2012 Session ~ Week 1
Dear Friends in Senate District 15 ~
This year’s Legislative Session has begun – and we have completed our first week of the 45 day session.
Please know that I am honored represent you. I appreciate your trust and look forward to your input and thoughts on the legislation we will be considering this session. As always, my legislative priorities include supporting the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of Utah, and maintain the family as the fundamental unit of society.
I am encouraged with the current economic outlook for our state. We were recently ranked #1 in the nation for “Expected Economic Recovery.” We were also ranked #1 by Forbes magazine as the “Best State for Business and Careers.” This is not happenstance, but the result of good management and good planning. The legislature makes the decisions that create this favorable economic environment because we represent and reflect the values and work ethic of the people of Utah. Appreciation goes to all of you who are hardworking and frugal with high moral values; those traits are reflected by the laws we enact. Not surprisingly, among Utah’s many accolades is the recognition of being #1 for the “Most Productive Workforce” and interestingly, Forbes also pointed out that Utah’s debt per capita is only $447—the lowest in the nation.
By reflecting your lifestyle choices, the efforts we make in our legislative decisions to endorse favorable tax policies and be fiscally prudent with state funds have not only helped us through a period that has been devastating to much of the rest of our nation, but has made us an enviable example in multiple areas. Here is an interesting article from another state who “wishes they were more like Utah.”
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2012/jan/23/nevada-missing-its-full-potential-when-it-comes-ex/
Unlike the last two years, we are starting the year out with a small surplus in the budget. We are in fact better off than we estimated we would be a year ago. Here is an explanation from Senator Lyle Hillyard, the Executive Appropriations Chair, of our budget situation and what we must consider as we go about the allocation process.
http://www.senatesite.com/home/budgetpreview2012/#more-3481
As you can see, we have commitments that need to be honored, long-term bonding issues that need to be considered, and one of our unknowns is federal funding. Nonetheless, I am pleased that “surplus” is actually part of the vocabulary this session. And by the way, regardless of what the media may imply, funding education is, was, and always will be our highest priority. Over 50% of the budget already goes into public education. There are always many ideas of where more could be spent, but as with any expenditure, we will carefully consider and vet the idea to make sure that the expenditure will actually produce the expected results.
Monday morning opened with an admonition from Senate President Michael Waddoups to BE like a BEE. Here is what he said:
http://www.senatesite.com/home/pres-waddoups-counsel-on-be-ing-bee-like/
Then committee work began.
The appropriations committees have begun their meetings to hammer out the budget proposals and each of the standing committees also met several times this week. Some of the items we discussed on the floor this week were voter registration, assessing a student’s readiness for entrance into the workforce or college (that was a bill I ran – SB10), a few adjustments to tax credits, and some highway modification needs. You can watch when we are on the floor, listen to all the committee meetings, and track bills that you are interested in on the website
If you have been on the website this week, you may have noticed a few changes. We are using some new live-streaming technology and the page layout has changed a little bit. As with many new transitions there have been a few glitches. If you encounter a problem or have a question, would you please describe it here
http://www.senatesite.com/home/webfeedback/
so that it can be addressed. I want you to be able to access as much information as possible about the work at the Capitol.
We will be doing a bit of clean-up on the redistricting maps as part of our session work. Federal law requires that census blocks be used in the redistricting process; however, census block lines do not always match the actual survey lines in the land records. So each time redistricting is done the new lines are matched against the county recorder’s map to look for odd discrepancies. In the Senate, House and State School Board maps there were 60 such instances that were discovered by County clerk’s offices. SB125, will align the redistricting lines with the survey lines to correct these problems. Overall, these changes will affect less than .002% of the people in the state. Most adjustments will affect only a few, if any individuals.
Thank you for following the issues.
Yours for freedom ~
Margaret Dayton
