Provo Youth City Council to the Capitol and we talked with them about the legislative process.
Tax Cuts are in the works!
Everyone should be excited that this may be the year for meaningful tax cuts. The House is committed to at least $160 million mostly in income tax cuts. Other ideas and possibilities are in the works.
Funding for Critical Support Services Workers
Another high priority is finding the funding to address the critical worker shortage in social services and case management workers. The problem has become a crisis with many areas seeing unfilled positions as high as 20% of the needed workforce. This means that programs are running at less than full capacity and people with critical needs are not being helped. The answer is pretty clear – we will have to pay them more to attract workers into these jobs. This is a result of the federal policy-caused inflation and the over-heated economy.
The first day of the session was especially fun for me as I was able to recognize the National Champions from BYU Track and Cross Country teams. The women’s team won the NCAA National Championship for the 2020-2021 year, and came in 2nd for 2021. Additionally, we recognized several individual national champions to the capitol, including Whittni Orton, Anna Camp-Bennett, Conner Mantz and Courtney Wayment. We invited them to the House Gallery where they were recognized with Legislative Citations, and then to the Senate Floor where Senator Mike McKell recognized them. These great athletes also had the opportunity to meet and take photos with Governor Spencer Cox. Go Cougars!
My Vote to Not Repeal the Local Mask Mandates
Last week, I joined 28 of my colleagues in voting against a resolution to repeal local mask mandates in Salt Lake, Summit, and Grand counties. Last year, we set up a process to allow local leaders to have control over this decision, within certain boundaries. While we can argue about the effectiveness of masks in various circumstances, this was all about who should be making the call. It appears to me that these counties have used the process we gave them and as far as I can tell have not gone beyond that authority. Adjustments to the process may be needed going forward, but for now it is what it is.
My Bills – A Status Update
I have several priority bills that I will be sponsoring this session. It’s early, but here is a quick update:
- HB 0176 – Utah Health Workforce Act – Requires the executive branch to form a coordinating group for health workforce planning and development in order to have a more consistent and effective policy and funding effort.
- HB 0198 – Intergenerational Poverty Solution –
- HB 0217 – Telephone Solicitation Amendments
- (In process) Telemarketing Revisions – Closes loopholes that have been allowing businesses to flaunt the Do Not Call requirements
- (In process) Special License Plates – Simplifies and streamlines the process for proposing and approving special group license plates and puts it on a more equal footing.
